Agriculture Becomes a Global Trend: Netherlands' Venlo GreenPort and San Francisco's Organic Aesthetics

(Continued from previous article) "The problem with rural Taiwan is that there is no vision, and the land has not been well cared for." This is the lament of Liu Song, director of "Rural Vision." In Season 2 of "Rural Vision," planned by Liu Song and Control Yuan member Lin Sheng-feng and filmed over four years, the journey spans from traditional villages to high-tech agricultural parks, taking "sustainability" and "vision" as its two main threads to bring back global experience, hoping to stimulate more thinking about rural Taiwan.

"Upstream and Downstream" interviewed director Liu Song and Lin Sheng-feng to guide readers through the highlights and production philosophy. The series is divided into two articles; to read the previous article, please click here.

New Elements in Rural Areas: From the NetherlandsVenlo GreenPort, a Look at Smart Sustainable Agriculture

"Even if you support organic farming, you should not hate conventional farming. Organic or natural farming is not the only answer." In Season 2 of "Rural Vision," beyond the perspective of organic agriculture, elements of high-tech farming were added. Director Liu Song stated that farming methods are not absolute; conventional farming can also move toward land-friendly, water-saving, electricity-saving, and energy-saving directions. For example, the Netherlands' Venlo GreenPort, from the angle of smart agriculture, has forged a globally unique path of sustainability.

The Netherlands is the world's second-largest exporter of agricultural products. The city of Venlo, located in the southeast, has been one of the largest fruit, vegetable, and flower markets in the country since the 19th century. To maintain the vitality and competitiveness of the industry, the Venlo city government built the GreenPort, which in addition to automated equipment and transport systems also includes laboratories that analyze and extract the potential of crops, and collaborates with three-star kitchens to develop recipes, all aimed at expanding the applications for crops.

For example, in the park's laboratory, roses can be crushed to thoroughly analyze their components, or mushrooms can be extracted to replace table salt. Such practices can be of considerable benefit in agricultural processing and applications.

Compared with the current situation in Taiwan, where farmers cannot grasp or even promote the nutritional components of their crops, is it possible to prove the value of agricultural products through the same kind of laboratory mechanism? Lin Sheng-feng gave an example: I-Mei's certified laboratory is now moving toward whole-food utilization research, such as analyzing the outer skin and inner layer of a whole corn kernel, crushing and hydrolyzing for extraction, and even corn stalks can be utilized. "But I-Mei can do this because it has many talented people inside." Lin Sheng-feng believes that talent is the key to execution.

Technology Park: Attracting Young People and Elite Talent

In addition to large-scale production, the park also researches and develops urban vertical greenhouses, studies plant factories and hydroponic methods to produce food with minimal land resources and carbon emissions, and collaborates with companies and universities on data research and development. Venlo Green