Making Taiwan sake famous worldwide, Yiquan Fragrant Rice selling well across Taiwan, Wufeng Farmers' Association wants to sell Taiwan's agricultural products to the whole world

"I do these things because I love Wufeng, and I love Taiwan even more." Huang Jingjian, the director-general of the Wufeng Farmers' Association, said with a friendly smile and great conviction. This is his 25th year working at the Wufeng Farmers' Association and his 19th year as director-general. Under his leadership, not only has Wufeng Fragrant Rice become famous nationwide, but the brewed Chuwu sake has won global awards; he also rallied local allies to establish the Wufeng Transformation Alliance, and in recent years has even extended his scope of operations across all of Taiwan.

"Besides Wufeng's agricultural products, we need to sell Taiwan's agricultural products too." Huang Jingjian said that since overseas clients have gift-giving needs, he simply gathered specialty products from farmers' and fishermen's associations across Taiwan for overseas clients to select from. "Taiwan isn't big, so all the agricultural products nationwide can count as local. Selling one more item means helping one more farmer."

Third-generation politician with a master's degree from the US, returns home to work at the farmers' association from the grassroots level

"When you hear 'farmers' association,' do you think I'm a gangster?" Huang Jingjian said, referring to the stereotypical impression people have of farmers' associations. He describes himself as a third-generation politician: his grandfather served as chairman of the township representative council, his father Huang Zhengyi served as a Taichung County councilor and speaker, and was also elected to the Taiwan Provincial Assembly.

Although he is a third-generation politician, the Huang family has been involved in agriculture since his great-grandfather's time. His great-grandfather exported bananas, his grandfather grew bananas and pineapples and also opened a rice shop in the vegetable market, and his father grew mushrooms. This family background meant Huang Jingjian was exposed to farming from childhood. After earning a master's degree in business administration from Seattle University in the United States, he returned to Taiwan and started as the most junior cashier at the Wufeng Farmers' Association. That was 1995, when he was 28 years old.

"At first I didn't think too much about it, I just knew I couldn't embarrass my father and grandfather." Huang Jingjian admitted frankly that he didn't understand farmers' associations at the time. To familiarize himself with grassroots work, he often went into the countryside to "share warmth" with farmers, attending all kinds of temple, wedding, and funeral events, gradually becoming one with the people around him. He went on to serve as head of the credit department and the extension section, and then took over as director-general in 2001. His entire career "debut" and training has been at the Wufeng Farmers' Association.

"No amount of subsidies will increase farmers' income." Guaranteed-price purchasing, vigorously promoting Yiquan Fragrant Rice

The year before Huang took office as director-general, the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute in Wufeng, under the guidance of Dr. Guo Yiquan, bred Tainung 71, also known as the famous "Yiquan Fragrant Rice." Less than a year after Huang took office, Taiwan joined the WTO. "At the time everyone was worried about not being able to compete with imported rice on price. I believed that if we had a good variety and a good price, we could protect farmers."

"No amount of subsidies will increase farmers' income." Huang Jingjian decided to vigorously promote Yiquan Fragrant Rice, which was bred locally, and to use contract farming to guarantee farmers' income. "In return, the farmers' association can also demand quality." So the Wufeng Farmers' Association raised the purchase price for dry grain, increasing it year by year from 20 yuan per kilogram to 28.5 yuan per kilogram, and the contract farming area grew from 5 hectares at the start to 383 hectares now.

Contract farming also gradually changed local farmers' cultivation habits. Huang said: "Once the price is fixed, farmers feel that the more they deliver, the more income they get, but for fragrant rice to taste good, the yield can't be too high." Through organizing competitions and farmer exchanges, contract farmers shifted from being yield-oriented to quality-oriented. For example, dry grain samples are tested for "eating quality," and if the score meets the standard, farmers are encouraged with a contract price increase.

"Chishang in the east, Wufeng in the west" - thinking about transformation after winning awards

Starting in 2004, the Agriculture and Food Agency began holding a national rice quality competition. Yiquan Fragrant Rice won awards for four consecutive years, and later won the National Top Ten Classic Fine Rice award four more times. "Chishang is first, and right after that is us. At that time, the rice world had a saying: 'Chishang in the east, Wufeng in the west.' The best-tasting rice in western Taiwan was the Yiquan Fragrant Rice produced in Wufeng." The name of Wufeng Fragrant Rice spread from there, and its sales channels stabilized.

Besides stabilizing contract farming, Huang Jingjian and his colleagues in recent years came into contact with the concepts of organic and land-friendly farming. They believed that for long-term operation, healthy land must be left for future generations. They gradually coordinated with farmers to replace pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and herbicides with self-made compost from dry grass and fallen leaves. "Currently, 50 jia of the contract farming area is organic and eco-friendly cultivation."

For the winery, employees must read comics, learn Japanese, and travel to Japan to study brewing

Although he opened up the market for fragrant rice, Huang Jingjian believed that fragrant rice couldn't always focus on fresh consumption, and that rice had other processing uses. It had to enter a stage that was hard to replicate, distinctive, and high in added value. He saw that in Japan's major rice-producing regions, besides rice, there were also many local sake brands. The idea of a "Wufeng Winery" began to take shape.

"Back then people teased me: 'You can even read comics at work!'" Huang Jingjian pointed to the books inside the winery, one set being the famous Japanese sake manga "Natsuko's Sake." He recalled that after the winery concept emerged, it coincided with a Council of Agriculture program to guide farmers' associations in business management, and the program's funding was used for staff training.

Before the winery was officially completed in 2007, all winery staff had to first read related books, with "Natsuko's Sake" and "The Drops of God" among the textbooks. At the time, 2 employees were selected; after learning Japanese in Taiwan, they went to a sake brewery in Niigata, Japan for 3 months of training. Later, other employees were also sent to Japan to study, step by step moving toward the path of brewing.

Brewer: Taiwan breweries are more flexible, with a higher degree of innovation

"Before, I didn't know the reasons behind the operating steps; only after going to Japan did I understand." Li Zhengyan, who started working part-time at the brewery during university and has now become a brewer, said that while working part-time, he followed the brewery staff's instructions and did one motion per command, but often knew the how without knowing the why. It wasn't until he went to study at a Japanese brewery that he understood the principles and key points of making sake.

"The person responsible for steaming rice would absolutely never go and make koji." Li Zhengyan recalled that Japanese breweries have a strict structure, with everyone obeying the "toji" (the Japanese term for a master brewer), starting work promptly at 8 a.m. every day. During brewing, each step was handled by a dedicated person. Since he only had three months of training at the time, he went through a full round of learning everything from washing tanks, washing and steaming rice, to making koji and brewing.

"Whatever I want to do, I can try at any time." Li Zhengyan explained that in Japanese breweries everyone has their own role, but if the process needs to be adjusted, it is also a relatively big undertaking, requiring changes to everyone's habits. In Taiwan, however, breweries are more flexible, and can make everything from junmai sake to fruit-flavored additions. He also revealed that he has recently been learning how to make beer and is researching how to incorporate it into the current process.

Using good eating rice to make good sake, "Chuwu" is fragrant and richer, yet softer than Japanese sake

Wufeng's sake brand is called "Chuwu," named through a vote at the time. It means successfully produced in Wufeng with the best quality. Unlike Japan, which uses dedicated sake rice, the Wufeng Farmers' Association brews sake with Yiquan Fragrant Rice, which is full of taro aroma, giving the entire "Chuwu" series more fragrance, while the taste is much softer than Japanese sake.

The current winery and brewery occupy a space that used to be the Wufeng Farmers' Association's Wanfeng Granary. The current brewery director, Chen Yongbin, is also a senior employee of the rice mill. Asked about the secret to making good sake, Chen Yongbin believes the key lies in the rice: "We use eating rice to make sake, not rice left over from sales." He explained that the condition of the raw material determines the flavor produced. Eating rice has strict quality requirements, so the sake made from it has a corresponding quality.