Yilan friendly young farmers collaborate to grow peanuts, local processing opens up a new agricultural frontier
Rainy Yilan has always been famous for rice, but is it suitable for growing peanuts? The answer is yes! More than 20 young farmers in Yilan County engaged in friendly farming have joined the Lanyang River Friendly Farming Production Cooperative, carrying out a 14-hectare farmland coarse grain reclamation plan in the Dananao area, and have selected Tainan Selected No. 9 peanuts as the main crop.
"Any crop in Yilan has its own flavor." Wu Shaowen, chairman of Yiliang Hao, is the convener of this reclamation plan. He said that Yilan's climate and environment differ from those of the west, and crops take longer to grow, but they all have special flavors that can present Yilan's terroir. Peanuts were chosen because Yilan's peanuts have a rich taste and are highly competitive in the market whether eaten roasted, made into peanut butter, or made into peanut oil.
Jointly reclaiming and contract-cultivating 8 hectares of peanuts, sharing resources to reduce production costs
Wu Shaowen said that eating grains and coarse grains is a dietary characteristic of Yilan. In the past, a small amount of peanuts was grown in Zhuangwei and Wujie townships in Yilan, and peanut milk was part of daily life. Therefore, young farmers who already had a rice farming foundation were called on to join in. Nanao was chosen because Nanao's soil drains well and the climate is pleasant, allowing coarse grains to be grown for up to two cropping seasons each year.
The young farmers and farmer groups currently called on include Nanao Acong Natural Farm, Di MrL, Yuejian Learning Farm, Anjian Agricultural Products, Zhenxiang Dabai, Xiaojian Shucai, Tianwen Society, Bobo's Rice, and Longyu Agricultural Products Store. The farmland jointly reclaimed and contract-cultivated is about 14 hectares, of which peanuts account for 8 hectares, with the rest being black soybeans and yellow soybeans.
Wu Shaowen said that the advantage of young farmers carrying out reclamation together is that they can produce on a large group scale, share machinery, planting materials, and other resources to reduce costs. For subsequent processing, they cooperate with the Department of Food Science at National Yilan University and local processors such as Meifu Hang, while also opening up new sales items for the participating young farmers.
Gong Zhejing, one of the participating young farmers, Di MrL, and also chairman of the board of the Lanyang River Friendly Farming Production Cooperative, said that a complete friendly farming system for rice has already been established, and they often assist local friendly farming farmers with contract cultivation, but there is not yet a contract cultivation model for coarse grains. Therefore, one major challenge of this reclamation is also establishing a cultivation model for coarse grains.
