Three avocado masters from Danei, Zhuqi, and Shanshang: they grow avocados, and avocados heal them too

If there were a vote for the most misunderstood crop, the avocado would certainly be on the list. Just consider: is it a fruit or a vegetable? Many people are probably unsure, and once they learn the correct answer, plenty of them will be picking their dropped jaws up off the floor: in crop classification, the avocado is a fruit; but in food classification, because the avocado's fat content is so high, it belongs to the "oils and nut seeds" category!

Thanks to the boost from many celebrities and internet influencers, the avocado has become the hottest weight-loss superfood in recent years, with all kinds of "shed the pounds, lose weight fast" recipes circulating online, earning it the title of "the fat-burning king of the fruit world." However, although the avocado is a new favorite on many people's dining tables, it has actually been cultivated in Taiwan for nearly a hundred years, and in Danei, Tainan, and Zhuqi, Chiayi, which have the largest growing areas, many farming families have been dealing with it their whole lives.

Yang Jinkun returned home to take over the orchard, transferring his longing for his mother onto the avocados

Yang Jinkun of Danei, Tainan, is a child raised on avocados. Mother Yang grew avocados her whole life, and her greatest wish was for her children to study hard, find work in the city, and escape the fate of being farmers. Yang Jinkun really did live up to his mother's expectations: after university, because of his studies, work, and starting a family, he lived in Taipei for forty years.

Within the sphere that a housewife could manage, Mother Yang tended about fifty avocado trees, caring for the orchard in the most natural way. She was a victim of Typhoon Morakot; Morakot swept away the avocado trees in the orchard, and also took her precious life.

Yang Jinkun and his wife, Li Xiangfen, because their longing for his mother was beyond measure, transferred it onto the avocados. The two often traveled south from Taipei to tidy the orchard, prune the trees, and harvest the fruit; their stays grew longer and more frequent, and they gradually became "Danei experts": masters of growing avocados in Danei.

Li Xiangfen said that after Danei experienced Typhoon Nari and Typhoon Morakot, many people saw no future in their hometown, and the farmland next to their home had lain abandoned for over twenty years. Many locals had their land deeds ready, just waiting for someone to make an offer so they could sell the land. "At the time we thought, caring for one plot or two doesn't make much difference in labor, so we bought the field next door." she recalled.

It could almost be considered virgin land, ecologically abundant, with at least five species of tree frogs alone; wild birds, squirrels, and fireflies were all "natives." Yang Jinkun and his wife were unwilling to destroy nature's masterpiece, so they grew avocados in the most organic way. They said that if they used conventional farming methods, the process of growing avocados would actually be quite easy, but they hand-pick the leaves to which the eggs of the spiny brown stink bug relative are attached, and personally pull the weeds in the orchard; the farm work is both plentiful and varied, and they have to do it all themselves. Later, running back and forth between Taipei and Tainan became too much to bear; eleven years ago, Li Xiangfen was the first to "abandon husband and child" and moved back to Danei to live permanently; seven years later, Yang Jinkun also applied for early retirement and cared for the orchard together with his wife.

Growing delicious avocados also grows a happy taste of life

Perhaps because of the friendly cultivation, which had a magical effect on the land, many customers say that the avocados from Left Bank Happiness Manor have no grassy smell, and some friends who originally dared not eat avocados became loyal customers after trying theirs. Yang Jinkun said: "I always encourage customers to eat the fresh fruit, dipped in honey, wasabi, or garlic soy sauce, each with a different flavor."

Since the year before last, the manor has transitioned from friendly to organic. Because of the many additional administrative procedures for registration and shipping, the couple could not keep up, so they asked their eldest daughter, Yang Zixian, who had been working in the telecommunications industry in Taipei, to return home and help. Yang Zixian is a true Taipei child, very used to working with air conditioning and sitting in an office; before planning to return home, she first used her accumulated long leave to go back to Danei for a month, trying a life of rising at dawn and sweating in the fields.

In the orchard, Yang Zixian watched the black drongos (large-billed crows) chase squirrels, mother hens lead chicks to catch insects, a flock of geese greet their owner with dance steps, and fireflies compete with the stars in brightness, and saw all kinds of rare and exotic fruits her parents grew: rollinia, soursop, chocolate fruit, mamey sapote, rolinia, star apple, and golden fruit, and she deeply experienced the power of nature. Now, when this family of three has no choice but to return to Taipei, "that city that used to feel so convenient and advanced, we can no longer get used to living in." she said.

Currently, Left Bank Happiness Manor has a total of two and a half jia of farmland, but the actual cultivated area is less than two jia; among the five hundred avocado trees there are over thirty varieties, but only twelve are regularly sold. Apart from sales through organic channels, the rest are sold by online order, with an annual output value of over one million. "After deducting management, marketing, and consumables, the money the three of us earn is still less than my salary before retirement," Yang Jinkun said. "But life is priceless; this is our realization."

Left Bank Happiness Manor, on this disaster-plagued land of Danei, grows the avocado, also known as the "happiness fruit," and has also grown its own life into a taste of happiness.

Shen Shizheng diversifies the avocado industry, meeting demand with customized orders

Also a returning fruit farmer, Shen Shizheng, head of the 49th Zhuqi Fruit Tree Production and Marketing Class, is a star of the avocado world.

The Shen family have been Zhuqi people for generations. Shen Shizheng's grandfather and father grew tobacco for a long time, and as a child Shen Shizheng even helped watch the furnace fire in the family's tobacco curing barn. Later, the Monopoly Bureau reduced tobacco purchases year by year and cooperated with the Council of Agriculture to guide farmers in transitioning, so Shen's father began growing avocados thirty-five years ago.

After being discharged from the military, Shen Shizheng first worked elsewhere; he had achieved some success in the steam boiler industry and was just planning to open his own factory when his father's avocado orchard, because of a large increase in production, urgently needed help. "Anyway, it's all about being your own boss; I thought there was nothing bad about going home to farm, after all, farm work is not unfamiliar to me." he said.

When he returned home eight years ago, Shen Shizheng established the brand "Apokale" for his family orchard and marketed it through a Facebook fan page. Because the avocado is a crop with relatively complex varieties, Shen Shizheng communicates directly with customers online, meeting the needs of customized orders one by one.

Some customers worry they cannot finish them quickly and ask for home-delivered avocados to "ripen in batches"; some customers want to give them as gifts and specify large ones; women, because they eat little, ask for small ones when buying in group orders; some want smooth and soft-textured ones, some want thick and creamy ones. Because Shen Shizheng can handle these all kinds of requests, and because his after-sales service is good, "Apokale" has a great many loyal customers, and online home delivery currently accounts for ninety percent of total sales.

The reason he can satisfy diverse needs is that the Shen family orchard has many varieties and a long total production period. Shen Shizheng said that as long as you keep track of the amount of fruit remaining on the trees, the harvest volume, and the sales volume, home-delivery income is actually better than shipping to the wholesale market. In addition, he also diversifies, launching various avocado processed products, including ice cream, handmade soap, frozen avocado chunks, and so on, extending the time the products stay on the market and increasing income beyond fresh fruit.

Even though avocado prices have been rising in recent years and many online channels have emerged to compete, Shen Shizheng's avocado sales are hardly affected. Besides the reasons above, he proudly says: "Because I'm the triple crown king!"

Pursuing the recognition of awards: if you do it, do it best

Three years ago, after taking over the role of head of the production and marketing class from his father, Shen Shizheng was eager to make his mark as a young person. He took part in the 108th year "Agricultural Technology Sharing Competition" and won the Chiayi County championship and the national championship; the following year he led the production and marketing class to challenge the Council of Agriculture's "Top Ten Outstanding Agricultural Production and Marketing Classes" selection, and also won on the first try. Winning three in a row set a record for all kinds of production and marketing classes in Chiayi County and also raised the visibility of his own brand.

Because "if you do it, do it best," Shen Shizheng runs the production and marketing class as attentively as he runs his own orchard. Besides setting up official accounts on Facebook and Line for convenient internal and external contact, he also re-planned the traffic flow of the collection yard, managing it by quality zone and color: premium grade goes in black baskets and follows the black lines marked on the ground into the premium grade zone, select grade goes in yellow baskets, and so on. In addition, he set rules for borrowing shared machinery; if the machinery breaks down, he himself is responsible for repairing it. These creative methods won the favor of judges in various competitions, and the prize money greatly boosted the morale and cohesion of the production and marketing class.

This year, Shen Shizheng also received the title of "Traceability Expert." At the award ceremony, he brought his wife on stage to accept the award together, and the atmosphere was lively and moving. He said he sells avocado seeds, seedlings, and avocado fruit, a truly "one-stop" avocado industry, and coupled with his skilled technique and his willingness to share with farmers, his tone carried a good deal of pride that the award was "well deserved."

Because he speaks well, has ample experience, and is warm-hearted, Shen Shizheng often shares his avocado-growing experience with fellow farmers and is an expert interviewed by many media outlets. He says half of Taiwan's population still dares not eat avocados or has never eaten them, "the market is still huge!" While guarding his own orchard of over three jia, he also protects the farmland of over thirty jia of the production and marketing class, and with the bearing of a star, he wants to take the avocado industry to an even higher level.

Fu Jingzhou: fruit trees bring greater achievement than trading stocks

"Shanshang craftsman" is the title Fu Jingzhou printed on his business card. This craftsman, who grows avocados next to the Waterway Museum in Shanshang District, Tainan, says: "I think 'craftsman' is more impressive." The implication is that he considers himself more diligent than many farmers, and more worthy of the title of tiller of the soil.

Fu Jingzhou originally held a management position in the securities industry in Taipei, chasing the ups and downs of stock prices and helping clients accumulate wealth. In 2006, to care for his elderly parents who were in slightly poor health, he moved back to Shanshang, "and by the way took over my father's orchard, trying my hand at farming."

His father's orchard originally grew citrus, pineapple, and avocado. Fu Jingzhou felt he could not care for three crops at once, so he chose to devote himself solely to avocados. "At the time, citrus was only 3 yuan per jin, not worth investing in, and pineapple had too many competitors," he said. "Most importantly, my father's avocado trees were all big trees, and I couldn't bear to cut them down."

Compared with bustling, convenient Taipei, Shanshang, to put it nicely, is quiet; in truth, it is dead silent. Fu Jingzhou took four years to adjust to days without movie theaters, bookstores, or cafes. He says the biggest change is the sense of accomplishment in work. Previously, analyzing financial markets and stock trends, the rise and fall of numbers put him under great pressure; even when he made money for clients, he himself felt emptiness. Now the fruit trees deliver concrete results, and the harvest is very real. Moreover, unlike stocks, where a loss is just a loss, if the fruit trees have a poor harvest, you can find ways to make up for it. Increasing the controllable variables in the orchard is also his accomplishment.

From manipulating stock prices to caring about avocado auction prices

Fu Jingzhou says he spent seven or eight years feeling his way before he dared say a few words about avocado growing. He especially thanks researcher Cai Huiwen of the Chiayi Branch of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute and Ni Huifang, head of the Department of Plant Protection, for their help to a beginner. His avocado orchard is about 1.5 hectares, and his main products are varieties such as Black Beauty, Red Heart Round, and Chiayi Select No. 2. Because of a shortage of manpower, his avocados go directly to a professional avocado wholesale channel, and only goods the channel cannot absorb are diverted to the auction market.

Perhaps because there was still some "residual poison" left in his bones from his time in the securities industry, Fu Jingzhou once chose to plant two new avocado varieties, just as he had previously liked challenging "newly launched stocks." When the market price for ordinary fruit seedlings was 90 yuan per tree, the seedlings of the new variety Jialin No. 1 cost 200 yuan. He was optimistic about this early-maturing variety (that is, one that can be harvested earlier than ordinary avocados) and bought 50 seedlings in one go, but because he lacked a benchmark for judgment, the first fruit was harvested too early and all were "mute fruits" (meaning avocados that cannot soften when ripe); the second year brought heavy rain and the fruit all rotted. Add to that the fact that it only bears fruit three years after planting, and he wasted five years on Jialin No. 1, a complete loss.

Later, Fu Jingzhou tried growing Tainong No. 1 (Red Sweet), thinking the new variety would fetch a better price. After seven years of growing it, he may be the farmer with the largest production of Red Sweet in all of Taiwan, but the price of this avocado has no particular advantage. Fu Jingzhou says that his Black Beauty, cared for properly, fetches over a hundred yuan per jin; in addition, the quality of Red Heart Round is also quite good. He finally realized that as a fruit farmer you need not chase new varieties; as long as you protect the good varieties, the "evergreen stocks" of avocados, you will have a good harvest.

Also because he has confidence in the quality of his own avocados, Fu Jingzhou very often checks avocado auction prices, and only when his own price falls at the high end is he satisfied with the result. He says he has put a great deal of thought into studying the characteristics of each avocado variety, and for this crop that has made his life feel proud and at ease, he has deep affection, so he is especially unwilling to part with sick fruit trees.

The avocado is a shallow-rooted crop, prone to disease, and the simpler approach is to cut it down and start over, but Fu Jingzhou always tries his best to save sick fruit trees; the achievement of bringing them back from the brink of death is unparalleled. Devoting himself to avocados to this extent, he truly is a "craftsman"!