Zhong Jianwei's organic mushrooms are grown for the past and the future
Chung Chien-wei, now in his early thirties, is a resident of Xinwu Township in Taoyuan and has been growing organic mushrooms for two years. Xinwu went through a period in earlier years when the button mushroom industry rose and then declined, and his father was a button mushroom farmer back then. He remembers clearly that by the time he was in fourth grade, his family had stopped growing button mushrooms.
A Winding Road Back to Farming
The day I visited him, a cold front had moved in and rain was falling steadily. Stepping into the greenhouse he built with his own hands, I found him roasting sweet potatoes for warmth, and he casually handed me a big one, telling me to eat while we talked.
In high school he studied in the Farm Management Department of Taoyuan Agricultural and Industrial High School, and in university he studied in the Agronomy Department of National Chiayi University, so he was trained in the field. Yet after graduating from university, he left agriculture and left his hometown, spending more than ten years developing his career elsewhere.
He lived in Tainan and Hsinchu, and after wandering far and wide, he still chose to return home. He worked in the apparel industry, the financial industry and the construction industry, and he still chose to farm. He picked the mushrooms his father once grew as his crop. The difference is that when he decided to farm two years ago, he chose the organic path from the very start.
"The advantage of organic mushrooms is that consumers can eat them with peace of mind, and the flavor is better. My organic mushroom yields are no lower than conventional mushrooms, and conventional mushrooms use pesticides heavily. When it comes to yield and quality, I am very confident."
(This article was sponsored by the Jianzhen Environmental Education Foundation for personnel expenses, but the foundation does not interfere at all with news topics or interview writing, ensuring journalistic independence.)