Students from Gukeng Hua Nan Elementary School run a market, design labels, and stir-fry cabbage to help community smallholders sell vegetables

Chen Ching-kun, principal of Huanan Elementary School in Gukeng Township, Yunlin County, who once helped the school's parents sell mandarin oranges to ease their families' financial hardship, had long observed that small farmers in remote villages lacked a channel to sell their vegetables. At the end of April, drawing on the combined strength of the community and the school, he piloted a "community small-farmer market" for the first time, with students taking on the role of vegetable vendors, responsible for hawking and organizing tasting events. Unexpectedly, the fruits and vegetables brought by more than 10 farmers, enough to fill 6 long tables, sold out entirely in less than 20 minutes.

From Growing Vegetables to Selling Vegetables: Chen Ching-kun Deepens Food and Agriculture Education

On this food and agriculture education journey from the organic vegetable garden to the small-farmer market, Chen Ching-kun has kept going for 8 years. In 2006, when Chen Ching-kun first stepped into Huanan Elementary School, which was deep in a school-merger crisis, he already intended to plan an organic vegetable garden at the school. He had the children start with composting the kitchen waste from their nutritious lunches, training them to distinguish raw from cooked kitchen waste and to ferment the waste to improve the soil. After one to two years of record-keeping and after passing the soil pH test of the Council of Agriculture's Agricultural Improvement Station, the Huanan children's vegetable garden experience officially began.

While the school used the organic vegetable garden to try selecting vegetables suitable for cultivation, Chen Ching-kun simultaneously took on the post of director-general of the community development association, going deep into the community, leading students in community landscaping work, and carrying out care and assistance for the disadvantaged. Chen Ching-kun said with a smile: "A school is like a generator, stepping out to help the community solve problems, building trust with the community, and at the same time forging consensus for community development."