Grass-based cultivation offers many benefits, and the Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station provides technical support.

Kuo Jen-tzu, the head of Wuguan Farm in Pingtung, grows two hectares of lemons. In the past he used herbicides to deal with weeds in his orchard, but because an elementary school sits right across from the orchard, he plans to switch to sod culture and made a special trip to visit the orchard at the Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station. Lin Yung-hung, associate researcher in the station's Soil and Fertilizer Research Laboratory, says that adopting sod culture in orchards can not only raise soil organic matter content but also reduce the occurrence of pests and diseases.

Sod culture increases soil organic matter

Support in sales and price: the driving force behind growers adopting sod culture

Before any policy had been drafted, Green Farmers' Home was already promoting a similar approach: any partner grower who converted to sod culture received a lawn mower. Hong Hui-hsiang said, "Offer a little incentive first, and once growers gain support in sales and price, they become even more willing to continue with sod culture."

Lin Chao-yi, a tea grower in Luye, Taitung, is also a partner grower with Green Farmers' Home, and he has been using sod culture for more than ten years. In his view, for tea plantations the first three years after planting tea really are tough when it comes to managing weeds; spraying herbicides can hold the weeds back for a long time, but it affects tea quality, so he chose manual weeding. Besides Green Farmers' Home subsidizing one lawn mower, he later bought another lawn mower at his own expense.

Lin Chao-yi said, "Weeding is tiring, but it is very friendly to the soil, the environment and the crops. And now that consumer awareness is rising, my tea is chemical-free and grown with sod culture, so the price is a little better than the general market rate, and the volume and speed of sales are also better."