Rice Farmer Ah-Deng's Worry: Farmland Expropriation, a Classic Swan Song?
More than a month has passed since the results of the Ten Classic Premium Rice Competition, held to mark the centenary of the founding of the nation, were announced. While most of the winning rice farmers are beaming with joy, and their farmers' associations are enthusiastically promoting their local premium produce by touting the award-winning rice, for award-winning rice farmer Zhuang Zheng-deng of the Zhudong Township Farmers' Association in Hsinchu County, the feelings are mixed, like riding an emotional rollercoaster.
Zhuang Zheng-deng is proud that, driven by his farming conviction of "aiming only for first place, and if you do something, do it best," he has kept improving his rice cultivation, entering the national classic rice competition and leaping from a ranking in the 30s last year to the national top 10 this year, and in doing so, raising the profile of Zhudong's agriculture.
But what leaves Zhuang Zheng-deng at a loss is that the fruits of his agricultural excellence, and the good farmland he has tended so carefully, have been included in the land expropriation zone for the third phase of the Hsinchu Science Park. This classic rice farmer will face having no field to till in the future, and it is uncertain how much longer the glory of his classic premium rice finding its way to people's bowls as a delicacy can last. By then, perhaps all that will remain is a plaque reading "Modern Shennong," left only for remembrance.
Recommended Reading
[Summer Farming Field Survey] Record of Good Farmland under Zone Expropriation in Erchongpu, Hsinchu 3-1
[Summer Farming Field Survey] Record of Good Farmland under Zone Expropriation in Erchongpu, Hsinchu 3-2
[Summer Farming Field Survey] Record of Good Farmland under Zone Expropriation in Erchongpu, Hsinchu 3-3
Agriculture and Food Agency 2011 Ten Classic Premium Rice Special Section - Zhuang Zheng-deng
A Discussion of Small-Scale Farming Models at the Urban-Rural Fringe in Taiwan, China: The Possible Shape of Community-Supported Agriculture in the Area Near ITRI
NewsMarket Report: Classic Premium Rice, Behind-the-Scenes Story! The Duel of the Two Stars of Taro-Scented Rice