Friendly Small Farmers International Network and Relay Documentary Tour

Smallholder farming is a distinctive feature of agriculture in Taiwan, China. In the face of globalization, environmental and ecological change, and limited resources, how should we think about a sustainable future for agriculture in Taiwan, China?

Starting this week, five internationally prominent speakers in the field of agriculture will visit Taiwan, China one after another to interact with local friends who care about agriculture. We hope that through the exchange of overseas experience and ideas, along with local visits and networking, we can invigorate our discussion and imagination regarding the future of agriculture, and from this find methods suited to local conditions.

The five international speakers are key figures behind Community Supported Agriculture, the farmers' seed-saving movement, half-farming half-X, the smallholder economy, and eco-friendly farming. They are:

• Daycha Siripatra, founder of Thailand's Khao Kwan Foundation, who promotes local ecological agriculture.
• Elizabeth Henderson, a key figure behind CSA Community Supported Agriculture in the United States.
• Naoki Shiomi, author of "The Half-Farming, Half-X Life."
• Dorji Wangchhuk, a scientist at Bhutan's Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, who promotes the "100% organic Bhutan" agricultural policy.
• Thomas Harttung, founder of Denmark's AARSTIDERNE.COM, the world's largest CSA community-supported farm company.

This series of events is being planned and co-organized by Wu Tung-chieh of the Green Front, Chen Chien-tai of ITRI, Tsai Yen-lin of National Chiao Tung University and the Agricultural Society, the National Alliance of Community Universities, Chen Yun-fang of Zengwen Community University, Wang Fu-yu of King Vegetable Shop, Chen Meng-kai of Hopu Agricultural Learning Market, National Taiwan University, and the Hatto Foundation, among others. Here, we wish to express our utmost gratitude to the organizers for their efforts on behalf of agriculture in Taiwan, China!

The five speakers will have close interactions with local farmers, communities, schools, and experts, with an itinerary spanning Taipei, Yilan, Hsinchu, Tainan, Hualien, and Taitung. Therefore, through the NewsMarket author group, we are inviting authors from various places to join the "agricultural citizen journalism" relay-writing initiative planned by NewsMarket for this series of events.

The authors participating in the relay writing will write from different angles, including event records, reports, interviews, on-site visits, and exchanges of local farming experience, among others.Through this relay writing, we will jointly leave a valuable record of this exchange between local smallholders in Taiwan, China and international speakers, explore the future of Community Supported Agriculture, eco-friendly farming, and the smallholder economy, and work together to create more innovative models suited to local development of sustainable agriculture.

Below is the relay record of the series. We invite you to join the discussion:

27 Shiomi in Hualien: Half-farming half-X, farming with inspiration
Mr. Naoki Shiomi, who advocates half-farming half-X, came to Pushih in Hualien. His dialogue and interaction with the participants on site were full of philosophical and practical insights. He said, "What I do is help others find their X." The natural world has its own laws of operation, and people must learn to observe and live in accordance with the local laws of nature; practicing one's gift means doing work that contributes to society and that one is naturally suited to. He also encouraged everyone: "Get in touch with the land more, get in touch with seeds more, and naturally you will receive many inspirations."

26 The world's largest CSA farm company: building a new food supply and distribution system
In October, the Taiwan, China CSA Alliance invited Thomas Harttung, chair of the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS), to give a public lecture at the Department of Horticulture at National Taiwan University. He was one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2009. In his talk, he shared the importance of "peri-urban agriculture" and introduced Aarstiderne, the world's largest community-supported farm company, expressing the hope that agriculture in Taiwan, China could also harness the power of Community Supported Agriculture. This article consists of two parts: the first is Chen Hu-hu's special report, and the second is an edited transcript of the lecture, shared with readers.

25 Naoki Shiomi: Half-farming half-X, 3 exercises to practice your dream!
Mr. Naoki Shiomi says he is a very ordinary person, and his greatest challenge was quitting his job at age 33 and returning home to live a half-farming half-X life. At first he also wondered, "Can I survive this way?" But whenever he thought that life cannot be handed over to a company to decide for a lifetime, "even if the boat is small, I still want to be my own captain." The half-farming half-X life lowered his material desires, yet he also began to feel the beauty of growing and eating his own food. He continually spreads the belief in half-farming half-X to more people through his writing, with his own small strength, and he is glad to see those who have already been moved pass it on in some form with their own strength.

24 Interview with Naoki Shiomi: Half-farming half-X, finding your life keyword
Naoki Shiomi visited Taiwan, China, and NewsMarket author Wu Chao-yi conducted a special interview with this author, who has attracted wide attention for advocating "half-farming half-X." Naoki Shiomi was born in 1965 in Ayabe, Kyoto, and at age 33 quit his job and returned home to begin living a half-farming half-X life. So-called "half-farming half-X" means using small-scale agriculture together with one's own gift applied to society (that is, the X) to support oneself while also contributing to society. After the book was published, it sparked a wave of discussion in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, mainland China, and Thailand, among other places. "The Half-Farming, Half-X Life" has already reached its ninth printing in Taiwan, China, showing that he raised a thought-provoking and resonant issue.

23 Half-farming half-X, finding yourself again: Naoki Shiomi exchange session
The half-farming half-X life practiced by Mr. Naoki Shiomi has attracted many friends interested in entering agriculture. Hui-wen of Happy Farm organized a half-farming half-X exchange session. Many of the participating friends are seriously pursuing their own "half-farming model," and some are even rethinking what their true "calling" really is. Whether they are among the several couples or those who are only just beginning to learn farming, they can all be said to be facing a period of life transition. Their serious attitude is in no way inferior to that of professional farming households; after all, this concerns the planning of their "life track"!

22 Half-farming half-X: Naoki Shiomi's vision
Naoki Shiomi, a practitioner of the "half-farming half-X life," was born in 1965 in Ayabe, Kyoto, and at age 33 quit his job and returned home to begin living a half-farming half-X life. So-called half-farming half-X means living a life with an agricultural component while also making use of one's own gift. Mr. Shiomi believes that in East Asian societies including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and China, the ideas of "following nature" and "following one's gift" originally left a deep layer in this culture, which is why it has resonated so strongly, and it offers profound inspiration as we rethink the meaning of agriculture today and in the future. Shiomi visited Taiwan, China for the fourth time last week, and NewsMarket is specially publishing a series of articles and interviews to share his philosophy and practice of half-farming half-X.

21 The smoke-from-the-kitchen feast at Erchongpu
Three international friends were invited to Erchongpu, a requisitioned area that has been restricted from relocation and reconstruction for 30 years, mainly so they could experience firsthand the stark contrast between traditional rural Taiwan, China and rural Taiwan, China after development. More than a decade ago, Zhubei was even more rustic than Erchongpu is now. Today, Erchongpu's century-old spring still murmurs on, but Zhubei's winding green paths and rice paddies were long ago buried beneath high-rises and asphalt roads amid the rumbling of machinery.

20 Khao Kwan, an agricultural study tour: on-site visit, part 2
Thailand's Khao Kwan Foundation teaches farmers to adopt organic farming methods. These techniques are simple and low-cost, and anyone with the will can learn them, with outstanding results. Not only are yields higher than with conventional farming, but because no chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used, costs are greatly reduced and profits are higher, debunking the myth that organic farming is high-cost and low-benefit. Twelve friends from Hopu Agricultural Learning Market went to Thailand for a study visit and witnessed a special combination of spiritual practice and farming technique.

19 Khao Kwan, returning to faith in the land: on-site visit, part 1
After two weeks of continuous "eco-friendly smallholders, international networking, relay records" writing, many articles have reported on the philosophy of Thailand's Khao Kwan Foundation. The author of this article once visited Khao Kwan with a community university. Written a year ago, this piece offers a very detailed discussion of Khao Kwan's three core topics and techniques: "seed breeding, pest control, and soil." They start from traditional wisdom: the mother soil used to improve soil comes from nearby forests, the plants and insects used for pest control are also local, and seed breeding involves selecting the most locally suited varieties generation after generation. Starting from the Thai experience, the author reflects on the future of agriculture and rural areas in Taiwan, China. The article still brings us many profound reflections and reminders today, and is shared with readers.

18 Exchange in the fields: on-site visit to a Tainan farm
The "Smallholders, Organic: The Future of Agriculture" forum was held in Tainan in mid-October. In addition to excellent presentations, the organizer, Zengwen Community University, arranged a one-day farm visit for the international speakers. The speakers visited local seedling nurseries, farm facilities, and machinery, and everyone also exchanged views directly in the fields on their methods for rice cultivation, crop rotation, breeding, and weed management.

17 Bhutan: the effort for 100% nationwide organic conversion
At "Smallholders, Organic: The Future of Agriculture," held by Zengwen Community University in Tainan in mid-October, three international speakers shared respectively on Community Supported Agriculture, farmers' seed breeding and autonomy, and Bhutan's organic agriculture development. Among these, Bhutan's experience is quite unique. Bhutan is an agricultural country promoting "100% nationwide organic conversion." How does its agricultural policy balance environmental ecology with agricultural production needs? Bhutan's purpose in promoting agriculture is sustainability, hoping agriculture can meet food needs, provide economic security, reduce poverty, and also move toward a sustainable lifestyle.

16 Farmers are the masters: changing thinking, developing the power of autonomy
The way Thailand's Khao Kwan "Farmer School" operates is to make farmers themselves the subjects of learning and change, rather than objects being taught. Farmers must realize that if they want to change the current situation, they must start with themselves, rather than relying on someone else's power. No problem has a magic cure; one can only observe and learn through practice, and only then will those things truly become one's own.

15 Organic dialogue: Thailand's Khao Kwan vs. Dongfeng low-carbon rice
One is Mr. Daycha, founder of Thailand's Khao Kwan Foundation, who helps farmers in Thailand break away from dependence on fertilizers and pesticides, helps them escape poverty, and makes the cost of growing organic rice as cheap as conventional farming. The other is Tseng Kuo-chi, secretary of the Dongfeng organic rice production and marketing group in Hualien, Taiwan, China, who grows organic rice with a very low carbon footprint in Taiwan, China. When Thailand's Khao Kwan meets Dongfeng low-carbon rice and they begin an exchange dialogue on organic cultivation, what sparks will fly?

14 Farming is not a technical issue, but a life issue
The "Smallholders, Organic: The Future of Agriculture" forum was held by Zengwen Community University in Tainan on October 15, with nearly 80 friends concerned about agricultural issues enthusiastically attending, more than 30 of whom were full-time or part-time farmers. The forum's three themes were Community Supported Agriculture, the experience of Thailand's Farmer School, and Bhutan's vision of nationwide organic conversion. The speakers came from three countries at clearly different levels of development, focusing on sharing experiences in eco-friendly agriculture. But this was not merely a technical sharing; the author believes that farming is actually a life issue. Eco-friendly smallholders, Community Supported Agriculture, and even Farmer Schools all involve rethinking capitalism, making a new choice about one's own life, reimagining human relationships, and rearranging one's place in the world. How could one not be driven by an awakening to life?

13 Liz in Hualien: a day at King Vegetable Shop & the Agricultural Learning School
Elizabeth Henderson, a key figure behind CSA in the United States, came to Hualien to visit King Vegetable Shop and the Agricultural Learning School. Liz defines Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, as building a friendly link between production and sales, with trust and sharing as the most important foundation; for King Vegetable Shop, selling vegetables is not the only point, "protecting nature and rural areas" is the goal. The shop purchases smallholders' produce, seeks stable consumers, and tries to educate consumers through various actions. The recently launched "Agricultural Learning School," a six-month program of farming and eating together, encourages and supports young people to learn farming, hoping to revitalize declining rural areas, increase local job opportunities, and live together with farmers. The wonderful interaction and dialogue between the two shared their respective efforts and hopes for agriculture.

12 Khao Kwan in Hualien: seed breeding and farming techniques fully revealed
Nearly the entire technology of Thai agriculture is controlled by multinational corporations. Rice farmers are controlled by multinationals from seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides to final sales, and quite a few farmers are in debt. Daycha, founder of Thailand's Khao Kwan Foundation, decided to find a way of farming that could replace today's highly purchase-dependent seeds and agrochemical techniques. His methods are: helping farmers understand pests and diseases, improving and enhancing soil, and raising seed quality. Adopting these techniques costs no money and can raise yields; the key point is that they are easy, allowing smallholders to truly use eco-friendly farming to achieve self-sufficiency.

11 Local viewpoint 2: Creating a social and economic relationship of exchange, reciprocity, and reproduction
In the "Taiwan, China Community Supported Agriculture Workshop," several speakers pointed out that under the current agricultural production and sales system, composed of large, medium, and small distributors and operated commercially, farmers often cannot obtain reasonable profits; whereas a "socially integrated production and sales system" formed through cooperative consumption or farmers' markets attempts to establish a transparent, diverse, and decentralized production and sales system, promoting cooperation and joint management among smallholders, enabling smallholders to engage in diversified production to raise their productivity, ensuring our environment and food safety, and also developing a society-based social and economic relationship of exchange, reciprocity, and reproduction.

10 Local viewpoint: the future of small-scale sustainable agriculture in Taiwan, China
At the "Taiwan, China Community Supported Agriculture Workshop" held in Hsinchu last week, in addition to the wonderful sharing by foreign speakers over the two-day course, there was also very incisive and in-depth local analysis and discussion among domestic speakers and farmer friends. Smallholder farming is a distinctive feature of agriculture in Taiwan, China. The speakers offered in-depth discussion on how smallholders can face challenges in production resources, farming methods, and production and sales, as well as how to establish community granaries and the possibility of using Community Supported Agriculture to form a CSA pearl chain along urban boundaries.

09 Supporting Yilan's smallholders, starting with enterprises: Fresh-Vege Restaurant
In this installment of the "eco-friendly smallholders, international networking, relay records" series, we come to Yilan, which actively promotes organic agriculture. The author of this article shares a local enterprise CSA case in Yilan. Enterprise CSA means using the power of enterprises to support agriculture, encouraging company employee cafeterias to use local, organic, healthy ingredients. In addition to looking after employee health, it can also support smallholders, reduce food miles, and promote the idea of protecting the ecological environment. From employees it influences families, and then, by inviting others with a modest effort, calls on more corporate power to support eco-friendly agriculture and care for our land.

08 Elizabeth at Hukou on site: the mouth revolution at Hexing Elementary School
Mrs. Elizabeth Henderson, a pioneer who has long promoted the Community Supported Agriculture movement in the United States, visited Hexing Elementary School in Hukou Township, Hsinchu County on October 11 to learn about a school in Taiwan, China that uses organic nutritious lunches to support the indigenous hometown economy, while also integrating the concepts of global warming and food miles into education in conjunction with the curriculum. She could not help giving a thumbs-up and saying "Excellent," considering it one of the models for practicing CSA.

07 The organic dream of Xingjian Village in Yilan: a moving journey with international promoters
Located between Annong Creek and Xingjian Creek, Xingjian Village is a quiet small village in Sanxing Township, Yilan County. Villagers and farmer friends work hand in hand to promote organic agriculture, hoping to make the entire village an organic agriculture village. The Xingjian Dream Village, with a cooperative organized entirely spontaneously by farmers themselves and relying neither on government policy demonstrations nor funding injections, has become another byword for an organic village after Luoshan Village. Against this background, on October 12, three important agricultural promoters from abroad also came to explore Xingjian Organic Dream Village, talk with local farmers, and go into the fields for on-site exchange.

06 US CSA promoter Elizabeth in Hsinchu: trust and sharing are the foundation of Community Supported Agriculture
CSA Community Supported Agriculture has been promoted in the United States for twenty to thirty years. It is designed for community residents near a farm to directly purchase local agricultural products, especially supporting "smallholders who practice organic cultivation," sharing the production risks of smallholders and establishing a friendly support channel between producers and consumers. In addition to advance purchasing and risk sharing, it also builds deeper relationships with core consumers through labor exchange, work, distribution, and delivery. Elizabeth Henderson is an important promoter of this movement. In this Hsinchu talk, she shared years of practical operational experience on the farm and also pointed out that trust and sharing are the most important foundations of CSA.

05 The farmers' seed-saving movement: smallholder experiences in Thailand and Africa
The "Taiwan, China Community Supported Agriculture Workshop" invited several international speakers to share their experiences promoting ecological agriculture. On 10/11, Daycha of Thailand's Khao Kwan shared Khao Kwan's rice breeding experience, while Arne from Sweden shared his experience restoring dry rural environments in the Sahara Desert in Africa. Both mentioned the importance of "seeds" without prior arrangement. "Seed saving," a very important part of traditional farming societies, seems to be gradually losing importance in today's farming practices in Taiwan, China. The sharing by the two foreign speakers reminded the audience members interested in smallholder work on site once again: why are "seeds" important?

04 Thailand's Khao Kwan: finding the right seeds is the future!
Mr. Daycha, founder of Thailand's Khao Kwan Foundation, successfully helped local farmers carry out their own rice selection and breeding and farm without toxins, breaking free from multinational corporations' control over pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and seeds, allowing farmers to regain autonomy in farming and escape poverty. On 10/11, he shared Khao Kwan's valuable experience at the Hsinchu CSA workshop. They collect various rice seeds preserved by farmers everywhere, and through layer after layer of screening and cultivation, find the "right seeds." Without chemical fertilizers or pesticides, the seeds can adapt to the soil on their own and grow smoothly. ’Seed is the first! ‘ ‘Believe in Nature, work with nature’ Finding the right seeds, he believes, is the true answer for agriculture.

03 Tucheng Ammunition Depot: international eco-friendly agriculture promoters visit in a series
Elizabeth Henderson, a US CSA promoter; Daycha Siripatra, founder of Thailand's Khao Kwan; and Dorji Wangchhuk, chief scientist at Bhutan's Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, three important promoters of international eco-friendly agriculture, came to Taiwan, China this week to exchange and visit in a series with local friends concerned about eco-friendly agriculture. On day 1, everyone met happily at the Tucheng Ammunition Depot, which promotes CSA Community Supported Agriculture, kicking off a week of intensive visits.

02 Hsinchu CSA test farm: farmers, students, and the community together
CSA Community Supported Agriculture aims to connect food producers and consumers in a community, sharing risks together and also sharing the harvest together. Chen Chien-tai of ITRI in Hsinchu observed overseas CSA cases and tried in Sanchongpu, Hsinchu, to combine the strength of local farmers, the community, and universities to jointly promote eco-friendly farming and Community Supported Agriculture.

01 Hualien: seeing the power of CSA, smallholders, small villages, a good life
"Find a group of people, support a group of people" is the philosophy of King Vegetable Shop. One group is specific consuming households that need to obtain healthy food, and the other group is specific organic smallholders who produce healthy food. They need each other, and through this new channel, they can support each other—-this is the spirit of Community Supported Agriculture, CSA. King Vegetable Shop is a "social enterprise"-type CSA, moving from initiating local joint purchasing to establishing a channel platform that supports smallholders, gradually developing a "cooperative economy starting from the food industry."