PhD graduate from the UK Li Faxian gives up teaching to focus on growing organic vegetables: farmers are designers too
Dr. Li Faxian, one of the Top 100 Young Farmers in the 2nd Special Project, earned his doctorate in the UK, focusing mainly on labor issues, and after returning home he taught at the Institute of Sociology at Sun Yat-sen University. However, he did not want to miss the chance to be part of his children's growth because of his career. After discussing and evaluating the matter with his wife, he first spent weekends interning for several months at a friend's organic farm. After quietly taking stock of his own abilities, he decided to return to his hometown and switch to organic farming, and after 4 years of dedication he became an expert.
Li Faxian: Farmers are also designers, planning solutions suited to the farm
At first, his parents were strongly opposed to his decision to return home to farm. However, he had already carefully assessed his own abilities and resources, and in the face of his parents' doubts and opposition, he did not change his resolve. Since no one in Dr. Li's family was engaged in agriculture, all of his agriculture-related knowledge and skills came from courses at the Farmers' Academy. After returning 4 years ago, he has taken Farmers' Academy training courses every year, supplemented by his own hands-on experience on the farm and technical guidance from experts at the Kaohsiung station, which made his skills advance by leaps and bounds.
Under the guidance of the Kaohsiung station, Dr. Li doubled his cultivation area, from 0.38 hectares at the start to 0.72 hectares now, with a total of 15 greenhouse and screen houses. Li Faxian said he must elevate himself to the role of "designer," so he pays close attention to the farm's facilities and equipment, planning solutions suited to his own farm. Whether greenhouses, shade nets, seedling sowing boxes, drainage facilities, and so on, all are the result of brainstorming together with friends; for example, for the design of the shade net, he and his friends worked on it for several months.
