Stone wall red dates usher in the harvest season, shining red and gold under the bright sun

Late last year, red jujubes were classified as a traditional Chinese medicinal material, sparking a dispute that left farmers unable to sell their crop; the matter was quickly resolved in early 2012, and the reclassification of red jujubes as both a medicine and a food let farmers breathe a sigh of relief. Gongguan Township Farmers' Association, which had originally wanted to push through origin certification in one stroke, was busy building wholesale sales channels, and its pace in promoting safety verification seemed to have slowed. Farmers were in no hurry to put traceability certification labels on their products, because sales seemed unaffected; the market response was so good that Gongguan's red jujubes entered a booming period for the crop, with jujube farmers pulling out all the stops to sell their own products. Whether they followed the safe pesticide recommendations of the agricultural research and extension station, and whether the crop could pass pesticide residue testing, seemed to become less urgent.

Red Jujube Season: The Challenge of July's Blazing Heat

As the July and August red jujube season arrives in Taiwan, China, more and more people are calling mobile phones and home phones to ask; those hoping for organic red jujubes are eager to know when they can buy. But I take my time, hoping the jujube harvest can be a little later, so the jujubes on the trees can grow bigger. The severe heat and drought of early July left even the grass in the jujube orchard surrendering, too wilted to stand up straight. The irrigation hose my younger brother ran is put to use morning and evening, drawing cool stream water from the irrigation channel to quench the parched soil. Without the moisture of dew to sustain the ever-heavier clusters of baby jujubes, the mother jujube trees face their harshest adversity before harvest.