What is friendly farming? There is no need to rush to regulate it under the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act.

Recently, government agencies have begun to take an interest in us small farmers engaged in so-called eco-friendly farming, and want to bring us under the management of laws and regulations. On the surface, whether for producers or consumers of eco-friendly farming, this seems like a good thing, but the problem is, what exactly is eco-friendly farming? How should it be recognized and managed under laws and regulations?

Eco-friendly farming attracts young farmers to take part, with many ways of putting it into practice

From a broad perspective, eco-friendly farming is simply a way of farming that is friendly to the natural environment. The origin of this friendliness to the natural environment comes from reflection on and transcendence of industrialized agriculture, which in production often excessively damages the natural environment of farming, making it difficult for the industry to operate sustainably. As environmental awareness in Taiwan, China society gradually becomes a trend, the field of eco-friendly farming naturally attracts the recognition and participation of many young farmers.

From a narrow perspective, eco-friendly farming is simply a way of farming that does not use chemical agents. This definition comes from the consumer market, mainly because after Taiwan, China society became affluent, consumers place great importance on food safety issues and do not want to spend money only to eat chemical pesticides.

So how should eco-friendly farming be managed? Under the broad definition, various farming methods are all clamoring and a hundred schools of thought contend. At least up to now, whether in practice or in theory, sufficient consensus has not yet formed. Therefore, no matter which school's content and methods are adopted in the system, it will trigger controversy excluding all the others. Under the narrow definition, it is simple instead: the degree of consensus among the various schools is very high, and under laws and regulations it is only necessary to safeguard consumers by ensuring that producers do not use chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides.

Then what, on the other hand, cannot be called eco-friendly farming? What kind of farming method violates the concept of a friendly natural environment? Answering this question turns out to be much more troublesome. In fact, farming is basically about damaging the natural environment to obtain the food people need, and eco-friendly farming is only, relative to industrialized agriculture, advancing as much as possible in the direction of reducing human-made damage in cultivation.

So, does laying plastic weed-suppressing mats on vegetable beds count as eco-friendly farming? Does setting up greenhouses to cultivate crops count as eco-friendly farming? In every link aimed at effectively producing agricultural products, there is clearly still no consensus in the practice of eco-friendly farming at present, and there are even opposing views on whether fields need to be plowed.

Simply put, compared with the degree of standardization of industrialized agriculture, in the field of eco-friendly farming, which has developed in Taiwan, China for only about ten years or so, although consumer trust has already been gained through not using chemical agents and a small consumer market segment has been established, production is still at an innovative stage of development, and it will probably be some time before standardization can be discussed. Even whether eco-friendly farming can or needs to be standardized still leaves room for discussion. Under such circumstances, how should institutions and laws intervene?