85% of Vegetable Group-Buy Revenue Goes to Farmers, Everyone Come Be a Vegetable Mayor

General News Jan 1, 1970By Emily Carter 0 views

These days, you even have to discuss prices with consumers to do business? In August of this year, a group of residents near Yonghe formed the "Community Vegetable Mayors," with upstairs neighbors recruiting downstairs neighbors and sons recruiting their fathers, group-buying environmentally friendly agricultural products, and holding Vegetable Mayor gatherings every two weeks to discuss production costs and delivery issues face to face with farmers. Vegetable Mayor founders Xie Shengyou and Yu Fujun, a married couple, say that in the past, consumers and producers used "food" as their medium, and trust was weak; the Vegetable Mayors hope to build a transparent, mutually trusting partnership, and through gatherings and the "convenience economy" to rebuild the bridge of trust between farmers and consumers.

The Convenient Group-Buy Economy Is Powerful, 85% of Revenue Goes to Farmers

On a chilly winter night, a group of people who had just gotten off work stare intently at an EXCEL spreadsheet packed with densely listed costs for plowing, raising seedlings, harvesting... "I now sell 1.5 kg for 200 yuan, and this might not be enough to support my family." Wu Jianliang, a rice farmer in Hsinchu, says sharply and bluntly to the rice-buying crowd below.

In August of this year, Xie Shengyou and Yu Fujun, founders of the agricultural food integration company Haoshiji, launched the "Community Vegetable Mayor" network, inviting residents who want to buy environmentally friendly agricultural products to become Vegetable Mayors, conveniently helping neighbors buy vegetables, casually spreading the philosophy of small farmers, and dropping off vegetables for farmers along the way. Menus are sent out every Friday, goods are centralized at the Haoshiji office in Yonghe, and then each Vegetable Mayor picks them up. Of this, 85% of the profit goes directly back to the farmers, and 15% covers platform administration and gathering costs. Vegetable Mayors can receive agricultural products voluntarily provided by farmer friends, take part in free tasting gatherings, and visit producers.

Xie Shengyou and Yu Fujun, a married couple (photo provided by Community Vegetable Mayors)

The ultimate goal of the Vegetable Mayors is to "decommodify" agricultural products and build partnerships, but putting this into practice is not easy. Xie Shengyou admits that this concept is still unfamiliar in Taiwan, China, and farmer friends like Wu Jianliang who are willing to openly disclose production costs are still few. Most people still see the Vegetable Mayors as a distribution channel, but in fact, by disclosing production costs, consumers will discover that farmers earn so little, which can actually be a plus.

Xie Shengyou believes that in recent years all kinds of platforms have appeared in Taiwan, China. Some people think small-farmer products should be refined and graded and packaged, or that cooperatives should be organized, but he instead believes that if small farmers go the commercialization route, it is hard for them to be competitive, and it also wastes out-of-spec agricultural products. So they specifically asked a farmer friend who grows sweet persimmons not to grade them, and unexpectedly many consumers still bought them.

But he stresses that this is not about comparing the pros and cons of various models, but about creating new ways of thinking. The Vegetable Mayors are still in the early stage. Once, a member received rotten sweet potatoes, and after asking the farmer friend, they found out it was the common sweet potato weevil pest. This made them realize that Vegetable Mayors also need basic agricultural food education, and in the future they may set a basic threshold requiring Vegetable Mayors to attend gatherings.

This innovative model may still be immature, but it has already turned a group of consumers and producers who were complete strangers into like-minded good friends. The gathering that starts at 7 o'clock goes on until 11 o'clock. "We're a late-night diner!" Yu Fujun says with a laugh. Everyone always has more to say at each gathering. Being able to see so many like-minded friends working hard together is truly moving, and she hopes to bring out the Taiwanese spirit of "doing things along the way," using the power of consumption to change the world.

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85% of Vegetable Group-Buy Revenue Goes to Farmers, Everyone Come Be a Vegetable Mayor

The Convenient Group-Buy Economy Is Powerful, 85% of Revenue Goes to Farmers

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