The Food and Agriculture Education Legislation Forum will be held on January 18 in Yilan for exchange and discussion.

In recent years, Taiwan, China has been hit by one food safety storm after another. What these successive incidents have highlighted is that food safety issues are extremely complex and cannot be solved by legal prohibitions alone, nor by the oversight or regulation of the central administrative system. More crucially, whether people have the ability to identify healthy food for themselves, and whether there is a suitable environment in which to cultivate a healthy, green way of life, may be the core of rebuilding food safety. The spirit of Japan's Basic Act on Food Education (Shokuiku Kihon-ho), enacted in 2005, is precisely to link food safety with green living, gradually integrating food, agriculture, land and green living, and promoting and putting it into practice step by step through education. Based on this understanding, the Food and Agriculture Education Legislation Promotion Alliance, made up of NGOs and academics, has proposed the vision of enacting a "Basic Act on Food Education" since May 2014, and the "Food and Agriculture Education Legislation Forum" is the first step in this work!

The Food and Agriculture Education Legislation Promotion Alliance and the Homemakers United Foundation have scheduled the "Food and Agriculture Education Legislation Forum" for January 18, 2015 in Yilan. The forum, together with legislators Tian Chiu-chin and Yao Wen-chih, invites relevant central ministries and agencies, local governments and civil society groups promoting food and agriculture education in Taiwan, China, to exchange and discuss the current state of food and agriculture education promotion and the needs and experiences at the levels of policy, regulations and budgets. It is hoped that this will build consensus, put forward specific legislative demands, and urge the government to complete the relevant legislation as soon as possible, so that food and agriculture education in Taiwan, China can truly take root and be implemented.

[Food and Agriculture Education Legislation Forum]

• Time: January 18, 2015 (Sunday) 10:00-16:30 (registration begins at 09:40)
• Venue: Briefing Room, 1st Floor, Yilan County Council, entered via the Yilan County Government lobby (No. 1, Xianzheng North Road, Yilan City, Yilan County)
• Organizers: Food and Agriculture Education Legislation Promotion Alliance, Homemakers United Foundation, Yilan County Government, Office of Legislator Tian Chiu-chin, Office of Legislator Yao Wen-chih, Center for Science, Technology and Society at National Tsing Hua University, Department of Environmental and Cultural Resources at National Hsinchu University of Education, National Association for the Promotion of Community Universities
• Forum Agenda:

  Time	Topic and Attendees (tentative)	Moderator
  09:40-10:00	Registration
  10:00-10:15	Opening remarks Lin Tsung-hsien / Yilan County Magistrate; Legislator Tian Chiu-chin; Legislator Yao Wen-chih; Li Ting-tsan / Convener, Food and Agriculture Education Legislation Promotion Alliance	Chang Wei-chi / Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Cultural Resources, National Hsinchu University of Education
  10:15-11:00	Special Topic (1) Cross-ministerial vision for food and agriculture education policy Ministry representatives: Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Education, Council of Agriculture
  11:00-11:30	Special Topic (2) Sharing experiences in promoting local food and agriculture education Local representatives: Public Health Bureau of Yilan County Government, Agriculture Department of Yilan County Government, Education Department of Yilan County Government
  11:30-12:00	General discussion: Legislating food and agriculture education in our country
  12:00-13:00	Lunch
  13:00-14:15	Special Topic (3) Current state of food and agriculture education promotion on campus and in communities Speakers: Lin Pao-liang / Principal, Guantian Elementary School, Tainan; Huang Chien-jung / Principal, Yueming Elementary School, Yilan; Huang Tseng-chuan / Principal, Shengou Elementary School, Yilan Liang Ming-huang / Professor, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University Chien Ying-hsin / Secretary to the Principal, National Lotung Commercial and Vocational High School	Cheng Hsiu-chuan / Managing Director, Homemakers United Foundation
  14:15-14:30	Tea break
  14:30-15:15	Chen Chao-chi / President, Shangqi Publishing House; Li Ya-ching / CEO, Professional Center of the National Federation of Teachers' Unions; Lin Yu-pei / Managing Director, Homemakers United Foundation
  15:15-16:45	General discussion: Policy needs and legislative recommendations for implementing food and agriculture education
  16:45-17:00	Conclusion	Li Ting-tsan / Convener, Food and Agriculture Education Legislation Promotion Alliance

• How to register: Please use online registration; for telephone inquiries, call 02-2368-6211