Applying for agricultural machinery subsidies is difficult, so farmers turn to online crowdfunding to buy machines.
Raising funds for writing, shooting a film or a graduation trip is nothing unusual, but farmers going online to raise money to buy farm machinery? That is a first! In Kouhu Township, Yunlin County, the husband-and-wife team Kuo Ming-yuan and Shih Li-fen grow organic rice and sweet potatoes. To keep their crops from being contaminated by the machinery of conventional agriculture, they went online to crowdfund the purchase of a small tiller. Shih Li-fen said that for small independent farmers the application process for farm machinery is complicated and approval is not guaranteed, but with online crowdfunding to buy machinery, the amount of money is not the point; they hope to use this opportunity to share their philosophy of farming with the public.
On farmers going online to raise funds to buy farm machinery, Weng Chen-hsin, head of the Agricultural Materials Division of the Agriculture and Food Agency, said organic farmers rank first in priority for regional subsidies for farm machinery. Of the more than 2,000 organic farmers across Taiwan, China, one quarter can get approval. "We are actually afraid they won't come and apply!" But many non-toxic and organic smallholders say that to apply for farm machinery they need to go through the local farmers' association or the township office, yet many of these units simply never release the information, leaving individual operators to fight alone. They hope the competent authorities will make the information transparent or arrange centralized purchasing and storage so that smallholders can easily rent equipment.
Organic fields easily contaminated by farm machinery: farmers crowdfund to buy a tiller
In recent years Yunlin County's "Chenglong Wetlands" have worked hard to transform, becoming a new rural highlight that combines ecology and tourism, and attracting many people to return to their hometowns. Kuo Ming-yuan is one of them. Four years ago he brought his whole family back home and, without applying pesticides or chemical fertilizers, planted nearly 4 hectares of rice paddies, sweet potatoes and black beans. So far 2 hectares have obtained organic certification, but he is constantly troubled because his organic fields are contaminated by machinery from conventional farming. Recently, on the suggestion of students from National Chung Cheng University and National Taichung University of Education, he went to Flying V to crowdfund online, hoping to raise 100,000 yuan to buy a tiller.
"[Health, don't wait! You support! We plow with all our might!] A tiller, is our dream. Besides speeding up the harvest, it can also let the fruits of natural cultivation, without a long wait, immediately deliver complete health and nutrition to everyone. Yet a small tiller costs 150,000... So we want to seek everyone's support, raise funds for a tiller, and fund a dream where you and I can taste health without having to wait. And we offer a first-taste set and a classic set gift bag, the ones that best represent health, as reward items. Growing naturally together with everyone, tasting the most fundamental, original, straight-from-the-earth health!"
This online crowdfunding started on August 20, and the deadline is next Wednesday (the 16th). The goal is 100,000 yuan, and so far 41,000 yuan has been raised.
At first, when Kuo Ming-yuan and his wife heard the suggestion to crowdfund online, they felt very "embarrassed," "it felt like we were taking advantage of people," so they added extra farm products: as long as a donation reaches a certain amount, they give back organic rice, sweet potatoes and so on that they grew themselves. But Shih Li-fen stressed that the amount of money raised is not the point; they hope that through this opportunity, more consumers will learn about their farming philosophy.
