Good Farmers' Grand Tour (4) Finding the Path to Reviving Native Soybeans

In the 50th year of the Republic of China, Taiwan had about 60,000 hectares of cultivated land devoted to soybeans (including yellow soybeans, black soybeans, and edamame), but since the opening of soybean imports from abroad, the area under soybean cultivation has continued to shrink. Today, Taiwan imports 2.3 million tonnes of yellow soybeans each year, yet domestic planting area has fallen to just a few dozen hectares. Soybeans and wheat can be called the two important crops for which Taiwan's domestic demand and self-sufficiency rate are most disproportionate.

In order to restore soybean cultivation in Taiwan, the Happy Wheat contract-farming group established the Soybean Special Task Force this year, hoping to write a new milestone for the revival of locally grown coarse grains (Note 1). To find suitable good seeds, General Manager Shih also spent a great deal of effort, and finally obtained bean varieties such as Tainan No. 3 (black soybean), Tainan Selection No. 1 (yellow soybean), Kaohsiung No. 8 (yellow soybean), Kaohsiung Selection No. 10 (yellow soybean), and Hualien No. 1 (yellow soybean), beginning the difficult road of reviving cultivation.

During this Good Farmer Grand Tour, the farmers made a special trip to the Kaohsiung Agricultural Improvement Station to visit Dr. Chou Kuo-lung, known as the "Edamame Prince," seeking professional knowledge on soybean cultivation techniques and hoping to rediscover the way to grow local soybeans.

Edamame is actually the adolescent stage of the soybean!

Dr. Chou Kuo-lung is a domestic expert on edamame cultivation, hence the name "Edamame Prince." The edamame that people love to eat is the portion of the soybean harvested at the R6 green-pod maturity stage (that is, when 80% of the fresh pods on the whole plant have reached fullness). The pods are green and covered with fine hairs, hence the name "edamame."

Originally, Chou Kuo-lung was also a scholar studying general soybean cultivation, but after assessing that Taiwan's small cultivated area could not compete with large-scale farmland abroad, he turned to researching and promoting frozen edamame technology that could be exported to Japan. In recent years, Taiwan's edamame exports to Japan have increased year by year, accounting for almost 37% of Japan's imported edamame. The land of farmers contracted with the Agricultural Improvement Station is mostly large-farm type, at least 100 jia and at most 400 jia, and a fresh-pod harvester dedicated to edamame costs nearly 14 million, which for ordinary small farmers is an astronomical investment.

Chou Kuo-lung said he was very happy to see that the contract-farming group led by General Manager Shih had achieved very successful results in growing local wheat. This is an outcome of the private sector leading the official sector, and recently the relevant government departments are preparing to invest in wheat seed research. In response to General Manager Shih's statement that soybean seeds are very hard to find, he replied that the Agricultural Improvement Station has plenty and welcomes them to take some.  
↑(top right) Everyone at Kaohsiung Agricultural Improvement Station very seriously listening to Dr. Chou Kuo-lung's briefing (top left) Dr. Chou Kuo-lung (bottom) farmers looking at the edamame field at the Agricultural Improvement Station


Finding the most suitable soybean varieties to cope with the unpredictable weather ahead

Although the Agricultural Improvement Station was willing to generously provide seeds, General Manager Shih said that varieties suitable for growing edamame are not necessarily suitable for growing soybeans. He added that the only time the government had developed and researched soybeans was when it wanted to develop bioenergy in Taiwan and study "energy soybeans," but the plan fizzled out, and many good seeds were used up at that time.

Regarding the improvement of soybean seeds, Dr. Chen Chia-sheng of the Kenting Animal Husbandry Research Institute, one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Soybean Special Task Force, also said:

"Nowadays breeding is rather casual. In the past, creating a line took at least five years, and it had to be trial-planted all over Taiwan; only after no major differences appeared could it be released. Soybeans in particular are very sensitive to the environment. Although Taiwan is so small, the climate and environment vary greatly from place to place. Yet today many new lines are announced and released without having been tested thoroughly, so no wonder they are not suitable for growing all over Taiwan."

General Manager Shih said that this year the total contract-farming area for black soybeans was 7 hectares, and the yield was very close to the passing line, with quality still acceptable. Planting techniques in the south are quite mature, but the 5 hectares of yellow soybeans were not so good, especially because the nonstop rain this autumn and winter made the soybean planting situation unpromising. But the farmers also discovered that Kaohsiung No. 10 and Kaohsiung No. 8 are bean varieties relatively tolerant of moisture and cold. Although the plants look shorter, the beans inside the pods are still plump and solid, and neither of these two varieties is new. $0$0"Maybe we should stop pursuing new varieties and instead look back, because perhaps the older bean varieties are the ones best adapted to the current climate," said General Manager Shih.

 ↑ Beaten askew by rain, soybeans (variety "Kaohsiung Selection No. 10"), though they look crooked and fallen, the shelled beans still look fairly firm and have a chance to become a suitable variety for Taiwan's future soybean restoration.

Extreme climate makes the road to reviving coarse grain cultivation even harder

Besides seeds, weather and extreme climate are the painful challenges facing soybean cultivation.

This year is the "first year of spring and autumn" for the Happy Soybean Special Task Force (divided into spring and autumn crops), and in its very first year it encountered abnormally heavy rain in autumn and winter, leaving farmers in the south truly "frozen stiff." Because the situation was so grim, General Manager Shih regarded this year's soybean planting as a "seed-breeding year," hoping to keep the healthier, better-quality varieties so that next year can have a good start, and treating this year's losses as tuition paid. He looks forward to favorable weather next year: "This time we asked the farmers to try out the feel and build a relationship with the beans, and next year will be better."

"In 2011, the average daily temperature was 0.5 degrees higher than 20 years ago, the difference between rainy years and dry years increased from two times to three times, but the number of rainy days fell by 15% compared with 20 years ago." In Dr. Chou Kuo-lung's briefing introducing edamame cultivation, data on Taiwan's climate changes in recent years were listed, and these data also reveal the arrival of the era of extreme climate.

"Growing soybeans is the exact opposite of growing wheat in terms of thinking. Wheat does not need you to look after it, but soybeans need farmers to care for them every day, because soybeans are especially sensitive to sunlight and temperature. As soon as anything changes in the external environment, soybeans may change." Chen Chia-sheng told the farmers.

Despite all these difficulties, rotating coarse grains in Taiwan is still the best choice in the face of extreme climate. Soybeans themselves are a food crop and an important food ingredient, and grasses have the function of nitrogen fixation, meaning that planting soybeans itself is equivalent to applying natural nitrogen fertilizer to the land, which is highly effective for maintaining the sustainable use of the land.

Careful planning: letting local soybeans take a different path

Local soybeans are difficult both to grow and to harvest, and the cultivation cost is also quite high. Chou Kuo-lung calculated precisely that the average field production cost of soybeans is 17.6 yuan per kilogram. If you add the 2 yuan loss rate from mechanical harvesting and the 5 yuan drying cost, the total production cost is 23.6 yuan. But a recent news report said that Tatung Soy Sauce bought black soybeans from farmers at only 27 yuan per kilogram. Calculated this way, farmers simply cannot make ends meet. "Farmers must be especially careful when growing soybeans; soybean prices fluctuate greatly, and yellow soybeans in particular are especially prone to collapse," General Manager Shih warned.

Along the way with the farmers, General Manager Shih can only be described with the word "cautious." He believes that no matter what is to be planted, the harvest, price, and demand at the processing end, as well as production and marketing order, must be well planned, otherwise the ones who lose money in the end will certainly be the farmers. "How much to plant? How much to produce and sell? Don't make it too complicated." General Manager Shih joked that the Happy Contract-Farming Group enjoys "low-key luxury," quietly advancing toward its goal.

General Manager Shih said that when he first grew a beard, it represented his anticipation for the wheat harvest. If the harvest was good, he would shave the beard off all at once as a symbol of a good harvest. This time, for the contracted soybeans, he shaved all his hair and became bald. If friends see him still bald, it means the soybeans have not been harvested well. "Others become like what they eat; I become like what I plant."

The general manager touched his bald head and said with a smile. "I hope that next time everyone meets me, the hair will be back and the beard will have been shaved."

Note 1: Coarse grain crops generally refer to food crops other than rice; corn, wheat, soybeans, and sweet potato are all coarse grain crops. Taiwan's food self-sufficiency rate is only 32%, yet for coarse grains it is less than 1%, and for soybeans it even relies 100% on imports (2008 data). Over the past year, international grain prices rose by an average of 25%, among which corn rose 52%, wheat rose 49%, and soybeans rose 28%. Taiwan has relied on imported foreign coarse grains for decades, and the issue of food security is becoming more and more serious, so the private sector is calling on the government to pay attention to and restore coarse grain cultivation in order to raise the domestic food self-sufficiency rate and face the possible situation of food shortages in the future.

Further reading
Good Farmer Grand Tour (3): Learning in the wheat field with old farmers + small farmers
During the three-day Good Farmer Grand Tour, one of the stops was a visit to Qiaode Elementary School in the Wheat Field Learning program. At the end of November this year, they opened up 20 sq m on campus so that teachers and students could plant wheat together, and they diligently update the cultivation records in the Happy Wheat production history. Even if the schedule is tight, this group of passionate "old farmers" on the grand tour must meet these outstanding "small farmers."
Good Farmer Grand Tour (2): A trip to comfort the injured wheat
Mr. Shih Ming-huang, who promotes "local wheat and coarse grain revival" in Taiwan, and contract-farming farmers set off last week on the round-island "Good Farmer Grand Tour," visiting farmers growing wheat and soybeans around the country to observe the environment and crop growth in different fields and exchange planting experience and techniques. News&Market participated in the entire "Good Farmer Grand Tour," recording this rather milestone-like "round-island trip for local coarse grain revival" and the farmers' learning process.
Good Farmer Grand Tour (1): A recharging trip for wheat and soybean revival farmers
Braving the cold wind, the "Good Farmer Grand Tour" group led by Shih Ming-huang, general manager of Happy Farm, with more than 20 farmers involved in wheat and soybean revival, carried out a 3-day round-island observation trip, visiting farmers around the country and exchanging knowledge on cultivation, processing, and production and marketing with breeding experts and scholars. This trip can be called a milestone in Taiwan's private efforts to raise the food self-sufficiency rate.
A big gathering of 40 elementary schools across Taiwan: Wheat Field Learning, GO!
"Farmers, sorry! We came late." In view of the fact that "food education is the part of environmental education most closely related to individuals," the "Happy Wheat Contract-Farming Farmers Group," which has long promoted local wheat cultivation in Taiwan, and the "National Federation of Teachers' Unions," newly established in July this year, chose Yunlin, known as the nation's agricultural capital, to jointly publish the "Wheat Field Learning" cultivation program. At present, 40 elementary schools and homeschooling groups across Taiwan have responded.
Taiwan wheat, long time no see! Special feature guide
Taiwan's wheat needs practice, from production to sales, from spiritual encouragement to practical support, and everyone is needed to help make it happen. News&Market's self-produced special feature "Taiwan wheat, long time no see!" interviewed the important driving forces behind this wave of wheat revolution; it is their attitude and persistence that have opened up new possibilities. Let us come together to the wheat fields and cheer for Taiwan wheat!