Couple with Master's Degrees Fails to Outdo Elementary-School-Educated Farming Friend, Carves Out a Path with Scientific Research

 

 

The husband-and-wife team Huang Chun-chi and Li Hui-ya from Fangliao Township, Pingtung County, are among the few highly educated farmers bearing the halo of master's degrees from national universities. Originally working at an agricultural technology company and a securities firm respectively, they could not bear to see their farming parents grow old, so 14 years ago they returned to their hometown to take over the wax apple and mango orchard that had supported Huang through graduate school. The dismal first-year income of 70,000 yuan did not scare them off. Instead, they went everywhere to observe and learn, applying the research spirit of the laboratory to identify problems, then introducing environmentally friendly farming methods and applying for traceability certification. They have now built up a group of loyal home-delivery customers, and their income has returned to its former level.

 

Huang Chun-chi and Li Hui-ya were fellow students at the Graduate Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences at National Chung Hsing University. After graduating, Huang Chun-chi joined an agricultural technology company to help promote organic farming, while Li Hui-ya went to work as a broker at a securities company. Both had good incomes. Because of the labor shortage in rural areas, Huang Chun-chi, in order to share his parents' work of caring for a 3-fen orchard, quit his job along with his wife 14 years ago and returned to their hometown with 2 young children to take over. Huang's work was agriculture, so farming was not unfamiliar to him, and friends were not surprised. When Li Hui-ya resigned, however, colleagues were astonished, thinking she had won the lottery and no longer needed to work.

 

"I lost to an elementary school graduate farming friend, and discovered that theory and practice really are different!" Huang Chun-chi said. In the beginning, they changed his parents' conventional farming methods to organic cultivation, and the first year was disastrous, with total harvest sales of 70,000 yuan. The second year, after improvements, it rose to 140,000 yuan. He lamented that his own high education was actually no match for an elementary school graduate farming friend who grew high-quality fruit. So he went everywhere to observe and "seek guidance," discovering that in the process of flowering, ripening, and bagging, a small mistake in any one step affects the overall quality. He applied the research spirit of the laboratory to find the problems and adjusted to environmentally friendly farming methods, finally improving both quality and quantity. The sense of accomplishment is something money cannot measure.

 

"Plant with care, be friendly to the environment, and harvest only when ripe, and the fruit will naturally give you the sweetest reward!" he said. The quality of crops is related to climate, but it can still be overcome through field techniques. Wax apples harvested early at 70 to 80 percent ripe do not match those at 90 to 100 percent ripe in taste and sweetness, but some will crack. Farmers mostly harvest early to get a good price, but he focuses on home-delivery customers, so there is no need to harvest early. His direct-sale price is slightly lower than the top-grade market price, and he has a group of loyal customers. Li Hui-ya said that cracked wax apples are actually especially delicious, and some consumers love this flavor. She calls them "blessing fruits."