Gratitude
“Basically, it’s a kind of sharing,” says Yang Ru-men, founder of the 248 Farmers’ Market. He explains that he sees the markets’ year-end thanksgiving banquets as a response to the decline of sharing in contemporary society.
Yang himself began farming organically in 2007, established the 248 Farmers’ Market to provide small farmers with a platform to sell their produce, and last year became a board member at the Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Company. A Changhua farm boy by birth, Yang has remained deeply engaged with issues in Taiwanese agriculture and always concerned with helping his fellow farmers. He says that he advocates for a “friendly environment,” and tries to be good to everyone, his ideals rooted in “sharing with one another.”
The farmers and customers at the 248, Bitan, and Tamsui markets are like family, setting up and breaking down the markets together. The Friday 248 market now also offers a “market kitchen” in the lanes off of Taipei’s Zhongxiao East Road, inviting all comers to share in meals made from locally grown produce and cooked by the farmers themselves.
The farmers, all of whom Yang personally invited to join the market, have grown close to one another.
Loyal customers
Encouraged by Yang Ru-men, Yang Chen-hsin, owner of a small farm in Gongliao, set up a stand in the market to promote earth-friendly farming practices directly to consumers.
Yang Chen-hsin used to run a Taipei car repair shop, but 14 years ago moved back to Gongliao on the east coast of New Taipei City to look after his ailing father. Yang, who in his boyhood had often helped his father on the family farm, drew on those memories to plant their few plots of land in vegetables and sweet potatoes. Over time, he became more and more interested in agriculture. He registered for environmental courses run by the Taipei branch of the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, and learned that Gongliao, which presently has only ten family farms, used to have more than 3,000 hectares of rice terraces.
Rice fields put on a different face for every season of the year. The lovely play of light and shadow on the brilliant greens of young rice and the golden heads of mature plants earned Gongliao a reputation as a veritable Eden. But times changed. When the township’s young people moved away in search of work, the local farming industry withered and abandoned its paddies to the weeds. Speaking of the township’s former glory, Yang Chen-hsin’s voice is tinged with regret.
Self-sufficient by nature, Yang set up a stall in Yilan’s Green Life Farmers’ Market in 2011 with the goal of promoting environmentally friendly farming. He didn’t make much money from his twice-monthly participation in the market, often barely NT$500 for a whole day, but he didn’t mind. He enjoyed being on the front lines, advocating environmentally friendly farming directly to consumers.
Yang has embraced the same approach since setting up shop in Xindian’s Bitan Farmers’ Market, where he tirelessly promotes Gongliao’s terrace-grown rice and explains the advantages of wet-rice agriculture even though his stall contains none of the rice of which he is so proud. In fact, 20-some regular customers bought up his entire crop before it was even harvested.
Yang Chen-hsin has acquired these loyal customers by word of mouth over the course of his six-plus years of environmentally friendly farming.
New customers often wonder whether his produce is genuinely organic. Straightforward by nature, he simply smiles and invites them to visit his farm.
The most tangible test of organic farming is the condition of the natural environment. It’s clear the minute you step out onto the farm that it hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides. Those 20-some loyal customers have all visited the farm for themselves.
Yang Chen-hsin and his customers have confidence in one another and share a certain camaraderie, but underlying it all is Yang’s gratitude. Coming back home to farm hasn’t been easy. Yang is still nowhere near being able to support himself doing it and must take on odd jobs to make up the shortfall. The willingness of his loyal customers to pay him for rice that hasn’t yet been harvested has been a godsend.
Giving up a good income
Lu Jianhe, the head chef at the Tamsui thank-you banquet, is a small farmer well known in the Tamsui area.
Lu gave up a highly paid job with DHL in 2000 to return to his hometown to care for his sick father. Organic agriculture hadn’t really taken off yet at that point, and Lu was reluctant to take it up. Instead, he became a chef and took over his father’s catering business. When the business’s lease came to an end a few years later, Lu found himself with time on his hands and discovered that he had health problems of his own. The New Taipei City Agriculture Department happened to be promoting organic farming at the time, and Lu used a 330-square-meter plot of land behind his family’s home to launch himself into organic farming.
The emergence of organic certifications and sales platforms for small farmers has made it possible to earn big money in organic farming. But Lu’s path has been difficult. He made nothing from his first three years of farming, which left the family to get by on just his wife’s income.
In 2012, Lu’s Niupu Eco-Farm became one of five farms in the Tamsui area to have received organic certification. The farm, which produces various crops throughout the year, has become a popular destination for families and school groups seeking to learn about farming. At Yang Ru-men’s invitation, Lu also became a vendor at the Tamsui Farmers’ Market when it opened three years ago. He’s now one of the market’s most senior members.
When Lu learned that Zheng Yajun, the market’s planning director, was thinking about organizing a banquet at the end of 2015 to thank the market’s long-term supporters, he was among the first to throw his weight behind the proposal.
Over the last few years, Lu has come to know many customers very well, and struggled greatly with his invitation list. After talking it over with his wife, he decided to invite them all, which necessitated asking permission to go beyond his guest quota. Originally allotted just two guests, Lu ended up with an entire table’s worth.
Sisters Jiang Yinghua and Jiang Yingqing provided the Chinese yams that were served as the first course of the Tamsui banquet. The Jiangs sell their small farm’s produce through Homiia, a cooperative market. The name is a bit puzzling at first, but when said aloud it reveals itself to be a approximation of the Taiwanese for “good things.” Yingqing explains, “We just want to recommend good things to consumers.”
The sisters, who are just one year apart in age, both reached turning points in their careers and decided to leave their jobs five years ago. Fortunately, they had been taking organic farming courses via Tamsui Community College and growing simple crops since 2006, and so had farming available to them as an alternative career track.
The Jiangs met Yang Ru-men a few years ago through a community-college classmate, and set up a stall in the market soon after. They share a sense of mission with the dozen-odd farmers who have partnered with them in the Homiia co-op. These partners not only exchange produce with one another, but have also taught the sisters, who continue to work “regular jobs” to make ends meet, a great deal about farming.
Homiia embodies a spirit of sharing. The co-op isn’t just for produce; it also sells other local products, such as locally made soy sauce. The Jiangs’ sincerity in recommending other good products to consumers has earned them an excellent reputation. In fact, many of their present-day customers have been with them since their days in the Tamsui Community College’s farmers’ market.
As the old saw says, the days are long, but the years pass quickly. With a challenging year winding down and the Chinese New Year nearly upon us, some small farmers have chosen to show their gratitude to their customers with Taiwanese-style banquets. As the year comes to a close, who and what are the rest of us grateful for?
Grilled fish with mountain pepper and shell ginger, drunken shrimp with ginger and tea, heartwarming sesame-oil chicken... the markets’ small farmers prepared tasty dishes for their guests.
Grilled fish with mountain pepper and shell ginger, drunken shrimp with ginger and tea, heartwarming sesame-oil chicken... the markets’ small farmers prepared tasty dishes for their guests.
Customers look over the fruits and vegetables in the market while the growers share information about each.
Customers look over the fruits and vegetables in the market while the growers share information about each.
Tamsui farmer Zhang Guoliang is dedicated to using organic methods to grow healthy fruits and vegetables.
At year’s end, bananas, honey, scallions and the many other farmers’ market items are bursting with the gratitude of the small farmers who produced them.
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