[Editor’s Note]Three Kinds of Reader, Three Kinds of Farmer

The Tai­pei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) wrapped up on February 10 this year. I spent part of the expo manning the Taiwan Panorama booth, where I had the opportunity to meet with some of our loyal readers. I learned that many are students studying abroad, educators, and language learners.

One young student who dropped by quietly inquired about the cost of an annual subscription. Just 18 years old, she was getting set to attend university in New Zealand, and thought the magazine would be a good way to introduce her new friends to her homeland.

Taiwan Panorama has many international readers. Though mailing the print edition abroad is costly, serving the overseas community remains our core mission.

A university French instructor who saw a documentary on Taiwan playing in our booth came in to ask if we had a French-dubbed version. She stayed to watch others on various Taiwan-related subjects, and ultimately picked up several to give to French friends and to use in her language classes.

We were also visited by an adorable elderly reader who praised our translations. A tireless learner, he recently switched to the Japanese edition after many years as a subscriber to our Chinese–English edition.

But we need to cultivate new readers beyond our core audience. One Chinese-American student back in Taiwan for the Chinese New Year holidays happened to attend the TIBE with a friend. She was surprised to see the Chinese–English edition of the magazine and remarked that she didn’t know Taiwan produced bilingual publications. She happily accepted the issues I gave her, and plans to share them with her classmates in the US.

While Taiwan Panorama strives to raise its profile and expand its readership, the small farmers we meet in this month’s cover story are facing a challenge of their own: promoting toxin-free agriculture in Taiwan. Writer ­Chang ­Chiung-fang interviewed a number of farmers for the story, all of whom are working diligently to maintain the purity of their land. Her articles examine three of them in detail: a Nan­tou grower of edible roses whose farm has more bugs than flowers; a Hsin­chu tomato farmer contending with acid rain and acidified soil; and a Chang­hua grower who relies on supermarket contracts to stabilize prices for his organic produce.

In addition to its potentially positive impacts on people’s health and humanity’s future, toxin-free agriculture could help address another area of concern for Taiwan, which imports 70% of its food.

Warren H.J. Kuo, a professor with National Taiwan University’s Department of Agronomy, argues that the continued long-term rise in petroleum prices will cause a commensurate rise in grain prices. He notes that oil not only fuels agricultural machinery and the ships that bring us the grain we import, but is also a key component of pesticides and fertilizers. With petroleum resources growing increasingly scarce, oil prices are sure to rise further. Kuo worries that farmers could find themselves unable to afford chemical pesticides and fertilizers, leading to food shortages in Taiwan.

Many people mistakenly believe that the toxin-free approach to agriculture results in poor yields. But in fact the pesticides used in conventional agriculture destroy biological diversity, killing off beneficial organisms that produce natural fertilizers. Soils damaged in this way need time to recover their fecundity. In less developed countries, where farmers unable to afford chemical pesticides have avoided sterilizing their land, organic methods produce better yields than conventional methods.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization now strongly advocates preserving the self-sustaining small-farm model of agriculture. That same model can also help assure Taiwan’s food security.

This month we also have an article on the opening of the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology in Ba­douzi, Kee­lung. Retrofitted from a former power plant, the 54-hectare museum compound incorporates elements of the old plant’s reinforced concrete structure, imbuing the main exhibition hall with a sense of history. These architectural flourishes, not to mention the marine ecology exhibits, have helped turn the museum into an informative tourist hot spot that is well worth a look.