Living the Good Life in Taichung

They hope to build bridges between producers and consumers so that consumers can understand more about organic food than merely that it is healthy. Instead, they hope consumers will grasp the importance of organic growing for the environment, and even encourage friends to join with them in this simple and beautiful way of life.

On May 5, Hope Market finally opened in a 1500-square-meter space at Dongliville Farm on the outskirts of Taichung City. More than a dozen canopies were erected in a beautiful garden-like setting.

Over 20 organic farmers came from all over Taiwan, as did craftspeople like quilters, and members of environmental groups. They laid out their produce or wares in a carnival-like atmosphere.

If there was less noisy hawking than in a typical food market, there was no shortage of character both human and earthy. At one stand an entire family had come out to sell their broccoli and cherry tomatoes. At another, two sun-darkened farmers from Chiayi sat woodenly on the ground with a pile of beets in front of them. A stand selling Yinchuan rice from Hualien demonstrated marketing finesse: Buy a kilogram of rice and get a snack made from mixed grains for free. By noon lines were forming.

"Our market isn't aimed at selling produce as much as promoting a philosophy," explains Chen Meng-kai, head of Dongliville and a founder of Hope Market. Hope regards itself as a "farmers' market," where people from all walks of life can learn from growers, and growers can learn about the natural environment. But in addition to the "farming" aspect, there is also the "market" side--people gathering together. Consequently, at Hope people don't simply sell what they have and leave, and buyers and sellers don't have merely a financial relationship. Rather it's a place where farmers and their customers can chat about how they grow their organic vegetables or prepare their dried cabbage. People exchange information and enjoy the give and take of human relations.

From field to table

Hope's five founders started to come together when Feng Hsiao-fei, who grows organic vegetables in Chungliao, began having conversations with Tao Fan-ying, a teacher in child welfare at Providence University who has long been interested in community development, about how to build marketing channels that would make things easier on farmers. They happened to meet Chen Meng-kai, a former CEO of a high-tech company who had switched to promoting organic food and running a large organic farm-restaurant. When the three got together, the idea of a farmers' market took shape.

Hsu Chieh-ying, a social worker and a student of Tao's joined the group as a professional administrator, and later Li Mei-yun also joined. After eight months of discussions, they came up with an idea that put the community at its center--creating a "from-field-to-table" farmers' market.

To bring friends and acquaintances together to build community, Hope puts on various courses in addition to holding a farmers' market. There's "good reading," which uses reading to expand people's ideas about the good life. "Good eating" aims to discuss rice culture and rice cooking. There's "good farming," for which they invited Professor Nee Cheng-chu of Chung Hsing University's horticulture department to teach organic farming methods. These classes let non-farmers get a feel for what farming is really about. They get their hands dirty and take joy from the fragrant earth and the growth of plants. Finally "good living" will have various themes. For the first season, it teaches consumers about the harmful effects of chemical cleaning agents on people and the environment.

The past three months have offered Hope its share of "surprises."

For instance, Chen Meng-kai has discovered that many farmers who sell at the monthly market are good growers but poor businessmen, lacking any conception of how to clearly label produce, make posters or arrange their stands. They need educating. Some farmers find it hard to make ends meet, and some are extremely shy. Hope finds volunteers to help them with marketing. "There is so much you can do. That's why Hope exists," says Chen.

Currently, farmers make NT$5-15,000 each market day, and 10% of the take goes to the Hope as a stand fee. There's not much revenue, but with the market being held only once a month, it is still just the beginning--when building relationships is more important than making profit.

The Hope Farmers' Market offers a "good farming" curriculum, which lets urban dwellers who have never picked up a hoe before experience the work of organic farming and come to a deeper understanding about the importance of forging connections between consumers and farmers.

Gaining understanding

The classes meet once a week, and the more than 20 students that took "good farming" clearly learned a lot. On the last class, they shared what they had gained, explaining that by working in the fields themselves and by observing farmers and hearing them explain the impact of a torrential downpour on their harvest, "You truly come to understand the hard work that goes into organic farming and the unreasonably meager prices their crops fetch." One student explained that after visiting Tungshih's Plum Culture Hall he had come to understand the hardship that Tungshih faces now that Taiwan has joined the WTO. "In various ways students gain actual experience that enables them to understand the importance of the connection between consumers and farmers," says Tao. When these students buy organic produce in the future, he says, they won't just be making a moral statement; rather they will be supporting those caretakers of the soil from the bottom of their hearts.

Although this grassroots education program is just getting off the ground, and has yet to achieve the critical mass needed to create a social movement, quite a few of the students have stayed enrolled for the entire three months, bearing witness to the potential for future growth.

"All in all, Hope is worth continuing," says Tao Fan-ying. "By creating a community with conscious buyers, the change in consumers' behavior will in turn lead to a change in producers' behavior." This concept might sound overly idealistic, but after just three months they've already seen tangible results. "The road is long; we're just beginning." Hope is feeling its way forward, correcting itself as it goes.

The market's first season of activities will end in August. Recently, Chen Meng-kai has found himself spread a little too thin, and has decided to close his organic restaurant. He has rented the 23,000-square-meter facility to Dharma Drum Mountain as a Zen Buddhist retreat center. Because Dharma Drum Mountain shares the same ideals as the Hope Market, "Hope will continue to grow under the care of Dharma Drum Mountain."

As for what the future holds in store for Hope, Chen and his cofounders are open-minded: "The substance of Hope will not change," says Chen. "As for what form is adopted to achieve that function--anything that works." Chen hopes the market can soon increase in frequency to once a week. Only then will it really help farmers. Once it matures here in Taichung, it can be expanded to Taipei, Hsinchu and all around Taiwan.

At that time, "hope, simplicity and living the good life" won't merely be ideals but will in fact be taking root both in the land and in people's lives.

The Hope Farmers' Market offers a "good farming" curriculum, which lets urban dwellers who have never picked up a hoe before experience the work of organic farming and come to a deeper understanding about the importance of forging connections between consumers and farmers.

The Hope Farmers' Market offers a "good farming" curriculum, which lets urban dwellers who have never picked up a hoe before experience the work of organic farming and come to a deeper understanding about the importance of forging connections between consumers and farmers.

The Hope Farmers' Market offers a "good farming" curriculum, which lets urban dwellers who have never picked up a hoe before experience the work of organic farming and come to a deeper understanding about the importance of forging connections between consumers and farmers.