Organic, not earth-friendly
Ah-pao has felt even more pressure since the publication of her book brought good reviews and opened sales channels for her fruit. "The support of the general public shouldn't mean success only for me," she says. "I feel that I have to utilize the name and resources I've acquired to help other small farmers break out as well."
As she met the Ko Tong Rice Club's Lai Qingsong (her most important comrade in arms) and came to know many other outstanding small farmers who were fighting for survival on their own, Ah-pao's ambitious blueprint grew ever larger. Her goal became the construction of a sustainable local support network among small farmers using an earth-friendly approach to growing.
Ah-pao says that a "small farm" is one on which an individual or the family provides the bulk of the labor; there are no long-term employees. In Ah-pao's eyes, the lifestyle of the small farmer, someone who must almost by definition be well-rounded, is something Taiwan urgently needs to preserve but is rapidly losing.
She uses "earth friendly" rather than "organic" because it's something she wants society to think about. She says the organics movement was originally intended to be a "whole life" movement, but was sidetracked by government and consumer focus on organic product certification guidelines. That focus, she says, effectively steered Taiwan's emergent organics movement down a narrow "formalistic" path. She notes, for example, "Some 70% of the organic products on store shelves have been flown to Taiwan from halfway around the world. Such 'organics' are extremely unfriendly to the environment and to farmers!"
Ah-pao also linked the preservation of agricultural communities to the long-term focus on wilderness conservation. She explains that Taiwan grows only about 30% of its own food, and almost none of its grains and pulses. Taiwan has demand for agricultural products. "But government policy looks the other way when low-priced imports are dumped into the local market. And since agricultural goods grown on the plains do not receive reasonable protections, farmers have little choice but to abandon good farmland and grow the kinds of alpine vegetables we can't import. This in turn is resulting in the loss of environmentally sensitive land."
The Earth Friendly Small Farmers Alliance therefore advocates preserving agricultural communities and using earth-friendly farming practices such as minimizing pesticide and chemical fertilizer use. The alliance is also working to build strong ties to schools and communities to facilitate direct group purchases of its farmers' produce.
"Eat seasonally. Eat locally. Support Earth-friendly farmers. Support diverse community values." The Big House Earth-Friendly Market welcomes those who are so inclined to join in the jostling and enjoy themselves.