Farming has been gaining increasing popularity in the Hualien area over the past three years. The Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station’s school for farmers provides specialized agricultural classes, with a significant number of people drawn to register for classes at the school. The rate of matriculation this year for classes is only between approximately 20 and 30 percent, giving many people the impression that it is actually harder than getting accepted by a college.
Station director Huang Peng says that Hualien County is an agriculture-oriented county. In recent years there has been an influx of people moving to Hualien from big cities, Huang says, adding that many of them are quite interested in farming and planting. The station opened the farming school to help nurture these fledgling farmers’ skills when it comes to horticulture and simple field operations. People from cities have unexpectedly shown a greater demand for the classes than people in rural areas. Most of the students sign up on the Internet, with classes usually filling up almost immediately after enrollment begins.
Many people living in rural areas along the east coast are not that familiar with the Internet, which Huang says is why enrollment deadlines are often missed. For this reason and out of consideration for local farmers or young people who sincerely want to return to their hometown to take up farming, the station is willing to provide special enrollment privileges, giving professional farmers the opportunity to participate in these classes. A lottery system will be used if too many people enroll for classes.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
照片:自由時報記者游太郎
Classes continually being offered this year include rudimentary horticulture and farming classes, and a beginner organic farming class. At the advanced level there are courses on the maintenance and testing of agricultural machinery, organic vegetable culture management, pests insects and smother crops in organic culture, applied fertilizing management, special organic agricultural processing management, and applied branding and marketing for agricultural products. Advanced courses also include a strategic marketing class for agriculture.
Besides offering classes at the station, they are also working with National Hualien Vocational High School of Agriculture, borrowing teachers and equipment, which gives an obvious boost to the overall quality of the professional knowledge and educational experience offered at the school, and increases people’s incentive to enroll.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
花蓮地區近三年來掀起務農熱,花蓮農改場舉辦「農民學院」提供農業專門課程學習,吸引大批民眾報名,今年開課目前錄取率僅約二至三成,不少民眾認為比考大學還難。
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者游太郎
花蓮農改場場長黃鵬指出,花蓮是個農業縣,近幾年來有不少原在都會區的新移民遷入,對於農作物栽種興趣高,為了養成新進農民的園藝產業、田間簡易等操作技能,特別開辦了「農民學院」,沒想到都會區遠比偏遠鄉鎮熱門,紛紛以網路方式報名,每次開放報名即迅速額滿。
他說,報名方式透過網路,對東部偏遠地區民眾來說,對網路並不熟悉,常錯過報名時間,因此考量到在地農民,或真正有心想要返鄉務農的年輕人,農改場願意提供「加分」優惠,讓專業農友有機會參與這些課程,若報名人數超出太多,將以抽籤方式辦理。
今年陸續開的課程包括入門班園藝班、農藝班;初階的有機農業班;進階有農業機械簡易保養檢修班、有機蔬菜栽培管理班、有機栽培病蟲草害、肥培管理應用班、特色有機農產品加工管理班、農產品品牌行銷實務班等;高級班則開設農業行銷策略規劃班等。
除了在農改場開班外,另與花蓮高農合作,借助師資與設備,讓專業知識及教學經驗獲顯著提升,也因此增加了民眾報名的誘因。
(自由時報記者游太郎)
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
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