Wearing a red checkered shirt and a baseball cap, Lai Chiao-yan (賴嬌燕) works in a garden by the Lanyang Bridge in Yilan County. It’s been eight years since her return from Nagano Yatsunou Central Agricultural Practices University and Lai’s insistence on organic farming has paid off with a bountiful harvest.
Lai, who was born in the 1970s, wasn’t always interested in agriculture. She was initially involved with her family’s recycling business and the first time she dabbled in gardening was in junior high school when she planted some chrysanthemums in the yard.
She was enrolled in the Early Child Education Department during high school and then attended a language school in Japan in preparation for studies in photography. However, because of the high costs, she dropped photography and chose to study at the less-expensive Agricultural University. Of the 72 people at the university, Lai was the only foreigner.
During her time in Nagano, Lai had to “intern” out in the fields before sunset and went jogging, mountain climbing and skiing to stay fit.
“There’s true gender equality in the agricultural field. There were more girls than boys in the class and the girls were the main labor force in the village. The men just added their voices,” she said, pointing to her biceps.
Returning to her home in Wujie Township (五結) having learned about agricultural methods that emphasize ecological balance, Lai began planting. However, she only harvested 300g of mustard greens after three-and-a-half months and only made NT$3,000 that whole year, despite planting more than 30 varieties of vegetables.
Lai was convinced the land was barren, but she refused to use fertilizers or chemicals and sought her own solution. She gathered Chinese medicinal residue that did not contain heavy metals or chemicals, and fermented the -residue with bean dregs and weeds. She then took the concoction and spread it over the land.
“Now I have earthworms burrowing through, loosening the earth and their excrement is the best natural fertilizer,” Lai said.
Lai is currently farming 1.6 hectares for grain and 0.5 hectares for vegetables, and the quality of her produce using her organic agricultural methods is no worse than normal plots of land, she said.
She insisted on drying grain under the sun and not sending it through drying machines, claiming that indica rice dried this way tastes as good as japonica rice.
Aside from working in the fields, Lai also busies herself with the production of black-bean soy sauce, Japanese-style miso, Korean kimchi and salted vegetables to pay for family expenses. Of the NT$200,000 her endeavors bring in annually, 50 percent goes to her brother and of the remaining NT$100,000, NT$60,000 goes to pay insurance. For the rest of her expenses, she lives on agricultural income and assistance from her brother.
Though it’s hard to make a living by farming, Lai’s passion for the vocation has not decreased. She plans to write books to follow up on Farm Manor, which was released last year, and encourage more people to take up organic farming.
Farm Manor was the product of three years of filming the garden by Lai and her brother, Lai Chun-wang (賴君旺), and detailed the growth of their plants from tiny shoots to fully developed vegetables. It was an instant hit.
“Farming starts with observation,” Lai said, adding that the rising and setting of the sun, the waxing and waning of the moon and how nature works, all have an influence on plants.
“As long as someone says the rice and vegetables I harvested taste good, that’s what motivates me to go on,” Lai said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS