A Taitung County farmer who used blockchain technology to change how his family grew rice was among the nation’s top young people recognized in Taitung City on Saturday.
The honors, known as the 10 Outstanding Young Persons Awards — although 11 winners were selected this year — are organized annually by the Junior Chamber International Taiwan to recognize Taiwanese aged 20 to 40 for outstanding achievements.
Among the winners, 39-year-old farmer Wei Jui-ting (魏瑞廷) was awarded for using blockchain technology to improve his organic rice farming and marketing rice from Taiwan in world markets.
Photo: CNA
Wei, who received the award about 40km south of his hometown, said that being “outstanding” meant doing your best and making the most out of every ordinary endeavor.
It was only after years of doing his best that Wei found success.
Born in Taitung County’s Chihshang Township (池上) to a farming family, he returned home at the age of 28 to help on his parents’ organic rice farm, which was having trouble growing and selling its yield.
Wei used different approaches to try and put the farm back on track, but the most important step might have come in 2018 when he used blockchain technology that allowed him to monitor the condition of the rice through a micro weather station.
The technology ensures that data can be compiled and stored in a way that is nearly tamperproof, and Wei has used it to keep precise and accurate records on various crop parameters, guaranteeing food traceability, he told Taiwan Panorama in August last year.
Data gathered by the micro weather stations could also be used to decide how to irrigate the fields and apply fertilizer, and what measures to employ for controlling pests and diseases, he told the magazine.
The innovative approach has enabled his rice to receive halal certification and US Food and Drug Administration authorization, and gain a presence in Hong Kong, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and the US.
He has even sent some of his rice to the Pope with the help of diplomats stationed at Taiwan’s embassy in the Holy See.
Given Wei’s selection, this year’s ceremony for the Outstanding Young Persons Awards was held in Taitung for the first time.
The other 10 winners were Yang Yung-wei (楊勇緯), a silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in judo; choreographer Tsai Po-cheng (蔡博丞); Good Food Enterprises CEO Viola Cheng (鄭惠如); Jeffrey Lin (林峻丞), founder of the social enterprise Culture, Art and Nature; Max Ma (馬玉如), founder of give543.com; educator Wang Shih-chin (王詩欽); Lee Hung-yi (李宏毅), an associate professor of electrical engineering at National Taiwan University; Chen Ji-heng (陳紀衡), head of Nantou county’s Jiji Township (廖倫德); Liao De-lun (廖倫德), associate investigator at the National Health Research Institutes’ Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine; and special education teacher Joy Lin (林映君).
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