Under the trend of emphasizing food safety and environmental protection, more and more farmers in Taiwan have decided to join the ranks of ecological farming in recent years. However, there is no clear definition and regulation of ecological farming in Taiwan, and words often appear on the outer packaging of aquatic products, such as Do not use drugs, use probiotics, be friendly to the environment, etc., are mostly based on the practices integrated by the breeding industry based on their own experience. On the other hand, the ecological breeding production process bears higher risks and production costs. How to balance benefits and the environment has become the biggest challenge.
Building a brand can increase profits, but it is necessary to maintain a stable supply
Ecological aquaculture operators will face the choice of whether to build a brand and move towards self-production and self-sale to increase profits, but this is not as simple as imagined. Li Zongcan, an ecological farming operator in Taixi Township, Yunlin County, took his own experience in farming clams as an example. The harvest of each batch of meretrix meretrix is huge, and most of them can only be sold to dealers. Therefore, in 2016, he founded the brand "Taixi Juxian", which advertises ecological farming. Specialize in oversized Meretrix meretrix, part of which is supplied to middlemen, and the other part is supplied to organic stores and the general public to expand sales channels.
Meretrix meretrix are vacuum-preserved after being harvested, and the best tasting period is only 10 days. Although the price of supplying organic stores is relatively high, they have to be shipped 1-2 times a week. Unlike handing over to middlemen, small quantities and multiple shipments It is not cost-effective to hire labor to fish. Li Zongcan can only handle matters such as touching the clams, spitting sand, vacuum packaging, etc., and the remaining clams may not grow up safely. There may be a large number of sudden deaths overnight due to environmental changes or disease factors. Make him bear huge risk cost and sales pressure.
Qiu Jingyao, the head of the eel township enterprise association, and his younger brother Qiu JianCheng also decided to launch the brand "Qiu Brothers" around 2011 to let consumers know more about their products. Although frozen aquatic products do not have the short-term sales pressure like Meretrix meretrix, and Taiwan has not regulated the shelf life of frozen aquatic products, consumers will still care about it. He currently sets the shelf life at 1 year, and distributors generally hope to allow The collection period is at least two-thirds of the storage period. If the product is not sold within the period, the value of the product will be zero.
Qiu Jingyao said that the establishment of an ecological breeding brand must consider the stability of supply. When the output is not enough to supply all channels, it has to face the problem of abandoning some channels; another situation is that the sales of its own products are in good condition, and channel suppliers hope to increase supply The quantity is high, but the output is not enough. The distributor may therefore look for other producers. If other producers offer a cheaper price, they may lose the opportunity for cooperation.
Qiu Jingyao pointed out that after the establishment of the brand, he gradually discovered many business details, such as the different profits of each channel, the actuarial calculation of input costs, whether the income is reasonable, and then providing quotations, the process went through a period of hitting the wall. "It is necessary to think about how much the establishment of a brand for self-production and self-sale will actually help producers."
For ecological breeding operators, the sense of accomplishment comes not only from the joy of harvest, but also from the thriving ecological environment around them.
Borrowing international trends, focusing on environmental load and low-cost investment
In addition to Taiwan, the development of ecological farming in Canada, the United States, Indonesia and is also very vigorous, and some scholars have proposed a set of definitions. Barry A. Costa-Pierce, a professor at the University of New England in Australia, is one of the pioneers in the international advocacy of ecological farming. In 2015, he proposed seven principles of ecological farming, clearly pointing out that the development of ecological farming should cover system ecology, Ecological engineering, agricultural ecology, social ecology and other interdisciplinary knowledge, and provide economic and social benefits.
Chen Shizhang, secretary-general of the Taiwan Fishery Economic Development Association, pointed out that the low density of Taiwan’s ecological farming is still high compared to foreign cases such as Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asian countries, but it is still worth encouraging. However, if the farmers are willing to reduce the stocking density by 50%, reduce The use of environmental medicines, microbial preparations and medicines, is helpful to the environment.
Compared with Taiwan, foreign ecological breeding is mainly based on grazing methods, and the stocking density is determined from the perspective of animal welfare, and environmental load is taken into consideration. Chen Shizhang gave an example. Artificial feed contains nitrogen and phosphorus. Considering the degree of environmental load, foreign countries usually calculate the proportion of nitrogen and phosphorus discharge from the amount of fish catch and feed feeding. This is a part that Taiwan's ecological farming seldom takes into account. In addition, the use of groundwater or external water sources will also cause environmental burdens, so most of them use rainwater, tidal range water exchange or recycled water for reuse, TainanThere are also farmers in Qigu District of the city who use the tidal range to exchange water to save energy.
“Overseas ecological farming tends to maintain the ecological chain through natural means.” Chen Shizhang explained that artificially controlling water quality, even if only adding probiotics, is still interfering with the natural environment. For example, the original water body contains 5,000 bacteria per square meter , the number of bacteria increased to 10,000 after artificially adding probiotics, which is an ecological change. Although this is a production management method, it does not meet the definition of ecological breeding abroad. In addition, foreign countries will also consider whether the polyculture species is a local native species.
Chen Shizhang said that due to the high risk of ecological farming, the principle of operating ecological farming in foreign countries is low cost, including feed, water and electricity, production equipment, etc., in order to maintain the profitability of producers. For example, some Southeast Asian countries will directly breed in riverbed deltas, using Similar to the fixed net fishing gear, it prevents the cultured organisms from flowing away with the water, and only needs to invest in fry costs, and the food and water sources depend on the natural water flow.
Community participation has become a new direction for the development of Taiwan's ecological farming
The connection between the farming industry and surrounding communities is also an important part. Chen Shizhang said that major international aquaculture certification organizations such as the Aquaculture Management Committee (ASC), Global Good Agricultural Practices (GLOBALG.A.P.), and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) all emphasize communication with interest groups. If the community uses water, the farmer must communicate with the local residents; on the other hand, if the farm is located in a country with a low income level such as Africa and Southeast Asia, it is also required to hire local people to manage the farm, promote community harmony and provide employment opportunities .
Costa-Pierce also pointed out that ecological breeding should be combined with local communities to provide employment and training opportunities and increase the maximum economic and social value; selling products is not only to earn profits, but also to try to co-market with other local products to drive overall development , such as tourism, catering services. However, at present, most ecological breeding in Taiwan pays more attention to ecology, and seldom mentions local people and community participation. corporate legal person Chiayi County Rural Sustainable Development Association is one of the few examples that has worked in this direction in the past.
Chiayi County Rural Sustainable Development Association, the corporate body that also won the 6th Environmental Education Award, director Wu Shufang and her husband Chen Qingzhang have only been involved in ecological farming for 3 to 4 years, but they have actively extended the concept of ecological farming to the community, prompting neighbors to change Farming methods, providing job opportunities for new residents in the community, and even allowing new residents to become promoters of ecological farming.
When Chiayi County Rural Sustainable Development Association conducts guided tours, new local women are hired to cook delicious meals, which also invigorates the community economy. When
and his wife first entered into ecological farming, they knew nothing about it. They only knew that milkfish can be mixed with white shrimp. They learned from the beginning by consulting breeding experts and neighbors for breeding experience. "I do it myself to prove it to others. The key point is to be able to do it together." Wu Shufang said that after the ecological breeding model is successfully established, it may be considered to expand the scale, and people with the same concept are needed to join. Suppose there are more ecological breeding businesses in the local area , can support and connect with each other, and drive the development of the entire community, so I hope to introduce the concept of ecological farming to the community.
In addition to demonstrating ecological farming to the locals, Wu Shufang also planned her own fish farm as a place to visit, and provided flavored meals, and sold ecological farming products and community products, such as winter osmanthus crisps made from winter melon and dried longan. On weekdays, women in the community and new residents make milkfish balls in the hut next to the fish farm and do it overnight. Before the start of each guided tour, someone is responsible for preparing materials, cooking flavored meals, and preparing explanations. Under this business model, in addition to fish farm production income, operators also have income such as interpretation fees and meal expenses, and provide job opportunities to local residents in the process.
Guided tours can bring non-industry income to the ecological breeding industry.
For ecological farmers, the sense of accomplishment comes not only from the joy of harvest, but also from the thriving ecological environment around them. Wu Shufang said that when the concept of ecological breeding is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and gradually integrated into life through word of mouth, the living environment will be better. For example, a young man once worked for the Chiayi County Rural Sustainable Development Association, learned about ecological farming, and then adjusted the farming model at home with his grandfather to create the brand "Grandfather and Grandson Shrimp".
In the past few years, Wu Shufang has not only gradually promoted ecological farming and brought tourists to experience rural life, but also let the Chiayi County Rural Sustainable Development AssociationBecome one of the strongholds to attract young people to return to their hometowns. In the process of serving local elders, new residents, and caring for children in the community, the concept of ecological farming has also been introduced to more families.
Wu Shufang said that the income from ecological farming must be able to support livelihoods and maintain operations, but not only to accumulate wealth. His goal is to combine friendly environment, friendly production and community care, not over-exploitation, focus on product quality rather than quantity, and reduce environmental impact. When the environment improves, people's lives will be healthy and happy.