Food and Agriculture Connection Program
The current program builds on the concept of “sustainability” from USR Phase I “Tamsui Land - Sustainable Living Circle Program” with a particular focus on “Food and Agriculture Topics.” Before the “Food and Agriculture Connection Program”, the team of supervisory teachers had introduced field classes for the university’s service learning course in 2014. The course was run in conjunction with Hu Wei Leisure Agriculture Area in New Taipei City. The professional service learning course on “Advertising and Marketing Management” offered in the 2017 academic year was even recognized for excellence in service learning by the Ministry of Education in 2017. Cooperation with Hu Wei Leisure Agriculture Area was maintained and expanded to Sanzhi and Shimen as well. The investment of funding and manpower through the USR Program strengthened the partnership with local farmers. These initiatives paved the way for the current Food and Agriculture Connection Program.
Food and agriculture education is very broad in scope. Three main axes were introduced by this program, namely: “Friendly Earth” (understanding agriculture), “Farming Bond” (appreciating agriculture), and “Cultural Concern” (creative agriculture). “From the Farm to the Table” describes the process of crops being grown, harvested, processed, and eventually prepared and cooked for the table. It also includes the disposal of kitchen scraps. The most important mission of food and agriculture education is the pursuit of both human and environmental wealth, as well as the preservation of culture. It goes beyond the mere pursuit of “organic certification” for the sake of appearances.
The program, therefore, has two directions: First, the re-imagining of Tamsui based on the environment and health. Second, the development of university-supported agriculture emphasizing local production and consumption. The sub-heading of “For a toxin-free and organic Tamsui” for this program aims to shatter the convention that Tamsui consists of only “Tamsui Old Street”. It seeks to build a new image for Tamsui by discovering the sustainable agriculture of Tamsui.
From a historical perspective, agriculture in Tamsui originated during the Chiaching and Taokuang periods of the Qing Dynasty. In a traditional agricultural society, children start interacting with nature in all kinds of different settings from an early age. An understanding of Mother Nature, agricultural production activities and techniques, as well as the methods for harvesting, storing, and cooking crops are all part of their basic life experience while growing up. The “industrialization” and “urbanization” of society since the Industrial Revolution has led to a weakening of the links between people, agriculture, food, and the land. Food and agriculture education emerged as an effort to compensate for this disconnection. Eating for health is important but so is education that links food health to environmental and ecological sustainability.
The purpose of this program is to use “Understanding Agriculture” and “Appreciating Agriculture” as the basic building blocks and students as the seed. The establishment of general courses and micro-credits by the university are used to learn about the importance of environmental “agriculture” through learning about “food.” “Practical agricultural” experiences are also used to instill a proper understanding of the environment, consumption, and diet. Examples included the establishment of the Vanilla Secret Garden on campus and the organizing of many agricultural experience sessions in Tamsui, Shimen, and Sanzhi. The planting of vegetables and vanilla to the harvesting of Profound and Permanent Rice, as well as the offering of related agricultural courses in micro-markets and on campus, these initiatives helped the faculty and teachers at Tamkang acquire a better appreciation of the land despite the lack of agricultural courses.
Real-world research data such as the 2017 annual report published by the Agriculture Department of New Taipei City showed that Tamsui District Farmer’s Association’s organic vegetable specialty store was the leading seller in New Taipei City at NT$660,000. Sanzhi and Shimen, a part of the Greater Tamsui region, reached NT$110,000 as well, while Jinshan amounted to NT$130,000. A certain amount of demand for healthy food therefore exists in the region.
Some farmers are more reticent when communicating with academics. Personal visits are therefore essential for identifying problems and avoiding breakdowns in communication. Going into the field is necessary for supporting agriculture through real-world initiatives. This teacher and student team visited Yuanfeng Farm, Mama Lo’s Nature Farm, Big Melonhead All Natural Farm and Songshan Community where they found several problems. Problems such as small farm sizes, manpower shortages and aging population meant local agriculture urgently required assistance with production, marketing, and distribution.
On the whole, while the better-known farms can break even, some of the smaller farmers or part-time farmers have limited production capacity and lack a commercial understanding of sales channels and production strategies. Agricultural income is therefore insufficient as their main livelihood and they must make ends meet through other means. The “Creative Agriculture” component of the program is therefore aimed at providing a solution on commercial scales for small farmers. It is hoped that their sales channel can be refined with the support of the university and made ready for society at large.
To this end, this program explores the importance and challenges facing farmers in sales channels through micro-market stalls. By experiencing the entire process from production to sales, we can try to come up with future channel and product improvements.
These include the introduction and acceptance of safe foods complemented by the integration of local farms. Apart from providing students with a basic knowledge of food and circular ecosystems, university social responsibility is also leveraged as a starting point for encouraging the involvement of interested students, the building of partnerships with small farmers, and the development of ingredients. These are then extended to include business administration and marketing. Students are given the opportunity to experiment and to grow in a low-risk environment. The ultimate goal is to equip students to practice university social responsibility.
Food and agriculture education is very broad in scope. Three main axes were introduced by this program, namely: “Friendly Earth” (understanding agriculture), “Farming Bond” (appreciating agriculture), and “Cultural Concern” (creative agriculture). “From the Farm to the Table” describes the process of crops being grown, harvested, processed, and eventually prepared and cooked for the table. It also includes the disposal of kitchen scraps. The most important mission of food and agriculture education is the pursuit of both human and environmental wealth, as well as the preservation of culture. It goes beyond the mere pursuit of “organic certification” for the sake of appearances.
The program, therefore, has two directions: First, the re-imagining of Tamsui based on the environment and health. Second, the development of university-supported agriculture emphasizing local production and consumption. The sub-heading of “For a toxin-free and organic Tamsui” for this program aims to shatter the convention that Tamsui consists of only “Tamsui Old Street”. It seeks to build a new image for Tamsui by discovering the sustainable agriculture of Tamsui.
From a historical perspective, agriculture in Tamsui originated during the Chiaching and Taokuang periods of the Qing Dynasty. In a traditional agricultural society, children start interacting with nature in all kinds of different settings from an early age. An understanding of Mother Nature, agricultural production activities and techniques, as well as the methods for harvesting, storing, and cooking crops are all part of their basic life experience while growing up. The “industrialization” and “urbanization” of society since the Industrial Revolution has led to a weakening of the links between people, agriculture, food, and the land. Food and agriculture education emerged as an effort to compensate for this disconnection. Eating for health is important but so is education that links food health to environmental and ecological sustainability.
The purpose of this program is to use “Understanding Agriculture” and “Appreciating Agriculture” as the basic building blocks and students as the seed. The establishment of general courses and micro-credits by the university are used to learn about the importance of environmental “agriculture” through learning about “food.” “Practical agricultural” experiences are also used to instill a proper understanding of the environment, consumption, and diet. Examples included the establishment of the Vanilla Secret Garden on campus and the organizing of many agricultural experience sessions in Tamsui, Shimen, and Sanzhi. The planting of vegetables and vanilla to the harvesting of Profound and Permanent Rice, as well as the offering of related agricultural courses in micro-markets and on campus, these initiatives helped the faculty and teachers at Tamkang acquire a better appreciation of the land despite the lack of agricultural courses.
Real-world research data such as the 2017 annual report published by the Agriculture Department of New Taipei City showed that Tamsui District Farmer’s Association’s organic vegetable specialty store was the leading seller in New Taipei City at NT$660,000. Sanzhi and Shimen, a part of the Greater Tamsui region, reached NT$110,000 as well, while Jinshan amounted to NT$130,000. A certain amount of demand for healthy food therefore exists in the region.
Some farmers are more reticent when communicating with academics. Personal visits are therefore essential for identifying problems and avoiding breakdowns in communication. Going into the field is necessary for supporting agriculture through real-world initiatives. This teacher and student team visited Yuanfeng Farm, Mama Lo’s Nature Farm, Big Melonhead All Natural Farm and Songshan Community where they found several problems. Problems such as small farm sizes, manpower shortages and aging population meant local agriculture urgently required assistance with production, marketing, and distribution.
On the whole, while the better-known farms can break even, some of the smaller farmers or part-time farmers have limited production capacity and lack a commercial understanding of sales channels and production strategies. Agricultural income is therefore insufficient as their main livelihood and they must make ends meet through other means. The “Creative Agriculture” component of the program is therefore aimed at providing a solution on commercial scales for small farmers. It is hoped that their sales channel can be refined with the support of the university and made ready for society at large.
To this end, this program explores the importance and challenges facing farmers in sales channels through micro-market stalls. By experiencing the entire process from production to sales, we can try to come up with future channel and product improvements.
These include the introduction and acceptance of safe foods complemented by the integration of local farms. Apart from providing students with a basic knowledge of food and circular ecosystems, university social responsibility is also leveraged as a starting point for encouraging the involvement of interested students, the building of partnerships with small farmers, and the development of ingredients. These are then extended to include business administration and marketing. Students are given the opportunity to experiment and to grow in a low-risk environment. The ultimate goal is to equip students to practice university social responsibility.
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University characteristic Startup Stage Project
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New Taipei City
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Tamkang University
362votes
Further reading
Measures for Leaving a Message to Enter the Draw for the Live Streaming of the Opening Ceremony
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Event Period
From 13:00 to 14:00 on December 12 (Saturday), 2020
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Event Measures
Log in to your personal Facebook or Google account to proceed with leaving a message; each account with a successful message of #2020usrexpo left before the end of the live streaming of the opening ceremony will have an opportunity to enter the draw, and each account is restricted to winning the prize once only.
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List of Winners
On December 14 (Monday), 2020, the list of winners will be announced on the event official website https://2020usrexpo.org/) Announcement of the list of winners
Event Prize Content
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1st Prize
“Huei Yeh” Power Extreme Massage Gun 1 winner
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2nd Prize
Nestle Dolce Gusto Genio 2 1 winner
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3rd Prize
KINYO Bluetooth 5.0 Wireless Speaker 2 winner
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4th Prize
7-11 Gift Voucher valued at NT$200 27 winner
Announcement of the list of winners
The various prizes are expected to be notified via email and also announced on the event official website on December 14 (Monday), please will the prize winners pay attention to the prize-winning information, and send back the relevant documents according to the notices & explanations; no separate notification will be issued.
Notices
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