Vegetable drink powders, ice cream, funerals: Taiwan’s farmers associations branch out

Now we take a look at the many ways Taiwan’s farmers associations have branched out in recent years. Making a profit from farming can be tough, and farmers are constantly looking for new business opportunities. One of the latest innovations is a vegetable powder drink from Taoyuan that promises to become a popular fiber supplement. Other regions are focusing on soy milk, ice cream… and even some services that I bet you can’t guess. Let’s take a tour of rural Taiwan to see more.

Lettuce is sorted by hand, then crushed by a machine and ground to a fine powder. Taiwan’s first “vegetable pulverization factory” opened last year. Here, local organic vegetables are turned into powder by Taoyuan Farmers Association. The powder makes a nutritional, high-fiber drink.

Chou Tsung-wei
Taoyuan Farmers’ Association
We wanted to diversify and enrich our agricultural products. Firstly, it helps our farmers; we contract them to plant larger areas of organic vegetables.

Farmers associations work hard to produce local specialty products, and diversifying services is also a big trend. In just six months, Taoyuan Farmers Association has earned NT$1.3 million from its organic vegetable powder.

By comparison, Hualien’s Ji’an Farmers Association makes NT$23 million a year from ice cream.

Meanwhile, in Yilan’s Luodong Township, the golden goose is soy milk. They sell seven million bottles of the stuff a year, bringing in almost NT$80 million – two thirds of their annual turnover.

Lin Wen-hsin
Luodong Farmers Association
We used to produce it with soybeans bought to aid the U.S. We produce more than seven million bottles a year, which is worth about NT$79 million.

Many farmers associations are developing new products to market their crops. Taitung’s famous for its delicious summer snow mango and roselle products. But customers often don’t realize the association offers other services as well…

On their official website, this funeral services page makes it clear that it’s not just for farmers.

Lee Chien-tung
Taitung District Farmers Association
We managed more than 230 funerals last year. All of them came about spontaneously; we didn’t set a goal for this service.

Farmers across Taiwan are branching out. Some are making a big name for themselves, while others are quietly carving out a new niche. They’re finding ways to make farming pay, but also making rural life more sustainable for all who live and work in Taiwan’s beautiful countryside.