Wanbao wheat harvest

For the last three years the people of Wanbao have been living under the shadow of Miaoli County government’s plan to expropriate 180 hectares of land in the area for the purpose of developing Houlong Science Park. On the 3rd of March, the wheat harvest of farmer Hong Xiang-jia in Wanbao, Houlong had passed through 120 days and was ready for harvest. Recently, the international market price of wheat has risen, and so the arguments for Taiwan to independently grow wheat are not without reason. Hong Jiang said, “If we can eat bread made with wheat grown by ourselves then we don’t have to worry about what’s going on in the international market”.

The majority of farmers in the Wanbao area are concentrated in a special agricultural zone growing rice, sweet potato, watermelon and various other famous produce. Local farmers say that Wanbao “Meaning – Gem of the Bay” really is a gem, a place where you can grow anything your heart desires. Farmer Ming Huang-cong, who is passionate about wheat, has been growing it since 2007. He is already growing 26.9 hectares of wheat within the areas of Houlong’s Wanbao and Yuanli in Miaoli, in Taichung’s Daya County, in Changhua’s Fangyuan and Erlin, Hualian’s Shoufeng, Taitong’s Chihshang, Pingtung’s Kending, Tainan’s Xuejia and Jiali, Yilan’s Nanao and Yuna Shan as well as many other areas. Shi Ming-huang said that there are many varieties of wheat, however Taiwan’s autumn and winter very much suit winter wheat varieties. The quality of winter wheat is far better, and Taiwan can already grow 12.5-13.5 of the 14 to 15 varieties that foreign countries can. And that’s damn good!

Wanbao wheat harvest (by CJ shuchuan)

URL: http://www.peopo.org/news/72396

(以下為中文對照)

灣寶小麥收割囉！(公民記者 shuchuan  報導)

照片

苗栗縣政府要徵收苗栗灣寶180多公頃的地，變更成後龍科技園區，三年多來農民一直生活在土地被徵收的陰影中。3月6日，苗栗後龍灣寶農民洪箱家的小麥， 經過120天要收割了。最近國際小麥價格上漲，台灣能夠自己種小麥，有相當的意義。洪箱說：「我們可以吃自己種的小麥做的麵包，就不用看外國人的臉色 了。」灣寶多數農地屬特定農業區，種稻、地瓜、西瓜、雜作樣樣有名。農民說，灣寶真是寶，種甚麼長甚麼。喜願小麥負責人施明煌從2007年起開始契作小 麥，在苗栗後龍灣寶、苑裡、台中大雅、彰化芳苑、二林、花蓮壽豐、台東池上、屏東墾丁、台南學甲、嘉里、宜蘭南澳、員山等地已契作26.9公頃的小麥。施 明煌說，小麥品種很多，台灣的秋冬很適合種。寒帶小麥的品質當然比較好，但台灣的品質已經能種到12.5、13.5，接近寒帶國家的14、15，已經相當棒了。

為擴大服務範圍，自2010年4月起，PeoPo每周精選三則公民報導及相關活動與發展，翻譯成英文摘要，讓更多關心台灣公民新聞的朋友，瞭解台灣在地大小事。