Farmer Lee Mei-ling (李美玲) has revived the mushroom industry in Changhua County’s Jhutang Township (竹塘) after adding modern facilities to her traditional mushroom farm.
The township had been Taiwan’s No. 1 producer of mushrooms until 20 years ago, when it fell behind other regions that were using improved techniques to grow larger mushrooms.
The township steadily declined as a producer until it was seen as a source of cheap agricultural products.
Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
However, Lee 13 years ago set off on a path that would eventually make Jhutang Township a renowned producer of mushrooms once again.
She started by renovating an old warehouse used for growing mushroom by installing air-conditioning and an environmental management system.
Lee was soon able to grow mushrooms larger than any ever grown in the township, and began receiving orders from larger markets and wholesalers.
Today, she sells 400kg of mushrooms per day — more than any other Taiwanese producer.
“The characteristics of the land in Jhutang Township, as well as the wet conditions in winter, make it ideal for growing mushrooms,” Lee said.
In the 1980s, there were 400 mushroom farms in the township, each about 50 ping (165m2), but by 20 years ago most of them had closed.
After Lee installed the environmental control system and began seeing success with her new growing techniques, she shared those techniques with others in the township, and today there are 100 thriving farms.
“However, the technology has its limitations. A northeast monsoon can destroy the crop. There are also limits to production quality, which might call for a change to the fermentation process,” she said.
Newer techniques require only 21 days for fermentation, compared with 30 days for more traditional techniques, she said, adding that some growers have also experimented with separating fermentation beds, or using amino acids in the water.
Such techniques could speed up fermentation by another week, which lessens the chance of crop damage from disease or insects, she added.
Modern environmental control systems are more environmentally friendly than the oil heaters previously used by farms, but also consume a lot of power, she said, adding that she has tackled the problem by installing solar panels.
Her farm also recycles the water produced by the air-conditioning units, she added.
The farm would remain focused on ways to further improve production quality, Lee said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS