Interview with a member of Land Dyke, a farming cooperative in Yilan in central eastern Taiwan
​
So had you farmed in the US before you moved here?
Never. When I started WWOOFIng in Taiwan, afterward I went back to the US and had a summer job, and then I farmed in upstate New York and Vermont from a while. Originally I’m from Florida.
How did you learn how to grow rice?
I joined Land Dyke in an April. I helped those few months and I learned on the fly. Rice planting is actually not very hard, compared to anything like fruit or vegetables. And there’s such a community of young people growing rice here in Yilan, so if you have any questions you just ask. You might ask 3 different people and get 3 different answers, and then you just figure out which answer you like best.
What is the Land Dyke community like?
It varies. For most of the last year we’ve had meetings every week. Recently we meet about once a month. When I first joined we were all living together.
We don’t have any formal registration or anything. We’re a cooperative in the broadest sense of people cooperating with each other. In the very beginning they used to have a buy-in system. But now we pay our own rents and the Land Dyke bank account pays for collective costs, equipment and things. Sort of like a tax almost. It’s a constant effort though.
When I was planting this rice paddy I would have a stand right here next to the school so that parents picking up their kids could buy rice. It wasn’t much but it was a fun thing to do.
Anyway it’s a really nice community of farmers. But it’s not a structured community, which is really interesting. It’s not like there is a leader or an organization, there really isn’t, there are lots of individuals doing interesting things and then cooperating when they feel like it. We have our own challenges and things we’re trying to do but a lot of cooperation with the community.
When did Land Dyke start?
2012. And I joined in 2016.
What does it mean to be a ‘queer’ farming collective? How does queerness play into the work you do?
It often doesn’t. I think in the six years we’ve existed, there were four founding members, and two of them aren’t here anymore, so I think that a lot of the ideals that Land Dyke was founded upon have changed as old members have left and new members have come in. The reason that I came to Land Dyke to volunteer in the first place was because I was WWOOFing somewhere else and someone said “Oh there’s a lesbian farm in Yilan” and I was like “Really, I should go!” And I came and yeah it was a lesbian farm but you’re just doing farm work. It was really tiring, I didn’t know if I could do it! The two newer members are a lesbian couple. They wanted to get a foot in the door and we had resources for them to do that and a consumer base to sell to. And the same for me -- Land Dyke was a way to get a foot in the door.
And then on the other hand it’s just a comfortable setting. Being with other queer people. Although one person isn’t queer. But the requirement is that she’s totally cool and friendly and it isn’t an issue. So it’s a comfortable way of setting up a community. And actually the community that Land Dyke is part of at large is a very friendly community. And I know of at least two or three other lesbian couples farming together in this area, not part of Land Dyke. There was a lot about the farming community that was kind of queer in the first place. I know of only one gay guy farming. A shortage of gay men.
Why do you think that is?
Going from the more stereotypical side a lot of gay guys are concerned with fashion and keeping your skin nice and white and cleanliness, and lesbians are more ‘get in the dirt.’ But I think there’s also a factor which is that in Taiwan I think it’s a lot more difficult for gay men than women, since I think men face a lot of family pressure. Oldest sons especially need to be carrying on the family line, inheriting your parents’ whatever and passing on the family name. And farming is not a very good way to make money. Economically you have to be supporting your family and your parents. Lesbians don’t necessarily face those expectations.
So have there been any challenges being a queer community in Yilan at all?
The story I always tell when I get asked this question is the first time I came to Land Dyke I took the bus and the directions they gave me said, “When you get off the bus walk forward x distance and then turn into the alley and we’re the house with the pride flag out front.” And I said to them the next day, “That’s very bold to have the pride flag right out front, do you ever have any negativity or prejudice that arises from that?” And they just said, “People here don’t know what that means. It’s just a rainbow to them.” So I think that’s kind of the key here. If I’m walking down the street in New York I’d say that probably 90% of people who see me are going to guess that I’m a lesbian, but walking down the street in Taiwan I’m often asked by people in the countryside, “Are you married to a Taiwanese man?”
And when you say no?
I’m very much out in my daily life but I still will choose when I want to get into that. Because if I’m in my rice paddy -- it happens very often that people are curious about me, the American in the paddy -- people jump often to the question of “Are you married? Do you have a boyfriend?” So typically I just pick and choose what conversations I enter into. I’ll just say “No, I don’t have a boyfriend. I think it’s nice being single.” I don’t think it’s necessary in most cases to come out to local people because oftentimes they’re not homophobic they just have no idea what that means. Unless I’m comfortable being the one gay person you know in your life and your entire educational framework for what it means to be gay, I generally don’t talk about it.
How does Land Dyke fit into the community here?
I think we have a little bit of a name for ourselves, since most people in the community plant either as an individual or in a family unit. There are several who do things as a married or unmarried couple. But there are very few groups that are not related that are just a bunch of people working together. Because we have 6 members, and we’re growing a diversity of crops, we have more of a variety of products than most farms. So we are kind of well known. And the gender and queer thing doesn’t really play into that. The community at large is very accepting and doesn’t really have any problem with it. We’re more known for what we’re producing.
What is the history of farming in Yilan?
The environment used to be completely different. This area used to be hilly, if you can imagine that, and the hills were removed by hand. When the people who are 70 or 80 now were kids. Most of Taiwanese farmland has been reorganized to make it more suited for production. That happened really late here. It used to be different kinds of crops, sugarcane, taro. But now it’s almost exclusively rice. That was because of government policies. There was a time in Taiwan when there was a rice shortage. So the landscape has completely changed within the generation. Rice is grown pretty much everywhere in Taiwan here.
To the left here is the major temple for this village. These buses are probably from a different area.
Sometimes people who are members of this temple will take buses and go and worship and make offerings at a temple on the other side of Taiwan. Today there’s a group worshiping the gods here. This is the religious and cultural center of the village. They also have monthly dinners at the temple that some of us go to…
The former chairman of this temple is the hero to all of the people in our community. He was the first person of the older generation to accept and advocate for and assist the new generation of farmers that didn’t want to use chemicals. And now he’s the main teacher for the new generation of rice farmers. He even teaches a course on how to teach rice at the local community college. He’s like the hero and he used to be the head of this temple. He’s a really important figure in the village, he’s been a major way the newer community of farmers have connected with the older residents. But there is still a lot of disconnect.
Are other Land Dyke members from Taiwan?
All of them except for me. One from Yilan.
What about your experience as an American? Do you feel accepted in the community?
That’s the thing everyone knows, because it’s not something you can hide. I think it’s easier to be a foreigner in the countryside than in the city. I mean it’s not hard, clearly there’s lots of white privilege and people wanting to take pictures with you and wanting to give you jobs, but in the city I go out and if I open my mouth and speak Chinese I get all these questions, all these people being curious about me, which does get tiring and annoying. But here I see the same people every day. So they have their answers to the questions they asked you about already and we can move on. So I think I feel like I have a place here where they don’t have to ask anymore. It’s nice to feel like I’m recognized in this community and don’t have to stay the foreigner. It almost never comes up that I’m a foreigner anymore.
How does sustainability and environmentalism fit into your mission?
Sustainability and environmentalism has actually been a bit of a challenge in the last 6 months. It’s very easy to say no chemical inputs for rice and vegetables, but it’s very challenging for fruit. There’s very little purely organic fruit in Taiwan. Because a lot of the fruit trees here you have to plant for 6 years before you’re going to have any yield. You could be waiting 20 years even. So this year one of our orchards had a major pest issue, because of climate change affecting the seasons, the typical monsoons of May didn’t come. There was almost no rain. Rain presents certain pests. So our orchards were dying. In the face of all of this, it’s kind of analogous to antibiotics. The methods we use could be more compared to Chinese medicine, we address things before they come up. But if you have a severe infection, are you going to keep using traditional Chinese methods? If you have cancer? Or are you going to use antibiotics, chemo? But we don’t have these issues with rice or vegetables.
Before we grew fruit we had very clear rules: no herbicides, pesticides, or chemical fertilizers. But with this issue we were challenged. We ultimately did use a pesticide but picked one that was less harmful, used a very small dosage, and were able to keep it in control. There was an organic pesticide we could have used. But that pesticide is actually worse for the animals and trees than the chemical one we did use.
So it’s not always black and white. But we do have this promise to our consumers, so ultimately we wrote a really long essay detailing the entire process of deciding how to handle the issue and called all our stores. Transparency is really important. But what you should really be supporting is the farmer and their doing the best that they can. Anyway it was an ongoing conversation over many months.
How much does a rice paddy cost?
3,500 Taiwanese dollars per foot per year. It doesn’t sound like much, your rent for your apartment might be double that, but it’s a lot when you factor all the costs and profits of planting rice. And the fact that we only have one harvest per year. I’m excited to have this area for my rice paddies because it’s all in the same place whereas last year I had two locations and I was running back and forth. Plus now I have a nicer view of the mountains.
When you work here you’re by yourself?
Typically. My friend, another member of Land Dyke, is going to be doing that paddy over there. The way that Land Dyke works is -- it’s not like 6 of us work in the same field every day and we switch. Typically, one person is responsible for their own crop or their own fields. The newest members do all their work together though.
How do you split the money?
We do it by percentage. For the cost of the rice and the profits, we base it on the percentage of area of land as opposed to percentage of yield. This year I had the highest average yield. If you were to use a different logic, I should be getting more of the profits but also taking on more of the costs. I might have a terrible situation in my paddy this year and then I make a lot less money but still have to pay the same costs, it’s not as good that way.
How much rice do you produce?
In Taiwan there’s a measurement that’s called jin, like a Taiwanese pound. Roughly the same as a regular American pound. My average this year for my paddies was about 1,000 jin of grain per fen. But that’s grain. And it depends on white or brown rice. We do both but mostly white because consumers prefer white. The transfer is 680 jin of white rice from 1000 jin of grain and 800 jin of brown rice from 1000 jin of grain. You remove less of the grain from brown rice.
What is the rice season like?
Planting starts in the first week of March typically. But you have to be getting your paddy ready before that. Here, right now, I have a lot to do. See all this on the edge? You need to make sure the tractor/tilling machine can get to the edge. We rent a tractor from a friend. So I have to weed along the edges. Also, wherever you have a dirt edge of the paddy, you need to make sure it’s not leaking.
If you’re looking at a paddy for the first time the first thing you have to look at is the irrigation system. How well the water is controlled.
Golden apple snails are also a major problem in rice paddies here. I can get two handfuls of golden apple snails in 30 seconds. And 2 native snails that don’t eat the rice, which are actually very tasty. And trash.
With rice there’s very little possibility of complete crop failure because you’re eating the seed, and there’s no need to worry about if the fruit or leaves are going into seed too early. Unless you have a major shortage of water for a long enough duration.
This is called tien xing. Because of the fact that we let our fields go fallow for half the year, the government has subsidies to make up a little bit for what your value might’ve been had you grown another crop. But getting that subsidy is contingent upon planting this guy, or another approved green fertilizer. This is a legume, meaning it fixes nitrogen to the soil. It’s in the bean family. We just toss the seeds onto the rice paddies and they grow.
Who do you sell to?
We sell all over Taiwan. It’s such a small country that it’s very easy to ship everywhere. Mostly to individuals and to families. A lot of friends or friends of friends. One bag, which is 2 kilos, is 300 NT. It’s expensive. It’s not cheap. But the costs are really high.
