Taiwan Today

A supermarket that specializes in organic foods is succeeding by putting farmers first.

A few steps from Fuzhong Mass Rapid Transit station in Banqiao, New Taipei City is a lively, welcoming and brightly lit supermarket with a modern, inviting feel. Although the store might appear like just a run of the mill business on a busy city street, it is remarkable for offering some 500 pings, or around 1,650 square meters, of produce and other groceries, most of which are locally produced and organic. This is PCfarm Market, a venture established and run by the Banqiao Farmers’ Association since March 2008. It is one of the largest, and now one of the most profitable, stores of its kind anywhere in Taiwan.

In its first year, PCfarm Market saw turnover of some NT$190 million (US$6 million), a figure that grew to NT$204 million (US$6.2 million) in 2009. Currently, the supermarket receives an estimated 900 customers per day—not bad for a business that owes its start to a simple desire by the Banqiao Farmers’ Association to reconnect with farmers.

But perhaps what most sets PCfarm Market apart from both other farmers’ associations and organic food retailers is the staff’s sense of purpose and personal dedication. “We have a really important mission,” says Lin Xiu-hui, marketing director of the Banqiao Farmers’ Association and general manager of PCfarm Market. “[The farmers] produce all these wonderful crops, but they don’t have a platform for distribution.”

Today’s close relationship between the Banqiao group and primary producers is highly unusual among Taiwan’s farmers’ associations, however, even though the associations were established around the turn of the last century to develop the island’s agricultural sector. During the 1950s, providing credit to rural communities started to become a large part of the associations’ work, to the point that financial services eventually became the main or sole focus of operation for many associations. Among these was Banqiao Farmers’ Association, which, despite its name, became more or less completely disconnected from the agricultural industry.

Wang Xue-hui started her tenure as secretary-general of the Banqiao Farmers’ Association in 2001, not long after which the government floated plans to close down or transform scores of farmers’ associations across Taiwan in response to the general decline of the local agriculture industry. Banqiao Farmers’ Association had been ranked one of the most successful farmers’ associations in Taiwan, prompting the Ministry of Finance to urge the association to convert to a banking business. Wang says the move provoked a period of soul searching within the organization. “I wondered, ‘Is there a need for farmers’ associations? Why do they exist? Why do we do what we do and why should anyone care?’” Wang recalls.

While Wang did not have the perfect justification for the existence of farmers’ associations, she still believed that they were important because farming was important regardless of its dollar value to national output. “Even though the father is the breadwinner of a family, it doesn’t mean the mother isn’t important. The agricultural sector’s significance and importance can be compared to that of a mother’s in a family,” Wang says. This led the Banqiao association head to seek ways to reconnect with those that the organization was founded to serve, namely farmers.

Profitable Grain

In 2002, at the end of a nationwide conference of farmers’ associations, Wang called for interested rice farmers to approach the Banqiao association for a joint project centered on producing germinated rice, a process that is believed to add health benefits to the staple food. Germinating rice involves soaking unpolished brown rice until it begins to sprout. The germinated grains are then dehydrated, dried and packaged to be sold. The Banqiao group initially chose to work with the Wu-jie Farmers’ Association using the latter’s Taiwan No. 7 brown rice and began selling its product for a premium. Regular rice sells for some NT$50 to $60 (US$1.60 to $2) per kilogram, while germinated rice can sell for around double that at NT$110 (US$3.60).

The success of the rice project attracted attention from other rice growers, leading the association to launch the Rice Flagship Shop in 2004 at the same site of today’s supermarket in Banqiao. More farmers sought them out, and the government invited the association to plan, implement and host an annual nationwide competition for the best rice in Taiwan. Along the way, the association’s staff members were often moved by the stories of the individual farmers they came to know. “There are so many farmers out there, doing their part for the environment, using traditional farming techniques to grow crops, without pesticides and chemical fertilizers,” Wang says. “Yet no one knows their stories, and their products are also unknown.”

The team soon realized that the association could play a very valuable role in serving these small-scale farmers by promoting and selling their produce. “This was the perfect role for us to play, to help organic farmers market and distribute their products while educating consumers,” Wang says. Four years later, the rice store became the group’s fully fledged supermarket, PCfarm Market. By that time, the Banqiao group had developed significant contacts throughout the local agricultural industry. “The supermarket just made sense,” Wang says.

In fact, one feature that makes the store stand out is the variety of goods available. The produce section alone, for example, is as large as a typical health food store in Taipei, and the managers of PCfarm Market pride themselves on providing what they say is one of the widest selections of organic and pesticide-free items in Taiwan. On any given day, more than 50 kinds of fruit and vegetables can be found on the store’s shelves, all of which are locally grown. Venture a little further and one will find organic milk and rare free-range organic eggs. Rice still features prominently among the store’s goods, with an entire section devoted to more than 200 locally grown varieties. Another display features Taiwan’s top 100 prize-winning agricultural products.

One farm the supermarket works with is Shilei Natural Farm in Yufong Village, Hsinchu County, northern Taiwan, which is run by Liu Xian-zhi and his wife Ye Pin-ling. In 1995, Liu closed his dental practice in Tainan City, southern Taiwan, and relocated for missionary work to Yufong, where he wanted to provide the local people with dental care. Liu started Shilei Natural Farm in 2005, hoping it could also help local Atayal tribespeople to market and distribute their own vegetables. Liu says that in the beginning, he had no idea where to sell his produce. “I would load the vegetables onto the back of a truck, drive down into the city and try to sell them from the back of the truck. Not many people would buy the vegetables so we ended up having to bury them in a gorge,” the farmer says.

The tide turned for Liu and Ye two years ago when a reporter covering their story introduced them to the manager of an organic supermarket in Hsinchu, who in turn introduced them to PCfarm Market. Today, orders from PCfarm Market provide one of the steady sources of income for the farm.

Liu says the staff’s level of dedication is impressive. “I really enjoy working with Banqiao Farmers’ Association,” Liu says. “The people that I’ve worked with are very efficient and all of them seem to be held together by a common purpose. All of them truly work as a team. Everyone pulls their own weight. They really make things happen at top speed. Not only that, they’re also very gracious toward us [farmers], unlike staff from other organizations, who might not see us as equals.”

The farmer says he will be forever grateful for the faith that the supermarket’s management has placed in him. PCfarm Market buys the farm’s vegetables, which are pesticide-free, but not certified as organic, “because they know and trust me,” he says.

Connecting to a Cause

Banqiao Farmers’ Association head Wang Xue-hui says that in the early days, although she was determined to find ways for the organization to connect with farmers, she did not want to do so alone. Wang made a point of explaining to the association’s employees the importance of what she hoped the changes would achieve and addressed their fears about the new roles she hoped they would take on in working with farmers. “I told them, these are called white-collar jobs for a reason,” she says. “Usually life is easy sitting in an air-conditioned building. Why should we roll up our sleeves and work that much harder [for the farmers]?” But, after sharing her thoughts about the problems Taiwan’s farmers faced with members at every level of the organization, Wang found that the association’s employees became part of her cause to connect with primary producers and do what they could to help them.

“After visiting various organic farms, I finally understood that there are actually so many people out there willing to put so much time and dedication into helping our planet [via organic farming],” Lin Xiu-hui says. “Every time we visit a new place, I’m moved by the farmers there ... They put in so much,” she says.

Supermarket with a Mission

The supermarket’s general manager recalls with pride how hard her staff worked to make the supermarket a reality. “Even now, I’m touched by my team. During the planning stages … we used our own funds to visit supermarkets in Hong Kong and Japan [for research],” Lin says. “At one supermarket in Hong Kong, we kept trying to secretly take pictures to the point where they were about to kick us out! But looking back, all the late nights and the long days, it was all worth it,” she says.

That commitment also extends to customers, with PCfarm Market carrying out extensive testing of all fresh produce, even for locally certified organic goods. All certified organic produce is tested at least twice a week, while produce that is non-certified but labeled as pesticide-free is tested every two days. Testing is carried out at facilities on the building’s third floor and includes checks for preservatives and other chemicals including nitrates, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen peroxide. Routine testing is also conducted for the entire dried goods selection.

Another aspect in which PCfarm Market differs from other organic stores can be seen in how much educating consumers is considered part of the store’s mission. In the same way that Wang and her team reconnected their organization with farmers, they also strive to link organic farmers and consumers. Efforts include lectures on topics about health and diet, exhibitions and cooking classes, which Lin says are “always packed.”

Although the Banqiao organization still engages in extensive financial services, PCfarm Market is a new and meaningful addition to its business activities. More than that, working towards a cause has energized the association’s staff, who have become more passionate about their jobs.

While there is no quick answer to the group’s success, the heart of its achievement revolves around a simple question many enterprises overlook, that of “Why?” Every aspect of the supermarket’s activities can be traced to the first question Wang asked when she became secretary-general of the farmers’ group: “Why does Banqiao Farmers’ Association exist?”

Unlike many businesses, in this case the answer to the “why” is not to make a profit. Even though PCfarm Market has become one of the most successful and profitable endeavors of its kind in Taiwan, a healthy bottom line was never the driving force behind the enterprise. It is simply a result, a by-product of the drive and commitment of the staff of both the association and supermarket.

Ultimately, the crucial point is that Banqiao Farmers’ Association has a cause, a vision and a purpose. Through PCfarm Market, Wang’s initial impulse, to reconnect with farmers, has led to an answer for the organization: It exists to help farmers and consumers.

Linda Chu is a writer based in Taipei.

Copyright © 2011 by Linda Chu