Experience the unique “Boxed meal culture” of Taiwan	Meet companions of organic agriculture promotion	Global and local speakers and experts sharing their opinions

[New Taipei City News] At the IFOAM Asia Organic Youth Forum workshop, participants from Myanmar, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and China couldn’t wait to raise their hands to share the situation they encountered. These are scenes often seen. Speakers and participants interact frequently. 25 Taiwanese and 22 international members with organic agriculture backgrounds were selected through interviews and came to Taiwan to join the forum together.

Jaesung Kwak, a young organic farmer from South Korea, said that he was only an amateur farmer who only farmed in his spare time. Ever since he knew and participated in IFOAM Asia in various training courses, he now met many friends with similar ideas and values. He kept learning organic agricultural technology and knowledge over the past four years. With IFOAM’s rich information and international networking resources, he is now confident to continue to work on organic agriculture as his lifelong ambition.

Besides learning new knowledge in the workshop, participants also experienced Taiwan’s unique Boxed meal culture. The hot boxed meal is a fresh experience for Japanese attendees, who are used to cool boxed meals. Everyone is impressed by the cuisines inside the boxed meal, which are made of organic materials with Taiwanese flavor.

The three-day workshop focused on the following themes: ”Organic Principles and Practices,” “Organic Value and Supply Chain: Trends and Challenges,” and “Organic 3.0, Markets and Sales Channels.” The first-day workshop on “Organic Principles and Practices” is a detailed review of the history and current situation of organic agriculture by international lecturers and a review of the pioneers of organic agriculture and the principles and definitions of organic agriculture. “Organic Value and Supply Chain: Trends and Challenges”discussed the division of labor in the industrial chain of organic agriculture from the product sales process to related laws and regulations; examples will contain the Taiwan experience and discuss the process of shaping the value chain of organic agriculture in Taiwan by setting up Carrefour’s organic counters. On the day of the workshop, the theme of “Organic 3.0, Markets and Sales Channels ” will consolidate the organization and development of IFOAM’s organic agriculture movement and its focus areas, such as seed conservation, climate change, and food crisis, to discuss how “Organic 3.0” responds to the rapidly changing international situation. Yongling Farm will share how they developed an agricultural platform to introduce agricultural technology, cultivate organic high-quality and diversified crops, and expand agricultural processed products. In the three-day intensive training, participants can receive new knowledge and find suitable partners for organic agriculture promotion.

IFOAM Asia Organic Youth Forum includes a three-day workshop from March 26 to 28 and an international conference on March 29. There will be global and Taiwanese speakers experienced in organic agriculture, sharing multiple perspectives from production to distribution, etc. Online live-stream broadcasts of the conference will be provided simultaneously. For more information, please check on the Green Lohas Mall Facebook fan page or contact the New Taipei City Office of Organic Youth Forum at (02)2964-7950.

More Information:
Agriculture Department, New Taipei City Government Forestry Section Chia-Wen Huang / Chief Tel: 2960-3456 * 31 Mobile: 0921-073-005