Hello fellow travelers and friends! It’s nice that some of you have taken such creative liberty with these posts, it’s been really fun reading them and overall, I am genuinely having a really great time here in Taiwan with the crew 🙂
Today, we traveled from the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology to Kaohsiung City to visit the seed supplier company, Known-You Seed Co., Ltd., or “Farmer’s Friend” Seed Company in Chinese. After an entire week of visiting organic farms, small farms, and NGOs, today’s visit provided a new perspective on how the private agricultural sector operates and what its role is in relation to the public sector. My first impression was that it was a classic corporation–with a proud origin story, awards and products displayed in a gallery, and superior marketing ability. I thought it was very kind of them to offer to welcome us to visit their labs and building for our informational purpose, which shows their commitment to a greater purpose of agricultural education and transparency.
Looking at the various seeds that Known-You has cultivated
During the tour and introduction, their staff gave us a thorough overview of the molecular breeding and cell biology that they were using in order to introduce and cultivate the 2,500+ varieties of produce that they currently have across 150+ subsidiaries around the world. They explained how the company is mostly driven by market demand and respond to the needs of farmers and consumers. In a separate conversation, Dr. Linda explained that Known-You has about 300 employees in Taiwan and 2,000 overseas, and are #1 in Taiwan for the agricultural seed industry (especially melons).
Known-You’s Seed Global Network of over 150 subsidiaries.
After the presentation about the various labs and methods that they use, we began asking clarifying questions. The round of science-specific questions eventually led to a few professors and students hoping to better understand and evaluate the practices of the corporation from a more social lens. I was really curious as to how such an extensive seed company that held so much authority in their industry handled and adjusted to the different geographies, land, and growing conditions that its consumers came from. In particular, I wondered how they implemented technical farming training and provided support to farmers in developing countries. They replied to me, saying that they implement something called demo farms for seed varieties, inviting farmers to test out the product under various condittions. After selling their seeds to poorer farmers, such as in India, they teach them how to grow them in their climate- and region-specific conditions, and in some cases, also help with the marketing of those products to wholesale markets in the local country. Moreover, they explained that they were not specialized in and thus did not focus on addressing soil care and soil damage that could result from increased pesticide use from their seeds, until a problem was clearly identified. In many cases, however, this can be too late.
Company informational books over the years, featuring employees.
Overall, I found that this corporation was an important perspective to understand because it controls much of the agricultural industry in Taiwan and has influences in global developing regions that it partners with. It was a stark contrast, however, to the practices and values and sense of responsibility and environmental stewardship, when compared to the Damsui Organic Farm and Tse-Xin NGO, and even the NTU and Pingtung University farms. Profit was much more a focus and priority, and climate action seemed to be an afterthought.
Before walking into the private companies headquarters I was able to learn lots of background info from their brochure and website! Compared to past places we visited you could definitely tell that these operations were more international and commercialized from the large amount of operation and selling sites, awards, and seed products produced. I also noticed that communicating their company and its mission in English was also emphasized through each company members impressive presentations conducted in English, their pamphlets + information in their office completely translated to English, and even their introduction video being conducted in the English language!
So, first going over the highlights of their operations and history before getting into the mind blowing science of it all….as we learned from the tour of the facilities, Known-Your seed Co. was founded in 1968 by Mr. Wun-Yu Chen, a man who studied vegetable breeding in Japan before founding the company. The man known as the “watermelon king” began his operations through cross breeding horticultures and the company has carried on and improved his methods ever since. In 1975 they won their first AAS (American Agriculture Society) award, and have won many since – ESPECIALLY for their watermelon, a fact they were very proud to share. In addition to their operations of selling seeds within global markets, they also help in giving farmers the knowledge they need in planting and growing vegetables and fruits. Throughout their subsidiaries they have in 9 countries they have demo fields where they are able to teach farmers how to grow the food on land like their own. Lastly, their company also participates in charity work where in 1992 Known-You Social Welfare Foundation was registered as a non-profit. Specifically, they have donated a hospital in Myanmar to help poor farmers in need as well donating their net profits in places like India and Thailand. It was clear what a success this large company has become as our tour guide informed us that they sell in 154 countries!
When it comes to making and choosing which fruits they would like to mass produce and sell there are many steps of R & D that are involved. Throughout their process they have a giant data bank where all of their information is stored – i.e the genotypes of all of their hybrids mass produced and sold, the seeds of each hybrid crossed (even if not their desired outcome fruit that they market), and other information about each plant such as phenotypic traits.
Now – onto the science :0 (Thanks Prof P for recap + science lesson on the bus, def made this part easier!!)
As they’re intro video states, in order to create their seeds they combine classical breeding techniques with modern technology. Their overall mission stated that they wanted to introduce new technology to increase breeding efficiency and remove breeding bias with the goal of creating commercial fruit with advantages traits like a sweeter taste/larger size. With their technology they are able to cater to different global markets and the needs of consumers in different countries to create fruit that they specifically enjoy. Within the discussion they made sure it was clearly understood that the work they were doing was not GMO related. (As Professor Pokrywka explained to us on the bus, GMOs are foods that have changes in their DNA which doesn’t exist in any known strain of the plant and could never actually occur in nature. These plants at Known-Your Seeds co. are not genetically modified as two parents are simply being bred to produce offspring and the research being conducted focuses on choosing the best parents and creating the best version of these naturally occurring offspring). First discussing the breeding technology introduced the presenter discussed image analysis, spectrum prediction exploration, and sensors monitoring. With spectrum prediction monitoring the company is able to learn whether their seeds will germinate without actually conducting an invasive experiment. With sensor monitoring in their fields they are able to connect all their systems and collect and record environmental parameters – with this knowledge they can learn which conditions are best for germination and growth and record the information. Within the Biotechnology lab they discussed services such as plant tissue culture, double haploid technology, embryo rescue culture, and pollen storage technology. Breaking down each of these, double haploid technology is able to essentially able to replicate the genetic material of a plant that only contains one copy of genes (a haploid) so that the second copy is identical (with two sets of DNA material they are now a diploid). This is important as they are able to make every trait homozygous (meaning it is either all dominant (AA) or all recessive (aa)) and when crossing plants it makes it much easier to cross plants to their desired traits in fewer steps. Embryo rescue culture helps in overcoming interspecific hybridization while pollen storage technology allows for long term preservation of pollen sources which is important for crop pollination. Lastly, plant tissue culture is able to clone plants by taking a piece of one plant and placing it on a special substrate of agar with nutrients and allowing it to grow – this is importantly used in plants that gave unique breeding practices.
For me, I was most interested in the work being done in the molecular lab which is, in my opinion, some of the most important being done in R and D as without this technique they would not know how to find the most beneficial hybrids they are looking for. Specifically using foreground and background selection in the context of marker assisted development they have been able to create they’re unique fruits and sell their seeds. With background selection, scientists are looking for a plant that produces fruit that has great/desirable qualities (for example a plant that produces sweet and large watermelon) but lacks an important trait (for example is not good at protecting against diseases). Foreground selection is then looking for a plant that has that lacking characteristic (i.e is more disease resilient/immune) and every other quality of the plant does not have to be considered. These two plant species are then crossed to produce an F1 generation of offspring where 50% of their genes are inherited from one plant and 50% are intermitted from the other one. Then, doing a background cross (i.e crossing each of those offspring with the parent selected in the foreground selection) over and over you get to the point where most of the genetic material comes from the plant with every good quality while also containing the genetic material from the other plant for the selected trait like disease resistance. Within this process, markers are used in order to see what traits were inherited from each of the plants.
For the rest of the day we had a peaceful drive through stops at the beach and watching Jay gamble my 100 NT away before ending the rainy day with some boba!
Vassar College Organic Chemistry Final Examination Spring 2023
Question #1 (10pts) Breakfast with Noni:
What is the Organic Compound listed down below?
a. A Vegan Bacon Cheeseburger
b. Two buns with some mayo in between
c. Cucumber and Corn Burger
d. Slop
Answer? It is A. Quite an interesting Taiwanese take on a classic American Food.
Question #2 (10pts) Lunch:
Water. Fire. Earth. Air. Long Ago, the four nations lived in harmony. But everything changed when the fire nation attacked. The watermelon man, master of all four elements, protected the land, but when the world needed him the most? He vanished.
Select the choice down below that best represents the favorite melon of the melon man. Shown below is a picture of one of the watermelons, it is not necessarily the answer.
a. SF-3356
b. American Watermelon
c. Yellow Wintermelon
d. Jill
Challenge Question #3 (25 pts) HotPot at Dinner:
Dinnertime! How many cups of chicken do you think was present in this hotpot dish?
a. One cup of chicken
b. Two cups of chicken
c. Three cups of chicken
d. Four cups of chicken
Question #4 (55 pts) Bonus:
The claw machine was invented in the 1890s. Today, it was finally conquered. What is the name of this bear that came out of the claw machine on the way to the hotel? (S/O Vicky)
a. Cody
b. Beary
c. Cosmo
d. Snowy
*This test is worth 100% of your grade in the class. There is no partial credit. Failure to complete or suspicion of academic dishonesty will result in severe disciplinary action with the potential of expulsion. All question will be graded with the heaviest bias imaginable.
Today we were able to visit various farms to witness firsthand the issues and potential solutions discussed during yesterday’s department meetings with National Pingtung University for Science and Technology. We first began in Xiangyang Vanilla Farm, where they implement agrovoltage, also known as agro-photovoltics, to provide energy for the vanilla farm. Agrovoltaics is designed to use less sunlight to yield the same amount of products, which increases the economic value of the crop. Xiangyang Vanilla Farm is a non-profit organization that grows vanilla for 8 months and processes them, via fermentation, for another 6 months until it is ready for sale. One of the three workers on the farm explained that for a long time land for farming was a large issue, but with government subsidies it has become less of an issue. A more current concern is the increasingly salinization of fresh water with the rising ground water, which is irreversible.
We then headed to Gangcai Wetland, another non-profit organization, where we saw one of two methods of raising the wetland structure above the ground. The other main structure are boathouses in Seattle, which are more expensive and require certain specific levels of water. The structure was built and powered with solar panels following the destruction of Typhoon Morakot in August of 2009.
After a lunch at the wetland, we went to an inland aquaculture known as, Wenfeng Seawater Supply Station, which supplies water for many family businesses pursuing aquaculture. At this location and the following fishery and electricity symbiosis, Wenfeng Energy Indoor Aquafarm, we saw large usage of PVC piping to supply and transport water. As previously mentioned in my May 26th post, PVC is a pervasive plastic polymer that is non-recyclable nor biodegradable. While the owner explained to us that the pipes are used for 50 years before recycled, it is still important to note that these pipes are not necessarily easy to recycle and can still become faulty before their full 50 year use and get discarded. Both locations also discussed the role of electrical companies and renewable energy to allow the pumping stations and aquafarms to function. The income from solar panel energy on the aquafarm was 3 million New Taiwan Dollars annually, however, the panels cost 27 million NT$ to install in the first place. In each of these locations we were able to understand and examine much of the information NPUST had provided us with from yesterday.
Today we visited the Sahara Desert. I severely underestimated the insane heat that would bombard me from all sides. Here is my recount of the day.
Act 1 (50 calories):
Woke up this morning to a nice, cool room and headed downstairs to grab my daily two slices of bread and liquid. It is a hard day ahead in the mines, and I’m grateful that the company provides us bots with the proper nutrition to work tirelessly in the fields. Don’t worry, I savored each slice throughly.
Act 2 (Chocolate or Vanilla)
I’m a chocolate man. Or am I a Vanilla Man? The eternal debate that almost rivals Lebron vs Jordan. A guaranteed way to immediately start a fight in New York City. One thing I do know however is that the Vanilla farm that we visited had some absolutely banging vanilla buns. Oh and we also learned about more about the solar panels/water salination issues. But clearly the buns were more important. Vanilla Buns.
Act 3 (Death)
Guangcai Wetland? More like Guangcai Deathland. When I stepped off the bus I immediately knew that my time was up. It was inevitable. All I could ask was for the father to forgive me for my sins. I listened in on the informative talk about the solar panels and sustainability as I watched as death slowly approach me from afar. I closed my eyes and basked in the unbearable heat. It was a good life.
But just as he was about to take me, I was suddenly pulled back into the safe zone where I was handed lunch. Ah, but I can still see him watching me. Luckily he can’t enter past the line for I will live another day.
Act 4 (Fans)
As we arrived to the Wengfeng Seawater Supply Station, I nervously looked around for Death. Weirdly enough, I couldn’t see him in my Lambo, but as soon as I got off, it was apparent that I was not in the clear. As we learned about the Station and got a tour of the factory/facilities, I clutched my anti-death fans and shook them (quite literally) for my life. What we learned was super cool, but I wish everything else was super cool instead (get it? cuz it was hot). As I tried my best to stave off what seemed like the inevitable, I managed to clutch it out like Jordan in Game 6 and made it back to the Ferrari. One more stop. Come at me.
Act 5 (Shrimp Teriyaki)
Weichen Energy Indoor Aquafarm. Try saying that 10 times really fast. We arrived and immediately was put into a room where we had a nice information/conversation/question session with the owner. He had inherited that land from his stepfather. Notice how I’m not mentioning any of the details from before. This was because we had AC. I heard AC stands for “Another Chance” and it was what saved me from Death taking me away into the void.
Act 6 (Singing)
We sang on the bus. Everybody had great voices. Harmony and sound. End Scene
-Thanks for listening to me diary. It was a fun day. Weirdly, I never realized the Sahara Desert was in Taiwan. You learn something new everyday am I right?
When our group visited the wonderful Tse-xin Tamsui Farm near Taipei, one of the activities we did was dye a cotton cloth with the yellow spice/root turmeric. The active ingredient in turmeric is called curcumin and it has a really interesting chemistry. First of all, it’s used in many places as a spice and then it’s used as a natural food or cloth dye (the way we used it). It is extremely non-toxic and there are scientific studies that show you can eat about 10 grams/day! (that’s a lot – about 3 tablespoons) without any harmful effects. As a cloth dye, it is unstable in the sunlight so it fades (and that has to do with its chemistry). As a food dye, it is completely natural so it is not a “chemically” produced food dye (that is a good thing). It’s approved for food use by many state regulatory agencies like the US-FDA and the European Union. But, for me, one of its most interesting aspects is that it has demonstrated to be extremely beneficial in terms of health. At Vassar, we’ve synthesized some complexes using curcumin that have shown to be active against certain tumors and so that is a really promising area of research. Its molecular structure is responsible for why it’s such an interesting molecule with many applications.
A fabulous timeline of events was already provided by author Jay Chung, so I will just share some observations from the day. Some impressive facts about the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology were that it had the biggest campus in Taiwan, and ranked 1st in the country as the greenest campus. It would be interesting to learn what criteria determine that ranking. In the morning lecture, Ms. Faith Lee mentioned a large issue facing Taiwanese farmers (especially in the southern and coastal areas) is the overconsumption of groundwater. When too much groundwater is extracted it causes seawater to creep inland underground, infiltrating the water supply which can have disastrous consequences for plants. Jumping ahead to the Microbial Agent Research and Development Center, it was interesting to learn about the bacteria Bacillus amyloliquefaciens PMB05. Its ability to strengthen plants’ resistance to diseases might be a solution that can extend beyond Taiwan. During the smart farming presentation, Mr. Ricky Ke talked about a bachelor program in agriculture and science that allowed farmers to receive free education for four years on the condition that they would then farm for four years afterward. I think that is a great way to promote more sustainable agriculture and wonder if similar programs exist/could be adopted in the US. Something I didn’t quite understand was why smart farming on campus couldn’t incorporate organic spraying and biodegradable plastic methods. That way, for example, spraying could be targeted (less) and also not as harmful.
Some fun facts of the day:
I’m pretty sure I hypnotized two angel fish.
At the urbarium, I saw the biggest bean pod of my life!
I really enjoyed watching the chicken preen and settle down to nap as we learned about the university’s partnership with tribal communities to produce natural goods.
Alysa discovered a plant growing in the grass that closed its feathery leaves every time it was poked.
Ian tricked me into eating pig stomach.
At one point in the day, it felt like 102 degrees!
The number one rule in writing for academia is to utilize big words in an attempt to sound impressive. As this is an academic post, I will strictly be following this protocol to tell you a recount in the most academically recognizable way.
Today, we did something pretty cool. We went on a radical adventure through the seas of Pingtung University to collect the farming infinity stones in our conquest to fulfill the legendary prophecy that has been passed down through the generations. I, the sage of poetry and storytelling, shall tell you the mighty tale of the crew that saved our universe. Consanguineous.
The tale begins with a small group starting their adventure by fueling up with, quite literally, two small slices of bread and water for breakfast. However, our tale continues to the College of Agriculture, where after a few brief presentations about the University, we hopped into our Ferraris and went to the Microbial Agent Research and Development Center. Here we learned about the cool bacterial stuff they were doing and obtained the legendary bacterial soap for heroes. Apparently, rumor has it that it can heal all injuries. Tergiversation.
My mother has always told me that champions needed to eat, so we all popped back to the college to eat and then headed out to the Department of Aquaculture. Here we got a tour of the factory and got to see the cool frog and fish cultures they had going over there. Here our band of heroes had the first challenge and depicted below is the Legend of Yu Zhou in the Battle for freedom against the demon frog. In the end, despite a long and hard battle, our heroes were victorious and the demon was slain. Impedimenta.
The crew then hopped back into our Rolls Royces and drove on over to the Department of Forestry to check out the large storage facility that they had. Lots of angiosperms, and it was cool to see the entire storage facility. They did not have a failsafe in case of a fire so please keep Cael away from the facility at all costs. Our heroes then ventured into the forest of death to find out more about bees and the research projects that were being conducted there. I, for one, nearly died due to the large swarms of enemy mosquitos. I guess I am one with nature, one with the trees, and one with the ants. Myrmecophilous.
Finally, we explored the Energy Green House as our final showdown with the demon king. Enemy’s were everywhere, and hoards of plant type monsters attacked us. A particularly interesting type of enemy was a hybrid pepper monster that was immune to our red light powers on one side. I was “shocked” to see everything but in the end, we were successful and made it back to the comfort and safety of our homeland. Xenotransplantation.
As our journey comes to an end, I would like to show you a picture of a Rolex that Professor Mike from Pingtung (My boy) was wearing. Just because it’s hella sick. Pulchritudinous.
Today, the demon king lays slain. But one day he will rise again to conduct his revenge. For the time being however, the land shall know enteral peace and happiness.
We left Taipei this morning and spent most of the day on the bus. It was such a relaxing day where we shared quality conversations and played road trip games. At the beginning of our drive, Professor Deon and I reflected on the things we learned over the past few days with a focus on the aquaponic farm. There were so many interesting things about organic farming and sustainable aquaponic systems that stood out to us, but a lot of the experience continued to spur more questions about applications and upscaling these systems. We reflected on possible research project ideas about establishing aquaponics around the world, one being a comparative analysis between eco-tourism aquaponics (those that a sustainable but also generate more profit from visitors) vs self-sufficient, non-ecotourist aquaponics (possibly in European locations like the Netherlands).
We had one quick restroom stop before noon which gave us some time to stretch our legs. We found this small outdoor arcade with claw machines and a little trolley for babies. I really wanted a ride so I popped in 30 yuan and rode the little 30 feet circle. Unfortunately, I had to get off mid-ride because I found out I weighed a little more than capacity (the weight limit was 75 pounds). After gambling away the rest of my change to the claw machines, we hopped back on the bus.
By lunchtime, we arrived at the performance arts center. The main activity of our day was watching the Legacy Dance. Jay and I, through our genius minds and sneakiness, managed to snag some open seats in a better viewing location. Despite the slow start of the show (mostly because of the lack of music and sound), I really enjoyed the dance routines and symbolic elements of the performance. My favorite part was the second part which showcased the immigration across the seas from China to Taiwan. I found it extremely impressive how the central figure held a large sheet that represented the ocean but was fighting back against the downward pulls of the other performers, all while being held up by two others.
Overall, the day on the bus was great for building relationships with each other and we saw lots of beautiful scenery from farmland to forests to unique hillsides. To top it all off, our travel agent, Jesse, gave each of us gifts.
Another beautifully packed day (let’s pretend I’m not writing this the day after)! Today we went to the Tamsui organic farm, which is one of Tse-Xin’s farms. It was a gorgeous (read: hot) day to see the terraced rows and greenhouses at the farm. On the walk, we learned about the volcanic rock that is a building block for the terraces, walls and homes in Nanshipu. The farm itself was relatively small but was still home to many different interesting trees and crops. We saw cinnamon, lychee, and grape trees as well as loofah and gourd plants. There were also many yummy vegetables that were almost ready to be harvested such as cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants. One of my favorite parts of the day, during a tour of the farm, was getting to see their bee hives. They taught us about the relationships and structures that honey bees create in their hives and then showed us examples of each type of bee in real life. We even got to try the honey and hold the comb!
Our visit was not only to see the functions of the organic farm (which was less of working farm and more of a learning farm) but also to do some exciting activities related to the food that was grown there. We got to be creative with shaping rice dough surrounding sweet red bean paste, which was later steamed. We also created tie-dye handkerchiefs using turmeric dye. While these activities were a blast, the best part of the visit hands down was lunch. We were given bento boxes full of different forms of rice, tofu and vegetables along with a passion fruit drink and a fruity dessert. This was certainly the most delicious meal I had for all of the trip so far (and I’ve had some very good food). There were words of approval around the whole room and we all left stuffed.
In the afternoon, we visited The National Palace Museum to see ancient Chinese artifacts that used to reside in the emperor’s palace. It had a vast collection of artifacts from Taiwan’s history that accumulated when Chiang Kai-Shek fled mainland China with his defeated Nationalist party in the late 1940s. They miraculously transported treasures all the way from the Imperial Palace, through warzones, across the sea, and to Taiwan. This feat is an incredible demonstration of cultural preservation, which differs from Western ideologies that may sacrifice culture for individuals. We observed and appreciated historic pottery, paintings, tapestries, jewelry, porcelain books, jade, bronze, and more.
We finished the day with a trip to Jiu Fen street (where the idea for the streets in Spirited Away came from!!). And collectively, we left with many yummy treats and trinkets.
