The Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station has taken inventory of the resources from residues of Dongfon Farm and its surrounding industries, and introduced value-adding utilization technology, aiming to establish itself as a primary center for processing agricultural residues in the region.
Dongfon Farm has a compost plant, grain drying equipment, rice mill, and processing plant, and specializes in cultivation of organic rice, soybeans and pomelo fruit trees. Dongfon Farm generates approximately 500 tons of residues every year, part of which is returned to the fields or used as compost. From these residues, the farm also produces 1,200 tons of organic fertilizers, which are supplied to personnel of the Production and Marketing Group or sold externally.
Transforming below-standard organic soybeans into feed for egg-laying hens
The production of organic soybeans produces about 10-25% of third-grade beans. Dongfon Farm mixes organic below-standard soybeans with organic rice scraps to make feed for egg-laying hens, and conducts testing in cooperation with Jinhua Farm to increase the value of resources.
Recycling pomelo tree branches
Each hectare of the pomelo plantation can produce about 5.7 tons of fresh leafy branches every year. After crushing and drying them, the mass of the branches is reduced to 1.9 tons, which can be used for composting, producing wood vinegar, or making biochar and returning it to the soil.
Ecological park and fish-rice symbiosis
In cooperation with the Hualien Branch of the Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation, an artificial wetland and fish-rice symbiosis demonstration site were set up, successfully carrying out Taiwan Venus fish restoration, creating an aquatic ecosystem, and reducing the occurrence of mosquitoes carrying vector-borne diseases.
Benefits
- Increasing the income of the farm and reducing food miles and carbon footprints by using local organic resources from agricultural residues to make feed [1].
- Producing 1.9 metric tons of biomass materials per hectare annually in a pomelo plantation. If it is made into biochar, it can achieve a carbon sink benefit of 1.1 tons of organic carbon/hectare within 25 years.
[1] If the area where organic soybeans are cultivated in Hualien County is about 380 hectares, and 10% of the soybeans are below-standard, it is estimated that 76 tons of feed for egg-laying hens can be produced every year, feeding 1,900 organic egg-laying hens.