每日英語跟讀 Ep.790: 婚宴會場佈置轉行務農 種出美味有機玉女番茄 Pingtung resident swaps weddings for organic tomatoes

Chiu Meng-hsien, from Pingtung County’s Neipu Township, gave up an earlier career as a wedding banquet designer to become a farmer, buying land and constructing a greenhouse to grow cherry tomatoes. This year, Chiu started to harvest his crop before the start of the Lunar New Year and has been working non-stop throughout the holiday period to be ready to sell to the market.

原從事結婚喜宴會場佈置的屏東縣內埔鄉農民邱孟賢，轉換跑道務農，買地、建溫室細心呵護玉女番茄，今年在春節前採收上市，連年假期間也不得閒。

The 51-year-old, who had no prior experience of farming, says he developed a strong interest toward farming and agriculture while working as a wedding banquet designer, which uses flowers and plants for decoration. Ten years ago, Chiu changed careers, moving to Neipu Township and purchasing 0.4 hectares of land. On two of the plots Chiu constructed a greenhouse to grow cherry tomatoes and oriental melons.

五十一歲的邱孟賢原是農業門外漢，因婚宴會場佈置需要植物花卉材料，接觸到農業後他產生很大興趣，十年前轉行，到內埔鄉購得近四分地，其中兩分地搭設溫室種植玉女番茄及洋香瓜。

Chiu says that, although a native of Kaohsiung, after seeing the favorable environmental conditions in Neipu Township, he decided to buy land there, aided by an introduction from a friend. He began learning how to grow tomatoes and spent nearly NT$1 million installing facilities. Chiu says he pampers his cherry tomatoes: “You definitely need to give them a house to live in to protect them from the elements, then they will grow really well.”

他表示，老家住高雄，看到內埔環境清優，在朋友介紹下購地，開始學種番茄，並花近百萬元搭設施，玉女番茄非常嬌貴，「一定要蓋房子給它們住」，才能擋住風雨長得好。

Out of consideration for food safety and ecology, Chiu decided to apply for organic certification. Since he cannot use chemical fertilizers, Chiu’s orchard is often attacked by tobacco cutworm. To get around this problem, Chiu uses fly papers and employs green lacewings as natural pest control, and also sprays organic pesticides. In order to verify the efficacy of his preventative techniques and treatments, Chiu plucks off leaves and examines them under a microscope to check for signs of hatched insect eggs. Chiu says that although he has no specialist scientific training, he carries out more research than most of his peers and has even received praise from experts at the Pingtung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station.

為了食安及生態環境，他還申請到有機驗證，因為不能用農藥，果園常遭斜紋夜盜蟲侵襲，除了放黏板，還放草蛉當天敵防治，噴用有機防治資材，為確定有無效果，還摘葉子放到專程買來的顯微鏡下觀察，看看有無蟲卵孵化，雖非科班出身，但功課做得比別人多，連農改場專家也稱讚他的用心。

Chiu says that cherry tomatoes are currently the main variety of small-sized tomato in Taiwan, and their organic variety, in addition to satisfying food safety and health considerations, also have the benefit of not being cloyingly-sweet, with a slight acidity to their flavor profile. Only organic cherry tomatoes can provide consumers with the flavor they are looking for, he says.

邱孟賢強調，玉女番茄是目前小番茄的主流，而有機玉女小番茄，除了安全健康，也沒有「死甜」味，略帶微酸，才能讓消費者吃到真美味。

Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/02/05/2003730357