Erlin farmers dig deep for new inspirations

This article was written by Alexander Chou and published by the Taiwan Journal on March 3, 2006. It reports that Erlin Township in central Taiwan's Changhua County was once known as the nation's wine grape kingdom. In 1997, grapes produced in Erlin earned the town's farmers some US$125 million in revenues.

However, since then, Erlin's vineyards have shrunk from an area of 1,600 hectares to today's 600 hectares. This happened because of three events. The first is that the state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau has lost its monopoly status as the exclusive buyer of Erlin's entire grape harvest. In order to survive, the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau transformed itself into the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp. The company terminated all contracts with Erlin's grape growers.

Secondly, as a result of market liberalization, many private producers of alcoholic beverages are building up their businesses and become severe competitors to Erlin's grape growers. Finally, with Taiwan's entry to the World Trade Organization in 2002, all higher tariffs on imported wine were gone. Taiwan is now awash in cheap but good-quality imports.

Today, most of the grape growers in Erlin have chosen to explore other lines of agricultural production, such as growing herbs, buckwheat and mushrooms. Those who decide to keep on growing wine grapes are also adopting new management methods in order to promote their own wines as well as other grape-related products.

This article details how Erlin's farmers' association helped organize seminars and courses that taught grape growers about winemaking. The association also arranged technical assistance and financial services so that grape growers could build their own wineries. The grape growers themselves participated in international food and beverage trade shows to learn from their counterparts in other countries.

More significantly, the article introduces several creative products promoted by Erlin's grape growers. These include the grape seed noodles and crackers and the red wine facial mask. Today's grape growers in Taiwan have to become innovative and actively work with other industries, such as food processing factories and restaurants, in order to survive. For example, some grape growers concentrate on making wine during the harvesting seasons, from June to July and from November to December. During the rest of the year they engage themselves in making pineapple and apple liqueur in order to better utilize their equipment and make a profit.