FIRST LOCALLY PRODUCED WHEAT FLOUR

To help raise Taiwan's self sufficiency in wheat flour, local bakery owner Shih Ming-huang has started growing wheat across the island.

And after four years of experiment and collaboration with other farmers, they are now competing against imported flour, by successfully producing up to 40 tons of wheat flour this year.

Taiwan is now producing wheat and grinding it into flour.

These boxes are about to be shipped as the staff is quite busy.

Nearby, a bakery is quickly turning this flour into bread.

This mother drove for half an hour from Dounan to get this bread. It tastes good and is very chewy.

The key is fresh flour.

Imported flour takes 4 to 5 months to even half a year to fall into the hands of consumers.

Locally produced flour takes just 1 month to travel from the field to the dinner table.

The environment is very important for this production as it took more than four years to finally succeed in producing 40 tons of flour this year.

Using small farmers working under contract was the way this was produced.

The initial wheat seeds were provided free of charge. And from Yilan, Hualien, Tainan, Kaohsiung, 13 different locations or 27 hectares of land were cultivated.

The most suitable location was southern Taiwan, and eastern Taiwan had the best quality with salinization of land being surprisingly good for growing wheat.

Taiwan annually produces 300 tons of wheat that is mostly used for liquor.

This has been the first attempt at grinding flour.

However, it costs double that of foreign imports making it quite a challenge to find a market.

Still, this does not stop Mr. Shih from seeking other solutions such as providing certificates for bakeries encouraging them to use this flour and maintain market competitiveness.

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