Location: Beidou Township, Changhua County, Taiwan
Credit: Ying-Chen Lin and Pin-Hua Ke
Initiative: Belmont Forum CRAs (SSCP 2022)
Project: Co-SFSC
Story: Launched in 2023, the Belmont Forum Co-SFSC project brings together researchers from Taiwan, Germany, Thailand, Turkey, Sweden, and the USA (SCORAI) to explore pathways for sustainable food supply chain transformations. Over three years, the international consortium conducts field cross-visits worldwide, capturing these transdisciplinary journeys through a dedicated documentary.
Taken during a field visit on November 1, 2024, this photograph illustrates the filming of this documentary in Changhua, Taiwan. The camera frames Mr. Kuang-Ching Chen, founder of “Taiwan Soybean Farmer” (田野勤學) and a vital local partner of the Taiwan Hub. Originally a semiconductor engineer, Mr. Chen left his high-tech career after starting a family. Driven by a deep concern for food safety and a desire to provide healthy food for his children, he returned to his hometown in 2017 to start a family-scale agribusiness dedicated to eco-friendly soybean cultivation.
Supported by Taiwan’s “Big Granary Programme” initiated in 2016, his farm bridges the gap between policy and grassroots action by promoting the integration of food, agriculture, and education. In 2024, “Taiwan Soybean Farmer” became the first small-scale agribusiness in history to win Taiwan’s National Environmental Education Award. Beyond climate-responsive farming, Mr. Chen’s philosophy centers on preserving local soybean culinary heritage and developing innovative local products—thereby making this a rare, highly successful model that we analyzed in detail in our recent peer-reviewed publication (https://doi.org/10.1080/1943815X.2026.2655452).
The visual metaphor of this image is profound. Through the small rectangular window of the camera monitor, we see a snapshot of a tiny island’s (Taiwan) local field. Yet, bursting out of that very frame is Mr. Chen’s immense, uncontainable passion for preserving local heritage and promoting food education. By capturing the soul of this local pioneer through digital media, the Co-SFSC project exemplifies transdisciplinary engagement: illuminating how individual transformation and grassroots dedication can effectively breathe life into macro-level national sustainability policies, driving visible and deeply inspiring societal impact.