Cucumbers are naughty and difficult to deal with. Lin Kaiyao, a green farmer, uses science and technology to solve the problem of cucumbers.

About the description of the cucumber, it is generally said that the cucumber is sweet, crisp and refreshing, but have you ever heard that the cucumber is "very naughty"?

That's right! Green farmer Lin Kaiyao said that the cucumber is an animal in the outer skin of a plant, and it is also a kind of very naughty animal. he once set up a camera to record its movements 24 hours a day, and found that it was not only "one inch big and three inches", but also liked to play with its melon, harassing the leaves next door and provoking the flowers of the neighbors. What made Lin Kai-Yao angry most was that it would restrain the fast-growing cucumber and make the melon appear a circle of strangulation marks. "I have rigidly turned the special products into inferior products, and I really want to teach them not to make a mess again! "

It's just that his "angry" tone is full of smile, much like parents saying that their children are naughty, but it's not good to praise their children's intelligence. He has good planting skills and a high yield of cucumbers, and the more noisy the melon garden is, the more vitality it will be.

Lin Kai-Yao's melon garden is full of life, and the cucumber is "one inch big and three inches". (photo courtesy of / Lin Kaiyao)

Never thought that when a farmer came into contact with agriculture, he found it charming.

Lin Kaiyao is a young farmer who has just passed his twenties. His melon garden is next to the Chiayi Exchange Road. More than two-thirds of the farmland has built three greenhouses to grow a single crop: the Japanese variety CU87 cucumber. Just looking at his two major achievements: winning the Science and Technology Farmer Award, and the crop harvest is much higher than the statistical average of the agricultural reform field, it is easy to think that if he is not the son of a farmer who has been brought up since childhood, or he has been a good farmer for many years. Unexpectedly, he has no family background and has only been a professional farmer for two years.

"I have always liked animals and plants since I was a child. I studied in the Department of Life Sciences at the university and dreamed of becoming a biologist. Lin Kai-Yao admits that farming has never been on his career planning list.

This small step has changed Lin Kaiyao's life ever since. He is responsible for the production management and organic audit of farm crops, naturally without the opportunity to bend over and sweat in the fields. Hundreds of crops on the farm, from leafy vegetables in greenhouse to open-air fruit trees, have been checked by him, and he has to record the whole process. Only then do he know that the richness on the dinner table is the hard work of farmers, while seeds break through the ground and crops rise from the ground. It's so charming.

Lin Kaiyao, a young farmer, is full of enthusiasm for farming and specializes in planting cucumbers with production and marketing experience, with fruitful results. (photography / Yang Yuyun)

If you have a wise system, you will learn quickly and grow well.

After more than a year in Kaohsiung, Lin Kai-Yao, on the one hand, wanted to move back to Chiayi, and on the other, he felt ready to stand on his own feet. he chose cucumbers as the target crop, leased land, made loans, built greenhouses, and worked on trademarks. He neatly set up the stage for farming in just a few months. He wore a hat and rain shoes and appeared as a farmer.

Lin Kai-Yao says that apart from the "courage" in his personality, he dares to take out loans from young farmers, all because he is blessed by a master of science and technology farmers, which makes him full of confidence.

Learning that students want to start their own business, Chang Geng-hyuk, in addition to spiritual encouragement, also provides all kinds of substantive assistance, including his patented "intelligent aquaculture system," so that Lin Kaiyao does not have to stumble along a lot of wrong roads like many young farmers.

In the eyes of Chang Geng-hyuk, the gentle Lin Kaiyao is more like an office worker, but he has agricultural enthusiasm that comes from nowhere. He is not only studious, but also not afraid of tiredness. Coupled with his high understanding, Chang is very willing to cultivate.

Lin Kaiyao said that the intelligent aquaculture system immediately fed back the environmental values sensed on the spot, such as temperature and humidity, to the intelligent equipment to flexibly adjust the formula of water and fertilizer. "Scientific quantification can be discussed to be very accurate. The concentration of fertilizer, how many ppm of calcium, how much ppm of potassium, and how many ppm to communicate with scientific data, progress is naturally faster. "coupled with the fact that the teacher is also in Chiayi, it is basically his farm tutor. No wonder Lin Kai-Yao's melon garden is thriving.

From the APP of the mobile phone, the water and fertilizer situation in the field can be monitored. With the assistance of science and technology, farming is easier. (photography / Yang Yuyun)

The output of intelligent system to deal with the "difficult" symptom of cucumber is much higher than the average.

He asked why Lin Kai-Yao only grew cucumbers. He admits frankly that it is because "the crop changes relatively fast, and you can harvest two months in a month, which is very cost-effective." In addition, although it is not difficult to grow small cucumbers, there is a certain technical threshold for high yield and high yield. coupled with the crops that can be eaten raw, the market has relatively high requirements for safety. he has confidence in planting technology and has the endorsement of production and marketing resume. all kinds of advantages can be brought into play on cucumbers.

The cucumber is afraid of heat, but its leaves are large, so it needs a lot of sunlight to carry out photosynthesis; it needs fertilizer, but it is afraid that the soil is too salty; it needs a lot of water, and its roots cannot be flooded. All kinds of "difficult" can just take advantage of the fertilizer and water supply mode of a small number of meals in the intelligent system. As long as there is a change in the environment, the supply system will be adjusted flexibly so that it will not be too wet and will not give a lot of fertilizer when the weather is hot, so that the yield and output value can be improved.

Intelligent systems can also effectively control plant diseases. However, by supplying water and fertilizer through intelligent drip irrigation, the humidity in the field can be controlled, greatly reducing the risk of disease.

In addition, the greenhouse can cover the rain, and there are two layers of insect prevention nets around it. At the same time, the entry and exit of personnel is also controlled. We must start work in the driest greenhouse (that is, the area that has just been planted soon after the garden is cleared), and then go to the older plant area. If you need to go to another greenhouse, you must change all your clothes.

"if you can plant or not, the yield is much worse."

Lin Kaiyao said that even with caution, cucumber plants will still have thrips and powders at a later stage. However, as long as the action of clearing the garden is real, take care of it carefully in the early stage of cultivation, and only use some non-toxic materials after the beginning of the harvest, you can also finish the harvest period. "that's why I chose the cucumber. If it grows any longer, it will only take two months to harvest. "

It is also worth mentioning that Lin Kaiyao chose white grass suppression mats with relatively high prices, on the one hand, to improve the brightness of the greenhouse, increase the efficiency of photosynthesis, and at the same time reduce the possibility of insects hiding in the back of leaves.

"there is a big difference in yield between being able to plant and not being able to plant. Lin Kaiyao says that according to the statistics of the agricultural reform farm, he can harvest more than three tons of cucumbers per plot. Although he doesn't want to talk about his harvest directly, he snickers proudly, while stressing that "the output should not be too high-profile." there is no silver here, which makes people drink for his self-confidence.

Self-created brand promotion concept the appearance of cucumber does not affect the taste

For restaurants, regardless of the display of knife craftsmanship and the beauty of plate decoration, cucumbers are very good materials; in cuisine, cucumbers also have a variety of matching degrees, not only raw and cooked, but also pickled into side dishes and whipped into drinks in a variety of ways.

Lin Kai-Yao mentioned that fresh cucumbers should have small thorns, fruit powder, and even flowers. Because these three features can easily disappear in the process of handling and touching, as long as they have any features, they are a guarantee of freshness. In addition, many people stress that cucumbers should be straight and full, but the so-called top grade is for specific restaurants. Lin Kaiyao said that straight cucumbers make it easier for chefs to deal with, but the taste and flavor have nothing to do with appearance. "some of my group-buying customers will also specify curved cucumbers because they know that these cucumbers are of good quality but at a lower price. "

As early as in the early days of his business, Lin Kaiyao decided to create his own brand. He believes that the industry and wholesale markets do not necessarily agree with the value of production and marketing resumes, and they are often priced only on the basis of the appearance of the products, but he is confident in his own crops. He can sell his own ideas to customers, and the price can be raised.

With the homophonic sound of "noisy" bringing out a lively feeling, Lin Kaiyao named the brand "good melon" and stressed his determination to plant good melons and "make good melons for you". At the same time, he stressed that he hoped to find ways to maintain food safety, farmers' livelihood and sustainable use of land through agriculture. He also hoped that agriculture could make money, and that it would not be considered a very tired industry in order to attract more young people to invest.

It can be harvested twice a day, and Lin Kaiyao's melon garden output is much higher than the statistical average. (photo courtesy of / Lin Kaiyao)

Won two major science and technology agricultural awards, millions of bonuses invested in the agricultural garden

The competition is organized by Zhang Geng-hyuk and Lin Kaiyao. Although Zhang Geng-hyuk has science and technology patents, winning the prize can increase Lin Kaiyao's popularity, and the competition also needs more scientific data, so teachers and students form a team together to achieve good results.

Similarly, using intelligent systems, Zhang Genghe's greenhouse crops are cultivated with soil, while Lin Kaiyao is cultivated with media. Because it is easy to have continuous cropping obstacles in long-term cultivation of the same item, in order to get rid of the influence of existing soil fertilizer, he chose coconut fiber as the medium, which has the characteristics of fast drainage and not easy salinization, so that the intelligent system produces a completely different rhythm of water and fertilizer from the soil. it is proved that soil / medium can benefit from intelligent management, and the award is well deserved.

After starting with a bonus of NT $1 million, how can Lin Kai-Yao spend it? "it's all invested. "he answered, of course, that there was no turning back for the progress of the melon garden.

Lin Kaiyao said that as long as they can use computers and know how to operate mobile phones, intelligent systems are very suitable for farmers who grow crops of high economic value. The climatic conditions were transformed into scientific data, the formula of fertilizer and water was quantified, and the interaction of data was used to compare the response of plants in the field, and the cultivation techniques were improved step by step. "We have been looking at these data for a long time, and we are already very sensitive, and we can feel the current temperature and humidity at any time, and we can also observe the changes in the plants. we retain the nature of farmers, but we save a lot of labor. "