While talking about Okinawa, Japan, 90% of the tourists must think of brown sugar as its top 3 souvenirs. But it is afraid that 90% of the tourists don't know that the root of the Okinawa sugarcane came from Taiwan.
"A 90-years-old sugar factory owner showed us the factory operation certification which was certified by the Emperor of Japan. His factory must follow the Japanese standards, amounts to produce brown sugar to the emperor" said Mrs. Wang Ling-feng, CEO of Sing-Chen Community Development Association. "Taiwan can be said as an invisible driving force behind the development of Japanese tourism. Conversely, this is what we need thinking to learn and improve."
 

Sugarcane Field Rehabilitation: Spent 3 Years to Learn Planting and Researching the Brown Sugar Recipes 
Mrs. Wang pities that Taiwan's sugar sales were the 3rd largest in the world and the technology of sugarcane cultivation and sugarcane varieties were also impressive. Especially Baoshan was known as the "Hometown of Brown Sugar". Later, the sugarcane fields gradually fell into disuse due to the rise of Hsinchu Science Industrial Park (HSIP), even the sugarcane seedlings were not left. It needs rehabilitation and contract farming of sugarcane fields to let Taiwanese relive the past glorious taste. Fortunately, the brown sugar DNA inherent in Baoshan was only dormant only. The amateur engineer uses his research spirit and spent 3 years to reawaken its vitality.
In 2013, with the encouragement of his wife, Mrs. Ling-feng Wang, Mr. Li Rong-feng, who had worked in Taiwan's top 5 technology companies participated in the Sugarcane Field Rehabilitation Project which was organized by Taoyuan District Agriculture Research and Extension Station (TDARES) and Baoshan Farmers Association. He learned from the industry experts about friendly farming without pesticides and chemical fertilizers, research and establishment the standardized production processes and quality management, etc. 
Initially, they started in an 0.47-acre land and successfully rehabilitated ROC16 (sugarcane), which is resistant to pests and diseases and has high sweetness. After that, Mr. Li worked every day on his boiler to research and improve the best hand-boiled brown sugar recipe. Since he insisted on not adding lime to accelerate the syrup concentration, it took him 3 months just to figure out the dry-wetness ratio of the syrup.

Business Differentiation from Selling Steamed Buns to A Leisure Park
Mr. Li finally formulated the exclusive brown sugar flavor of Sing-Chen Community, and then Mrs. Wang who studied Business Trade took over. She made Brown Sugar Steamed Buns which were hand-taught by her mother-in-law as a business. At that time, Mrs. Wang led a group of new immigrant moms from China like her to make the buns every day. Thanks to the Regional Revitalization resources and the assistance of Hsinchu County Government and TDARES, their steamed buns had more demands even they offered 2,000 buns per day. 
However, the popular orders didn't constant a long time, the "Egg Tart Effect" emerged. The Steamed Buns sales fell straitly from 5,000 buns dropped to less than 1,000 per day. Mrs. Wang rethought, "That means our products had no difference,". Therefore, she diversified the flavors and developed more than 10 types of bun fillings to boost the order rate. In the meanwhile, she started to plan a tourist park, trying to switch the business into a DIY experience economy.
Due to limited budgets, she started from turned the first floor of a restaurant into a classroom and offered an Nt$50 per person experiential course on the social media. Surprisingly the course sold out in seconds! The first travel agency which purchased the whole course package was LION TRAVEL, and the parent-child course for about 20 people was full. Mrs. Wang admitted that since she was the only instructor so had to price up for the quantity, Despite the price of the course up to NT$150 and NT$180, it was not enough to the more demands.
At this time, she figured out that the overall planning of an experience park is the way that Sing-Chen Feng Tang should go for. Therefore, the couple further built a Leisure Park of nearly 20 hectares, designing a one-day tour from experiencing sugarcane planting, DIY brown sugar steamed buns to lake path walking. The leisure park made Sing-Chen Community awarded a Silver Medal Award from the first Gold Village Competition of Hsinchu County in 2017. Next year, the Community was certified Bronze Level of Low Carbon and Sustainable Homeland Certification hosted by the Environmental Protection Administration of Executive Yuan. 

Solid Business Model with Over 70% Revenue from Processed Products
Today, Baoshan Township Sing-Chen Community Development Association is far less known than the Sing-Chen Feng Tang brand. The good reputation of the brand comes from its business model of "Sugarcane Rehabilitation, Brown Sugar Made Markets, and Value-added Experience" Mrs. Wang analyses that in order let those farmers rehabilitate the sugarcane fields without the worry of unstable sugarcane orders. They guaranteed to buy the sugar at 5 times the market price which has remained from the beginning till today. But today, the contracted sugarcane fields have more than 30 times than before, and this part of the cost accounts for 40%-45% of the profit. Although the annual production of Brown Sugar is 180,000 kg, considering the offsetting costs and the 20% of the surplus will be returned to serve the Elderly Care Service, it’s more cost-effective to sell the processed products than raw materials. The former accounts for more than 70% and the latter accounts for less than 30% of the total productions.
In terms of the B2C models of selling processed products, they have both physical and online market channels. In physical channels, the local Yi-ke-lai supermarket and 7-ELEVEN convenience stores in Hsinchu sell their products, plus other types of stores for in-store pickup. Without 7-ELEVEN stores, they still have more than 30 physical partner stores. In virtual channels, Shopee, PChome, Rakuten, and greenbox.tw sell their products too.
The B2B or B2B2C part of selling raw materials, they don't only focus on physical stores and cooperatives such as the campus stores of National Chung Hsing University and National Chengchi University. Mrs. Wang also tries to enter the resident stores in HSIP or Mabuville, the R&D and training Center of BenQ-AUO Group. In 2020, the company also successfully negotiated with the purchasing department of a consumer goods company, such as Shaomei Ice Cream Company purchased their newly developed citrus ingredients for making ice cream and sold them to Pxmart. 
As for the experience part of the Leisure Park, visitors can participate in DIY Brown Sugar Steamed Buns, as well as Herbal Food Therapy and Hand-made Potted Plants using ecological plants. It is roughly estimated that on average 1,000 visitors visit the park per week and 36,000 visitors are received throughout the year. Only the course part contributes more than NT$5 million in the annual sales. Overall, the turnover of a single year is about NT$10 million and the annual growth rate is about 8%. 

The Future Vision to Be a Green Caring Farm that Combines Agriculture, Medical Service, and Health Care
Based on the 20 hectares of Sing-Chen Feng Tang Leisure Park, in the next decade, Mrs. Wang's vision to Sing-Chen Community Development Association is to upgrade to a Green Caring Farm that integrates Agriculture, Medical Service, and Health Care.
In the past few years, the Association has expanded the number of Elderly Care Stations to 10 communities, and the number of elderly people under care has increased from 15 to nearly 300. In addition to Community Meals, Meal Delivery, Courses activities, and Medical Services, the staff of the Association gradually uses the open farm space in the Leisure Park to introduce Horticultural Therapy. They encourage the elderly to grow their own vegetables, self-cook meals and make plant pots from local materials to improve their health and quality life. This also lets young people who have worked out of the Township don't worry about their parents and elders in their hometowns.  
In the meanwhile, the Leisure Park also serves as an entrepreneurial base and platform for the Community. A sugarcane production and marketing class has been established. In 2018, citrus will be promoted as a second specialty industry in the community. The processing and manufacturing of Brown Sugar Steam Buns and Citrus Jam have also given the moms in the Community a second career chance. The best part is more than 20 young people have returned to the Community. They either plant sugarcane or serve in the Association, which brings the young energy to the Community.

Attracting Young Farmers by Integrating Corporate Management Thinking with Values
The growth path of Sing-Chen Community Development Association is worthy of reference for other organizations. From the rehabilitation of sugarcane fields, the development and marketing of brown sugar products, and the creation of value-added experiential courses, the couple has built up a solid business for the community and firmed the steps of the Association. The influence has spread to other townships.
When it comes to how to successfully build a team of young farmers, Mrs. Wang first emphasizes that "Correct Values" is a prerequisite. To combine the correct values and the corporate management thinking, including a common vision and implementation strategy, as well as empower young people, allow them to make mistakes, and gives them hope, the owner can further make them stay and work together.
From 2009, Mrs. Wang, a girl from Hainan Island, married to Taiwan, was unable to understand the Hakka language. In 2019, she was awarded the "Rural Village Leadership Award" by the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan on her personal behalf, and even received by the President and gave a speech as a representative. She considers herself to be 200% integrated into the land and leads the Community into the path of Regional Revitalization with her husband, Li Rong-feng, as an alternative paradigm. 

▲Business Model

▲Sing-Chen Community Development Association has attracted more and more young people back to work in theirs hometown. The couple Mr. Li Rong-feng and Mrs. Wang Ling-fen are in the middle.

▲The 20 hectares Sing-Chen Feng Tang Leisure Park is well planned and become a popular tourist spot for Influencers. (Picture Provide: Sing-Chen Community Development Association)

Domestic Case Story

Interviewee: Hsinchu County Baoshan Township Sing-Chen Community Development Association

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 

Please attribute this article to “Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Labor.”