"We raise the best groupers in the Yongan District of Kaohsiung City!" Mr. Chen Kun-cheng, the CEO of Kaohsiung Yongan Xingang Community Cooperative (Abbreviation in Xingang Community Cooperative), said proudly.

The saying is not boasting but a fact that passed a blind test—no added lake water, no stolen raw materials, relying on the natural conditions and strict raising technology, the grouper has become the local pride.

Difficulties are often the starting point of innovation. More than a decade ago, a winterkilling severely damaged the Yongan district of Kaohsiung, and Xingang Community also suffered losses from the fish farming. In the background, Mr. Chen Kun-cheng and his wife, Mrs. Su Yu-hsuan, returned to her hometown to assist her father, Mr. Su Kuo-chen, the Chairman of the Community Development Association, to rebuild the fish farm.

At that time, Xingang Community was under the initial implementation of the cooling water discharged from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) of CPC Corporation as its fish farm's water source. During the water discharging process, not only is the water effectively sterilized and disinfected, improving its water's quality and safety, but the discharge volume is also enormous, approximately 30,000 tons per hour or more. By this method, the fish farmers don't extract the groundwater, thus preventing land subsidence. Its stable low temperature of 18°~20° is another major advantage, yielding amazing results—it significantly improves fish survival rates, firms and delicates the grouper meat, and is well received by the market.

The "Recycling Economy" model that combines the innovation of local industry and recycling resources, unlocking new opportunities. The by-product cooling water has been referred to as "Diamond Water" and has become a crucial foundation for the community's sustainable development. The Xingang Community Cooperative uses it as a starting point and further builds the "Origin as Brand" marketing strategy.

Origin as Brand: Transform Yourself into Something Your Customers Like
In Xingang Community Cooperative, each chief of the grouper production and marketing class has decades of fish raising experience. Among them are many award winners of the Outstanding Agricultural Professional Award with exceptional skills. In the era of story marketing, why not let them tell their own story? Therefore, Mr. Su Kuo-chen, the honorary chairman of Xingang Community Association, is the first to share his fish-raising story in nearly half a century. "SU's GIANT GROUPER" thus became the first brand in the community to establish brand awareness successfully. Chief Su's photo is printed on the product packaging, representing responsibility and trust, and also giving consumers a greater sense of familiarity and respect for the product.

The interesting part is that, to promote the groupers' awareness of Kaohsiung Yongan Xingang Community Cooperative, which was damaged by the winter killing, this incident also promoted contact between the chiefs, thereby unifying the community's eternal unity.

"The marketing is keeping changing; we need to transform ourselves into something our customers like." Mr. Chen Kun-cheng told he is not the second generation of a fishing farmer, and Xingang Community Cooperative serves not only Kaohsiung Yongan District but also incorporates the fishery specialties of the nerby Mituo District and seeks the best aquatic product factory.

Furthermore, Xingang Community Cooperative collaborates with the university's academy to calculates the groupers' carbon foodprint by estimating the environmental impact produced from every 100g of fish meat.

In the same time, it collaborates with government agencies to plant seven or eight types of seaweed in the fishponds that unsuitable for aquaculture, initiating the first year of "Blue Carbon" and reinforcing Yongan's positioning as a low carbon aquaculture village.

Agri-food Education: Shortening the Distance from Farm to Table
However, the long raising period, high price, and high cooking threshold make it difficult for grouper to become a part of everyday meals. The biggest challenge in "from the farm to the table" is not the physical distance but the consumer's habits.

"What is the most favorite fish of the Taiwanese? The answer is not Taiwanese milkfish, which can be eaten after being raised for only one year. The answer is the imported salmon that travels halfway around the world to Taiwan, with the consumption being 19 times that of the grouper." Mr. Chen Kun-cheng expressed that Taiwanese people are familiar with various methods of cooking salmon, including salmon sashimi, salmon miso soup, and fried salmon. "However, people are quiet when talking about grouper." We raise high-quality grouper, but it is not the fish dish on our dining table. Promoting the concept of "Local production, local sales" and increasing the grouper on dining tables requires continued efforts to break down the barriers.

By the fish market now, Mr. Chen thought they can't just be "the people who sell fish," but also be "the people who sell lifestyle." You have to teach your customers how to cook the grouper as a lifestyle. Through this concept, Xingang Community Cooperative started with "Lifestyle proposals," demonstrating how to steam fish and make miso soup using a home electric cooker. Reaching out to children is where the hope lies; the cooperative holds 120 agri-food education activities annually, with 80% of participants being school-aged children. These activities allow children to experience grouper from a young age, learn about its origins, and cook it by themselves, learning how to steam or cook it in an electric cooker, and tasting the delicious flavor of grouper. "The next generation will know about grouper, and change their dining table in the future."

Through our efforts, grouper will not be a high-end fish for holidays, but an easy-to-serve dish on dining tables and a daily food. More importantly, our next generation will understand and recognize the excellent aquatic products, which will become the basic driving force behind the market change.

After brand awareness of Xingang Community Cooperative became well-known, rather than pursuing the most expensive on pricing, the corporative adopted a mid-to-high price, high-quality, and accessible pricing. Mr. Chen emphasized, "We want to enter ordinary people's lives. What impact will we make on the land of Taiwan is what we are considering."

Xingang Young Army: Returning Hometown to Create Their Stage
Currently, Xingang Community Cooperative has expanded its staff from 12 members initially to 13 members, with 6 members being employed by the cooperative. Through the Ministry of Labor's "Empowering Employment Program (EEP)," it can further grow by hiring young people and strengthening the community to support larger regional revitalization.

Mr. Chen Kun-cheng successfully integrated team members from diverse backgrounds, bringing in multiple energies and creativity. Such as marketing planning, illustration design, woodworking, floral weaving, and cuisine development, he allows each member to leverage their strengths within the team, creating a complementary collaborative network.

Mr. Chen also focuses on the practical experience and skill training. He utilizes opportunities from market participation planning, brand promotion, fish farm operation, and social media marketing to divide staff into teams and collaborate on a theme, allowing them to learn through doing to cultivate comprehensive abilities needed for the regional revitalization. He also continuously invites lectures and industry members to train his staff in diverse functions, such as digitalization, handicrafts, and the processing of agricultural and fishery products, constructing a flexible and creative operational mechanism. These results are only possible with the support of the Ministry of Labor's "Empowering Employment Program."

As the business expands from Yongan to integrate companies in Mituo District, Xingang Community Cooperative has increased its staff, growing from 30 returning young people four to five years ago to the current "Xingang Young Army" with approximately 38 staff. For the next step, the Young Army will challenge cross-country markets. To face the fluctuation and order cancellation risks in China's market, Mr. Chen proactively expanded into the North American and Canadian Chinese markets, winning the favor of customers in those markets with stable quality and brand warmth.

Xingang Community Cooperative builds a "Diamond Water" circular economic model. The Xingang Young Army transforms its grouper raising results, which offers both environmental protection and financial benefits, into a local brand story and culture-creative products, selling to markets, e-commerce, and people's dining tables. More importantly, the Cooperative has evolved into a mobile platform, offering young people who want to contribute to local communities a stage, spaces, and opportunities to collaborate on community operations, industry upgrading, and sustainable development, thereby creating more possibilities in the future.

The Official Page of Kaohsiung Yongan Xingang Cooperative

▲The fish farmers in Xingang utilize the low-temperature "Diamond Water" to raise groupers, creating a new paragon for Taiwan's "Circular Economy."

▲Through the Ministry of Labor's "Empowering Employment Program (EEP)," young people have opportunities to contribute to community operations, creating more incentives that attract more young people to return to their hometowns to collaborate for the grouper industry.

▲Combined with diverse guiding activities and agri-food education, Xingang Community Cooperative makes efforts to shorten the distance between consumers and the "From the farm to the tables" of the grouper. 

▲Mr. Chen Kun-cheng, the CEO of Xingang Community Cooperative, is the key man of the Xingang Young Army.
 

Case Story: Empowering Employment Program
Interviewee: Kaohsiung Yongan Xingang Community Cooperative

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