A Study on the Co-Creation of Farmers' Market - Taking Four Small Markets in Middle Taiwan as Examples

• Main Authors: CHEN,CHIEN-TING, 陳芊庭
• Other Authors: Shyh-Huei Hwang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/8kq4k6

碩士 === 國立雲林科技大學 === 創意生活設計系 === 105 === How does a farmers’ market differ from a traditional one? While traditional markets, a place that is close to people’s everyday lives, open daily for vendors to live, farmers’ markets are a new venture that advocates health, friendliness, and transparency in production practices. Farmers’ market fever has gripped Taiwan in a short time, and the number of this new venture reached over 70 during its heyday. This indicates that food and agricultural markets, which concern themselves with food issues and food education, are meaningful and beneficial, but they also face difficulties such as values recognition, operating costs, and customer development. These problems are worth discovering and investigating. Most agricultural markets are in local communities and small-scale. They strive for food safety and human health, and possess attributes of the district. However, the rising food and agricultural markets are at risk of poor management. For example, two markets in the agriculture-based Yunlin County, “Humanities Organic Market” and “Meng Kau Dia Organic Farmers’ Market,” faced a crisis of suspension within one year, and the number of stands plummeted to three or fewer. Some markets disappear, while newborn markets are still available. Why are farmers’ markets unable to operate ceaselessly? What is the problem? These are the questions this study aims to answer. Therefore, this study chose several markets that have run for over two years and investigated the reason they sustain, their business strategies, and the benefits they provide. Local, small-scale markets surely differ from regular stores. They have distinctive charms and deep-seated beliefs to create more possibilities. This study examined four markets in Central Taiwan: “Tri-small Market” in Douliu, Yunlin; “Hu Jiao Zhuang Farmers’ Market” in Waipu, Taichung; “Ji Ji Zhen Farmers’ Market” in Jiji, Nantou; “Howdy Food Market” in Taichung. Though they are in different districts, these four markets are closely related to agriculture and food, operate continuously, and promote environmentally friendly farming. This study adopted field observations and depth interviews to collect data, and used grounded theory to proceed open coding and categorize the information gathered from qualitative questionnaires. With these research methods, it analyzed the formation of food and agricultural markets, the advocacy of value, the motivation to sustain, the attributes of operation, the problems these markets encountered, they way they overcame difficulties, and their business models to serve as a reference for emerging farmers’ markets. The results were as follows: (1) Local food and agricultural markets often cooperated with or received subsidies from local governments or the central administration. Since the environments and attributes of each district varied, local markets had different modes of operation regarding venues, independent controls, and the selection and distribution of resources. These factors influenced the development of local markets. (2) After interviewing farmers’ market managers, the difficulties of running markets could be concluded into the following: The professional backgrounds of managers, the location of markets, the diversity of merchandise, the ideology of customers, and the collaboration with local governments. (3) The methods for local food and agricultural markets to sustain could be categorized into four stages: Imports, preparations, development, and maturation. Each stage included essential influential factors to which managers should pay attention. Local food and agricultural market managers also possessed absolute determination and a strong sense of purpose. They collaborated with farmers and communities to promote farming and eco-friendly foods, and progress towards the idea of “working together in harmony.”