Changhua Rice Seedling Company


Yuli Township in Hualien County is the center of the East Rift Valley of Taiwan. It has been a famous rice "warehouse" of Taiwan since the Hakka ancestors began cultivating the crop there. The rice products of Changhua Rice Seedling Company (長樺水稻育苗行) in the town are nurtured from the fertile soil in Hualien's Yuli, irrigated by the pure and pollution-free water of nearby Xiuguluan River (秀姑巒溪), and the area's pleasant climate. In such a unique environment, the rice grown by Changhua Rice Seedling Company absorbs rich nutrients and a variety of trace elements, breeding a high-quality rice.
 
Chung Jin-hai, the founder of Changhua Rice Seedling Company
(All images: Facebook page of 旅客故事。客庄慢漫遊)

Chung Jin-hai (鍾錦海), the founder of Changhua Rice Seedling Company, is a Hakka who was born in Yuli. Originally a tiling installer, Mr. Chung decided to return to his hometown Yuli from Taipei, to work as a farmer, because of his father's old age and illness. A novice in rice farming, he followed his father to learn and absorb new rice farming knowledge, and gradually developed his own set of management methods for rice cultivation and planting. From the very beginning, he insisted on using non-toxic farming methods. After a lot of research, he and his wife produced many kinds of rice that were recognized in numerous competitions. The husband-and-wife team have been nicknamed "Dr. Rice".
 
Chung Jin-hai and his wife

In 2003, Mr. Chung won the "East Rift Valley Quality Rice Competition - Grand Prize". This was the first time that Yuli's rice had won a bigger prize than Taitung’s Chishang rice. Since then, almost every time he participated in rice competitions, he achieved good results. In 2012, Mr. Chung took part in the National Quality Rice Competition and won the honor of "National Top Ten Classic Good Rice".

Changhua has successively developed more than 10 kinds of rice with different flavors and characteristics, giving consumers more choices. Among them, the special products produced by the company includes milk fragrant rice. This kind of rice is fertilized with special enzymes and milk, so that its flavor released after cooking has a light milky fragrance, making it one of the products that are quite popular among customers.