New Agro-Industrial Marketing System and the Reconstruction of Rural Social Network at the Age of Post-WTO Era: The Organic Rice of Central Taiwan As a Case

After joining the WTO, Taiwan agriculture has suffered serious challenges. Facing the opening of domestic market, traditional agricultural marketing systems begin to search for new possibilities. On the one hand, government tries to reinforce the traditional Farmers Association's existing marketing system; on the other hand, through learning new technology and information, the farmers themselves also try to development some new marketing channels to adopt the new economic situation. These changes show the adoption of Taiwanese farmers in the face of WTO and free trade challenge. Employing the establishment of organic rice farmers' network of central Taiwan as the case, this paper demonstrates how certain Taiwanese farmers, through the transformation of technology and information circulation, establish a new agromarketing system and brand new social network at the rural society. These new marketing system and social network, information and technology learning channels reflect the 1980s' social change and democratization at Taiwan. Some farmers who have experienced such dramatic social change quickly adopt the new situation and begin to re-construct new social network as a respond to the transformation of global and nation-state system. Their adoptions not only protect the economic interests of these farmers but also enforce their elite position at the rural society; at the same time, they also could gain certain profits from the new global market. In this research, we find out that in the post-WTO era, Taiwan's farmers would base on their economic rationale to re-arrange their land resources and products to make maximal profits under the guild line of commercial economy. When we look at individual case, we discover that certain Taiwanese farmers have high adaptation and/or self-program abilities. In the end, these well-adopted farmers demonstrate to us that Taiwanese farmers do have the ability and adoption to respond to the global market change.在台灣加入WTO之後，農業受到相當的挑戰，傳統的農業產銷體系受到國內市場開放的壓力，開始尋求新發展的可能性。一方面政府積極強化傳統農會體系的行銷管道，並鋪設許多農會直銷機構；另一方面，農民自身也透過對新資訊與科技技術的學習，發展出新的行銷管道。新科技與新資訊技術網絡的出現，也反映了台灣農村與農民在面對WTO的衝擊下，所展現出來的適應力（adaptation）。本研究以台灣中部地區有機米行銷網絡建構為分析案例，農民透過新科技技術的移轉及資訊流通，重新架構農業產業產銷體系與農村地區社會網絡，這些新的行銷管道與科技、資訊的學習管道，反映了台灣社會在歷經1980年代以降的民主化與社會動員之後，農民透過知識的學習與新的社經網絡的建立，於國家體系外回應台灣加入WTO後所面對農業的挑戰，台灣農民得以再次架構起新的社會網絡，不但得以確保其經濟利益，更再次強化其在農村地區的菁英地位，這些農民不因國家受世界變局與全球化經濟壓力，而喪失其傳統的社經優勢，與此同時，不同的農村工作者，亦可以透過產業科技與資訊管道的建立，在全球化市場中取得一定的經濟利益，本研究成果證明台灣加入WTO之後，農民會依據其經濟理性，在商品經濟的指導下，對土地資源與生產作物進行合理的分配，以創造更高的利潤。同時，當我們深入農產業個案研究時，我們更進一步發現，部分台灣農民具高度之適應力或自我學習力。因此，可以推論台灣農民是具備應對全球變局的適應力