Taiwan: Yunlin County siblings create lettuce miracle

Guo Jiang-long, Guo Jin-zhan and Guo Shu-fen--all around thirty years old, have successfully created an agricultural miracle in Yunlin County's Mailiao, with their lettuce racking up export value of NT$80 million (US$2.67 million) last year. This year they are expected to be flirting with the NT$100 million mark in product value. Guo Shu-fen said that since they began harvesting last week, they have exported ten full shipping containers of product. Guo Jiang-long, eldest son of the family, worked as a distributor at the Xiluo Fruit and Vegetable Market, and was more sensitive to the question of how to make money with crops. Seven years ago, he and his younger brother, who had just completed his obligatory military service, joined with his little sister, a finance major in college, to run their farm like a business. They put smaller plots together and switched to planned production.
Guo Jin-zhan said opportunity knocks only for those who are prepared, and as it happened, the very next year, the weather in Japan caused huge shortfalls in the lettuce supply. Trading companies were heading to Taiwan to attempt to meet demand. Thus began the Taiwan lettuce export story.
Guo Shu-fen, who is the planning specialist for the Mailiao cooperative, said that last year the coop received orders for over 80 shipping containers full of lettuce, and actually shipped 200 containers of the crop off across the sea. This year, to date, there are already orders for 100 containers, and actual shipments will probably reach 200 or even 300. The value of the exported lettuce could increase by over NT$10 million compared to last year.