The Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (TTDARES) of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan began holding its “Farmer’s Academy—Novice Growth Management and Usage Class on Health-Promoting Plants” on May 16, and it will continue through June 3. This is an effort at enhancing cultivation techniques of health-promoting plants while helping to drive the sustained development of related industries. Classes are being held at the TTDARES regional education center.

While hosting the opening, Director Chen Hsin-yen of the TTDARES stated that classes on the cultivation of health-promoting plants are a major item at the TTDARES. This three-week course will help students increase competitiveness by learning how to be more effective in the aspects of cultivation management, environmental safety, the processing of harvested plants, management, and marketing. Chen reminded attendees that when health foods are about to go onto the market, they are confronted with regulations, so growers must be careful in how they deal with their products. Besides first investigating whether a plant is permitted to be sold as an edible item, regulations regarding health food product management must also be thoroughly understood. This is especially true for plants that have been turned into products: before having been legally certified, products may only be sold as common foods and must not be advertised as being beneficial to health.