Lettuce Vllage Indonesia
Introduction to Head Lettuce
Aliases: Crisphead Lettuce, Iceberg Lettuce.
Production Season: Every year from November to April of the next year.
Product Characteristics: Latuca L., Leaves are green and form round heads, which grow denser as the lettuce mature. If subjected to high temperatures under harsh sunlight all day, the lettuce is likely to undergo bolting and disintegration, and small yellow flowers may bloom.
Main Production Regions: Taiwan ChangHua County, Yunlin County. Yunlin County produces approximately 90% of the lettuce from Taiwan. The main production areas in Yunlin County include MaiLiao, BaoZhong, LunBei, Erlin, and XiLuo Townships.
Nutritional Content: The nutritional value of lettuce is very high. Not only does it contain a high level of Vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, and other vitamins and minerals that are able to improve blood circulation and metabolism rate, it also contains silicon, sulfur, phosphorus, all of which help to prevent dryness in the skin and reduce hair loss. Moreover, lettuce is rich in iron, which promotes hemopoiesis (formation of blood) when consumed by anemic individuals. If lettuce is pan-fried with fatty oil, absorption of Vitamin A may increase upon ingestion. Only individuals with a naturally cold physique are not suitable to eat huge quantities of lettuce.
Tracing Ancient References: “The Compendium of Materia Medica” recorded the nature of the lettuce as cold bitter, unapproachable by insects, favorable to the five main internal organs increases blood circulation, and expands the diaphragm. The white milk-like liquid, also called Lactucarium, is able to produce effects of analgesia and anesthesia. When the abdomen is cold and suffering from dull aches, the stem lettuce leaf can be used in a stew and drank while it is still warm in order to stop the abdominal pain. Women, who suffer from breast milk that is unable to flow, can take the lettuce leaf and decoct it with wine before consuming.
Current Literature: According to current nutrition research , the lettuce leaf has a high nutritional value, as it contains high levels of protein, vitamin A, sodium, calcium, potassium,phosphorus, silicon, sulfur, and so on.
Competitive Advantage :
The Taiwan Iceberg lettuce is highly competitive in the export market because it’s production season is staggered with that of the United States, Australia, and other production countries. In addition, Taiwan is close to Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and other countries with a demand for lettuce. Thus, the time needed for transportation is short, and the freshness of the lettuce export is maintained at a high level.
Organizational and Operational Characteristics
To produce the freshest and most delicious iceberg lettuce through safe and non-toxic planting methods is the core value cumulating to the Taiwan Lettuce Village, an agricultural enterprise with brand value. Moreover, agricultural operations in Yunlin received an industrial upgrade through which the concept of traceability and safe use of chemicals is born out of the successful marriage of life, culture, and industry. In accordance to new market economical principles, cost accounting is fully utilized in make-to-order productions, which organize the small-scale farmer system into a cooperative enterprise with the production scale and competitiveness to compete globally, thus allowing Taiwan agricultural products to connect with the rest of the world.
Four Significant Requirements
Planned Production
By planning production schedules, the risk of overproduction is reduced, and the problem of underproduction is avoided. This fulfills the goal of product quality control. By effectively managing product quality, quantity, and reducing farmers’ production costs, a win-win situation is created for production and demand.
Stable Supplies
By accepting requests for production, the act of establishing contracts occurs and all kinds of demands is brought into the realm of production. This promotes enhancement of product quality, and stabilization of product supply.
Safe Cultivation
In order to safeguard the health of consumers, fruits and vegetables undergo the Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) Safety in Fruits and Vegetables certification, Iceberg lettuce TAGP good agriculture practice certification, and the vigilance of the entire farmer group in order to ensure cultivation of the safest and tastiest produce.
Healthy Fruits and Vegetables
Determine that the product meets safety standards via sampling and inspection before harvest. Once product safety is confirmed, harvesting and sales can occur. This helps provide consumer confidence and promote safe, healthy, high-quality fruits and vegetables.
Post-Harvest Processing Equipment and Description Facilities
- Four packaging plants covering an area of approximately 620 level ground. 2. Four low-temperature cold storage covering an area of 500 level ground. 3. Lettuce seedling field covering an area of approximately 794 level ground.
- Two vacuum cooling machine with single processing capacity of approximately 6,000kg. 5. Four forklift trucks
The product needs to undergo good post-harvest processing in order to preserve the freshness of the produce. Pre-cooling refers in general to the process of quickly decreasing the temperature of the agricultural product. That is, it is important because it removes the field heat inherent in the produce and the accumulated respiratory heat from the product before transportation, refrigeration, processing. The vacuum pre-cooling machine lowers the evaporation point of water using low pressure, allowing the moisture content to be extracted quickly in the low pressure environment and fulfilling the purpose of decreasing the temperature. This enables the core temperature in fruits and vegetables to cool within the shortest time, thereby inhibiting the deterioration of the produce, preventing the aging of the leaves, and preserving the freshness of the lettuce. The quick and even preservation of freshness with the process of vacuum pre-cooling is apparent. Moreover, processing an entire storeroom only requires 2.5 hours.
Seven Significant Managements
1: Addition of peasant households
2: Planned production
3: Seedling field management
4: Arable land management
5: Fertilization management
6: Chemical (Drug) management
.
7: Pesticide management
8: Harvesting management
9: Packaging management
10: Marketing and sales management
11: Biographical data management
Project Management
In make-to-order production, the demand for the new season is estimated according to the projected sales volume. Subsequently, the predetermined production schedule is carried out, and the contract farmers cultivate their crops in accordance to the schedule so as to provide a stable product source.
Seedling Management
High quality seedling varieties are chosen, healthy seedlings are cultivated, and planting costs are minimized.
Pests Management Pests
By employing various bio-chemicals, a sex pheromone trap can be set up to effectively reduce insect damage.
Production Management
Set up a system of standard operational flow, regulate the management of the sources for pesticides and fertilizers, and further control the safe cultivation of the Iceberg lettuce.
Expert Introduction Leader Ming-Zuan, Kuo
Having spent his childhood in the simple countryside, there were several times growing up where Ming-Zuan, Kuo needed to participate in the busy farming season with his family. This laid the foundation for his knowledge of agricultural production technology. At twenty-five, Kuo began his involvement with related forms of agriculture management. At the time, the traditional production and supply model was only able to let farmers harvest what they plant. They were unable to go beyond the blind sowing caused by the price guidance happening within the small-scale farming system. While he racked his brains for a solution to no avail, Kuo came across a food processing factory coincidentally that wished to strike an agreement to carry out coordinated agricultural production in the farms. Thus, in 1994, the establishment of a farmer group for agriculture production and marketing was initiated. By making use of the combined farming land among group members, agricultural production within the group became a planned process and crops were supplied under the make-to-order concept.
In recent years, consumer awareness of healthy diet has increased. Raw vegetables have become one of the acceptable forms of food for the public. With the inability of tradition sales model to handle new market trends, group leader Guo put forth expectations of agricultural production to be reliable, to be safe, and to be healthy. In 2006, the head lettuce produced by the group started being sold across the entire nation under a single brand name, the “Taiwan Lettuce Village “. As the agriculture production and marketing group developed their local market, they were also increasingly connected with the global market. The group strived constantly to improve their production technology,and even imported the production model of global organizational contract cultivation. By establishing a complete database of orders →production plan → cultivation management→ post-harvest processing → production model for supply adjustment, negative consequences from man-made risk factors will be minimized. The excellent quality of the Mailiao head lettuce is steadily making a name for itself on international grounds with circulation across every province in Taiwan and also exporting to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries. With a bit of luck, the honor of being the green kitchen of Asia is just round the corner.
Iceberg Lettuce Production Process
Iceberg Lettuce Production Process
In recent years, the lifestyles and eating habits of the population has gradually changed. The former idea of eating merely to satiate hunger has shifted to include the demand for cuisine refinement, food safety, and healthy ingredients.Iceberg Lettuce is a good fit with this new sort of food culture as lettuce contains Vitamin A, B1, B2, C, calcium, phosphorus, iron, fiber, and other nutrients. According to research, not only does lettuce increase appetite and decrease depression, it also enhances physical growth and physical strength, prevents aging, promotes diuresis, helps breast-feeding women increase milk yield during lactation, along with various other advantages.Iceberg Lettuce can be used in many ways, for example, as a part of green salad, light hamburger meal, and so on. Moreover, it can be used in the macrobiotic dict advocated by popular culture in recent years. The demand for Iceberg lettuce in the market has been rising year after year.
At the present stage, as modern-day expectations of food quality increase, we aim for agricultural methods that will produce healthy vegetables that are in keeping with the trend of the times. The cultivation and marketing process of our production group is as follows.
Sowing Method
Since lettuce seeds are very fine, they are difficult to disperse with the right density. Thus, plug planting is employed and organic soil is used to produce strong seedlings.
This increases the frequency of seed germination and the probability of survival for seedlings when transplanting.
Temperatures suitable for sowing
Lettuce is a temperature-sensitive vegetable.
At appropriate seedling ages, it undergoes differentiation at high temperatures, as well as bolting and flowering under warm consistent sunlight.
Temperatures suitable for sowing ranges from 12C to 20°C, and plantlets tend to bolt at temperatures above 24 C.
Location
The germination location must be in the shade.
Direct sunlight should be avoided. It is best to have a germination room, or seeds may lose their germinative capacity due to the lack of water. As this farm does not have a nursery, the seedlings are grown instead in a simplified net solarium.
Earthing Up
Earthing up may accelerate the speed of growth in lettuces. After earthing up,
the soil texture is softer and looser,
making it easier for the lettuce root to grow and speeding up the absorption of nutrients.
Field Planting
The specially trained worker puts the plug tray in the desired area for planting,
and the sowing crew implants the seedling in a specific position.
After the field planting is completed, sufficient amount of water has to be promptly replenished in order to ensure the survival of the seedling.
Physical Damage Prevention Thrips Sticky Paper
Thrips have a strong tendency to be attracted by the color blue,
thus Thrip sticky paper traps are inserted in the field.
Although this method does not wipe out all Thrips,
but it is possible to measure field density from the proximity of Thrips trapped on the sticky paper trap, and to prevent and control pest damage.
Seedling Cultivation
In the process of growing seedlings, an appropriate amount of water must be given daily. If an excessive amount of water is given, nutrients would be lost. If too little water is given, seedlings will wither.
Fertilization
Lettuce is a very sensitive crop.
Not only will providing nutrients at the appropriate time cause growth,
it will also reduce the discases such as fire blight, caused by poor plant health.
Pesticides Spraying
Most farmers have grown the concept of safe pesticide practice with vigorous counselling from the government. The management center collectively procures the pesticide while commissioning pesticide spraying professionals to apply suitable pesticides according to the farmers’ planting area and conditions.
The Centre also counsels farmers with production resume, enhances the thoroughness of safe pesticide practices and ensures the stability of lettuce quality produced by the Production and Marketing Team.
Pesticides
This production group employs group operations, using the usual operational model to achieve cost reduction and enhancement of pesticide effects. The purchasing agent collaborates with big
manufacturers and selects suitable pesticides. Then, the farmers use the pesticides according to the dose and dilution factor indicated on the pesticide label. By adhering to the standards put forth in both Taiwan and Japan, the amount of pesticide residue on lettuces is minimized.
Hand-weeding
Weeding is done mainly to prevent weeds from absorbing the nutrients,
and to moderate the barriers in the growth of the lettuces.
Irrigation
Iceberg Lettuces require different amount of growth time depending on the climate. Irrigation should occur about 4 to 6 times. At present,
farmers in Taiwan water their crops by using an irrigation ditch,
and control the amount of water given each time purely by experience.
Nameplates
The lettuces grown by members of this production group are all labeled with a simple signpost inserted in the field. The nameplate is mainly used to mark the member’s name, land sector,
land size, ID number and planting date. These labels are used to record the traceability of agricultural products, while the ID number will be used as a reference tool in the future. This is the current project being promoted within the group at the present stage.
Step by Step The Process
Harvest Part 1
In general, the harvest can be divided into packaged and unpackaged. When harvesting in the field, lettuces are directly stored in boxes, and without further classification and packaging, they are shipped out directly. Currently, the main target markets are exports, food processing companies, and fast-food companies.
Harvest Part 2
When the production group begins the period of harvesting,
members mutually help each other in the harvest. The harvested crops are all gathered in baskets without differentiation and sent to storerooms for further categorization and packaging,
in order to ensure the stability of the crop quality.
Categorization and Packaging
The packaging staff examines cach lettuce and selects the good ones to be packaged in bags. The lettuces with pests or poor quality are removed.
This ensures that the consumer is able to feel at ease when purchasing the Iceberg lettuces produced by this production group. At present, the packaged lettuce is mainly supplied to major fruits and vegetables markets and supermarkets.
Packing into Boxes
The boxes used to hold the lettuce produce are created by professional grade packaging and labeled with our brand name. This is to ensure that the Iceberg lettuce produced by group members under the planned production scheme is able to obtain a certain portion of market share. By implementing marketing experience from Japan in Taiwan, the fine quality and price stability of the lettuce produce can be maintained and the market demand for lettuce can further developed.
Vacuum Pre-cooling
This is a piece of equipment that is able to quickly decrease the core temperature of the lettuce, which extends the storage life and helps the preservation of the lettuce. This increases the competitiveness of our nation’s domestic produce in the global market.
Loading into Containers
The packaging crew fixes the lettuce on the stack board, and by passing on the cargo with the forklift, they quickly load the lettuce into the refrigerated container in order to shorten the storage time. This ensures that the lettuce will not deteriorate in quality due to thawing caused by the extended time needed to store the loads.