For students’ feedbacks, please see 2015/01/30 Interview report on Mr. Ming-huang Shih

       When I first started Joy & Hope Bakery in 1999, it was a very hard time. In 2002, the bakery became stable and we could make ends meet. In 2003, the business was better because of SARS. You must think it is strange. That was because that nobody dared to get out of the door and people bought things on line. We started to have online sales in 1999 but it became alive in 2003.

        It we had not worked hard in 1999 at standardization and online marketing, we would not have such a big success even with the 2003 opportunity. So this can be a proof to a sentence said by successful entrepreneurs: “Success is only for those who are prepared” but the process of getting prepared was long and tough. It might be 4 or 5 years, without any result. People did not see the efforts you’ve made. When the opportunity came, they all came. But without prior preparation, the arrival of opportunity can only sped up you failure. Why would it speed up your failure? Because you are not ready, you will don’t know what to do. Then you will be seen through. Maybe in a short period of time people will think that you are good. But as you quality, delivery date and after-sales are not stable, people will see your shortcoming faster.
 
        In 2007, we thrived because of SARS. But we also had bottleneck, which was the financial crisis. The price of flour went from 350 RMB to 800 RMB. Many people had three thoughts. One was to “back out.”, “I am done with it.” As the flour was too expensive bakery industry declined that year. People all said “close down”. But in fact, the fact was that they did not want to do it any more. They were mostly old people, the first generation of bakeries. They were about 60-70 years old. They would say: “I don’t have to be this painful. I can just quit it.” So people got a false impression that it was the financial crisis that closed down many bakeries. But I think the media was misleading. It was hard for the first generation to set up businesses, so they backed out. The second thought was to transfer.

        It was like chain stores for the first generation. No matter how much the price rises now, I can earn as much or even more. If there is a rise of 5 NTD in price, he may earn extra 10 NTD. So they can make money because of this. Another type is called “confrontation”, which has to do everyone’s personality. A philosopher once said, “personality determines the fate”. What you will learn in future depends on what kind of person you are, like your faith, your philosophy genre. If you are an exsistententialist, you must have your own thoughts about everything, just like me. What I do and how I do it is not limited to certain ways. I want tell you that we used the third method. We felt unconvinced and wanted to prove it, so we went to grow wheat.

        This was how we began to grow wheat. We first grew 1 square kilometer. The most difficult time was 2008, when the Lehman Brothers broke down and the global financial crisis came. People did not dare to go out to buy things. The government was concerned about deflation. So the prices went down. That was the most painful year to us. The wheat price went down, and then the flour price. But we were still push the cultivation of wheat. At that time we grew wheat not only for the purpose of ourselves, as we had seen the problems with the agriculture industry. Then came the DM. I want to tell you why we started growing wheat. It was after 2007 that we realized Taiwan had little policy support in grain cultivation and agriculture at large, if we did not do something, but would be more problems.

       I want to make a conclusion here and provide one way of thinking. When you want to solve your own problem, you have to solve other’s problems first. Then you problem will become smaller, as all problems are inter-connected. For example, I wanted to grow wheat. Then I might have to encourage the farms to grow and solve their problems. Only by so, I could have better quality and stale quantity. thus achieving my goals.

        I have almost answered the question just now. From 2007 to 2008 we had a very serious difficulty, which was about price. The price was very low but we carried on. Many people did not trust you and even thought us lying, instead of being stupid. Stupid is the word clever person use to show that he is not smart. If someone says,” I was stupid. It was stupid for me to do so.” He is covering up for himself. In fact, what he thinks might be “I am sorry. I am smart than you.” So I had never told people that I was stupid, or said something like “I did this because of my stupidity. At that tome people thought we were lying. When we pushed the growing of wheat t in 2007, the farmers did not trust us. They were not open to talk.

        2008 and 2009 saw our difficulties. We had to persuade the farmers as it would be difficult. The real farmers in Taiwan now are relatively old. So in 2008 and 2009 what we did was to make them company. We also told stories and invited the farmers to join in. we also offered incentives. We can provide 533 square meters of land, 120 kg and 4 bags of seeds by free. You just have to grow it. Anything beyond that would require money. So it was the most difficult time when we look back now.

        2010 and 2011 were the most stable years. Our connection with the farmers was recognized by the society. A team saw the essence of the problem that Taiwan’s grain self-sufficiency degree was very low. So at that time we were noticed, especially when we produced Joy & Hope White Dolphin Plain Flour things started to be different.
 
       I remember I once said, the first stage in our promotion of cultivation wheat was called “mission impossible”, especially from 2007 to 2009. PTS would follow us as nobody wanted to grow wheat then, except for one man. I remember that PTS asked an official to say his thoughts about the man who was growing wheat, and the official said “impossible”. Taiwan was not suitable for growing wheat. The second stage we produced white flour. We milled the first bag of white flour in Taiwan, which was called “Joy & Hope Wheat Chinese white dolphin plain flour”. PTS again interviewed the agricultural official. The official said that they were very glad to see that we had succeeded, from almost nowhere. 2012 was the most crucial year as we maximized our amount to 200 tons. We have a slogan very year. That year was the weight of dreams. As we produced flour, the largest flour producer in Taiwan joined us and we became stronger. One a man walls alone, he is able to see just a little light and does not see the bent roads. He will be afraid and stumble. But when two men walk together, they will still be afraid, but their footsteps will be more steadfast. So it is very important to find a friend. So when Lianhua joined in 2012, Joy & Hope Wheat was greatly welcomed by the market. It was a big turning point.

       In 2014, we grew 500 hectares and the yields exceeded 600 tons. We were a little concerned that as the yields went up we would be more tired. We had more pressure in human resources and finance. This is our history of development.

        From 2014 to 2015, farmers who grow for Joy & Hope Wheat Workshop have exceeded over 300. If Dacheng was considered as a class, then there were about 120 classmates, sometimes there would be over 140 farmers in one class. This year, Joy & Hope Wheat’s cultivation area is 430 hectares. Although it is smaller than last year, the weather is dry. So the expected yield will be same as last year, which will be around 600 tons. But sometimes man proposes and god disposes. There are two misconceptions about agriculture that have to be corrected. The first is about the harvest time. For example, a journalist wants to interview about the harvest of wheat. But the harvest date is very difficult to predict. It will also be affected by rain. So there can only be an approximate time. It maybe later or earlier. It is not like industrial production. It has to have some flexibility there. The second is about a tattoo, which is about quantity and weight. We talked before that there was secret worry about quantity and weight, especially in the year we had dreams. We wished the yields to achieve a certain amount. But in the 7th year, we realized something. When you were very confident and set a goal, say 600 tons, the god perhaps would give you a strike. So the grandpas and grandmas would tell us not to say big dreams. So sometimes we were told to keep silent. Don’t regard it to be superstition. That is a taboo in their hearts and this is their folk culture. We have to remember the meaning behind it.

        This is the general status quo about the plant. But we are not certain it is so. Since we are afraid that when we speak them out, it might be different.

The name Joy & Hope Republic was decided in 2012. Its members include:
1. Joy& Hope Wheat Farmers’ Group – wheat production
2. Joy & Hope Soybean Team- soybean production
3. Joy & Hope Grains Club- sesame and buckwheat production
4. Joy & Hope Bakery

       The bottlenecks Joy & Hope Wheat are as follows:
       The first is about talents. We lack people who can think. In most villages you can find operational talents, but few people with profound thinking and practical experience.

       The second is about financial problem. The financial control is a very critical issue. Agricultural products are traded in cash. For example, if you produce 200 tons of soybean. The price is 60 NTD per kilogram. Then you will need 12 million NTD for the purchase. So it is very important to manage the cash flow.

      How these difficulties can be solved:
       1. About talents: in order to get non-natives to join Joy & Hope Republic, we have to build dormitories for them to live in and provide them a stable living space. So since this year we have dormitories and non-natives can join and help us.