新作坊 Humanity Innovation and Social Practice

This article examines the “Small-Farmer Produce Truck” initiative in Daniao Village, Dawu Township, Taitung County. It explores how a university-based Humanity Innovation and Social Practice (HISP) program collaborates with returning youth to advance local agri-food initiatives and rebuild social connections prior to broader involvement in community-based agricultural development. Previous studies suggest that while Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) in Indigenous communities may facilitate the revival of traditional crops and cultural revitalization, they often face challenges such as institutional mismatches, limited local social networks, and difficulties in mobilizing labor. The case of Daniao Village shows that returning youth engaged in community economic and cultural initiatives must navigate multiple tensions, including rebuilding intergenerational trust, negotiating cultural interpretations, and addressing benefit distribution. Rather than intervening as external advisors, the university team adopted a long-term collaborative approach, acting as a social capital broker and knowledge translator. Through participatory action research, the study demonstrates that the initiative evolved through a gradual process of relationship building, knowledge translation, and economic practice: intergenerational trust was cultivated through shared cooking and communal meals, local knowledge was documented and translated through a community newsletter, and these efforts
eventually connected to agricultural distribution, sales, and community-based economic activities. The study argues that in the early stages of university engagement in Indigenous community agriculture, the key contribution lies not in introducing business models but in facilitating the social foundations for intergenerational trust and the co-production of local knowledge.
Based on this case study, the article proposes an analytical framework for understanding the formation of AFNs in Indigenous community contexts.