and I believe a lot of people have eaten crop-cutting rice. 大家想必也都吃過脫殼後的白米

However, how do they become the rice we eat nowadays? 但白米究竟是怎麼變成餐桌上的樣子的呢？

Let's go take a look. 讓我們一起去瞧瞧

My mom always tells me that it is a lot of hard work 我媽媽總說稻米收割

to harvest a paddy field. 是一件苦差事

And so now, I'm going to try myself to see 今天我就要來親自體驗

how paddy fields are harvested. 看看稻田是怎麼收割的

Rice in the Houbi District is very famous. 後壁區的稻米非常有名

Students in Houbi Elementary School grow rice on campus. 後壁國小的小朋友也會種稻米喔！

Here, it's a place where tourists get to have a try on growing rice. 這裡主要是讓民眾參與稻米體驗的小學堂

The principal and the students will harvest the paddy fields together. 校長和老師帶著小朋友一起來割稻

In order to cut down the paddy, 割稻的時候

we have to aim here at the stem, 必須要瞄準莖部

and just cut it directly like this. 像這樣直接割下去

So you can get a handful of paddy. 一整把的稻米就收割完成囉

I heard that students in Houbi Elementary School 聽說後壁國小的小朋友

have to learn how to cut the paddy before they graduate. 要學會割稻才能畢業

Is that true, Jacqueline? Jacqueline 這是真的嗎？

Hey, Jack. I've heard that in order to graduate, 嘿 Jack 聽說你們畢業之前

you have to know how to cut the paddy. 要先學會割稻才行

Is that true? 這是真的嗎？

Of course. 當然

OK 好喔

Students in Houbi grow up with the paddy fields, 後壁的小朋友從小耳濡目染

and together with the hands-on activities at school, 再加上學校會安排體驗活動

they naturally know how to transplant rice seedlings and harvest the paddy. 讓小朋友自然而然熟悉這些插秧或割稻的工作

They don't really have to do it to graduate. 並沒有要求一定要學會才能畢業啦！

I realize that cutting down the paddy rice isn't really a difficult task. 其實收割稻米並不是太困難的事

However, because the amount is really huge, it's very tiring. 但是 由於稻田面積廣大 做起來非常累人

You have to cut down all of them all at once. 必須要一次割完整片稻田才行

Behind me, you can see there's a pig house. 我後面是一個豬圈

Back in the days, they used to feed pigs there. 以前人們會在這裡養豬

And now, it is used as a lecture place where they can tell kids 而現在 這裡變成了上課場所 教導孩童

how paddy rice is grown, or how the rice is cultivated. 如何耕種 栽培稻米

In Houbi, there is an organic method to grow rice, 在後壁有一種有機的種植方式

which is called duck-rice, 叫「鴨間稻」

or duck-rice farming. 也稱「稻鴨農法」

It's very similar to aquaponic farming. 類似魚菜共生的概念

Here, pesticides and herbicides are not used, 不灑農藥和除草劑

and ducks live in the paddy farms. 讓鴨子可以在田裡生存

Duck droppings are then used as fertilizer. 鴨子的排泄物可以當肥料

Besides, these ducks feed on the pests and weeds in the farm. 田裡的害蟲和雜草可以作為鴨子的食物

It's really-the best of both worlds. 真的是兩全其美

Do you see the little ducks behind me? 大家看見我後面的鴨子了嗎？

They are so cute. 牠們超可愛的

The reason why there are ducks over there is 這裡養鴨的原因是因為

this paddy rice has no pesticides. 附近的稻田都不使用農藥

That also means that 也就是說

we will only rice that are 我們所吃到的米

natural, healthy, and has no pesticides. 都是天然、健康、無農藥的

Wow! This paddy field is a great place of photo shooting. 哇！這片稻田實在是太適合拍網美照了

Jacqueline and Mei-xui are taking photos like crazy. Jacqueline和阿雪姐瘋狂拍照

Hey! Jacqueline, are you done? 喂！Jacqueline拍夠了沒？

Quickly, take us to the rice factory! 趕快帶我們去看米廠吧！

Let me explain it. 我來說明一下

In the past, rice was harvested manually. 早期都是人工割稻

After that, people used a thresher to separate the kernel of the grains. 割完還要用脫粒機脫粒

Nowadays, we use machines to harvest the paddy field, 現在用機器收割

and kernels can be separated from the grains at the same time. 可以同時脫粒

Then, the rice is shipped to a rice factory for the drying process. 再用卡車將稻穀直接送到米廠烘乾

Besides, people in the past had to separate rice grains from the stalks, 早期是靠人工將稻穀和雜物分開

and it would take an entire week to dry the rice! 大約曬一個星期才會乾喔！

Due to the advancement of technology, 由於科技進步

the process of rice milling has become more efficient 碾米過程變得更有效率

and also eco-friendly. 也比較環保

After the grains are dried, they are stored in a tank. 烘乾的稻穀先放入儲存槽

Next, a rice miller is used to remove outer hulls. 接下來會送進礱榖機去稻殼

A rice polishing machine is then used to polish the rice. 完成糙米後再送進精米機加工

These are the rice milling machine. 這是礱榖機

After these work procedures, these brown rice 完成脫殼後 糙米

would become white rice, and the color will become more white, 就會變成白米 顏色也更接近白色

which is the rice that we eat nowadays. 這就是大家現在吃的白米

Right here, you can see this is the brown rice. 這裡看見的是糙米

And they are usually made into rice pudding, 通常用來做碗粿

not the usually rice that we would eat in our house. 和平常家裡吃的白米不同

Right here, these bags are all rice grains that can be used 這裡的布袋裝的都是穀物

to feed domestic animals or fish. 可以拿來當作家禽和魚類的飼料

They are very nutritious. 非常營養

When we talk about Houbi, 說到後壁

we must introduce the champion farmer, Uncle Quen-bin 一定要介紹一位冠軍農夫-崑濱伯

Uncle Quenbin, how many years have you grown rice? 崑濱伯 你種稻米有多久的時間呢？

For more than 60 years. 六十多年

I started at 25 or 26 years old, 我25 26歲左右

and at that time there wasn't a lot of Asian rice paddy fields. 那個時候水稻比較少

My paddy field was about 3000 to 4000 square meters, 大約三四分地

and we could only get enough water to grow the rice 而且當時是

once every three years. 三年輪作

In the early days, the three-year rotation cycle farming 早期三年輪作

was not an advanced technique, 經驗不足

so rice production and quality were both low. 稻米的產量和品質相對較差

Back in the days, we didn't even have enough rice, 以前的米不夠吃

so all we knew was to grow more rice. 所以只顧產量好就好

Quality was not important then. 沒有顧品質

Whichever variety of rice had a larger production, 如果這個品種產量好

people would rush to grow it. 大家都會搶著播種

Uncle Quen-bin, then when did you start to 崑濱伯 什麼時候才開始

focus on the quality of the rice? 注重品質呢？

After Taiwan joined the WTO, 加入WTO後

the government told us that simply a high yield wasn't enough. 政府說高產量已經不行了

We need rice with high quality. 要高品質

With the assistance from governmental agencies, 加上相關單位的輔導

farmers get to grow rice of better quality. 協助農民種植高品質的稻米

Wow! No wonder the production procedures of rice now are so amazing! 哇！難怪現在的稻米製程這麼厲害！

After the one-day farming experience, 體驗了一天的小農生活

you can bring some rice back home! 可以將米帶回家喔！

Wow! Isn't it cute? 哇！是不是很可愛呢？

So next time, when you come to Houbi District, 下次來後壁區的時候

don't miss the rice dishes. 千萬別錯過當地的米料理喔！

Houbi rice is the best! 後壁稻米讚

Do you know what this is? 大家知道這是什麼嗎？

That's right! It's rice! 沒錯！就是米！