Selvans Social Farm
Tu Chung-Hsuan, founder of Selvans Social Farm

Social farming · the social side of corporate ESG

Tu Chung-Hsuan屠崇軒

Founder, Selvans Social Farm (Selvans Social Agriculture Development Enterprise)
Chair, Daxi District Rural Leisure Development Association, Taoyuan City

I trained as a social worker, and ended up planting that work in the soil.
This is not a charity farm. It is a social farm whose services are paid for by what it sells.

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WHO I AM

In a nutshell

I run a herb farm in Daxi, Taoyuan, and work with farms run by 8 social-welfare organisations across Taiwan. We give them free technical support and buy what they grow, then turn that produce and the farm experience into social-participation programmes that companies can include in their sustainability reports.

I studied social work and started farming in 2019. Alongside growing basil, I design farm work that people with disabilities, people in mental-health recovery and older adults can actually do. It does not depend on subsidies, and it still makes a living.

Newly planted lemongrass seedlings in a field bed, with a greenhouse behind

WHY FARMING

Why a social worker turned to farming

The first time I heard the words "greenhouse effect" was in a primary-school science textbook. Only later did I realise that this heat drives extreme weather, the spread of disease, floods and food insecurity — and that the first people to be hurt are the very groups social workers serve every day.

That made me ask: why does our social-work training teach us to analyse poverty, institutions and discrimination, from the micro to the macro level, yet barely mention the natural environment?

For me, farming is not giving up on social work. It is a new way I have chosen to do the work of helping people — one that can help more people, and help this land too.

I chose agriculture as the medium because it sits between the natural and the social environment. It lives by the rhythms of nature, and at the same time it shapes people's work, daily life, food, health and memories of the land.

“Can we help people and make the planet better at the same time?”

I don't know if the answer will be perfect, but I want to try.

Translated from “A Word from the Founder”, Selvans 2025 Impact White Paper (in Chinese).

MY STRENGTHS

Three things I bring

1 | I am a social worker and a working farmer

People who know farming rarely know the helping professions, and people in social welfare rarely know production and sales. I work on both sides: I know which task to switch to when someone in mental-health recovery is having a hard day, and I also know how many days until this batch of basil is ready to harvest, and who will buy it.

So the job redesign I do is not a plan on paper. It means breaking a farm task into steps that people with different abilities can each take on — and making sure what they produce can actually be sold.

2 | We don't rely on subsidies, so our programmes have to hold up

Selvans chose to be self-sustaining from the start: income comes from farm products, corporate volunteer days and family days, technical advisory work and courses — not from subsidies.

That has a very practical side effect. Because we have to earn our own way, every programme must be genuinely useful to the company and bring real income to the welfare organisation. It cannot just be an event that looks good.

3 | Every figure I share publicly has evidence behind it

Partner farms log their work records every week, and records only enter the system after review; our farm products carry traceable production records. What companies need is data that can go into a sustainability report and stand up to questions — not a photo from an event.

What I provide is implementation data and supporting evidence, so your sustainability disclosure has something to report and something that can be checked.

BY THE NUMBERS

Results you can check

8

social-welfare farms

8,575

disadvantaged employment hours

1,694

participant visits

177

reviewed weekly farm reports

2026 cumulative totals from the farm data system (as of 16 Oct 2026), on the same basis as the impact data page.

HOW I CAN HELP

Who I work with

Corporate ESG, HR and employee welfare committees

Social-welfare organisations

  • •You have farmland but are unsure how to grow or sell: free technical support, and we buy what you grow
  • •Turning your farm into a service setting: therapy, social rehabilitation, education and employment
  • •Job redesign: work your service users can do, and keep doing

Event and course organisers

  • •Social farming, green care and agricultural therapy
  • •Putting the social side of ESG into practice: real cases, step by step
  • •Starting a venture from a social-work background; job redesign

People thinking of farming or changing careers

BACKGROUND

Roles and public record

  1. Founder, Selvans Social Farm / Selvans Social Agriculture Development Enterprise

    Farming in Daxi, Taoyuan since 2019; switched to herbs in 2023. Now grows several varieties of basil and other herbs, alongside practice and research in social farming.

  2. Chair, Daxi District Rural Leisure Development Association, Taoyuan City

    Rooted in the local farming community.

  3. Co-author of a Chinese-language book whose title translates as Do What You Love and Let Yourself Shine

    Life stories from nine contributors; the book launch was held at National Taiwan Normal University in January 2026.

  4. Podcast interviews

    Episode 137 of the podcast 人生善敗學 (on planting the work of helping people into the soil), and episode 4 of 農村放送頭 (on sustainable development and ESG at social farms). Both in Chinese.

  5. Talks

    Public talks on social farming, the social side of corporate ESG, urban agriculture and agricultural therapy, and teaching on vocational training courses.

Social farmingGreen careJob redesignDisability employmentSocial side of ESGAgricultural therapySocial-work entrepreneurship

CREDENTIALS

Certifications and training

  • ✓Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC)
  • ✓Graduate, 7th Taoyuan City Youth Farming Mentorship Programme
  • ✓CHT Horticultural Therapist
  • ✓Agricultural Therapist, certified by the Taiwan Leisure Agriculture Society
  • ✓Agricultural Therapy Planner, certified by the Taiwan Leisure Agriculture Society
  • ✓ESG Sustainable Agri-Innovator (ESG 永續農創師)

PRESS & MEDIA

Press and interviews

All of the coverage below is in Chinese; titles are our English translations.

News coverage

Publications and presentations

  • One of the authors of a Chinese-language book on approaches to developing indigenous social work (本土社會工作的發展取徑)Book
  • Co-author of a Chinese-language book whose title translates as Do What You Love and Let Yourself ShineBook (launched January 2026)
  • Sowing the future: social farming and the practice of sustainable human developmentFAPCE Asia-Pacific Community Building Forum and Academic Conference

FOLLOW

Where to find me

Facebook: Selvans Social Farm ↗Facebook: Green Social Work ↗Instagram ↗LinkedIn ↗YouTube ↗TikTok ↗LINE official account ↗

CONTACT

Tu Chung-Hsuan 屠崇軒

Founder, Selvans Social Agriculture Development Enterprise (Selvans Social Farm)

Phone / LINE
+886 925-527388
Website
www.selvansimpact.com
Farm
Daxi District, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Save contactSend an enquiry

Corporate volunteer days, family days and ESG gift boxes are quoted by headcount and content. Call us or use the website form and we will send a written quotation.

Corporate ESG partnership plans →Corporate gift boxes →Farm courses in Daxi (in Chinese) →