請猛禽來捕鼠？臺灣的生態農業實作與多物種關係

Abstract

農田中的老鼠會啃食作物的人與野生動物衝突一直存在，比起使用老鼠藥或農藥造成老鼠及誤食中毒老鼠的猛禽死亡，臺灣的生態研究學者嘗試利用猛禽喜歡滯空拍翅以覓食的習性，在田間架設棲架，邀請猛禽協助農民捕鼠。從2017年架設至今，猛禽棲架逐漸成為田間生物防治的基礎設施。出現在棲架上的猛禽不只成為田間夥伴，也是被保育對象及守護農田的指標物種。不過，傳統單一最大產量化的農法思維依然是臺灣的主流，猛禽棲架真的能推動農業實踐上的轉型，改變以往的農業生命政治形式嗎？由於棲架為田間重要技術物，因此本研究採取「跟著棲架走」的研究方法。從2021至2023年間，以全台各地的猛禽棲架形成之空間為核心，分析圍繞棲架而行動之生態研究學者、農民及非人將會如何拼裝，共同創造新的生態系統/知識。研究結果表明，透過棲架與其上之紅外線自動相機，農民更容易與猛禽及其他鳥類遭遇，並在農業日常實作中，使農田生態食物網系統具象化，從中長出與非人互動的身體感，進而產生實際的保育行動。我認為臺灣的永續農業發展至今，已經從早期注重食品安全而開始推行的有機/友善農法，逐漸演變成與非人行動者共存、協作的多元生態農業形式，並且嘗試突破傳統認為的慣行/有機二元對立的思考模式。此外，透過擴大關懷網絡，不只是農民、生態科學研究者、田間的各種生物與技術物，還包含政府、民間企業等單位的互相關懷與協作，逐漸將生態農業變成一股新的生活理念，鑲嵌進食品供應系統以及食農教育現場，從中長出不同以往的多元農業實踐、生活方式與生命政治形式。

Human-wildlife conflict, such as rats that would destroy crops, is a common situation in farmland all around the world. Compared to the usage of pesticide or other kinds of poison to kill the animals destroying crops, biological control has become more popular in terms of the protection for both crops and the environment. In 2017, in order to attract raptors catching rats, a group of Taiwanese researchers decided to set up a raptor perch nearby a farmland with an automatic camera up on it. Since then, raptor perches have gradually become the infrastructure for biological control, forging an alternative biopolitics of agriculture. However, while industrialized agriculture is still the mainstream in Taiwan, can raptor perches truly drive a transformation in agricultural practices and change the previous form of agricultural biopolitics? This thesis tries to tackle with this question by focusing on the human-raptor encounter and the emerging care for the multi-species relationship. Specifically, I look into the agroecology practices, production, and consumption to re-consider the connections among biological control, farmland practices, and human-environment relations in Taiwan. The results show that through the perches and the automatic camera, farmers are more likely to encounter raptors and other creatures. These encounters, for farmers, have then been the way of learning to be affected with the raptors, an embodied process of sensing the abstract ecological food web. This embodiment has therefore led to conservation actions and the changes in agricultural practice. Farmers’ embodiment of the ecological food web, I argue, has also demonstrated that the development of agriculture in Taiwan has evolved from the organic/friendly farming emphasizing on food safety, to the diverse agroecology practices, attending to collaborations with non-human actors. I take these scenarios as a breaking down of the dualistic thinking of industrialized/organic agriculture. Meanwhile, collaborations with non-human actors have triggered the expansion of care networks concerning agriculture. Meaning, the raptor perch has initiated the entanglement among farmers, researchers, the nonhuman elements in the farmland, the governments, and private enterprises. This emerging entanglement has gradually pushed the agroecology to become a new life philosophy, embedded in food supply system and the agri-food education in Taiwan.