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Taiwan and Holland to Create Greenhouse High-efficiency Energy-conserving Production through exchanges in “Summit Forum on High-efficiency Energy-conserving Horticulture Production”

2011-04-18

In order to promote the development of domestic horticulture greenhouses toward high-efficiency energy-conserving production, the Council of Agriculture (COA) sponsored on April 18 the “Summit Forum on High-efficiency Energy-conserving Horticulture Production” at the Council’s International Conference Hall. Many experts from the industry, academia and research institutes in Holland and Taiwan were invited to extensively discuss such issues as analysis of the current flower greenhouse industry situation, trend of plant workshop development and sustainable horticulture development and exchange opinions, creating an opportunity for technological cooperation between Taiwan and Holland .

Greenhouse Production System with Low Energy Consumption, Low Carbon Emission is Trend throughout World

The COA noted that with international energy prices and environmental protection awareness increasing dramatically, the development of high-efficiency energy-conserving greenhouse systems to effectively reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and enhance energy efficiency has become a focus of the Holland greenhouse industry while many other countries have been actively developing energy-conserving, low carbon emission farming systems. As international orchid markets have grown increasingly, domestic cultivation area and scale of greenhouse orchids have also gradually expanded. More and more local farmers have introduced large-sized environmental control systems and automated production equipment in order to reach the goal of maintaining stable supply and year-round production. Therefore, how to control greenhouses at conditions appropriate for flowers to grow, further decrease the cost of energy use and increase unit energy efficiency have also become issues domestic orchid farmers concerned about.

Holland Experts Share Experiences with Taiwan Counterparts

Dr. Silke Hemming, a horticulture and greenhouse design expert from Holland’s Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR), reported in the forum on how Holland has developed high-efficiency energy-conserving greenhouse systems to upgrade flower quality and production efficiency, while agricultural economist Ben Kamphuis talked about the role played by Holland and its positioning from the viewpoint of global flower industry chain. Two Holland horticulture greenhouse automated system operators were also invited to attend the forum and share their practical experiences of increasing crop production, reducing greenhouse management cost and production risks through environmental control and automated systems.

Taiwan Experts and Scholars Analyze Industry Needs

Dennis Wang, director of Tainan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, emphasized that the domestic Phalaenopsis orchid industry must be developed towards high-efficiency energy-conserving production and a number of local farmers have developed energy-conserving measures in their own R&D efforts. For example, using “tall pot” allows usually lie-flat orchid leaves to grow at a 45-degree angle which can save space and thereby increase the yield per unit area. With the forward-looking thinking of green agriculture, Prof. Suming Chen of National Taiwan University Department of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering introduced plant workshops, which are being actively developed and whose precise control of crop cultivation environment allows for year-round stable crop production according to plans. Agriculture Department Director-general Lin Liang-Mao of the Chiayi County Government analyzed the development of domestic flower facilities from the viewpoint of global industry value chain and called on domestic farmers to learn from Holland ’s experience and strive to industrialize agricultural production and produce agricultural products regularly with set quantity and quality.

Taiwan and Holland to Cooperate in Developing Greenhouses for High-efficiency Energy-conserving Production

Since Taiwan’s flower and horticulture industries are changing and progressing rapidly and Holland has developed techniques related to greenhouse environmental control in temperate regions and automated systems for many years and dominated the global flower industry, the COA stressed that it has set a goal for Taiwan, which is located in the subtropical region, to cooperate with Holland in jointly developing a sustainable greenhouse production system suitable for temperate and subtropical regions in the future. Some 100 domestic representatives from the industry, academia and research institutes attended today’s forum to exchange opinions and share experiences, which would help attribute to Taiwan-Holland cooperation in the field of greenhouse efficiency techniques and provide the domestic greenhouse industry with reference data for future greenhouse designs and applications to gradually create low efficiency consumption, low carbon emission “green gold” business opportunities. ( 2011-04-18)