(1) Promoting the clustering of agricultural technology industries

In order to create a more outstanding environment for investment in innovation by industries, the COA continued to strengthen the clustering of agricultural technology industries in the Pingtung Agricultural Biotechnology Park (PABP), clusters that simultaneously have research and development, production, and foreign and domestic marketing functions. As of the end of 2018, 102 agribusinesses had moved into the PABP, bringing total investment of NT$10.194 billion and creating 1,700 jobs.

In 2018 the COA completed construction of a multifunctional warehousing zone and of a multifunctional living services area (including the Industrial Talent Training Center) in the PABP. There was also a ground-breaking ceremony for a project to expand the PABP by 165.41 hectares. On the foundation of industrial clustering, the COA upgraded office services and planned to offer services at places like the Agricultural Logistics Park in Taoyuan and the Central Taiwan Smart Agricultural Park, driving industrial transformation and internationalization.

The Taiwan Orchid Plantation (TOP) occupies 175 hectares of land, with greenhouse construction over 95 hectares. Infrastructure for the TOP was completed in 2012. As of the end of 2018, there were 84 businesses that had moved into the TOP, bringing cumulative total investment of NT$17.355 billion. Of these, 78 businesses were up and running, with cumulative revenues of NT$15.11 billion.

(2) Promoting Smart Agriculture 4.0

In 2018 the COA integrated key information and communications technologies such as IoT Sensor Technology, Intelligent Robots (IR), Big Data, Cloud Computing, and so on, to promote the construction of smart production and digital services systems for agriculture. Starting from the introduction of smart technology research and development into ten of the leading industries in agriculture, preliminary achievements have been made in areas like reducing manpower, lowering costs, and increasing efficiency. The application of semi-automatic plant irrigation machines in the orchid industry raised application efficiency by 33-50%. The introduction of drip irrigation systems for export-oriented crops increased the application efficiency of fertilizer by 50% while saving over 50% in terms of water use. Meanwhile, the poultry industry has decreased labor costs by 20%, upgraded operational efficiency by 25%, and raised management efficiency by 20% through the construction of a smart monitoring and management system using the Internet for poultry housing. In 2018 the COA introduced smart core technologies at 25 Demonstration Sites for innovative operating models in agriculture.

To cope with the aging of the rural population and the shortage of rural labor, the COA has been pro-actively researching and developing smart labor-saving machines. For example, some fields have used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to do experimental spraying of pesticide on ten different crops. The use of UAV pesticide spraying on dragon fruit raised efficiency of the task by four times, while achieving the same level of protection. Meanwhile, the COA’s Kaohsiung Agricultural Research and Extension Station installed GPS devices and video monitoring systems on edamame harvesters, reducing the time required from harvesting in the fields to processing in a factory from seven hours to four hours, improving the freshness and quality of edamame (aka green soybean).

In order to strengthen the effective diffusion of technology and to increase the participation of businesses in incentive programs to encourage the transformation of agricultural industries, the COA promoted the “Smart Farmers Union” to encourage businesses to commit themselves to Smart Agriculture 4.0 and participate in 38 projects under the Industrial Technology Development Project, which led firms to coordinate with investment in research and development to the amount of NT$164 million. Some agribusinesses have already interfaced with the “platform for information about the international smart agriculture industry,” and have set up an “intelligence office” to get the newest information and make the most informed decisions possible; the information on this platform can be accessed through cell phones and mobile devices.

(3) Promoting the industrialization of the results of R&D in agritechnology

To promote the effective use of the results of R&D, the COA continued to pro-actively promote the industrialization and application of the results of R&D in agricultural technology. In 2017, the COA completed 240 cases of technology transfer (with 128 cases of technology being transferred for the first time), with income totaling NT$82.911 million, reaching 2% of the technology budget. Of these, there were 13 technology transfer cases of NT$1 million or more, including “bacterial strains for preventing bacterial soft rot in crops and their application.” In addition, in September of 2018 the COA co-sponsored the “2018 Taiwan Innotech Expo” (TIE). We exhibited 41 results of R&D with potential for commercialization in the “Sustainable Development Pavilion” at the TIE, as well as arranged for 53 cases of business matching, with 22 exhibited technologies being transferred. Finally, we set up a “Taiwan Technology Pavilion” at the “2018 BioTaiwan” exhibition. All these steps demonstrate the synergy of the industrialization of technology R&D by the COA.

(4) Establishing an orchid seedling trading services center

Orchids are a major flagship export industry for Taiwan. In order to strengthen the protection of orchid varieties and grasp global market conditions, the COA guided the Tainan City government to establish the “Taiwan Orchid Varieties Commercial Center” (TOVCC) in the Taiwan Orchid Plantation. The Center, which began operations on January 24 of 2018, offers services such as orchid variety management, marketing services for seedlings, collection of information from abroad, and application for plant variety rights. Further, on September 29 of 2018 the TOVCC founded an orchid biotesting center to assist with variety testing and simulated container storage and transport testing to screen out varieties suited to the market. In the future we will set certification standards for exclusive orchid varieties, in order to ensure the value of Taiwan orchid varieties and maintain their position in the global market.

(5) Creating “Agricultural Products Value-Added Prototyping Centers”

With the aim of making Taiwan agriculture a “sixth industry” (incorporating aspects of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries), assisting local small farmers in doing preliminary processing of their agriproducts, and increasing the value-added of agriproducts, the COA has created “Agricultural Products Value- Added Prototyping Centers” at the District Agricultural Research and Extension Stations in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Taitung, and Hualien. These will assist small farmers by providing expert consultation and training, as well as prototype testing and market evaluations for dried, milled, roasted, and ground agriproducts, thereby developing high-quality and safe processed agriproducts. In 2018 the COA held two lectures in a series on agriproduct value-added. with 195 people attending. The Hualien Agricultural Products Value-Added Prototyping Center went into operation on December 8, 2018, and offered guidance and education services 187 man-times and technical consultation services in a total of 61 cases, involving 134 man-times.

(6) Providing integrated services for agricultural digital information

A. Making agricultural information available to the public

To raise the transparency level of government administration, the COA has continued to collect, collate, and release information to the public, providing it for non-governmental interface applications. By the end of 2017, the COA had provided 10 million pieces of information in 1,300 categories. We also developed and established 20 Open APIs, to facilitate interfacing with value-added applications, upgrade the effectiveness of information applications, and increase positive communications and interactions between the government and citizens.

In order to encourage cross-disciplinary teams to work together to use open data to resolve problems encountered by agriculture, the COA held the “AgThon2018” agricultural innovation hackathon competition. After the semifinals on December 8 and the finals on the 15th, we selected the top three prize-winning teams and awarded three other prizes to teams with potential. Creative solutions that were part of the competition included a chatbot application, a combination of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with image recognition to do monitoring, a smart agriculture monitoring device, AI combined with a robotic arm, and a sweetness testing device for fruits and vegetables. In the future we will continue to guide the teams and help make products with potential into ones that can be used practically.

The “2018 Good Idea Agricultural Crowdfunding Competition” was held to encourage farmers’ groups to use crowdfunding as a tool for market-testing or product marketing. The COA created an agricultural startup testing platform, and this year, in addition to accepting proposals in the normal categories, we also included four specially designated categories: open data, circular use, product design, and adjustment of production vs. sales. A total of 68 teams signed up, and 33 proposals were put up for crowdfunding. A total of 23 projects reached their crowdfunding goals, collecting NT$10.78 million in capital. In the future we will continue to guide prizewinning hackathon teams to participate in fund-raising.

B. Building a cooperative platform for agricultural spatial information

In order to integrate geographic data sources and strengthen the effectiveness of applying this data in agricultural spatial management, the COA built a cooperative framework for agricultural geographic information systems (GIS), including the following:

(a) Establishing shared cartographic map services

In 2018 the COA provided public mapping services such as the latest aerial photographic maps, cadastral maps, and offline maps. We also developed a reference database and developed tools such as cadastral positioning, a program for mobile onsite surveys, and historical image accessing services. The COA also produced 6,421 high-resolution aerial orthophotographs, for use in national land planning. Moreover, we integrated the cartographic material of various organizations and constructed an agricultural “geographic information warehousing center,” which provides screening, selection, and export services.

(b) Developing business application services

To organize data from crop surveys and crop photography interpretation, the COA collected the results of remote sensing interpretation (about 10 million pieces of data) and details about cash relief for crops affected by natural disasters (about four million pieces of data) from over the years to prepare 32 maps (in 20 categories) of the distribution of major crops and disaster-prone crop areas, to be used in crop production management. We also organized data about the distribution of livestock farms nationwide, and by making comparisons using standardization of cadastral and address data, acquired spatial information on 29,823 livestock farms, thereby strengthening management of such farms. In order to integrate the COA’s on-site surveying work, we applied automated positioning, direction, and distance determination functions of photography to develop an “on-site survey APP.” We combined this with the crowdsourcing model and completed on-site surveys of second-crop-season crops on 80,068 hectares of land under the jurisdiction of the Yunlin Irrigation Association, producing 697,363 pieces of on-site crop image data, which we combined with expert knowledge and photo image recognition technology to develop a predictive model for production. The COA further constructed a Web map system entitled “the food administration spatial information system,” integrating cartographic data of various types including data reported by farmers, the latest farmland parcel maps, and reports from various years to provide for searches and assisting on-site inspection tasks. Finally, we built a geographical information system (GIS) for preventing pollution from livestock farms, integrated with livestock farm registration, and pro-actively handled the work of (i) monitoring livestock-farm feces and urine water irrigation and (ii) reuse of biogas slurry and biogas residue.

(c) Co-construction of technology development services

In order to build up geographical information systems(GIS) co-construction technology, the COA licensed the use of a large amount of GIS software, providing 13 ArcGIS software options (including expanded modules) and licensing the use of 1,780 sets. At the same time we offered 60 GIS training sessions under seven major categories, with 1,726 attendees, thereby doing a complete upgrading of the ability of our colleagues to use GIS.

C. Modernization of agricultural information

In order to provide citizens with rapidly accessible information on fruit and vegetable production and sales data, the COA expanded two functions of the “fruit and vegetable production-and-marketing information integrated searchable platform”: (i) statistical charts on exports and (ii) special columns analyzing production-and-marketing data. We also added statistical charts on imports for 10 major fruits and vegetables. In these ways we provided citizens with more complete information services. In addition, using diversified distribution channels and the mobile phone APP “Field-Side Assistance,” the COA, on its own initiative, sent out personalized agricultural information (such as information on fruit and vegetable transactions, the agricultural situation, and plant diseases), providing this service over two million man-times. Moreover, each day, through electronic bulletin boards, we used methods such as audio-visual, picture cards, and electronic scrolling text to transmit information to the operations offices of farmers’ and fishermen’s associations at all levels, to farmers’ service centers, and to supermarkets and other locations. This service supplies information on matters such as important agricultural policies and measures, real-time weather reporting for agriculture, production and marketing, and farmers’ welfare.

In order to improve the efficiency of agricultural work, the COA developed the “Farm Production Management System” fieldwork mobile management system, and pro-actively promoted it for use by agribusinesses and farm households. In 2018 this system incorporated a total of 5,281 farms, with 6,679 users, with the managed area of cultivated land reaching 20,204 hectares, effectively increasing farmers’ competitiveness. In order to promote the application of information technology to pig husbandry, we also developed the “Pig Farm Production Management System,” which provides services including real-time work records and reminders of irregularities, and which can also produce multiple data analysis, in order to give Taiwan pig farm operators a convenient and efficient management tool.

The “crop disaster early warning system,” which officially went online in May of 2018, integrates meteorological, disaster, and crop-related information and provides real-time observation data from agrimeteorological stations, data on the incidence of agricultural disasters and disaster hotspots, sophisticated weather forecasts for important crop-producing areas, a calendar for disaster-prevention cultivation of 35 major crops, and all kinds of agricultural disaster prevention techniques and technologies, to allow farmers to adopt response measures for crops threatened with disaster, including pre-disaster measures, mid-disaster measures, and post-disaster measures. At the same time the COA also developed an APP for mobile devices, which provides early warnings for common disasters and uses red, yellow, and green colored symbols to remind farmers to keep track of real-time disaster information.

(7) Developing circular agriculture

In response to the worldwide trends toward the agricultural circular economy, environmental protection, and eco-friendly development, in 2018 the development of circular agriculture mainly focused on operating models for rural circular economy work groups, an inventory of environmental issues currently waiting to be resolved, the founding of a promotional committee to review and re-assess ancillary plans, and the four-year (2017-2020) policy-oriented technology plan being implemented by all of Taiwan’s District Agricultural Research and Extension Stations in 2018 (which is entitled “Industry innovation for agricultural resource circularity and green energy co-construction”). These measures are aimed at creating new industries for sustainable agricultural resource circularity and reuse, in order to achieve the goal of sustainable use of resources. The scientific highlights are as follows:

1. In order to reduce plastic use, the COA researched and developed plastic-substitute products including paper-pulp plug trays made from reused husks, biodegradable egg boxes, and 3D printing filaments. In addition, we constructed two demonstration areas for the promotion of paper plug trays. Aiming for value-added applications of remnant material, in 2018 there were three main achievements including: (i) an increase in the volume of livestock biogas, (ii) promotion of technology for reuse of waste water, and (iii) use of discarded oyster shells in biotechnology. In addition, the COA set up ten demonstration areas for circular reuse of remnant materials from farming, forestry, fisheries, and animal husbandry, attracting start-ups and existing companies to invest in this new industry
2. The COA set up one location for “Developing the pilot scale multiple hearth furnace with a continuous feeding system for mass production of biochar,” and two locations with slopeland orchards as demonstration areas for use of biochar compound fertilizer. Five technologies for zero waste agricultural charring and methods for quality-testing and toxicity evaluations for biochar have been completed. Biochar was also promoted for use on acidic soil to reduce plant disease and lower the amount of pesticides used.
3. In order to reduce openair burning of rice straw and improve air quality, the COA planned to set up regional rice straw collection and operations centers, and worked at developing technologies to transform rice straw into animal feed, biomaterials, and energy, thereby increasing its value-added. In addition, in coordination with the ban on burning of agricultural waste (part of the “Air Pollution Control Action Plan” of the Environmental Protection Administration) the COA has organized 61 educational meetings across the country on the subject of “Preserving health through on-site handling of rice straw,” to reduce open-air rice-straw burning by farmers and to distribute organic fertilizer containing rice-straw-decomposing bacteria, achieving on-the-spot elimination or circular reuse of rice straw on a total of 5,282 hectares of farmland.