1.　Promoting the clustering of agricultural technology industries

　　In coordination with industrial trends and with overall national policies including New Agriculture and the New Southbound Policy, the COA has developed technologies that include smart production, precision agriculture, and the circular agricultural economy. At the same time, through measures that include relaxation of administrative laws and regulations, making the hardware and software aspects of the operating environment more sound, and strengthening recruitment of foreign firms, we have utilized a superior investment environment to transform the Pingtung Agricultural Biotechnology Park (PABP) into agricultural technology industrial clusters that simultaneously have research and development, production, and foreign and domestic marketing functions. In 2017 a total of 14 new firms moved into the PABP, raising the total number of companies that had moved in by the end of 2017 to 105, bringing NT$10.687 billion in investment and creating 1,550 jobs.

　　In 2017, the COA also, in response to demand from agribusinesses for land and factory construction, talent for specific industries, and logistics and warehousing, in November of 2017 completed construction of a multifunctional warehousing zone, while work continued in accord with a preset schedule on a multifunctional living services area (including the Industrial Talent Training Center) as well as on an expansion project covering 165.41 hectares of land. It is expected that these will be completed and opened for use successively in 2018 and 2019. This will add about 94 hectares of land for agribusinesses to move in and build factories, further upgrading the scale of clusters and the service functions for Taiwan’s agricultural technology industries.

2.　Promoting Smart Agriculture 4.0

　　In 2017 the COA formally began promoting Smart Agriculture 4.0, which, through the two aspects of “smart production” and “digital services,” is expected to use smart production and intelligent management to break through the difficulties faced by small farmers, and to increase the efficiency of overall agricultural production. Moreover, through the introduction of technology like the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data, the COA has constructed an active and comprehensive agricultural consumption and services platform, to satisfy demand from interested persons in the agricultural sector and upgrade the trust consumers have toward the safety of agriproducts. The categories of coverage are divided into “Facility Type” and “Open-field Type,” and include industries such as Phalaenopsis orchids, seedlings, mushrooms, rice, agricultural facilities, aquaculture, poultry, export-oriented crops, raw milk, and marine fisheries. It is hoped that this will create a superior environment for working in agriculture and create a new model for agricultural operations, moving toward a New Agriculture era of “safety,” “efficiency,” and “low risk.”

　　The COA used “smart production” to achieve the goals of (i) real-time monitoring and control and (ii) lowering production risks. For example, we installed an aquaculture facility internet environmental sensing management system to precisely control the volume of fish feed. We also had successes with an intelligent poultry house climate control system, intelligent egg-laying cages, technology to distinguish breeding stock for livestock and poultry, a smart insect-prevention granary management system, and cross-domain regional greenhouse smart environmental control and monitoring. The COA also held media visits and demonstration events to strengthen the promotion of technology to facilitate its spread. In addition, in terms of “digital services,” we used IoT sensory technology combined with common information platforms to create diversified digital applications, including an interface with traceability data for the “Four Labels and One QR Code,” going through an API (Application Program Interface) to access the latest traceability information to provide for use by the Ministry of Education’s Campus Food Ingredients Registration Platform, thereby upgrading the accuracy and timeliness of the data. The COA moreover developed a platform notification system for management in the fields, providing farmers with customized processes for agricultural crops and agricultural tasks.

　　In addition, the COA also worked at training seed teachers and experts. The COA held 96 lectures and education and training sessions on professional work in agriculture, training specialized talent a total of 2,990 man-times. We also organized an industrial technology promotion special interest group and an industrial services team, to encourage businesses to commit themselves to participate in the Industrial Technology Development Program worth NT$100,327,000, to encourage autonomous domestic production capabilities for key technologies for smart agriculture, and to reach the overall goals of upgrading leading agricultural industries and increasing productivity.

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 2017, the COA completed 168 cases of new technology transfer with income totaling NT$90.80 million, an increase of 24.4% and 3.1%, respectively, over 2016, reaching 2.2% of the technology budget. Of these, there were 10 technology transfer cases of NT$1 million or more, including the “fuel and electrical mixed power system for diesel engines for agricultural use.” We also promoted the development of three new enterprises including (i) techniques for organic wild bitter melon (kakorot) cultivation and functional products; (ii) mushroom spawn production; and (iii) garlic harvesting and processing and development of health foods. Investment in these three new enterprises totaled NT$210 million. In addition, we assisted in holding the 2017 Asia Agri-Tech Expo and Forum, establishing a Taiwan Technology Pavilion booth there and marketing technology and products to guests from 37 countries and regions.

4.　Establishing an orchid seedling trading services center

　　Orchids are a major flagship export industry for Taiwan. To upgrade the competitiveness of this industry, there was an urgent need to construct a storage and use platform for core germplasm and varieties with potential. In 2017 the COA guided the Tainan City government to establish an “orchid variety commercial services center” in the Taiwan Orchid Plantation in Tainan, in order to (a) construct a seedling trading services platform; (b) promote management of core germplasm and varieties of orchids; (c) provide orchid seedling marketing services; (d) collect information on orchids overseas; and (e) assist with applications for plant variety rights. The Tainan City government completed the bidding and procurement tasks on September 20, 2017, with the Taiwan Orchid Growers Association winning the bid. Contracts were signed on December 15, and it is expected that the center will begin operations on January 24, 2018.

5.　Providing integrated services for agricultural digital information

(A) Strengthening Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, integrating and applying it to agricultural spatial resources

　　According to the National Land Use Planning Act promulgated and brought into effect in 2016, the planning of agricultural development zones shall take ensuring food security as its main principle, along with proactive protection of important agricultural production environments and basic facilities, and the avoidance of fragmentary development. In 2017 the COA utilized the national GIS cadastral map prepared by the National Land Surveying and Mapping Center of the Ministry of the Interior in order to make a common base map for the task of inventorying farmland information, under which we integrated numerous items of national land survey data including factories, farm buildings, livestock ranches, leisure farms, farmland irrigation and drainage, crop production surveys, coastal seas fisheries production surveys, slopeland surveys, and forest and protected area surveys. We completed cadastral farmland surveying work on 6.93 million parcels, combining cadastral, address, and local positioning services. The COA also constructed a “searchable map of the results of the agricultural and farmland inventory,” which, besides being provided to the COA for support in decisionmaking on demarcating agricultural development zones, is also open information providing the latest farmland situation to local governments and citizens.

　　In order to continue to monitor the current situation of the nation’s land, in 2017 the Aerial Survey Office of the COA’s Forestry Bureau made 6,168 high-resolution aerial orthophotomaps (accuracy: 25 centimeters), covering a total of 42,500 square kilometers of land area. In order to manage the quality of farmland, the COA’s Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute continued to undertake its survey of soil nationwide, determining areas with risk of soil pollution, to ensure the safety of agriproducts.

　　In order to upgrade the effectiveness of the handling of agricultural geographical cartographic material and to support the task of multifaceted analysis, the COA innovatively reorganized cartographic material into information with the attributes of a cadastral map, and constructed an agricultural Geographic Information Center with a GIS cadastral map at its core. This center provides information for diversified uses including (i) surveys of farmland use, crops, and aquaculture, (ii) rural community industry analysis, (iii) agricultural irrigation management, (iv) pollution prevention at livestock ranches, and (v) ecological conservation.

(B) The application of information technology to agriculture

　　To facilitate the rapid and effective transmission of agricultural policies and information on the agricultural situation, in 2017 the COA used the diversified distribution channels and mobile phone APP called “Field-Side Assistance” to take the initiative to transmit personalized agricultural information; this service was provided over 1.9 million times. Moreover, each day the COA, through electronic bulletin boards, uses 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 for agriculture, production and marketing, and farmers’ welfare.

　　In order to improve the efficiency of agricultural work, the COA also developed the Farm Production Management System fieldwork mobile management system, and pro-actively promoted it for use by agribusinesses and farm households. In 2017 it incorporated a total of 3,208 farms, with more than 4,372 users, with the managed area of cultivated land reaching 10,672 hectares, effectively increasing farmers’ competitiveness.

　　In order to provide citizens with a firm grasp of information related to fruit and vegetable production and marketing, the COA integrated data including weather reports, fruit and vegetable imports, retail prices, wholesale prices, production projections, and rolling warehoused volume to construct the “fruit and vegetable production-and-marketing information integrated searchable platform.” Moreover, in May of 2017 we went online to provide analytical charts on projected production volume and consumption volume. Fruit and vegetable items on the platform include vegetables such as kale and celery cabbage and fruits such as bananas and guava, and it even includes imported fruit such as apples and kiwifruit, to provide citizens with one-stop search services.

　　In order to control the progress of pesticide products testing in real time in order to upgrade the efficiency of testing, the COA has constructed a pesticides end products inspection information management system. It includes testing information such as sample management and procedural progress control, to make information more transparent and raise its real-time usability. In 2017 the COA successfully guided 73 formulated pesticide testing businesses to use this system to undertake product testing, making the coverage rate 81%. This not only makes things more convenient for citizens and reduces paper use, even more it upgrades the effectiveness of testing.

(C) 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 1,150 categories to the government’s open data platform DATA.GOV.TW. In addition, to spread agricultural knowledge, the COA has continued to operate its “agricultural knowledge value-added platform,” integrating existing core knowledge in agriculture. Altogether more than 100,000 documents have been put on the platform, and we have constructed 135 themed areas as well as a special area for new technological knowledge. During the year there were more than 8.5 million visits to the website.

　　To facilitate agricultural policy research and analysis, the COA utilized the database synchronization mechanism, and has regularly made backup copies of 76 databases belonging to 61 operating systems of the COA or its subsidiary organizations. Moreover, in 2017 we developed the “data warehouse for agricultural administration integrated management system” linking together heterogeneous databases, and constructed applications and functions including a data dictionary, production of interrelationship diagrams, and use of cross-data tables association operation for thematic data tables. Thus the COA has organized a single agricultural administration database, effectively raising the efficiency of data handling for research and analysis, and providing diversified data analysis applications.

(D) The agricultural disaster information network

　　In response to the important issue of climate disasters, the COA, through (i) organization of databases, (ii) research and development of disaster prevention technology, and (iii) overall disaster-prevention construction in important crop production areas, has promoted a disaster adaptation strategy to take care of the livelihoods of farmers and stabilize agriproduct supply. This strategy includes working with the Central Weather Bureau to construct an agrometeorology observation network. By the end of 2017, the number of agrometeorological survey stations was increased from 16 to 100. Moreover, we have also constructed a refined meteorological forecast system for 55 important crop production areas, effectively upgrading early warning capabilities for agricultural disasters.

　　In 2017 the COA held courses in disaster prevention training as part of the Farmers’ Academy classes offered at the various district agricultural research and extension stations, with farmers receiving instruction more than 3,000 man-times. Moreover, in cooperation with the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction, we constructed an “Agricultural Disaster Information Network,” which uses simple graphics and text explanations to allow farmers to understand the latest disaster information and areas for which warnings have been issued. Also, the COA developed the “agricultural crop pre-disaster early warning system.” This integrates meteorological information with the special natures of different crops to undertake crop disaster early warnings and disaster notification APP functions, providing farmers with the opportunity to take preventive measures before disasters happen, in order to reduce losses from disasters.

6.　Developing circular agriculture

　　In 2017 the COA formed a “circular agriculture working group” and mapped out ten major items for circular agriculture. First we targeted agricultural items with a large amount of recyclable residuals such as rice straw, pasture manure, oyster shells, used shiitake bags, and wood and bamboo.

(A) The COA held 57 educational events communicating with rice farmers about the ban on open-air burning of rice straw. We also passed out organic fertilizer containing rice-straw-decomposing bacteria to be used on 5,190 hectares of land. In addition, we subsidized rice farmers in using organic products that have rice-straw-decomposing capabilities, with the area covered expanded to 10,000 hectares. The COA also provided “techniques for using organic fertilizer containing rice-straw-decomposing bacteria to accelerate rice straw decomposition” as well as information about 12 products related to technology transfer of materials with decomposing capabilities for rice straw. We also researched and developed acid pyrolysis to decompose rice straw into biodegradable fiber materials, to serve multiple uses including as animal feed, as biodegradable materials, and as a biogas production additive.

(B) The COA also promoted the reuse of animal faeces and urine. In 2017 we guided livestock operations and farmers to apply to use tanker trucks to transport livestock faeces and urine wastewater to irrigate crops. In total we approved 210 projects, with irrigation volume reaching 989,000 metric tons and irrigated farmland totaling 753.6 hectares. The COA also promoted composting of about 4,000 metric tons of animal manure, and developed a dried chicken feces pelletized product for trial sale of about 330 metric tons to South Korea and Vietnam.

(C) The COA also cooperated with the Taiwan Sugar Corporation to plan the construction of a factory to produce calcium carbonate biotechnology materials, to recover, process, and reuse waste oyster shells to serve as an additive in domestic feed and fertilizer, as well as a raw material for construction, to raise the value-added of oyster shells and accelerate their recycling.

(D) The COA also assisted communities to apply used shiitake bags to cultivate trichoderma to be turned into organic fertilizer, and we also used cut branches of lichee trees to serve as shiitake bag material. In addition, we promoted circulation and reuse of abandoned bamboo forests, and used biochar technology to (i) raise the temperature at hot springs in the Luoshan area of Fuli Township, Hualien County and (ii) to improve the soil for growing crops in the Meinong area of Kaohsiung City.

　　In the future, the COA will gradually transition to the circular agriculture policy and sustainable management of matter and resources and away from traditional waste management, working at various aspects including reducing the volume at the source and encouraging reuse, and promoting circularity of agricultural resources and sustainable operations of industries.