Faced with internal and external challenges, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), in line with the President’s policy position of “happy agriculture, happy farmers” and its continual refinement of agricultural policy implementations, is—building on the foundation already created under the “New Agriculture” reforms—taking a step further to construct new strategic thinking about agriculture. The aim is to achieve the goal of “making agriculture in Taiwan into a sustainable and resilient sector and making farming in Taiwan into an occupation with a high level of professionalism.” In pursuit of this goal, we have proposed the four action strategies of “smart, resilient, sustainable, and healthy” agriculture.
 

1. “Smart agriculture”: Accelerate the dissemination of smart technology to drive growth in rural industries and build precision and efficient agriculture with low operational risk.

• Smart integration: Promote public-private collaboration to accelerate the widespread use of smart technology, such as modules for production-and-marketing (supply and demand) prediction technology and modules for decision-making on water resources and irrigation. Accompany this with guidance measures and guide precise investment of resources to lower agricultural operational risks and costs. Promote cross-domain technological integration to promote applications of digital R&D in smart agriculture.
   
• Smart services: Build a Big Data production-and-marketing database and refine basic surveys of the agricultural situation (a project expected to be completed within four years). Build digital channels for farmers’ services, and, within two years, promote the “farmers’ digital card,” strengthen information surveys, and integrate data related to agricultural production and marketing and farmers’ welfare. Using digital AI technology, provide farmers with comprehensive precision services.
   
• Smart linkages: Use digital technology to perfect agricultural industrial chains and upgrade corporate-style management capabilities. Guide animal husbandry farms to introduce new-style smart closed livestock and poultry buildings with intelligent environmental controls, automated facilities (or equipment), and Internet of Things systems. Combine Big Data and AI systems to refine the effectiveness of dispatching and division of labor for critical processes including warehouse management and transportation and delivery. Integrate cold-chain logistics to create a single uninterrupted services model and enhance the value of agricultural industries.

2. “Resilient agriculture”: Accelerate the construction of the basic environmental network, promote measures to adapt to climate change, strengthen agricultural resiliency, and ensure food security.

• Resilient food security: Build resilient agriculture, promote climate change adaptation measures, and make adjustments that suit each cultivation area. Construct related adaptation technology and invest in R&D into stress-resistant crop varieties, seedlings, and biotechnology. In addition, through a production-and-marketing Big Data database, continue to inventory and plan production and supply of agriproducts, strengthen analysis of future conditions for rural industries, and propose relevant adaptation measures. Promote food policy that takes into account both food security and farmers’ incomes, continue to implement the “select three crops seasons out of four for growing paddy rice” and “Big Granary Project” policies, and enhance food security and self-reliance.
   
• Resilience in disaster prevention and mitigation: Improve the agricultural disaster prevention system; comprehensively introduce innovative AI technology; upgrade the efficiency of disaster monitoring, early warning, and surveys of losses; and strengthen disaster prevention and mitigation as well as post-disaster recovery measures. It is expected that an App for surveying of agricultural disaster damage will be comprehensively introduced by the end of 2024, and that natural disaster indicator standards will be developed, as well categories for disasters that conform to certain weather parameters, so that relief measures can be started even without on-site surveys. Introduce smart claims handling services for insurance policies with weather parameters under which insurers will take the initiative to approve payments and immediately notify farmers.
   
• Resilient infrastructure: Accelerate construction of agricultural infrastructure including water channels and water storage and irrigation facilities that are resistant to climate change and will help maintain food security. Complete the national agriproducts cold-chain logistics network and rolling warehouse facilities as well as strengthen construction of greenhouses and improve agricultural operational venues.
   

3. “Sustainable agriculture”: Emphasize the maintenance of the quality of agricultural production and environmental resources as well circular reuse in order to move towards sustainable agriculture in terms of resources, industries, and low carbon net-zero carbon emissions.

• Resources sustainability: Maintain agricultural land resources and their quality, and promote the Green Environmental Payments Program and the Payments for Ecological Services Program in a cumulative manner in order to manifest the multi-functional values of agriculture. Promote the MOA action plan for human rights and fisheries, inspect more than 550 distant-water fishing vessels each year, set rules for Wi-Fi use and workplace guidelines for such vessels, and work to incorporate the International Labor Organization’s “Work in Fishing Convention” into domestic law. Bolster the safety of crew while engaged in at-sea operations by taking steps including subsidizing the purchase of inflatable life jackets.
   
• Ecological sustainability: Strengthen animal protection and the functioning of forest and other ecosystems. Comprehensively promote participatory ecological services payments by coordinating with the designation of important habitats under the endangered species protection action plan and the Taiwan Ecological Network and laying out participatory payments based on the characteristics of the species, ecosystems, or habitats being protected. Preserve national biodiversity protection spaces and promote certification of locations with “Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures” (OECMs) in order to share ecosystem services.
   
• Sustainable animal protection: Implement comprehensive care and management of pets and proactively inventory common types of domestic pets and establish management mechanisms based on a system of different categories and grades. In 2024 the MOA is drafting a special law for pet food management, promoting the training of pet food nutrition specialists, and strengthening monitoring and control of the healthiness and safety of pet food sold on the market. Comprehensively promote guidance and management of pet enterprises in order to ensure the sound development of the pet industrial chain.
   
• Industrial sustainability: Expand areas for collective production and marketing of agriproducts by contract, introduce a revenue sharing mechanism, and build an agricultural industry ecosystem with cross-domain cooperation between upstream and downstream actors, with the aim of ensuring production and supply. Expand and diversify links between producers and sales channels in order to raise farmers’ incomes and innovate a new model for national agriproduct logistics. The logistic network for farmers’ and fishermen’s associations went into trial operation in May of 2024, opening up shop-to-shop product access functions for consumers. Build a supply chain system for agriproduct exports with both offensive and defensive functions, work to win market access in foreign countries, strengthen links to overseas sales channels, and continue to develop overseas markets with high consumer spending.
   
• Net-zero sustainability: Accelerate applications of net-zero emissions technologies in agriculture; work through public-private cooperation to strengthen the carbon sequestration capacity of the seas, forests, and soil; and promote preliminary demonstration cases for the agricultural carbon credits program. It is expected that in 2025 we will be using a model involving participation by the private sector to build an agricultural carbon credits mechanism (including offsets for increased emissions) and disseminate it to industrial guidance organizations. Expand the circular reuse of residual agricultural resources and guide the establishment of circular venues for cleaning of agricultural plastic resources, automated extraction of pineapple fibers, and recycling of river tamarind and fruit tree branches from the Hengchun Peninsula. Introduce sustainable development measures on a demonstration basis in special agricultural operational zones.
   

4. “Healthy agriculture”: Perfect the farmers’ welfare system and rejuvenate happy rural communities while enhancing the dependability of the quality of domestic agriproducts in the eyes of consumers.

• Healthy farmers: Expand the coverage rate for the farmers’ welfare system of three insurance programs and one pension system as well as the financial support system for farmers. The MOA completed work on announcing an increase in payments under farmers’ occupational accident insurance in September of 2024, with an increase in the amount of compensation and relief for marine fisheries operators is expected to be completed by the end of October of 2024. Expand the program for “agricultural operational preparatory funds” for young farmers to three years, to help young farmers engage in agriculture as a profession on a stable basis. Promote 20 types of policy-oriented special agricultural loans including the “Loan for Young and Middle-Aged Adults Working in Agriculture.” Encourage team-based or group-based agricultural production and training of management personnel. The MOA expects to complete the agricultural services support network within two years and promote “one agricultural services provider per township” to increase the efficiency of use of agricultural machinery.
   
• Healthy food and agriculture: Strengthen the safety of the agriproduct supply chain from farm to table, expand the cultivation of Traceable Agricultural Products and Taiwan Organic products, strengthen traceability management and testing, and enhance market differentiation of domestically produced agriproducts. Expand food and agricultural education and increase the trust in and support of domestic agriproducts by consumers.
   
• Healthy lifestyles: Expand and develop the “green care” system promoted nationwide through farmers’ and fishermen’s associations and rural communities, assist the elderly to age in place in a healthy way, and rejuvenate happy rural communities with all generations sharing in the common good. Promote a planning mechanism for rural community spaces and provide a forward-looking blueprint for rural community development, with strategies for overall development of spaces and the meeting of public infrastructure needs. Invest in overall rural community development, provide diverse development opportunities, create living environments with shared prosperity, and build rural communities that are good places to live, work, and travel.

The MOA will work with a proactive attitude and more efficient actions to continue to respond to the needs of farmers and industries, building consensus through multiple channels of communication, and comprehensively adjusting policy goals and strategies on a rolling basis. We are proactively promoting Taiwan’s agricultural transformation and upgrading so that agriculture can become a highly competitive sector, can be an “Agriculture for All” that is trusted and supported by all citizens, and can have powerful industries that can stay in close step with world standards.