{"id":36558,"date":"2019-09-23T23:02:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T15:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=36558"},"modified":"2019-09-23T23:02:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T15:02:38","slug":"taiwan-cultivates-the-future-of-smart-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2019\/09\/23\/taiwan-cultivates-the-future-of-smart-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan cultivates the future of smart agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Besides being a technological hub, Taiwan also has a flourishing agricultural sector. Indeed, just in the first half of 2019, Taiwan&#8217;s Council of Agriculture reported that the island republic has logged US$2.7 billion worth of agricultural exports. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This number is only\nexpected to grow as the nation recalibrates its agricultural strategy. Taiwan\naims to optimize its farming techniques by using high-precision technology as\nit commits to the Agriculture 4.0 movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Agriculture 4.0, or\nprecision farming, refers to a redefined farming system that integrates\nhigh-technology innovations. According to the World Government Summit, Agriculture\n4.0 is a green agricultural revolution with science and technology at its\nheart.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an effort to sustain\nits growth, the Taiwanese government is currently raising its investments in\nAgriculture 4.0 with a pledge of up to $300 million by 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To properly implement\nAgriculture 4.0, the following materials are needed: Solar technology for\nenergy needs, lighting technology as different plants grow best at different\nwavelengths, drone technology for soil and water modeling purposes, Internet of\nThings for smart sensors, semiconductors to manufacture sensors, control\nsoftware and data mining algorithms, and robotics to assist in planting and\nharvesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a leading tech hub,\nTaiwan produces thousands of electrical engineers, semiconductor specialists,\nand robotics experts each year. The workforce then feeds into a supply chain of\nthousands of enterprises that create the components required in smart farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the industry side,\nTaiwan is the second largest in the semiconductor industry, as well as a\nmanufacturer for most of the sensors used in IoT and high-tech projects such as\nrobotics, drones and solar technology. Companies have also developed\nspecialized horticulture LEDs that can fine-tune wavelengths to increase plant\ngrowth and yield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Solid examples of smart\nfarming innovations include Owlting, a Taipei-based startup that supplies\nfarmers with big data to optimize operations by monitoring rain, temperature\nand chemicals in the soil. Another innovation is LeBio&#8217;s Spectral X, which is a\nnew type of agriculture net that adjusts sunlight and RGB spectrum ratios to\nimprove plant health and growth over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A number of Taiwan\nExcellence awardees also have a range of hi-tech autopilot helicopters made to\nhelp farmers. Robotics giant Thunder Tiger has the Thunder Hawk, which can\nspray pesticides across a hectare of land within eight minutes, greatly\nimproving agricultural efficiency and reducing human and plant exposure to\npesticides. Additionally, there&#8217;s Alpas II, from Geosat Aerospace and\nTechnology, another unmanned drone equipped with computer-controlled flight\nsettings, as well as dual laser sensors, allowing precise and automatic\nspraying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By introducing these\ndigital innovations to the farming routine, the expected results are increased\nyields, reduced operating costs, reduced crop damage and minimized water, fuel\nand fertilizer usage. \n\nThese advantages will also flow to the consumer\nside as it ensures cheaper yet better quality produce for everyone. \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an effort to sustain its growth, the Taiwanese government is currently raising its investments in Agriculture 4.0 with a pledge of up to $300 million by 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":36559,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[5321,96],"class_list":["post-36558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-taiwan","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}