On December 19, the 2024 Regional Agricultural Extension Liaisons’ Conference was held in conjunction with the Farmers Association General Secretary Gather at NPUST’s Center for Technological Agriculture. The event was organized by the NPUST Office of Continuing and Extension Education, The Committee of Agricultural Extension and the NPUST Bachelor of Program in Scientific Agriculture in order to promote agricultural development, share regional resources and exchange agricultural extension and counseling experiences. The distinguished guests included NPUST President Chin-Lung Chang, of our university, Dean of the College of Agriculture Jue-Liang Hsu, Department of Plant Industry Director Yu-Shen Liang and many representatives of agriculture agencies, associations and institutions around Taiwan. While the gathering created an opportunity for the participants to discuss experiences related to agricultural extension and counseling policies, it was also a chance to strengthen interaction between industry, government, and academia and to promote the development of regional agricultural cooperation.
NPUST’s president, Chin-Lung Chang, said: “I am very pleased to welcome all the officials, experts and partnering farmers to this social gathering at our newly built Center for Technological Agriculture. This is an opportunity for everyone to exchange ideas from different fields and promote the upgrading and transformation of Taiwan’s agriculture industries. Each person here is a key force in the promotion of agricultural progress! National Pingtung University of Science and Technology is an agricultural school and is the only comprehensive science and technology university in Taiwan that focuses on tropical agriculture. In recent years, along with the proliferation of AI technology, our school has been actively developing “smart agriculture” technologies, such as agricultural drones, agricultural Internet of Things, cloud computing and big data decision support systems. These have been applied to different crop management scenarios, including cultivation management, pest and disease control, crop yield predictions, and marketing—while giving consideration to climate change, farmer incomes, and added value for agricultural products. The Farmers’ Association is an important link connecting farmers with future agricultural trends. It is also responsible for the transmission of knowledge and technology and has made great contributions to agricultural technology improvement, rural development, farmers’ welfare and regional economic growth.”
National Pingtung University of Science and Technology works with agricultural administration agencies such as the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute to help promote the policies of the Ministry of Agriculture. It also works to connect farmers and agricultural organizations while encouraging cross-domain cooperation between groups involved in agricultural education, economics, finance, and social development with the aim of establishing good social relationship networks. Through these networks, hopes are to enhance the development of circular economies and promote Taiwan’s agriculture sector through the application of new technology.
