Taiwan and Thailand deepen smart agriculture ties

台灣與泰國深化智慧農業合作

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan and Thailand on Tuesday held an online meeting on spatial information and survey applications in farming, focusing on drones and artificial intelligence.

According to a Ministry of Agriculture press release, Department of International Affairs Director-General Fu Tzu-yu (傅子煜) and Thai Trade and Economic Office in Taipei representative Narong Boonsatheanwong co-chaired the event. Fu said that digital technologies are important production and governance tools that address food security and labor shortages.

Boonsatheanwong said smart agriculture is a key direction for bilateral cooperation. He added that Thailand plans to invite Taiwan to an exchange in September to discuss partnerships on tech-enabled monitoring, governance, and net-zero.

Boonsatheanwong then shared Thailand's geospatial information, digital twins simulation, and tree database, while Fu presented how Taiwan uses satellites, drones, and AI to maintain a nationwide farmland parcel map with a street-view system to verify farmland and crop conditions. Both sides then shared experiences with AI image recognition, geospatial data integration, and agricultural carbon sinks.

Geospatial information, or coordinates, uses latitude, longitude, and elevation to locate a person or object. Drones capture and relay visual data via satellites to determine the exact location.

An agricultural carbon sink or agroforestry is a system in which crops or trees absorb and remove more carbon dioxide from the air than they give out, promoting water and soil retention. Enterprises trade these outcomes as carbon credits to others looking to keep carbon emissions low to avoid fines.

A digital twin is the virtual counterpart of its physical object, process, or system. It gathers data from the physical world, which AI applies to the digital twin for simulation, helping with predictions and data-backed decision-making.

The agriculture ministry noted that both sides have collaborated on agricultural and fisheries initiatives since 2003. Both will continue to partner on test projects to identify practical applications that will improve domestic resilience and strengthen global competitiveness.