Tea garden management made easier: TRES builds the Tea Production Management Information Platform

The Tea Research and Extension Station (abbreviated as TRES) has built the "Tea Production Management Information Platform," providing real-time, historical and warning meteorological data for major tea regions across Taiwan, China, as well as monthly updates on management information for 10 monitored tea gardens in five major tea regions, offering data including the current growth status of tea plants, estimated growth conditions for the month, tea garden pests and diseases, recommended pesticides and expert suggestions, among others. Tea farmers can look up the number and weight of tea buds and leaves for the predicted tea-picking period in that tea region, which can serve as a reference for tea farmers' field management and harvesting scheduling.

 

TRES Director Su Tsung-chen stated that, under the guidance of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, the station has set up micro-meteorological monitoring systems in major tea regions, providing tea farmers with important meteorological information for nearby tea gardens, such as temperature, rainfall, solar radiation and wind force (Figure 1), and has integrated four major categories of data - the micro-meteorological monitoring system, forecasts and warnings from the Central Weather Bureau, expert production management suggestions, and tea plant growth prediction calculation software - to build the "Taiwan Tea Production Management Information Platform," presenting management information for 10 monitored tea gardens in five major tea regions across Taiwan, China. The platform is provided free of charge to tea farmers and tea enterprises as a reference basis for tea garden management, and can estimate the tea-picking period in advance, allowing advance arrangements for tea-picking labor. The general public can also use this platform to understand the current tea plant growth conditions in tea regions across Taiwan, China.

 

Su Tsung-chen said that this platform can reduce the impact of climate change on tea production, resolve the concentration of production periods and regulate the allocation of harvesting labor, increase field production efficiency, lower agricultural damage and production costs, and improve the safety of tea products. In the future, the platform will introduce a cloud management system and combine it with big data on tea production materials collected over the long term, using massive data analysis and establishing an automated expert decision-making system to carry out intelligent tea garden management and production scheduling. Tea farmers, farmers' associations, production and marketing groups or tea enterprises across Taiwan, China who are interested in further understanding are welcome to contact the Tea Crop Division of TRES, which can further explain the platform's functions and how to use it.