Sharon Farm has recently become the focus of national attention due to the Nanke Phase 4 development project. This piece of Taiwan Sugar Farmland, which covers an area of more than 500 hectares, is the land prepared by the government for TSMC's advanced nanometer process plant. It has entered the second stage of environmental impact assessment and is expected to be handed over for development after completing the process next year.
The planned development area is also an important habitat for the first-level protected grass owl, which has triggered social controversy over the conservation of the grass owl: environmental groups have demanded that breeding hot spots be completely avoided and designated as a protected area for the grass owl, and the competent authorities have also promised to include conservation strategies in the evaluation of alternatives. There is a social consensus on setting up a grass owl protected area. The real issue is whether the scope and area of the protected area are sufficient.
The second-level environmental impact assessment should use the current condition of the farm as the basis for assessment. After development, a clear answer should be given as to whether the grass owls, the land and the community residents will become better or worse. It is precisely before the development is finalized that the existing ecological reality of Sharon Farm deserves a complete examination.
Environmental groups protested at the environmental department in response to the environmental impact assessment review of the "Nanke Phase 4 Sharon Park" and opposed the sacrifice of protected animals such as owls for chip development. (File photo)
Wedge: A dialogue between community residents and volunteers
Community residents participated in a night viewing activity for grass owls and indeed saw traces of the grass owls. During this event, community residents and volunteers chatted at Sharon Farm. Volunteers have been observing birds here for 11 months and are well aware of the changes in this land.
Residents said that the ecological environment of Sharon Farm is not as good as outsiders imagine. The watermelon fields are heavily sprayed with pesticides, chemical fertilizers are used, rat poison baits are put in, and groundwater is pumped out. Volunteers responded that people who have been observing birds here for a long time said that pesticide spraying is more serious now than in the past, and even the air has a pesticide smell.
The residents then remembered that they had asked the melon farmers: Why were they spraying pesticides yesterday and harvesting today? The melon farmer said that water-based pesticides can be washed away with water. After hearing this, the resident stopped eating watermelon. The volunteer responded that he and another friend now also don’t dare to eat watermelon.
As for the stench in the air, it comes from another source. The sea breeze blows in the Jianan Plain during the day and then changes to the land breeze after nightfall. The odor emitted by the pig farms blows to the specific high-speed rail area downwind with the night breeze. Residents also mentioned that there are objectionable facilities such as landfills, narcota towers and military helicopter training grounds surrounding the farm, and the community has long suffered the consequences. Everything this conversation touches upon—pesticides, fertilizers, groundwater, poisonous bait, pig farm odors—is worth examining individually for its impact on the environment and people.
Spraying pesticides in large quantities: air and human body suffer first
The first problem with pesticide spraying is that not all of the pesticide lands on the crops. Studies estimate that when spraying under tropical agricultural conditions, about 30% to 50% of pesticides will drift or evaporate into the air. The scope of pesticide mist drifting with the wind can reach outside the field area, and homes within 50 meters downwind will be directly affected by the drift. The pesticide continues to volatilize after falling on the surface of crops and soil, and the range of influence can reach 250 meters. This is why volunteers smell pesticides in the air.
The effects on the human body are divided into acute and chronic effects. Symptoms of acute exposure include eye, nose, and throat irritation, coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, headache, dizziness, nausea, nosebleeds, etc. When the drug particles are smaller than 5 microns, they can pass through the throat and trachea directly to the alveoli. Long-term low-dose exposure has been consistently linked to asthma, chronic respiratory disease, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and endocrine disruption. Although the exposure concentration of residents in nearby areas is lower than that of the applicators, due to the persistence of drift and volatilization, they are continuously exposed for many years. Agricultural land like Sharon, where there are frequent and close human activities and observations, is a typical scenario for this type of risk.
Chemical Fertilizers: A Chronic Disease of the Soil
The problem with chemical fertilizers is not a single application but accumulation over many years. Long-term chemical fertilization can acidify soil at a rate of 0.3 to 0.5 pH per 10 years. Information from the Ministry of Agriculture also points out that long-term application of acid-generating or physiological acid fertilizers will gradually acidify the soil, thereby changing nutrient availability and crop growth.
In addition to acidification, excessive chemical fertilizers can also cause soil compaction and aggregate structure damage, decrease in organic matter content, changes in microbial communities, worsen soil aeration and water retention, and increase the risk of erosion and salt accumulation. Once the soil is compacted, it is difficult to recover in the short term and requires long-term organic matter supplementation to recover. In other words, the watermelon field is heavily fertilized every year. The result is that the land becomes thinner and thinner.
The result of heavy fertilization of watermelon fields every year will make the land become thinner and thinner; diagram. (Taken from Environmental Information Center)
Pumping Groundwater: The Subsidence of the Earth
The effects of pumping groundwater occur unseen. When the extraction rate exceeds natural recharge for a long time, the groundwater level drops and the pore water pressure decreases. The weight of the stratum originally supported by water pressure is transferred to the soil particle skeleton. The clay layer is compacted, the pores collapse, and the surface sinks downward. Most of this compaction cannot be restored.
The western plains of Taiwan are the site of this mechanism. Taking monitoring in recent years as an example, the maximum annual subsidence rate in the Yunlin area reaches 7 centimeters per year, the significant subsidence area exceeds 200 square kilometers, and there are as many as 10 towns with subsidence rates exceeding 3 centimeters. Yunlin uses about 2 billion tons of agricultural water a year, of which 800 million tons are pumped from groundwater, which is equivalent to four Shimen reservoirs. Ground subsidence not only causes continuous loss of land, but also damages flood control and drainage functions. The Tainan area is also within the long-term monitoring scope of the Water Resources Department. The watermelon fields at Sharon Farm are irrigated by pumping groundwater to add another scoop to the already tight water balance.
Rat Bait: The Silent Crisis of the Grass Owl
The cost of the poisonous bait is paid by the raptors at the top of the food chain. The Grass Owl is a subspecies endemic to Taiwan and a first-level endangered species in protected wildlife. It is also the only owl in Taiwan that lives in the grass. Early estimates estimated that there were about 300 to 500 individuals in Taiwan. Using long-term monitoring using an occupancy model, the Chiayi University team estimated that there were about 150 breeding pairs in the south and about 300 pairs in Taiwan. The latest report in 2025 was revised down to about 110 pairs. The central and southern populations are showing a downward trend year by year. Sharon Farm is an important habitat for the meadowlark. Automatic camera monitoring at Tainan University of Science and Technology shows that meadowlarks continue to appear in Area D within the Nanke Phase 4 development area, with records being recorded almost every day in some months.
Grass owls feed on rats as their main food. During the brooding period, they can catch 6 to 12 rats in one night, and they can eat nearly 500 rats in a year. Almost all rat poisons approved in Taiwan are second-generation anticoagulants, which are more toxic and take more than 200 days to metabolize. They are easily passed and accumulated in the food chain. Poisoned rats move slowly and are more likely to be preyed on by natural enemies, causing secondary poisoning. In 2016, the Kaohsiung Bird Society tested three rodenticide ingredients in a dead female meadow owl, two of which had concentrations exceeding lethal concentrations for raptors. Although the Rodent Control Week policy was suspended in 2015, it is still not difficult to see poisonous baits on the edges of rural fields. The poisonous rat bait in the watermelon field poisons the rarest residents on this grassland all the way through the poisoned rats.
Grass owls feed mainly on rats and can eat nearly 500 rats a year. Rat poison approved in Taiwan is highly toxic and takes more than 200 days to metabolize, making it easy to pass and accumulate in the food chain. (Taken from Environmental Information Center)
Night odor in pig farms: from midnight to early morning
The last item mentioned in the conversation was the stench smelled by residents in specific areas of the high-speed rail in the middle of the night. Odors in pig farms are generated at any time, mainly from the anaerobic decomposition of feces and urine: ammonia comes from the decomposition of urea and nitrogen-containing substances in urine, hydrogen sulfide comes from the anoxic decomposition of feces, and there are more than 160 odorous substances such as volatile fatty acids, phenols, and indoles; the manure collection ditch and the solid-liquid separation facilities of feces and urine are the main odor sources, and the anaerobic fermentation tank releases hydrogen sulfide.
It's particularly smelly from midnight to early morning, which is the result of several conditions. After nightfall in the Chianan Plain, the land breeze blows, and the odor is blown to specific areas downwind. The ground surface cools down at night and the convection weakens, so the odor is less likely to disperse upwards and accumulates on the ground. A survey in Taiwan shows that the intensity of odor downwind of livestock farms is likely to exceed the standard in the early morning and at night. Ventilation is reduced in pig houses at night for thermal insulation, and the retention time of feces and urine is lengthened, and the gas accumulates and escapes, with a higher concentration.
In terms of health effects, low-concentration ammonia and hydrogen sulfide irritate the eyes, nose and throat, causing headaches, nausea, coughing, chest tightness, and aggravation of asthma and allergy patients' symptoms. Studies in communities near pig farms have confirmed that increased odor intensity is significantly related to the probability of eye irritation and difficulty breathing. Long-term effects on respiratory tract and lung function are the most evident. Living near large-scale livestock farms is associated with an increased risk of airway obstruction, and nighttime odors also directly interfere with sleep.
Aversion to facility overlap: Communities’ long-term tolerance
In addition to the external costs of farmland, Sharon is surrounded by other objectionable facilities. Landfills, urn towers and military helicopter flight training sites have long been close to the community: the smell of the landfill, the traffic and entry and exit caused by the urn towers, the noise and low-altitude vibrations from frequent helicopter takeoffs and landings are all sources of stress that interfere with daily life. Facilities are piled on top of each other, with community residents enduring all the consequences but rarely having a seat at the decision-making table regarding development and site selection. This is the core issue of environmental justice: who bears the cost is never decided by who speaks.
Conclusion: Tell the truth
This conversation revealed four layers of reality at Sharon Farm: pesticides floated in the air, chemical fertilizers eroded into the soil, groundwater leaked into the ground, poisonous bait poisoned the grass owls, plus aversion to overlapping facilities, and the stench of pig farms that blew into specific areas with the land breeze in the middle of the night. These external costs are borne by the owls, the land and the residents downwind, and those who bear the most silence are often those who have the least say.
The evaluation benchmark of the second-level environmental impact assessment should be exactly this current situation: after development, whether the habitat of the grass owls, the health of the land, and the life of the community have improved or deteriorated, the environmental impact assessment should give a clear answer, rather than letting the answer be submerged in the numerical calculation of the compensation area. 11 months of observations by volunteers and personal questions from residents are the beginning of bringing these realities to the surface, recording them concretely, and disclosing information to allow the environmental impact assessment system to respond.
After development, whether the habitat of the grass owls, the health of the land and the life of the community will become better or worse, the second-level environmental impact assessment should give a clear answer. (File photo)
(The author is a retired professor at National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University and vice chairman of Taiwan Industrial Technology Promotion Association)
