The resulting labor shortage in rural areas has prompted the government to embark on a second stage of a rural development program calling for larger scale farming by combining each dozen or two of farming households into cooperatives.
國人有將土地分給子女繼承的習慣，結果耕地愈分愈小，在現代就難以推行大規模的機械化耕作。礁溪鄉南邊的玉光村，兩年前由鄉公所聚集當地廿餘戶農家、一百多公頃土地，實行土地重劃、集體耕作。由縣政府提供新式農機和技術，收成利益則按參與土地、人力、工時均分。