In the 1980s, with the rise of environmental consciousness, the increasing severity of illegal land use in the catchment area of the Techi Reservoir (which supplies tap water to the whole greater Taichung area), and continued inability on the part of the government to take back the land, some scholars recommended another tack-liberalization of apple imports.
民國七十年代，台灣環保意識漸開，供應大台中飲用水的德基水庫集水區超限利用問題日益嚴重，回收土地又阻力重重，有學者建議不如開放蘋果進口，打壓梨山蘋果，讓果農失去誘因。