The ban from China was the wrong time, according to a fruit farmer.
He says he was careful this year. I was afraid because of the lack of rain and the fact that China cut off orders so we couldn't sell our pomelos.
A pomelo is a large fruit with a sweeter taste.
The town of Ruisui on Taiwan's east coast was filled with fruit back in September.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in Taiwan and on mainland China this year. The harvest festival is similar to US Thanksgiving in that the fruit is eaten as part of the celebration.
Many of his neighbours gave up trying to sell their crop after the price dropped.
In August, the Chinese government banned imports of Taiwanese pomelos in order to punish Taiwan for receiving a visit from Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives.
While self-ruled Taiwan sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland, Beijing sees it as a separate province that will eventually be under its control.
The ban will make it hard for everyone to cover their costs, since farmers in Ruisui usually export 70% of their pomelos to mainland China.
When it was time to harvest pomelos in Ruisui, it was too late because the price had already fallen.
It was too late to find a new market and too late to respond to the Chinese market ban.
The ban on Taiwanese pomelos by China is just one of many prohibitions that Beijing has put on Taiwan.
More than 2,000 Taiwanese food stuffs, from fish and seaweed to cooking oils and cakes, were blocked from entering China. The previous bans of Taiwanese pineapples and wax and sugar apples were followed by a new one.
It shows the precarious nature of Taiwan's relationship with the mainland.
Only 10% of Taiwan's imports are from the US.
Much of Taiwan's trade with China is concentrated around Taiwan's electronics and Semiconductor industry, which is deeply intertwined with China's tech industry.
Unlike Taiwan's tech exports, they are easy to ban without affecting China's own manufacturing. People in China can't go to Taiwan on holidays.
Ms Ma says that whether Beijing will roll out more restriction measures needs to be watched.
There is a chance that Beijing will expand import bans to some Taiwanese goods. China has low reliance on Taiwan for import supply in these sectors.
Taiwanese farmers are looking for buyers in Japan, Australia and the Middle East, but it will take some time, according to a junior research fellow at the Institute of Political Science.
It's not clear how long China's ban on tropical fruits and tourists will last, but Taiwan's strategies for its agricultural industry will continue. Taiwan's farmers might take a long time to make needed structural adjustments.
It might be time for Taiwan's business community to be more diversified. Some analysts are worried that China might try to blockade Taiwan in the future, as relations between the two sides are at their lowest point in 25 years.
Many of these concerns are far away on Taiwan's rural east coast.
Workers had to harvest the pomelo trees. If the fruit is left to rot, it will damage the surrounding soil and cause pests.
Taiwan hopes to find new export markets and also new uses for pomelo, which is still considered a seasonal fruit. He wants the government to give subsidies to farmers, not just help buyers.
The country is built on agriculture, but farmers are being crushed to death.
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