To usher in an agricultural knowledge economy, the COA implemented the eight agricultural technology programs "Key Industries and Resource Conservation", "Biotechnology and its direct Applications", "Food Processing Technology", "Remote Sensing Technology", "Automation and Computerization in Agriculture, Fisheries, and Animal Husbandry," "Plant and Animal Disease Prevention and Quarantine," "Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Product Marketing, and Farmers Service Research", and "Agricultural Technology R&D Project Management." In 2003 COA successfully bred 22 superior new cultivars of rice, coarse grains, fruits, vegetables, and flowers. The COA also completed researches of mass production technology for biological fertilizers and pesticides, and thus conducted six cases of related technology transferring. In fields of machinery and automation, we achieved solid results such as the growing of calla lilies in controlled-environment greenhouses, the culture of grass prawns in recycling aquaculture systems, and the automation of flower potting and transplanting tasks. In which, seventeen domestic and foreign patents were received in 2003, and one trademark was registered. Research and development projects funded by the COA have made a major contribution to the improvement of agricultural technology and promotion of agricultural upgrading.

After the Executive Yuan approved the Agricultural Science & Technology Park Plan on February 25, 2003, the COA helped establish the Pingtung Agro-Biotechnology Park, Tainan County Taiwan Orchid Biotechnology Park, the Changhua County National Floriculture Park, the Chiayi County Spice and Medicinal Herb Biotechnology Park, and the Ilan County Marine Biotechnology Park to encourage the formation of agro-technology industry clusters. The "Pingtung Agro-Biotechnology Park Preparatory Office" began operations on October 12, 2003. The Tainan County government completed planning of the Taiwan Orchid Biotechnology Park and began development work on 23.5 hectares of land leased from the Taiwan Sugar Corp. in Houpi Township. An exhibition venue for the "2004 Taiwan Flower Exposition" was completed at the end of 2003 as part of Changhua County's National Floriculture Park plan; this structure was formally opened for use on January 17, 2004. In addition, the Executive Yuan approved the establishment of the Chiayi County Spice and Medicinal Herb Biotechnology Park and the Ilan County Marine Biotechnology Park in November and December 2003 respectively.

To facilitate the transmission of agricultural information and improve the efficiency of management as well as service quality of Farmers' and Fishermen's associations, the COA continued to implement the "Agricultural Information Community Network Program." Under this program, the COA improved business efficiency by supervising the construction of basic LAN infrastructure for all 73 Farmers' and Fishermen's associations, and establishing the electronic document exchanging system. The construction of basic computer networks has been accomplished by end of 2003. In addition, the COA vigorously implemented the "Agricultural Industry Knowledge Management Application Development Program" to accelerate the collection of agricultural knowledge to meet the needs in the era of intellectual economy. The main objectives of this program include: 1) the integration of industrial technology, manpower, and production-marketing resources at agricultural units, 2) gradual establishment of the industrial knowledge database and knowledge management application systems, 3) construction of information platforms including gateway websites and value-added knowledge management systems, 4) building of the specialized knowledge websites of 14 industries, including rice, tea, mangoes, and wax apples.

Superior manpower is a key factor that can help farmers survive the impact of WTO accession and strengthen the competitiveness of agricultural industries. The COA has established five regional agricultural training centers: the "Rural Development and Group Training Center" in northern Taiwan, the "Summer Vegetable, Temperate Zone Fruit, and Floricultural Training Center" in central Taiwan, the "Growing Facility Management Training Center" and "Tropical Horticultural Crop Training Center" in southern Taiwan, and the "Recreational Farming, Organic Farming, and Health-care Herbs Training Center" in eastern Taiwan. To cultivate outstanding young farmers who possess an international outlook and professional skills, COA also provides specialized training to rural youths who are interested in agriculture; a total of 1,458 rural youths have completed 54 training courses. In order to improve the business management, leadership, communication, and marketing skills of professional farmers and production-marketing team leaders, the COA held providing practical training in agricultural product marketing. A total of 90 agribusiness management seed instructors had completed training in 2003; these seed instructors will provide assistance and consulting services involving agricultural technology and business management in conjunction with the production-marketing team assistance and agribusiness consulting systems.