Mission
The Rural Economics Society of Taiwan (REST), established in 1953, is a non-profitable organization. The main objectives of REST are as follows:
1. Promote agricultural economic research
2. Hold agricultural conferences
3. Publish academic journal
4. Assist the government in agricultural policy development
5. Promote joint agricultural research with international partners
REST is currently one of the largest economic societies in Taiwan with over 400 individual members and over 40 group members including Taipei Liugong Irrigation Association, Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corp., Land Bank, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, and various farmers’ associations.
In addition to hosting domestic conferences, REST also co-hosts international conferences with other organizations. For the past 10 years, under the sponsorship from Taipei Liugong Irrigation Association, REST and the Korean Agricultural Economics Association have come together to organize an annual conference. The hosting duty of the conference alternates between Korea and Taiwan. In order to share research findings and promote friendship among scholars, REST also invites the agricultural economists from Japan to join the conference.
Every year REST accepts research projects from the government with budgets totaling over 10 million dollars. These projects include the collection and analysis of foreign agricultural policies as well as the study of domestic and international agricultural issues.
In order to provide domestic economist with the latest agricultural research findings, REST publishes Taiwan Agricultural Economic Review twice a year with the first issue being published in 1995. Through the hard work and dedication by both the editors and members, the quality of the journals has improved steadily and has been listed in Taiwan Social Science Citation Index (TSSCI). This journal also receives editing subsidy from Social Sciences Research Center and National Science Council. Presently, Taiwan Agricultural Economic Review is recognized as the most influential agricultural economic journal in Taiwan. In additional to the activities mentioned above, REST also holds Masters and PhD thesis competitions to encourage new generation of agricultural economists to raise the quality of their research.
In the future, REST will continue to promote agricultural research, provide suggestions of agricultural policies to government, and to ensure that the agricultural sector in Taiwan develops in a sustainable fashion.