TARI was established in 1895 by the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan at the time of Japanese rule, and was named “Agricultural Experiment Station of the Office of the Governor General of Taiwan.” After World War II in 1945, the institute was re-named as the “Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute” and came under the direct supervision of the Taiwan Provincial Administrative Executive Office. In 1949, its affiliation was transferred to the Department of Agriculture and Forestry of the Taiwan Provincial Government, and in 1999 to the Council of Agriculture (COA) of the Executive Yuan.

　The original site of TARI was at the end of Roosevelt Road in Taipei City. But due to limited land area for expansion to address the challenging issues that had emerged parallel to the growth of agricultural sector in the country then, the institute was moved to the current site in December of 1977. The institute is situated on an area of 145 hectares, including 128 hectares of irrigated research fields and 17 hectares for administration buildings, research facilities and boarding houses for trainees and visiting scientists. TARI is the most comprehensive agricultural research institute in Taiwan.