Agriculture in South Korea

Agriculture in South Korea is a sector of the economy of South Korea. The natural resources required for agriculture in South Korea are not abundant. Two thirds of the country are mountains and hills. Arable land only accounts for 22 percent of the country's land. The most important crop in South Korea is rice, accounting about 90 percent of the country's total grain production and over 40 percent of farm income. Other grain products heavily rely on imports from other countries.[1] Farms range in size from small, family-owned farms to large corporations, but most are small-scale and rely heavily on government support and services in order to survive.[2]

Paddy field in South Korea

With the rapid growth of South Korea's economy and urbanization, areas of farmland have been decreasing and rural populations have moved from the countryside to cities.[1] In addition to the decrease in farmland, there has been a decrease in rice demand due to the declining rates of rice consumption. In 1980, the average consumption of rice per capita was 137.7 kg. In 2018, only 61 kg of rice was eaten per capita.[3] This decrease is partially due to the rising of wheat consumption of consumers. In 2016, the average South Korean consumed 33.2 kg of wheat flour.[4]

National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) is South Korea's Agricultural cooperative, which is a nationwide organization in charge of agriculture banking, supply of agriculture input factors and sales of agriculture products. The NACF was founded in 1961 with the goal of "improving the economic, social, cultural and status of agriculture people and enhancing the competitiveness of agriculture to improve the quality of life of farmers and contribute to the balanced development of the national economy.[5]

In November of 2011, the government passed the Act on Development and Support of Urban Agriculture (Act of UA). It was based upon the National Land Planning and Utilization Act which strives to create more farmland. The goal of the Act of UA was to "develop a nature-friendly urban environment and contribute to the harmonious development of cities and rural communities by raising urban residents' understanding in agriculture". Seoul, South Korea's capital and largest, densest city, developed four categories of UA: "housing" which includes private homes and apartments, both indoors and outdoors; "in-city" which is the rooftops of public buildings; "farm-park" which uses abandoned land; and "education" which includes schools and colleges. To promote the idea of urban agriculture, the municipal government of Seoul offered agricultural training classes and supplies such as seeds, tools, and containers to interested residents. By 2015, the municipal government had assisted in the development of "vegetable gardens on the rooftops of 267 buildings" and had provided "43,785 box-typed vegetable pots for 15,866 places". In 2011, 29-ha were set aside in Seoul for the purpose of urban agriculture. By 2015, 118-ha were reserved for UA.[6]

Due to challenges with an aging population of farmers, a shrinking number of farm laborers, the weakening of the Korea domestic farm market, and uncommon weather patterns, the government of South Korea has been promoting the idea of smart farms to farmers. By offering financial and training support, the government is hoping to "bolster the competitiveness of domestic agriculture". These smart farms use information and communication technologies (ICT) to send real time information to mobile devices to farmers. Though the government has promoted smart farms, only a small percentage of farms has begun using the ICT. Most farmers are poor and do not have the finances to invest in technology. Also, most small farmers do not have the technological skills to change over to a "digital environment".[2] In 2019, the agricultural ministry announced that 248 billion won would be budgeted for promoting smart farm technology.[7]