Analysis on the Status and Future Development of Smart Farming Projects
Published on June 15, 2022
Published by Economic Industrial Program Evaluation Division
Structural problems in agriculture, such as market liberalization and aging, have led to a contraction in investment, resulting in stagnant growth in income and exports, and weakening growth momentum of the agricultural sector as a whole. Under these circumstances, smart farming, which combines ICT technologies with agriculture, is emerging as an effective alternative that can attract younger people to rural areas and promote investment in relevant upstream and downstream industries.
In this report, considering that Korea's smart farming promotion policies and programs are being implemented in ① facility distribution and expansion, ② ICT data collection and utilization, ③ R&D, and ④ industrial infrastructure establishment, performances and issues of each area where smart farming has been implemented were analyzed and areas of improvement for further advancement of smart farming tailored to meet the needs of Korea were identified.
First, as for facility distribution and expansion, (1) sophisticated and scaled smart farming facilities need to be distributed to enhance competitiveness, including in management efficiency, etc. in the future, because relevant technologies currently being distributed concern mainly small scale endeavors with relatively low levels of technology adopted for this first-generation of smart farming. (2) More than 80% of the smart farming-adopted agricultural produce centers around four commodities - strawberries, melons, tomatoes, and capsicums - while the level of distribution of smart farming for open-field crops and tree fruits is very low. For this reason, further expansion of smart farming needs to take place by targeting marketable produce with demonstration and R&D reinforcements in place. (3) One of the goals of fostering smart farming is to create an ecosystem for youth startups. However, among smart farming entrepreneurs, the younger generation has remained at roughly 10% for the past three years. Thus, attracting more of the nation’s youth to engage in smart farming needs to happen through timely completion and operation of rentable smart farms and increased provision of start-up subsidies.
Second, as for ICT data collection and utilization, (1) Although they are prerequisites across all spectrums of production, environments, retail, and consumption in implementing smart farming, actual data collected and analyzed are small in size and are centered mainly around production-related data. Thus, this issue needs to be resolved more proactively in the future. (2) Criteria regarding rights, collection, access, and use of agricultural data need to be formulated to induce the provision of data by farms and to improve their bargaining power in the agricultural data market. (3) Current agricultural data platforms that are fragmented across different organizations need to be linked and integrated for operation as soon as possible to improve the availability and accessibility to agricultural data, and to systematically manage them.
Third, as for the R&D sector, (1) It was found that the degree of advancement in smart farming-related agricultural food production equipment, systems, and convergence technologies was relatively low compared to the overall development level of agricultural food technologies. Therefore, technologies need continued sophistication by fostering professional manpower, reinforcing cooperation with other industry expert groups, expanding R&D investment, and supporting continued industrialization for market application of developed technologies. (2) Realizing that the proportion of the R&D budget in the overall smart farming budget is either on the decline or stagnant since the establishment of the 「Smart Farm Expansion Plan (2018)」, investment in and distribution for R&D needs to increase to help enhance the degree of advancement of related technologies, etc,.
Fourth, as for industrial infrastructure establishment, (1) smart farming equipment in the livestock sector, including dairy farming and poultry, and in the horticultural sector with medium-sized (2,000 Pyong or 6,611m²) or larger facilities, the localization rate is relatively low. Furthermore, since most smart farming-related businesses are small in size, they may experience difficulties in localization and technological advancement; thus, companies engaging in smart farming need to be supported in conducting performance tests and empirical research to help achieve growth. (2) National and international standard designations for smart farming ICT equipment seem to be somewhat lacking. Thus, more support should be extended to expand the number of equipment subject to standardization, and to help manufacturers procure equipment that has been certified with national standardization. (3) Although the export performance of smart farm plants and equipment is increasing, it is still much lower than current targets. In addition, with a gap between countries targeted during the strategic phase and when those actual exports were made, export performance needs to be improved by helping with potential market discovery and by providing with relevant market information. (4)As for the Smart Farm Youth Startup Incubation Center, which was installed to foster manpower, is showing positive results as most of its graduates find employment or start their own businesses in related fields. However, more efforts need to be put forth to minimize the number of those who, after selection, quit before completing the program. In addition, in order to resolve the issue of concentration on strawberries and tomatoes, etc. as current smart farming produce, items for cultivation for the Center trainees need diversification.
Overall, the government should make clear what it envisions in smart farming unique to Korea in terms of strategic items, target markets, and related technologies. Additionally, managing smart farming in a systematic manner is needed to truly achieve smart farming based on data, rather than mainly facility distribution, as it is currently engaged in.