Farmers are strongly resisting a plan by LG Group to invest 380 billion won ($309 million) to develop smart farm technology. They view the investment as another attempt by a chaebol to engage in large-scale fruit cultivation, which would threaten the livelihoods of many small fruit growers.
Yet the farmers’ resistance is short-sighted and goes against the government’s push to revolutionize Korea’s agriculture with smart farm technology.
A smart farm refers to an automated, remotely controlled greenhouse or cattle shed. The system collects not just environmental data, such as temperature and humidity, but also data on the growth and development of crops and cattle, allowing farmers to manage their farms more scientifically based on big data analysis.
Last week, LG Group unveiled its plan to build a large-scale smart farm complex in Saemangeum, a sprawling tidal flat on the nation’s southwestern coast that was created by reclaiming a river estuary.
The group said the complex, dubbed “Smart Biopark,” would serve as a test bed for developing the equipment and solutions needed to build advanced smart farms.
It said one third of the farm would be allocated to research and development facilities, while the remainder would be used for cultivating tomatoes, paprika and other products.
The group stressed that while Smart Biopark would grow fruits, its primary purpose would not be in fruit cultivation per se, but in developing an advanced smart farm system based on the data collected through the cultivation process.
To ease farmers’ opposition, LG said all of the products from its smart farm would be exported to avoid competition with local farmers in the crowded domestic market.
Yet the Korean Advanced Farmers Federation dismissed LG’s plan to export all its products, arguing that the output from its smart farm would be simply too much to be disposed of through exporting alone.
The federation held a rally Thursday to denounce LG, resolving to thwart its project by any means, as it did three years ago for Dongbu Group’s plan to build a large-scale greenhouse for fruit cultivation.
LG’s scheme is different from Dongbu’s, as it is more about developing a sophisticated smart farm system than about growing fruits.
The group’s plan deserves support as Korea badly needs to secure advanced smart farm technology to revolutionize its stagnant agricultural sector.
Upgrading Korea’s smart farm technology is one of the key policy goals of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. In March, the ministry launched a joint R&D project on smart farms with 10 related domestic organizations.
The participating institutions include the Korea Institute for Science and Technology, the Electronic and Telecommunications Research Institute, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and the Korea Institute of Energy Research.
Yet the scale of the joint R&D project is small due to the ministry’s limited budget. This year’s total budget for the project is a mere 19.3 billion won, including the spending of other participating agencies.
In this regard, the ministry welcomed LG’s large-scale investment plan, saying that a successful completion of the R&D project would significantly lower the cost of building smart farms.
If LG develops a low-cost smart farm system, it would be able to create a new export industry. This is the group’s real motivation.
The Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency also welcomed LG’s scheme as it has been desperate to attract corporate investment in the vast area of reclaimed land.
Farmers should realize that Korea can hardly afford to lag behind in smart farm technology as smart farms are the future of Korean agriculture.
