This study is progressed to achieve main objectives that analyze the past, present and future of family farming. A family farm as an agricultural management form using family workforce is the competing term with a capitalistic agricultural management which is dependent on a hired hand based on a capital. The latter is abbreviated as ‘Commercialized farming' and generally a agricultural management is broadly classed as a family farm and a commercialized farming.
This family farm has been shaped as a main stream in the agricultural management system. The American agricultural economist H. C. Taylor first put forth the term 'family farm' in his book 'Agricultural Economics(1923)' and argued "a typical farm of America has been called a family-run management, however, this opinion dosen't need for America to define. Furthermore, this concept is the same thing all over the world."
After the end of World WarⅡ, a family farm has surfaced in the world. At that time in Europe, a confrontation in the system of government has started. The confrontation were divided between Democracy & Socialism in a political system and Capitalism & Communism in an economic system, furthermore, Family-farm & Cooperative-farm in an agricultural management system. Therefore, a family farm has been developed as an ideal agricultural management form in an economic system of liberal democracy. On the other hand, communistic countries with socialism had maintained the cooperative-farm and the system itself has been collapsed from the 1980s.
Of course a family farm has not gone uncontested. In the development process of capitalism, family farm's properties have been degenerated into commercialized farming which have tended to center in agricultural production. Nevertheless, a common recognition of advanced countries is the family farm must be in charge of the main stream of the agriculture sector in the future. In this reason, the agricultural sector under World Trade Organization agreements also has dealt with the family farm's protection as one of the most important issues. Also, Each country have been struggling to sustain a family farm by using various policy means.
In our country a family farm has been a base since the prehistoric era and also maintained as a robust family farm system through the present day. Especially, the government had tried to establish an independent farmer and promote viable family farm(farms) management through the accomplished farmland reform right after forming a new government. However, farms’ properties have been changed quantitatively as well as qualitatively in the process of the industrialization in the 1960s and 70s. The farms number have continuously declined owing to the flow of people moving from the country into the cities. As a farm owner has been aging, a farmland lease farming or a trusted farming style; so called 'The farms is not like a farms' have increased.
Furthermore, by the 1990s the market liberalization of agricultural products had been gradually enlarged and also a farm economy has been persecuted. Meanwhile, a middle class farms have been collapsed, therefore farms' class specialization has also been swiftly proceeded. The government had established the goal of policy for promoting an agricultural competitiveness and also supported to increase the farm size. As the results of these efforts, the large farms have been formed and full-time farms has become the center force of the agricultural production. On the other hand, small aging farms have maintained a small size and a living type agriculture.
One of the trends which were appeared by processing a disintegration of farms is that farms are becoming increasingly systematized. Many small farms had got together to survive and organized an agricultural production organization. As these organization had been developed swiftly, in the 1990 the government established Agricultural Corporation Programs for promoting Farm Service Corporation and Farming Association Corporation. Therefore, now our farm management has become two types as 'Farms' and 'Agricultural Corporation'
From now on, as the market liberalization of agricultural products had been gradually enlarged, the scale-up and specialization of an agricultural management will be proceeded, individual farms' management and organizational style will be established in various aspects. Therefore, we need to analyze and forecast about what is the state of today's farmers and farms and also in the future how will be those changed. These analysis results will be important policy issues for promoting 'Farm labor' and 'farm management' and establishing a direction of agricultural policy.
This book analyzes and contains all the important theory and practice about a family farming. Specifically, in terms of Farms and Agricultural Management, this book would like to examine the theory, actual condition & outlook, and institution & policy by using the various foreign cases, national statistics, and case survey findings.
Since this writer started researching policy study at KREI in 1986, the writer has published too many research papers and journal papers in several areas including a farmland, labor force, regional agriculture research. This farms study is one topic of these areas and would like to aggregate it as the book.
It is my great pleasure to thank all the people who made this book possible. I owe my gratitude to the many officials in Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food(MAFF) and National Statistical Office(NSO) who cooperated fully the latest statistics and policy materials. I really expect this book to be widely read by a youth people as well as a researcher and a policy chief for reading.

Researcher: Kim, Jeong-Ho
E-mail address: jhkim@krei.re.kr