The purpose of this research is to present detailed measures to implement the direct payment program for low-carbon agriculture which was developed to proactively cope with climate change. The detailed research goals include development of direct payments based on farming methods, calculation of adequate base payment, payment limits, and duration, a review of direct payment programs for low-carbon agriculture in advanced countries, and an analysis of farmers' intentions to participate in the direct payment program.
A survey was conducted on farmers who have introduced low-carbon farming techniques and the survey results showed that most of them have introduced the farming techniques through agriculture technology centers (58.7%) out of concern for environmental problems such as climate change (49.7%).
The types of low-carbon farming techniques that are currently applied are found to be classifiable into the following categories: green manure crops (25.4%), tailored fertilizers (17.6%), controlled release fertilizers (16.7%), plowless farming (7.1%), and intermittent irrigation (5.5%). As for the difficulties in applying the techniques, farmers have referred to decrease in yield (25.7%), lack of price differentiation due to low awareness of low-carbon agricultural products (24.6%), and increase in labor input (21.7%).
The most predominant opinion concerning how to propagate low-carbon farming techniques was that the government should provide incentives such as direct payments (42.0%). Farmers also said that they most prefer (40.2%) direct payments commensurate with low-carbon farming techniques and that they will adopt (78.3%) new low-carbon farming techniques that will be developed in the future.
The economic feasibility of major environmentally friendly farming techniques was evaluated and the results showed that the net profit decreased for paddy field water management, plowless farming (rice), cultivation of green manure crops, and use of tailored fertilizers. By contrast, the net profit increased for alternative energy, highly efficient technology farming, and plowless farming (chili).
The direct payment for low-carbon farming, which is a mutual compliance-based environmental program that combines agricultural policy with climate policy, has an important meaning in that it is a green gas reduction policy in the agricultural sector. Since there are many kinds of green technologies that can be applied to low-carbon agriculture, the direct payment for low-carbon agriculture was presented based on farming methods so that farmers can choose the right method to meet their needs under different circumstances.
The base amount of direct payment for low-carbon farming is classified into two categories - the compensation for income reduction and the incentive grant for greenhouse gas reduction, and it varies as follows: 500,000~700,000 won per installment of irrigation equipment for intermittent irrigation (M1), 480,000~580,000 won per hectare for plowless farming (M2), 700,000~ 900,000 won per hectare for cultivation of green manure crops (M3), 300,000~500,000 won per installment of "eco-driving system" for efficient use of agricultural machinery (M4), 900,000~1,000,000 won per hectare for use of tailored fertilizers (M5), and 300,000~600,000 won per hectare for continuous application of organic farming.
The direct payment for low-carbon agriculture is a new direct payment which has been added to the current program for direct payments in agriculture (i.e., the direct payments for business transfers, environment protection, unfavorable farming regions, and landscape conservation). The ratio of farmers who are willing to take part in the new program is shown to be about 75%, and it is anticipated that the actual participation rate will be high if the base amount of the direct payment is set at an appropriate level and when the policy is promoted properly.
In order to successfully adopt the direct payment for low-carbon agriculture, it is crucial to have a proper division of roles among related entities that include policy administrators at the central and local governments, farmers, and related organizations (agriculture technology centers, the Foundation for Agri-Tech Commercialization & Transfer, etc.) in addition to the implementation inspection for post-management.

Researchers: Chang-Gil Kim, Hak-Kyun Jeong, Jeong-Seung Kim, Dong-Hyun Moon
Research period: 2012. 7. - 2013. 1.
E-mail address: changgil@krei.re.kr