Conference Held on “World Agricultural Trends and Future Prospects”
– Finding a Direction for Korean Agriculture through the Experience of Advanced Countries –

The Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) held a policy discussion on world agricultural trends and prospects at the conference hall of the Korea Racing Authority on July 23. 

Over 450 people concerned with agriculture took part in the discussion. Among the participants were Park Hong-Soo, agriculture minister; Hwang Min-Young, chairman of Presidential Commission on Agriculture, Fishery, and Rural Policies; Kim In-Sik, administrator of Rural Development Administration; Suh Seung-Jin, chief of Korea Forest Service; Lim Su-Jin, president of Korea Rural Community & Agriculture Corporation; Chung Kui-Lae, president of Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corporation; Lee Woo-Jae, chairman and CEO of Korea Racing Authority; Suh In-Suk, managing director of National Agricultural Cooperative Federation; Park Eui-Gyu, chairman of Korea Advanced Farmers Federation; and Sohn Hak-kyu, former governor of Gyeonggi Province.  

At the opening ceremony, Choi Jung-Sup, president of KREI, delivered an opening speech and said that the current hardships Korea faces with respect to market opening, stiff market competition, and aging are not unique to Korean agriculture and rural villages; but they  are also the major agricultural problems facing advanced countries. As this is the case, he called on all the participants to actively take part in the discussions and present new visions and a paradigm for Korean agriculture through case analysis and discussions on the agricultural policies of major advanced countries.

In the meantime, Agriculture Minister Park Hong-Soo said that despite the government’s assertion for speedy market opening from a national perspective, the people in agriculture feel the burden from today’s high speed of market opening. The minister, who pointed out that time is not sufficient to solve the mountain of problems, hoped that the conference will be a meaningful gathering among farmers’ associations, the government, and research and academic institutions.

Choi Sei-Kyun, senior researcher at KREI, delivered a keynote speech on “world agricultural trends and their implications.” In the speech, the researcher said that regionalism and globalization continue to advance and the significance of rural villages as living space grows along with the growing awareness of food security. He also reminded that environmental concerns on weather abnormalities like global warming are taking a central stage of our lives. 

“Since the 1990s,” he added, “the agricultural goals and targets in advanced countries have been shifted and expanded to focus more on food security, the environment, and rural amenities.” Similarly, Choi said, the Korean government needs to accommodate the global trends and change its agricultural policies to better reflect the realities of Korean agriculture.

Song Mi-Ryung, a researcher at KREI, also delivered a keynote speech on the subject of “New Paradigm for Agricultural Policy: Rural Policies of Advanced Countries and Their Implications.” In the speech, the researcher said that the strengthening of rural policies as compared with the agricultural policies in narrow sense is a global trend and that it is necessary to plan projects so that all the issues of agriculture, rural life, and the environment can be comprehensively dealt with at the regional level. 

Also delivering a keynote speech at the conference was Choi Ji-Hyeon, a senior researcher at KREI. Choi said that the agricultural policies of the government should also be directed at food security and food nutrition so that ultimately the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry can supervise all food related affairs.