[Interview] KOAT Seed Business Division Director Yang Min-ho: “An Expo Alone Is Not Enough”…Need to Foster Mid-sized Seed Companies

According to the National Seed Institute’s “2024 Seed Industry Status Survey,” among the 2,561 domestic seed companies that responded to the survey, 2,365 companies, or 92.3%, had annual seed sales of less than 500 million won. Yang Min-ho, head of the Seed Business Division at the Korea Agriculture Technology Promotion Agency (KOAT), which oversees the International Seed Expo now in its 10th year, assessed that this structure must first be changed in order to amplify the expo’s effects. According to Yang, there is only one seed company with annual sales exceeding 100 billion won, and only one mid-sized company in the 50-billion-won range. “The expo, R&D, and policy support must work together for the expo’s impact to grow,” he said. “An expo alone is not enough.”
The Korea Agricultural Technology Newspaper met Yang at the site of the “2026 International Seed Expo,” held on the 22nd at the Seed Valley for Private Breeding in Gimje, North Jeolla Special Self-Governing Province.
 

Inviting buyers from countries with similar soil and climate to verify varieties in exhibition fields

Yang cited the “channel for verifying overseas competitiveness” as the greatest significance the expo has had over the past decade. Before Korea’s only seed expo was established, there was virtually no way to confirm whether Korean seeds would be accepted overseas. The expo invites overseas buyers mainly from countries with similar soil and climate conditions. Rather than showing crops indoors at an exhibition hall, it directly demonstrates crop size, growth conditions, strengths, and weaknesses in actual exhibition fields.
“As buyers continue to engage through hands-on field experiences, exports worth 8 billion to 9 billion won are taking place every year,” Yang explained. “This can be seen as an expansion of the base of the seed business.” This figure is based on the value of export agreements signed at the expo.
 

This year, farmers and residents invited…461 varieties displayed in real form

This year’s expo changed its character. Until the ninth edition, it had been a buyer-centered business-to-business (B2B) event, with relatively few general visitors. This year, a large number of local agricultural cooperative members and farmers were invited, and promotion to residents in the Jeonbuk region was also strengthened. Exhibits for industries upstream and downstream of seeds, including experiences with advanced agricultural machinery, agricultural materials, and healing agriculture, were also expanded. Although the final tally had not yet been completed, Yang said, “We expect the number of visitors to increase significantly compared with last year.” He explained that the expo was changed to be more public-friendly in line with the direction set by KOAT President Ahn Ho-geun, who believes the public should renew its awareness of seeds rather than seeing the event remain merely a business expo.
In this year’s exhibition fields, 25 seed companies planted 30 crops and 325 varieties. Including 136 varieties from public institutions such as the Rural Development Administration, a total of 461 varieties were displayed in real form. Among the corporate exhibition varieties, climate change-responsive varieties accounted for 14 crops and 69 varieties, with cabbage, lettuce, napa cabbage, and radish making up the largest numbers, in that order. Most were varieties bred to withstand high or low temperatures. A total of 88 overseas buyers visited from countries including Mexico, China, and Vietnam, a level similar to 2025. KOAT is analyzing the varieties that drew buyer interest after the event.
 

The agreement amount does not directly equal exports…Seed funding needed to endure the local adaptation period

The export agreement target for this year’s expo is more than 8.3 billion won. Yang emphasized that follow-up management is more important than the number itself. This is because the agreement amount includes stages such as letters of intent and memorandums of understanding (MOUs), so the entire amount does not lead to actual transactions. KOAT checks implementation status through follow-up surveys after agreements are signed. Shortcomings are addressed by receiving feedback from participating companies and reflecting it in the following year’s expo. KOAT also supports the invitation of overseas buyers contacted directly by companies and holds pre- and post-expo buyer meetings.
 

What is needed for the expo to become an actual trading market beyond a “showcase event”? Yang first pointed to the characteristics of seed exports. Even if a variety is good in Korea, it must undergo adaptability testing to determine whether its traits are properly expressed locally, and it takes a long time before actual distribution. In a structure where most companies have sales of less than 500 million won, it is difficult for them to endure that period on their own.
“The expo is a venue that says, ‘We have developed good varieties, so come and see them,’” he said. “To reach the stage where actual sales continue after export contracts, financial support that can serve as seed funding during that period must be strengthened for tangible results to emerge.”
Regarding criticism that export items are concentrated in vegetable seeds, he explained the practical limitations. The area in which private breeding companies are competitive is high-value-added vegetables. Among companies located in the Seed Valley for Private Breeding, almost none handle floriculture. Food crops such as rice and barley have low added value, so private research and development (R&D) is virtually nonexistent and the state takes the lead, but the state has difficulty engaging directly in exports. Yang predicted, “Expanding crop categories is necessary, but for the time being we have no choice but to focus mainly on vegetable seeds such as napa cabbage, pepper, broccoli, and cabbage.”
 

Supporting small and medium-sized seed companies through the Seed Processing Center and digital breeding

In addition to the expo, the Seed Business Division is responsible for maintaining and repairing the Seed Valley for Private Breeding and supporting exchanges among tenant companies. The Seed Processing Center within the complex has completed building construction and begun bringing in equipment. After seed harvesting, seeds must go through cleaning, disinfection, coating, and packaging before they can be sold, but in Korea there are not many places that can handle private vegetable seeds. The Processing Center is a facility that supports sales by small and medium-sized seed companies by carrying out this process on their behalf at low cost.
It also operates digital breeding support and DNA analysis services. “Breeding a single variety usually takes more than 10 years, and our goal is to reduce that by more than half through digital breeding,” Yang said. “Demand is steady because small and medium-sized companies can use it at affordable prices.”
 

Need to foster at least 10 mid-sized seed companies with around 50 billion won in sales

When asked about future goals, Yang brought up companies before the expo. “After taking office last year and observing the field for a year, I found that even when companies meet buyers at the expo, in many cases they lack the production capacity to handle export volumes,” he said. He continued, “Seed companies must have the capital strength and production capacity to breed varieties for the expo to truly shine,” adding, “No matter how much money is poured into the expo, it is difficult to achieve practical results if the companies do not grow.”
Yang cited the foreign exchange crisis as the reason the “backbone” of Korea’s seed industry disappeared. At that time, stakes in major domestic seed companies were transferred overseas, causing the mid-sized company tier to collapse. “There must be at least 10 or more solid mid-sized companies with around 50 billion won in sales,” he said.

Yang identified follow-up R&D and the cultivation of specialized personnel as policies needed to foster strong seed companies. What he viewed as most urgent is policy investment in R&D for excellent varieties. Since the Golden Seed Project (GSP) ended in 2021, a digital breeding support project has been promoted. However, Yang explained that companies believe it is difficult to view this as a follow-up project to the GSP in terms of the project scale or support areas. “It has been five to six years since the GSP ended,” he said. “The majority of companies believe that a second-stage GSP project must be created for them to have growth potential.” He added, “Customized support for each seed company is also needed in areas such as exports, variety development, and talent cultivation.”

He also pointed to the workforce issue. “The system for cultivating specialized personnel must be advanced so that outstanding talent can enter seed companies,” he said. “There are many views from the field that more curricula suited to the level required at seed industry sites should be developed.”
KOAT is continuing to convey such field opinions to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs through channels including a council composed of 17 companies located in the Seed Valley for Private Breeding. It is also providing materials for a seed industry-related report being prepared by the National Assembly Budget Office. 

“The value chain begins with seed companies,” he emphasized. “The expo is only one means, and the most important thing is to enable strong seed companies to expand further through the expo.”