[Seo Jong-hyo Column] Korea’s Young Farmers Go onto the World Stage

[Seo Jong-hyo Column]  Seo Jong-hyo, Chairman of the National Young Farmers Association (CEO of Huimangto·Director of the Dalseo Sangin Smart Farm Facility)

Young farmers across the country begin their day by opening the greenhouse doors on their own farms and checking the condition of their crops. Putting down roots in Korea and holding one’s ground amid fluctuating market prices and weather that changes every year, that alone makes a young farmer’s day hard enough, and also precious.

But when you farm, sometimes you look down at a seedling tray and an unexpected thought occurs. Would the agricultural products we handle with our hands every day, and the farming techniques we learned in Korea, work on the soil of another country?

Even now, my heart is stirred when I imagine sprouts emerging by our own hands in unfamiliar land, in soil we have touched for the first time. We do not have to hope for grand goals or great success. Taking the skills and experience built up in Korea and looking outward for once is also a path worth trying for young farmers.
 

Failure in Da Lat, Vietnam, tuition for overseas agriculture

Of course, it was not smooth from the beginning. My first overseas agricultural challenge was Da Lat, Vietnam, in 2019. I began ambitiously in partnership with a local NGO, but the field was not easy. I had prepared myself for differences in language and culture, but I had not fully considered the many variables that arise from an unfamiliar climate and environment. The result was failure.

I felt empty as I packed my bags. ‘What glory and riches was I chasing that I came all the way here to go through this hardship?’ I also found myself thinking. Still, I did not want to go back just like that. So I simply went and sought out senior Korean farmers who had settled in Vietnam earlier and had been farming there.

Those seniors told me about the trial and error they had gone through when starting farming locally, and what they had needed to prepare before getting established. Listening to their stories, I came to understand. The failure in Vietnam was not the end, but the tuition I had paid to properly understand overseas agriculture.
 

Four visits to Kyrgyzstan, a shared spirit on the soil

The opportunity to try again came in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is also called the ‘Switzerland of Central Asia’ because more than 90% of its territory is mountainous. It is a country with great agricultural potential, with clear water flowing from melted perpetual snow and fertile land. However, many farms were unable to increase yields because they lacked seedling-raising techniques or facilities to respond to climate change.

This time, I decided not to rush. I made four trips there at my own expense, and each time I spent several days visiting farms and meeting farmers.

The farmers there truly wanted to learn new agricultural technologies. Although communication was difficult and we spoke while using a translator app, once we touched the soil together and handled seedlings, long explanations were not necessary. As we shook hands, this thought came to me. Our cultivation know-how, which is ordinary in Korea, could become a force that changes the livelihoods of farmers here. I have never felt as proud of being someone who farms in Korea as I did then.

After that, I participated in the Korea International Cooperation Agency(KOICA) incubating program and learned the administration and practical work of international development cooperation projects step by step. This coming November, I will visit Kyrgyzstan again with support from the Overseas Agricultural Resources Development Association’s ‘Private-Sector Environmental Survey Project’ . This time, I plan to go one step beyond market research, and carefully examine whether it can lead to an actual business project. These days, my greatest joy is filling in my own overseas agricultural map one square at a time without rushing.
 

 The strength of our agriculture that I saw after going outside

As I visited farms overseas, I ended up looking at my own farm again instead. Seedling management and facility operation, which we took for granted in Korea, were not taken for granted in other countries. Only after going outside did I see more clearly what we possess. Overseas agriculture was not only about helping others; it was also about looking back on my own farming.

KOICA has the Republic of Korea’s overseas volunteer corps ‘World Friends Korea’(World Friends Korea). What if young farmers also had a name like ‘World Farmers Korea’(World Farmers Korea) ? I mean young farmers who take Korea’s agricultural technology and devotion to meet farmers around the world, and cultivate the soil together.

There is no need to regard going overseas as something heavy, like a sense of mission or obligation. It is about sharing the agriculture we have worked so hard to grow with farmers in other countries, and in the process, looking for new opportunities as well.

I cheer for the young farmers who are holding their ground in their own fields today as well. I will wait for the day when we meet someday in a field in another country and plant seeds together.