Interview / One Year Since Lee Seung-don Took Office as Rural Development Administration Administrator…Solving Field Challenges with AI Isaki and the Agriculture-Forestry Satellite

The mechanization rate for field farming is 67.0% as of 2024. It differs from rice farming(99.7%) by 32.7% points. The labor-intensive sowing·transplanting process remains at 18.2%, and harvesting at 42.9%. Summer heat waves are also growing fiercer every year. In 2026, the heat-wave crisis alert was raised to the “serious” level on July 25, and on August 2, even Level 2 emergency operations by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters were activated. The list of difficult challenges facing farming sites, where aging, labor shortages, and abnormal weather are hitting all at once, has grown longer.

The solutions put forward by the Rural Development Administration are artificial intelligence(AI) and the agriculture-forestry satellite. On July 7, Korea’s first agriculture-forestry satellite entered orbit, and in September, the AI agent for farmers, “AI Isaki 2.0,” will be officially launched. We interviewed in writing Lee Seung-don, Administrator of the Rural Development Administration, who took office on August 18, 2025, and is marking his first year in office.

 

Field ON suggestions:  2,469 reflected…Farmers still do not sufficiently feel research results

Administrator Lee described the past 1 year as “a time spent running without rest to solve the difficulties of agriculture·and rural communities through technology.” Since taking office, he has visited fields more than 100 times, and in September 2025 launched the “K-Agricultural Science and Technology Council,” involving farmers·academia·and industry. That same year, the council reviewed implementation plans for 18 policies, including AI·smart agriculture, agricultural robots, carbon neutrality, and farm-work safety, identifying 152 improvement suggestions. The Rural Development Administration also announced its “Agricultural Science and Technology Artificial Intelligence Convergence Strategy” in November 2025.

The Rural Development Administration explained that it has established a field-oriented decision-making system that makes and implements decisions quickly based on field data and demonstration results. To create a horizontal and flexible organizational culture, it communicated directly with employees 11 times through senior civil-service group discussions, staff meetings, and other channels, while strengthening convergence and collaboration that breaks down walls between departments.

The integrated management system “Field ON”, which manages field opinions in a single flow, has also been in operation since April 2026. By July, 3,109 cases had been received, of which 2,469 were reflected in research projects, programs, or institutional improvements, while 558 are under review or being managed as mid- to long-term tasks. One example that began from a field suggestion is the amendment to fertilizer process standards(May 12), which eased the combined nitrogen·phosphoric acid·potassium standard for fermented livestock-manure liquid from at least 0.3% to at least 0.2% .

Administrator Lee said, “This year, we are accelerating efforts so that the research results accumulated so far lead to substantial income increases, management stability, and results the public can feel on the ground.”

However, Administrator Lee did not hide his regrets either. He said, “We have not yet reached a level at which farmers can sufficiently feel whether excellent research results are actually leading to increased farm household income and reduced management costs,” adding, “Rather than stopping at evaluating research results by papers, patents, or the number of technologies developed, we will strengthen a system that verifies in the field how much farm production costs have fallen and how much income has increased after technology adoption.”

“Isaki” for farmers, “Saessagi” for staff…AI on two tracks

The Rural Development Administration’s AI strategy has two tracks: one for farmers and one for internal operations. The “AI Isaki” used by farmers is an agriculture-specialized agent that answers by referring only to official Rural Development Administration materials, with 15,000 agricultural technology documents(550,000 pages) and 8,694 high-resolution pest and disease images registered. A quality assurance team made up of 30 technical committee members reviews questions and answers every day. Administrator Lee explained, “Because it answers by referring only to official materials, it minimizes the possibility of hallucinations.”

“AI Isaki 2.0,” a revamped version of the existing service built through a 2024 Ministry of the Interior and Safety public project, will be officially launched during September. New functions have been added, including pest and disease diagnosis, fertilizer usage recommendations, and voice-based farming-diary entries. It will be linked with 17 services, including the pest and disease diagnosis service, agricultural weather disaster early warning service, and soil environment information system.

The staff-use “AI Saessagi” contains 30,000 research project plans·and reports accumulated over 20 years. It is currently being applied first in the field of research planning, and from 2027 it will be expanded across research·technology dissemination·and administration overall. Administrator Lee said, “The goal is to shorten the time required from R&D to dissemination by more than 30% ,” adding, “It will become a core foundation of the ‘K-Agriculture Moonshot Project’ to solve agriculture’s complex challenges, such as aging, and the climate crisis.” The Moonshot Project’s six major missions include 90% unmanned autonomy of farm work, a 50% reduction in pesticide use through AI pest and disease diagnosis, and shortening the development period for new varieties(10 years→3 years) among others.

Preparation at the organizational level was also carried out in parallel. The administrator and all executives completed AI training, and by the first half of 2026, a total of 2,438 people had received AI utilization training over 28 sessions, including 107 people at the division director level or above. 

Agriculture-forestry satellite outputs to be provided as a public service in 2027…Pilot growth checks starting with young farmers’ parcels

The agriculture-forestry satellite launched on July 7(Next-Generation Medium Satellite No. 4) can photograph the entire country on a three-day cycle with an imaging swath of 120 km, and a spatial resolution of 5 m. It is equipped with a wide-area observation camera featuring five spectral bands from visible light to near-infrared. The total project cost for the development project, pursued since 2019, is 116 billion won, of which the Rural Development Administration covered 27.28 billion won.

Administrator Lee said, “This means transforming sample-based field surveys into a nationwide constant observation system,” emphasizing, “We will more quickly and objectively identify cultivated areas, crop growth, and changes in farmland to shift toward data-based scientific agricultural administration.” The targets for cultivated-area observation will expand from 8 types, including rice·and winter cabbage, in 2026 to 17 types by 2028.

Basic outputs such as satellite imagery and vegetation indices will begin being provided as a public service from 2027. Utilization outputs that combine other satellite·weather·and field information will be provided in stages from 2028. A service that allows farmers to select their own parcels on a PC or smartphone and check crop growth status will first be piloted in 2027 for parcels cultivated by young farmers.

 

Development of 20 types of agricultural machinery for field crops by 2027…Ara Greenhouse installation·maintenance costs reduced by 40% 

The field-farming mechanization rate rose from 61.9% in 2020 to 63.3% in 2022 and 67.0% in 2024. The Rural Development Administration plans to complete the development of 20 types of agricultural machinery by 2027 for everything from sowing·transplanting to harvesting·and storage for the eight major field crops: garlic·onions·radishes·cabbage·potatoes·sweet potatoes·soybeans·and chili peppers. There will be 4 types in 2026, including a pull-type garlic harvester, and a self-propelled corn harvester, and 16 types in 2027. The 27 types developed over the past 5 years have laid the groundwork for 14,719 units to be supplied to the field through technology transfers to industry. For agricultural machinery for women farmers, the goal has been set at developing 5 models each year.

In smart agriculture, standardization is the key topic. To reduce inconveniences experienced by farms because equipment and systems differ by manufacturer, the administration developed the open integrated management platform “Ara Greenhouse” and is distributing it on a pilot basis to 10 locations in 2026. Currently, 36 companies are participating in commercialization, and 8 companies have released products. According to the Rural Development Administration, installation·and maintenance costs are about 13.78 million won per 10a, about 40% cheaper than existing domestic products(23.32 million won) . A smart greenhouse model for small and medium-sized farms entered demonstration starting with strawberries and tomatoes in 2026.

1,149 heat-related illness prevention personnel deployed…disaster rate at consulted farms 1.74%

Responding to heat waves is also a key task for the second half of the year. A total of 1,149 heat-related illness prevention personnel selected nationwide have been deployed to 91 cities and counties, providing close support to 100,000 farm households. According to the Rural Development Administration, the disaster rate among farms that received safety consulting in 2025 was 1.74%, about one-third of the average(5.63%) for farms enrolled in farmers’ safety insurance from 2022 to 2024.

Administrator Lee said, “Whenever I visited farms and fields across the country, I saw the sweat of farmers who silently worked the soil even under difficult conditions,” adding, “We will mobilize all the technological infrastructure possessed by the Rural Development Administration, including AI, robots, and climate-adapted varieties, to make the path of farming even a little more convenient and prosperous.”