By I have always heard that Korean rice farmers make a lot of money and this confirms it:
Kim Chan-gi is 24 and already makes 200 million won ($186,200) a year. Yet, he is not a white-collar professional in Seoul but a rice farmer in his father’s rural hometown.
With the growing realization that farming can offer a lucrative career in an ever-competitive job market, more young Koreans are moving back to their rural hometowns from Seoul and trading their office cubicles for hoes.
According to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, there are currently about 3,500 people in South Jeolla who have come down from Seoul to farm – double the 1,700 in 2009. Over the past five years, 9,723 people have traded the bright city lights for rural areas in Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
So the next time you see rice farmers rioting about opening up the Korean rice market to foreign competition now you know why.
6:57 am on September 7th, 2011 1
I don’t share this experience. My farming in-laws were careful enough with money to put three of five kids to university – the other chose not to go – but if they are raking in this kind of money, they are saving it carefully.
The article does talk about modern farming and perhaps this farm is large and enjoys economies of scale, but I’d have to wonder if that 200 million isn’t gross, rather than net.
9:26 am on September 7th, 2011 2
It’s net. They are prosperous. But they have economy of scale which works for a minority of people.
About 65% of farmers don’t qualify, as they are much older, have much smaller farms, and tend to live in poverty. What we need is lesser of these types of farmers, and more younger farmers who will buy up the lands of the former to create bigger farms. Quality over quantity is the answer here, and I think Korea is increasingly turning over, as older farmers die off and their generation pass away.
12:21 pm on September 7th, 2011 3
Many of the farms are in locations where consolidation is difficult or impossible.
I’ve heard/read from various sources that Korean farms are among the most productive in terms of output per area, but they are labor intensive in order to get that way.
This is not that easy a problem to solve.
3:29 pm on September 7th, 2011 4
#2,
Unreachable to 65%? I’d push it closer to 95%. Argue all you want, even throw in some of the governments BS numbers if you want…We own a rice mill. I’ve loaded and unloaded the trucks, I know what it’s worth.
#3,
That’s BS if you’re talking about rice. One crop per year only. In most countries, rice producers have two crops, and therefore produce twice as much per area. Look it up.
9:05 pm on September 7th, 2011 5
Talk about the good life- they can’t fail! Much of their money comes from government subsidies. The Korean government pays them any time anything happens, even if it is their fault.
1:58 am on September 9th, 2011 6
I presume that involves large government subsidies? I wonder how long the Korean government can keep up that kind of spending. Japan also gives generous subsidies to its rice farmers, and now has something like a 200% debt to GDP ratio.
6:28 am on September 9th, 2011 7
Government subsidy is very small for agriculture compared to other areas. I doubt it’s going to cause debt crisis.
It’s important for every country to strive for self-sufficiency in food as much as possible, I don’t know what’s bad about that. Korea has small lands? Compensate with more active government financial and managerial backing and higher efficiency labor. Korea has got quite a lot of people to work per square mile of land.
12:34 pm on September 9th, 2011 8
I agree that countries should strive for self-sufficiency in food, but 200M Won seems like way too much money for a farmer to be making, assuming most of it is coming from the government. Maybe the Joong Ang Ilbo got the number wrong.
3:22 am on October 10th, 2011 9
Dear Luke,
Thanks for sharing this great article, we should all be doing what your friend is doing. It is imperative that we will face food shortage soon and with the Barisan Nasional in power we will feel it sooner than later. Many billions had been allocated for “fund for food” in the 90s but we had not seen a single project producing any product. I am a farmer in my 60s, I am relocating to the Philippines to do farming on a large scale as the land are cheap and the labour cost are even cheaper. To do farming here in Malaysia is only asking for more problems and problems we have many, with the ever increasing of labour charges and food bill will eventually be more expensive and the Govt. want to have a price index.May I trouble your friend if I need to seek advise from him. Thanks again and tell your friend to keep up the great work!!!
Joseph Teh Kim Chor