Background of Research
○The agricultural holding registration system was originally introduced to support customized agricultural policy. However, with changing circumstances, the importance of the system as a means of identifying ‘actual‘ farmers has been increasing. Nevertheless, the current system has several limitations. First, the legal definition itself of an agricultural holding does not contain the characteristics of a business entity, and the application of the system has shown limits in classifying farmers and people who are not policy targets. Moreover, it is necessary to strengthen the function of the system as standards for recognizing the roles of (family) workers who participate in agricultural management in various ways and for judging whether to acknowledge these people as farmers.
○In this regard, it is needed to review if the present definition of an agricultural holding accords with reality, and if not, how to reform the (legal) definition and scope of an agricultural holding in order to better reflect reality. It is required to reestablish the roles and purpose of the agricultural holding registration system and come up with measures to improve it.
Research Method
○This study conducted a literature review, a survey, interviews, and meetings with experts. We reviewed the Agricultural Holdings Act and legislations related to the agricultural holding registration system, and utilized legal experts’ advice to present alternatives.
○The targets of the survey were 600 farmers and 100 experts and public officials. The survey results were used to derive the respondents’ perceptions of the system and tasks for improving it, and to analyze the scope of agriculture and farmers, the standards for identifying farmers, and whether to acknowledge workers as farmers according to their occupational status. We had 15 interviews or meetings with farmers and farmers’ groups, experts in academia, and a person in charge of agricultural holding registration at the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (NAQS) for in-depth discussions. We requested two legal experts to advise on related legislations and reflected the results in the study.
(For more information, please refer to the report.)