농업 경쟁력 제고를 위한 정밀농업 체계 구축 방안

Abstract

Background and Purpose ○The changes in the farming environment at home and abroad highlight the significance of precision agriculture. While the world population continues to rise exponentially, the reduced area for crop cultivation and the drops in yield increase cause concerns about the food shortage in the future. Precision agriculture is a farming method to maximize yields while less contaminating the environment. Therefore, the need for and interest in an eco-friendly manner is increasing. Precision agriculture pursues doing the right treatment at the right times in the right places. Its basic concept was conceived because the requirements for fertilizers, pesticides, and water are different even in the same farmland depending on soil quality and water loss. Therefore, precision agriculture can achieve various outcomes for resolving labor shortage, reducing uncertainties in agricultural produce supply, saving management costs for eco-friendliness, and eliciting economic effects. As a result, it can serve as a promising field that will make a paradigm shift.

○Against this backdrop, it is time to set up a precision agriculture framework connected to state-of-the-art technologies, including ICT. The government should also come up with an agricultural policy to nurture it as a future industry to reduce the environmental footprints, raise the productivity of safe crops, increase farmers’ income, and develop other related industries.

○This research intends to suggest a precision agriculture framework to improve Korean agriculture‘s future competitiveness after exploring its concept and scope. It also aims to provide fundamental data to introduce precision agriculture to Korea by inspecting related industries at home and abroad and proposing a direction for progress.

Research Methodology ○We carried out literature reviews, surveys, and statistical data analysis. First of all, we reviewed previous research data at home and abroad regarding relevant regulations and systems. We also inspected farm machinery and management systems in advanced countries in terms of precision agriculture. Our survey targeted 1,589 farmers (KREI correspondents) through email received 761 replies. 120 experts in academia, the private sector, and the government were interviewed in a commissioned survey through email. We analyzed the collected data from 53 respondents.

(For more information, please refer to the report.)