Youth Starts Smart Farming Startups, with Aggressive Government Support  

Youth’s smart farming as the future of agriculture: Young farmers propose improvement 

of farmland regulations, streamlining of a loan application process, and increasing the number 

of rental smart farms. 

Sejong, 15 January 2024 — On 11 January, Song Mi-ryung, the Minister of Agriculture, 

Food and Rural Affairs visited a smart farm run by a young farmer in the city of Sangju in North 

Gyeongsang Province in the centre of South Korea. At a meeting with young farmers on the visit, 

Minister Song gave them encouragement and had a talk to find out their difficulties 

in smart farming practices. 

Minister Song stressed that smart farming is a way towards the future of agriculture against climate 

change and ageing rural populations, and that it is significantly important for young people, 

who will play a primary role in the agriculture of the future, to actively participate in smart farming. 

Song said: “Success of young farmers is the success of Korea’s agriculture. We will always root for 

young farmers to build a successful future, and we will always support their future as well, 

including yours.”

After observing the facilities in the smart farm, Minister Song listened to the young farmers’ 

diverse opinions. With regard to smart farming, they proposed (a) improvement of the regulations 

on the utilization and management of farmland, (b) streamlining the process of taking out a long-term 

loan for young farmers aged less than 40 years, (c) increasing the number of rental smart farms, etc. 

In reply, Minister Song said that the Ministry will place the first priority on addressing the regulations 

on farmland, regarding smart farming. Song also said that the Ministry will make efforts to develop 

a loan documentation checklist to help young farmers to prepare for a loan approval process, as well as 

increase the size of the funding to minimize their inconvenience in borrowing the loan. Song went on 

to say that the Ministry will build 15 rental smart farms in regions across the nation by 2027 to ensure 

that all the graduates from the Smart Farm Innovation Valley, an industrial complex for smart farming, 

will have the opportunities to enter those rental smart farms.

Minister Song said: “I will keep my attention to your opinions so that they can be reflected in 

development of agricultural policies, and make efforts to immediately reply to the difficulties faced 

by young farmers and address such problems quickly.”