Back B. N. Lee1, C. K. Kang1 and K. H. Lee2
Rural Development Administration Republic of Korea1 and
Korin Korea Co. Ltd., Republic of Korea2
Full Paper (PDF File: 312KB)
Abstract
Along with the increasing concern among farmers and the general public
about the adverse effect of conventional farming, questions have been increasingly
raised in recent years about the long-term sustainability of the current
agricultural system that relies on agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers
and pesticides. Effective Micro-organisms (EM), as a potentially valuable
technology that pursues more ecologically oriented agriculture than conventional
farming, recently has garnered considerable attention from agricultural
sectors in Korea. This paper is concerned primarily with the conditions
and practices of sustainable agriculture and the economic impact of EM
organic farming in Korea. Crops considered are rice, cucumber, tomato,
lettuce, melon, red pepper and pear. The results of the analysis indicate
the following: among all crops considered. (1) Rice and tomato produced
higher crop yields with EM than conventional farming; (2) rice, tomato
and red pepper required higher production costs with EM than the conventional
farming; and (3) among seven crops, five resulted in much higher incomes
with EM compared with conventional farming.