Korean Government to Create ‘Smart Farm Valleys’

23/05/2018

Korean Government to Create ‘Smart Farm Valleys’

What is smart farming?

https://www.smart-akis.com/index.php/network/what-is-smart-farming/

Summary

The Korean government laid out a plan to create smart farm clusters by 2022 that will contribute to creating 4,300 jobs.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on Monday, it will be creating four “smart farm innovation valleys.”
The first two innovation valleys will be selected by the end of July this year after accepting applicants starting April 23.
The goal is to double the size of smart farms from the current 4,010 hectares to 7,000 by 2020 while increasing the number of smart livestock farms from the current 790 to 5,750.
In order to achieve this goal, the government will be setting up vocational centers supporting start-ups. The centers will be educating 600 young people to become smart farm specialists.
The ministry said the goal is to move away from past policy practices that have centered simply on licensing smart farms.
The new policy is to implement a three-stage system. The center will offer education and financial support, which it hopes will lead to research and development through start-ups.
The education programme will include business management and will take 20 months to complete. However, it is only available to those aged between 18 and 40.
Under the previous system, the education programmes were short-term and relied on a system where current smart farmers would pass down their knowledge. The new education system will not only have lectures from experts invited from overseas but provide an opportunity for those with exceptional scores to take trips abroad to learn more.
The government said they already selected 60 young trainees last month. Those who graduate from the programme will be allowed to start working on a smart farm with reduced costs, including lower interest on loans for five years.

Analysis by Youngah Kim, Education Services Manager in Korea, International Education Services

As Korean government is keen on developing Smart Farm system for better productivity of crops and to create more jobs, more vocational centres are expected to be set up nationwide to support start-ups to become licensed smart farms. In order to create smart farm clusters by 2022, Korean government is expected to invest great deal of amount to build vocational centres where they offer IT education and lectures of foreign experts. Some major local broadcasting companies such as KBS News has reported that Netherlands and Japan are the expert countries in Smart farming, and they also featured a farm in the UK as a successful story of smart farming.

With the increasing demand in studying for a practical qualifications among Korean students, and English being the most popular foreign language in Korea, students might prefer to study at a Further Education College in the UK for a short term rather than studying in Netherlands or Japan. Also, Korean government might try to invite experts from overseas to teach programmes in English to provide an opportunity for local start-ups with exceptional scores to take trips abroad to learn more.

This government level move can bring future opportunities to FE and HE Colleges in the UK for partnerships, possible programme delivery partners, or inward mobility as more Korean students might want to pursue a short term course in Engineering and Farming.

Gov’t to create ‘smart farm valleys’

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