Why Is the 'Seocho Smart Farm Talent Training' Program Unique?

Yeonam College, the first agricultural and livestock specialized college in the nation to introduce a Smart Farm major, collaborates this year on developing the 'Seocho Smart Farm Talent Training Program'

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seocho-gu has launched the ‘Seocho Smart Farm Talent Development Education’ program for local residents aspiring to become urban farmers, starting the training on the 5th.

This Seocho Smart Farm Talent Development Education differs from general training in that trainees can directly enter the smart farm vertical farm cultivation room and participate in all processes from sowing, transplanting, nutrient solution preparation, cultivation, to harvesting.

The district developed this program this year in collaboration with Yeonam University, a specialized agricultural and livestock college that was the first in the nation to introduce a smart farm major. Practical experience will be gained through hands-on training at Yeonam University’s smart farm vertical farm located in Cheonan, Chungnam.

The education is conducted once a week for a total of 28 hours, consisting of 7 sessions. The theoretical education, held over 2 sessions, covers the current status and construction process of vertical farms, while the practical training, conducted over 5 sessions, involves entering the vertical farm cultivation room to directly sow seeds, cultivate, manage the environment, and harvest.

A total of 10 trainees, paired in teams of two, will cultivate five types of leafy vegetables themselves. They will also have the opportunity to experience the growth environments of crops cultivated by other trainees, not just their own.

Among various forms of ‘smart farms,’ the ‘vertical farm’ is a type of smart farm that cultivates plants in vertically stacked layers within a controlled environment where factors such as light and temperature are regulated regardless of external conditions. It can be operated not only on traditional farmland but also in urban areas, offering significantly higher productivity compared to open fields and providing safe food, making it a promising industry leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution era.

The district expects this education program to provide knowledge about smart farms and develop practical operational skills, directly aiding employment and entrepreneurship in the smart farm sector. Additionally, crops harvested through the program will be donated to institutions operating free meal services within the community, giving meaningful use to the educational outcomes.

Yoo Ji-yeon, Director of the Smart City Division, stated, “We wanted to offer education that is not just about learning urban agriculture from books but about experiencing it physically and planting it in the heart. We hope this program becomes a turning point in life for young people contemplating their future and those challenging a second career.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.