Gyeongbuk Province to Invest 242.1 Billion KRW in Agricultural Food Distribution This Year... Over 80 Projects in 6 Sectors

Fostering White-Collar Farmers and Building a Data-Driven Win-Win Distribution Ecosystem

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Gyeongsangbuk-do will invest 242.1 billion KRW this year in the agricultural food distribution sector to foster white-collar farmers.

'White-collar farmers' refer to Gyeongbuk-type smart farmers who utilize advanced technologies suitable for the 4th Industrial Revolution era, such as data and AI, to produce agricultural products worth over 100 million KRW.

This year, Gyeongbuk Province plans to secure a demand-centered distribution network by collaborating with local public delivery apps Meokkebi and Daeguro, and establish a win-win distribution platform that directly connects producers and consumers.

They will promote about 80 projects across six agricultural food distribution sectors, focusing on fostering white-collar farmers based on data.

The province will operate a customized online education system through the Gyeongbuk Farmers' Academy to cultivate smart farmers equipped with digital capabilities.

They will support 13.3 billion KRW for education on creating non-farming income such as rural tourism and experiences, support for agricultural high school graduates and youth aged 20-30 as future core talents, farming settlement education for current agricultural high school students, and establishing a foundation for the development of local agricultural CEOs.

To promote the consumption of eco-friendly agricultural products, free meals and fruit snacks for elementary after-school care classes will be provided to 260,000 elementary, middle, and high school students, and the operation of school meal support centers will be revitalized.

To establish a virtuous cycle of local food within the region, 150.6 billion KRW will be invested in supporting the establishment of regional food plans, research on the construction and operation of the Gyeongbuk Public Food Integrated Support Center, and promoting eco-friendly agricultural product consumption through dietary education.

To activate agricultural food exports, permanent sales outlets for Gyeongbuk agricultural products will be expanded in the United States, China, and Southeast Asia, and efforts will be made to diversify export markets and foster and support export-specialized companies with international competitiveness.

They will invest 12.3 billion KRW in efforts such as developing specialized export complexes for fresh agricultural products, focusing on star export items like Shine Muscat grapes and kimchi, participating in online and offline fairs and consultation meetings, and establishing a permanent video consultation system for focused buyer management, while also working to stabilize domestic agricultural product supply and demand.

By partnering with local public delivery apps, they will establish a demand-centered distribution network that directly connects producers and consumers, focusing on building a data-based win-win distribution ecosystem.

Sales support for agricultural specialty products through real-time broadcast sales using influencers, partnerships with agricultural specialty product shopping malls such as Saiseo, Naver Smart Store, SSG.com, and 11st, and providing Saiseo subscription services are expected to increase sales.

The Baro Market Gyeongsangbuk-do branch, now in its third year, will be expanded, and 12 billion KRW will be invested to support the activation of direct transactions at Daegu-Gyeongbuk urban-rural win-win direct stores, entry into new distribution channels through global shopping malls like Amazon, Qoo10, and Alibaba, and distribution service support for vulnerable farms to revitalize agricultural product sales and marketing.

To build an innovative agricultural food distribution system responding to changes in the distribution environment, support will be provided for the installation of agricultural product production area distribution centers, expansion of distribution facilities such as packaging facilities, and expansion of participating organizations in the integrated fruit brand ‘daily’.

A budget of 44.8 billion KRW has been allocated to strengthen the agricultural food distribution foundation, including improving the agricultural product distribution structure through integrated marketing, promoting producer organization and scaling, and modernizing public wholesale market facilities.

In response to changes in consumption trends such as the increase in single-person households and emphasis on health and convenience, focus will be placed on fostering ready-to-eat meals and meal kits, and promoting contract cultivation between agriculture and agricultural food companies to stabilize management through high-quality raw material supply.

91 billion KRW will also be invested to increase farm income, support agricultural food company startups to create jobs in agricultural product manufacturing and processing, and strengthen competitiveness in the agricultural food processing industry through brand development, promotion, and marketing support.

Kim Jongsu, Director of the Agricultural Livestock Distribution Bureau, said, “We will focus on fostering white-collar farmers based on the 4th Industrial Revolution who can induce a major transformation in agricultural food distribution and drastically reduce the costs and time invested in the agricultural food distribution sector.”

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