NongHyup Launches 53 Billion KRW AgTech Win-Win Innovation Fund

Lee Seong-hee, President of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (third from the right), is taking a commemorative photo with guests at the launch ceremony of the 'AgTech Win-Win Innovation Fund' held on the 28th at the Dongdaemun Marriott Hotel in Seoul.

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] On the 28th, Nonghyup held a launch ceremony for the 'Pan-Nonghyup AgTech Win-Win Innovation Fund' at the Dongdaemun Marriott Hotel in Seoul to foster and support digital agricultural industry innovation companies.

The event was attended by Lee Seonghee, Chairman of Nonghyup Central Association; Cho Jaeho, Administrator of Rural Development Administration; Ahn Hogun, President of Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency; Lee Jongsun, Director of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Education, Culture and Information Service; and representatives from investment companies. The ceremony included the signing of a business agreement between Nonghyup Central Association and Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency to discover and nurture new AgTech businesses, followed by an AgTech technology forum.

The Pan-Nonghyup AgTech Win-Win Innovation Fund was established with an investment of 53 billion KRW from Nonghyup Central Association and its affiliates. Nonghyup aims to create an investment ecosystem that can foster win-win innovation across the entire agricultural industry, including production and distribution sectors.

Nonghyup plans to enable innovative companies to discover pilot projects with business departments within Nonghyup and collaborate to apply and spread digital new technologies in agricultural fields. They intend to hold the AgTech technology forum annually to disseminate digital technology in the agricultural sector.

The first and second investment companies of the AgTech Win-Win Innovation Fund, AOPam Co., Ltd. and GINT Co., Ltd., are expected to contribute to spreading advanced technologies in cooperation with Nonghyup based on smart agriculture technologies. AOPam, a developer of AI-based automatic agricultural product sorting systems, will receive an investment of 500 million KRW, and GINT, which possesses electronic control technology, autonomous driving technology, and data-based service platform operation technology, will receive 2 billion KRW.

Chairman Lee said, "Nonghyup plans to overcome on-site difficulties such as labor shortages and rising farming costs through digital innovation and smart agriculture promotion," adding, "We will actively cooperate with digital innovation companies to promote the overall development of the agricultural industry and strive to develop agriculture into a future advanced industry."

Kwakh Hojai, CEO of AOPam, expressed his thoughts, saying, "We will do our best to establish ourselves as a reliable partner in creating future growth engines for agriculture and rural areas."

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