Jeong Hwang-geun Visits Agricultural Renewable Energy Site: "Time to Actively Utilize Manure"

On-site Meeting Held to Expand Production and Utilization of Renewable Energy in Agriculture and Rural Areas

Minister Jeong Hwang-geun of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs visited the livestock manure energy conversion facility located in Cheongyang-gun, Chungnam on the 14th and held an 'On-site Meeting for the Expansion of Renewable Energy Production and Utilization in Agriculture and Rural Areas.'

This event was organized to share cases of renewable energy production and use for the energy transition in agriculture and rural areas amid the increasing difficulties faced by farmers due to rising heating costs and production expenses, and to exchange various opinions for its expansion.

At the meeting, Minister Jeong emphasized, "As climate change and energy issues have emerged as serious problems, the use of renewable energy is essential for sustainable agriculture and rural areas," adding, "Unlike other renewable energy sources such as woody biomass byproducts, it is now time to actively utilize livestock manure, whose regional generation volume is predictable and for which collection and distribution networks exist."

According to the Livestock Environment Survey, 87.1% of livestock manure is processed mainly into fertilizers such as compost and liquid fertilizer. Among these, only about 1.3% is processed into biogas. Accordingly, the government is seeking institutional and financial support to expand the production and use of renewable energy such as biogasification, solid fuel production, and biochar from livestock manure.

Jeong Hwang-geun, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, is speaking at the "Field Meeting for Expanding Production and Utilization of Renewable Energy in Agriculture and Rural Areas" held on the 14th at the livestock manure energy conversion facility located in Cheongyang-gun, Chungnam.

During this on-site meeting, presentations and discussions were held on cases utilizing livestock manure as a renewable energy source.

Jeong Hoon, Senior Researcher at the Korea Electric Power Research Institute, who presented on solid fuel boilers, explained, "The transition to renewable energy in agriculture is an important medium for the co-growth of Korea Electric Power Corporation and farmers," and added, "As a result of the demonstration project for livestock manure solid fuel boilers, fuel costs decreased by 45% compared to electric boilers, which was analyzed to greatly help reduce heating costs for farms."

At the discussion, various opinions and alternatives were presented regarding ▲regulatory improvements and support enhancement measures ▲expansion of renewable energy production and use ▲improvement of energy efficiency ▲technology development and dissemination necessary for the transition to renewable energy in agriculture and rural areas.

The attendees adopted and announced the 'Resolution for the Expansion of Renewable Energy Production and Utilization in Agriculture and Rural Areas.' The resolution included promoting sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas through the expansion of renewable energy production and use, protecting sustainable energy and the environment, and realizing better agricultural productivity.

Minister Jeong stated, "The transition to renewable energy in agriculture and rural areas is an essential task to guarantee the public's right to food access by converting our vulnerable fossil energy-centered agricultural production system, where farmers give up food production due to heating costs, to renewable energy," and added, "We will boldly push forward with institutional improvements, policy reinforcement, technology development, and dissemination as one team to ensure that the renewable energy utilization cases shown at the meeting can spread rapidly."

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