Pohang City Deputy Mayor Kim Nam-il Visits Site to Foster Specialized Crops for the Future of Pohang Agriculture

Field Visit to Specialized Crops, Exploring Development Strategies

On the 6th, Kim Nam-il, Vice Mayor of Pohang City, visited local sites cultivating specialized crops to encourage farmers and explore future directions for regional agricultural development.

Kim Nam-il, Vice Mayor of Pohang City, visited the smart farm of the agricultural corporation Genoentec located in Heunghae-eup on the 6th, toured the farm, and received an explanation from CEO Lee Han-pil. (Fresh vegetables)

Vice Mayor Kim first visited the smart farm of ‘Agricultural Corporation GenoEntec’ located in Heunghae-eup, which cultivates about 20 types of fresh vegetables including kale and ice plant.

A smart farm is a farm that integrates 4th industrial revolution technologies such as information and communication technology (ICT), big data, artificial intelligence, and robotics into horticulture, fruit farming, and livestock facilities to remotely and automatically maintain and manage optimal growth environments for crops and livestock. Recently, it has been recognized in the distribution industry as an efficient and eco-friendly future high value-added new business.

The farm visited that day is a 66㎡ (20-pyeong) facility cultivating plants vertically in five layers. It received organic pesticide-free certification this year through its proprietary facility installation technology. It produces about 5 tons of vegetables annually and ships them nationwide through direct transactions, generating a stable annual income of 75 million KRW.

Lee Han-pil, CEO of GenoEntec, said, “We possess proprietary facility installation technology and cultivation techniques for the plant factory system,” adding, “We are researching summer strawberry cultivation technology harvested from July to September and expanding facilities to grow excellent agricultural products unique to our region.”

Vice Mayor Kim then visited a fruit orchard in Gigaem-myeon cultivating subtropical crop passion fruit.

With growing interest in tropical fruits, passion fruit, commonly called “passion fruit,” is gaining popularity. It has a sweet and sour taste and can be eaten fresh, made into jam from the pulp, or prepared as a refreshing summer ade.

This farm cultivates passion fruit in a 1,000㎡ greenhouse. In 2021, the couple running the farm was designated as young successor farmers, producing about 1 ton of crops annually.

They ship nationwide through online channels, generating an annual income of 30 million KRW. They aim for annual sales of 100 million KRW by expanding passion fruit cultivation facilities and adding subtropical crops such as apple mango.

Vice Mayor Kim Nam-il said, “I thank the local leading farmers who have quietly protected rural sites and shown good results through challenge and innovation,” adding, “We will take an interest in cultivating various new income crops and discover and nurture specialized crops suited to regional characteristics to lead changes in the rural system.”

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