Gumi City Promotes 'Food Transformation Project'... Leading the Re-advancement as an Urban-Rural Complex City

50 Billion KRW Invested Over 5 Years from 2023... Enhancing Farm Income

Improving Rice Quality, Establishing Premium Yeongho Jinmi Cultivation Complex

Gumi City in Gyeongbuk Province is launching a Food Transformation Project, investing 5 billion KRW over five years starting in 2023, aiming to improve food self-sufficiency rates amid imbalances in food crop supply and demand and to develop new income sources for farmers through the introduction of double cropping with wheat and soybeans.

Food Transition Project.

Recently, nationwide rice consumption has steadily declined over the past decade, from 67.2 kg per person in 2013 to 56.7 kg per person, and although wheat is being utilized as the second staple grain, its self-sufficiency rate remains at about 1%, indicating a severe imbalance in food crop supply and demand. It is now necessary to shift the production system from rice-centered to wheat and soybean-centered.

The city is promoting projects such as the Wheat Industry Valley Pilot Project, Field Special Zone Pilot Complex Project, and Paddy Field Double Cropping Production Pilot Project to increase farmers' income through the introduction of wheat and soybean double cropping. With 2.3 billion KRW secured from national and provincial funds, the city is encouraging the establishment of wheat flour milling facilities (one site, 165㎡), wheat and soybean cultivation complexes (100 hectares), wheat experience centers (165㎡), and wheat seed production fields by the National Seed Management Office (20 hectares), facilitating the transition from rice cultivation to wheat and soybean double cropping.

Also, capitalizing on the high consumer interest in domestic wheat, the city is introducing wheat varieties suitable for baking (Baekgang and Hwanggeumal) to standardize cultivation and is promoting the premiumization of domestic wheat flour by managing quality grades through NIR testing.

NIR testing (Near-Infrared Spectrometer) uses light in the near-infrared range to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze organic compounds and is mainly used for origin inspection of agricultural products.

To connect producers and consumers, the city formed the Domestic Wheat Development Council last May in collaboration with baking and confectionery companies to establish a system that can supply freshly baked bread made from milled wheat flour to consumers in a short time. They are developing bakery products using domestic wheat and plan to showcase these products at the Food Festival held in October.

The city is also promoting the Premium Yeonghojinmi Cultivation Complex Project to enhance rice quality. With a goal of cultivating 300 hectares by 2025, the strategy is to supply premium-grade polished rice to citizens and improve the image of Gumi rice.

Due to the recent deterioration in quality of the ‘Ilpum’ variety, which accounts for 83% of cultivation in the area, caused by climate warming, the city plans to select and distribute Gumi-customized rice varieties suitable for consumer preferences by 2027. It is expected that these customized rice varieties will completely replace ‘Ilpum’ with premium-grade Yeonghojinmi, high-quality Banchal, and mid-late maturing rice varieties.

The city is expanding quality enhancement by promoting the “three-low” cultivation method that reduces fertilizer, pesticide use, and protein content, and improving overcrowded planting methods through sparse transplanting. To shift from the existing high-yield focused cultivation methods to quality management cultivation methods, the city is conducting Field Special Zone Academy training and concurrently providing education to change farmers’ awareness.

Mayor Kim Jang-ho stated, “Through Gumi’s Food Transformation Project, we will improve the food production structure to generate income for farmers and establish a system where producer and consumer groups can coexist, responding to the changes of the times.”

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