Seeking Nature, Continuing the Family Business... 5th Year Returning Farmer Income 36 Million KRW vs Returning Villager 41 Million KRW

Results of the 2024 Farming and Returning to Rural Areas Survey Announced
Average Annual Household Income: 36.21 Million KRW and 41.54 Million KRW Respectively
Average Preparation Period for Farming: 30.1 Months

Photo unrelated to the article. Pixabay

The average annual income of farming households who left the city to start a new life in rural areas was recorded at approximately 36 million KRW.

On the 4th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the results of the '2024 Farming and Returning to Rural Areas Survey' conducted on 6,000 households who moved to rural areas over the past five years. According to the report, farming households were predominantly U-type (74.3%), meaning those born in rural areas who lived in the city and then moved back to their rural hometowns. In contrast, returning-to-rural households were mostly I-type (48.9%), referring to city natives who relocated to rural areas.

The biggest reason for farming was the natural environment (31.9%), followed by succession of family business (20.0%) and the vision and development potential of agriculture (19.8%). For returning-to-rural households, the natural environment (19.3%) was also the largest factor, followed by emotional relaxation (19.0%) and employment outside of agriculture (19.0%). However, among young people aged 30 and under, more than half moved to rural areas seeing the future of agriculture, citing the vision and development potential of agriculture (30.5%) and family business succession (27.1%).

2024 Survey Results on Returning to Farming and Rural Migration. Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Additionally, the average annual household income for those with five years of farming experience was 36.21 million KRW, and for returning-to-rural households, it was 41.54 million KRW. Compared to the first-year incomes of 27.63 million KRW and 37.57 million KRW respectively, these figures represent increases of 31.1% and 10.6%. Among them, agricultural income of households who completed farming education was higher than those who did not, indicating that education contributes to income growth after moving to rural areas. The average monthly living expenses for farming and returning-to-rural households were 1.94 million KRW and 2.04 million KRW respectively, which decreased by 25.1% and 11.7% compared to previous incomes (2.59 million KRW and 2.31 million KRW).

Meanwhile, the average preparation period for farming was 30.1 months, and for returning-to-rural it was 17.9 months. During this time, activities such as searching for settlement areas, housing and farmland, securing funds, and farming/returning-to-rural education were conducted. Notably, the preparation period was shorter for younger age groups: 22.4 months for those under 30, 26.5 months for those in their 40s, 29.7 months for those in their 50s, 32.9 months for those in their 60s, and 37.9 months for those aged 70 and above. Conversely, the education completion rate was higher among younger groups: 68.6% for under 30, 50.9% for 40s, 43.1% for 50s, 39.0% for 60s, and 32.5% for 70 and above, confirming that younger people participate more actively in education.

Yoon Won-seup, Director of Agricultural Policy, stated, "We will further enhance education tailored to the characteristics of hopeful participants, such as agricultural job exploration and experiential education, long-term education for young farmers, and online farming and returning-to-rural education centered on the Farming and Returning to Rural Areas Comprehensive Center." He added, "Through the comprehensive portal 'Greendaero,' we plan to provide a wide range of diverse information tailored to users."

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