Farm Weather, Crop Disaster, and Prevention Measures... 'Farm-Level Weather Disaster Information' Service Now Available in All Cities and Counties

Rural Development Administration Expands Early Warning System for Agricultural Weather Disasters Nationwide

The Rural Development Administration announced on November 26 that it will provide the 'Early Warning System for Agricultural Weather Disasters' service to 155 cities and counties nationwide, excluding Ulleungdo, in order to proactively respond to abnormal weather events and reduce crop damage from weather disasters. This nationwide expansion comes 10 years after the service was first launched in three cities and counties in 2016.

The Early Warning System for Agricultural Weather Disasters is a technology that delivers tailored weather and crop disaster prediction information, as well as response measures according to disaster risk, to farmers in advance via the internet and mobile platforms (text messages, notification talk, and web) based on the specific conditions of each farm.

Status of Regions with Established Early Warning Systems for Agricultural Weather Disasters by Year. Rural Development Administration

The entire country is divided into fine grids of 30 meters on each side, and various weather information announced by the Korea Meteorological Administration is reanalyzed and provided according to the altitude, topography, and surface cover status of each area. Detailed weather information can be provided at the farm level to every farm registered in the national land register.

Currently, weather, crop disaster, and response measures are being provided to 42,000 farms nationwide. The farm weather service offers 11 types of weather information, including temperature, precipitation, humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed for each farm. Temperature forecasts are available up to nine days in advance, while forecasts for the other weather information are available up to four days in advance.

The crop disaster service provides information on short-term disasters such as high temperature, low temperature, winter damage, wind damage, flood damage, and sunburn for each crop, as well as long-term abnormal weather events such as drought, waterlogging, lack of sunlight, and cold damage. Disaster risk notifications are categorized as advisories and warnings and are provided in advance. Drought, waterlogging, sunburn, wind damage, and flood damage can be forecast up to four days in advance, while high temperature, low temperature, winter damage, and cold damage can be forecast up to nine days in advance.

Response measures are provided together with cultivation information and are categorized as preventive, immediate, and post-event actions, depending on the type of disaster and crop, to help prevent or reduce damage when disaster risks arise.

Since September of last year, the Rural Development Administration has made this system fully open so that anyone can use it without registering as a member. In addition, the service has been linked with both private and public platforms, such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' 'Nongup eji', the Korea Agency of Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' 'Nongsawon(ON)', and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation's 'Oneul Nongs' to ensure users can access it easily through any channel.

According to the Rural Development Administration, a user satisfaction survey conducted this year among farmers who used the service showed that an average of 86% were satisfied, confirming that the service is providing practical help to farmers. The Rural Development Administration plans to further enhance the system based on the survey results and user requirements, and to establish measures to ensure the safety of personal information. In addition, the agency will link the system with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' crop disaster insurance and a parcel-based application programming interface (API) approach to provide the service to even more farmers in the future.

Lee Sangjae, Acting Director of the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences at the Rural Development Administration, said, "As abnormal weather events become more common, information for predicting agricultural weather disasters is becoming increasingly important. We will do our best to improve the accuracy of our prediction information, increase the number of service users, and actively support research and development resources and personnel."

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