"It Was My Hometown After All"...A Former Offshore Engineer's Journey to Settling as a Returning Farmer

Kang Jungbok Takes Over Duck Farm in Gangjin and Operates It on a Consignment-Raising Basis
Stable Settlement Backed by Start-Up Funds for Returning Farmers and Mentoring Support

A former urbanite who worked as an offshore engineer has returned to his hometown and is settling down by running a duck farm. Kang Jungbok (46), who operates the Gukhwa Duck Farm in Sinjeon-myeon, Gangjin-gun, chose to return to farming in 2023 while working in Mokpo inspecting the safety of offshore structures, and in the second half of 2025 he purchased the farm and fully embarked on life as a farmer.

For Kang, Gangjin had always remained in his heart as his hometown. Each time he came down for the Lunar New Year holidays, the thought that "Someday I have to live here again" built up, and it eventually led to his return to farming. He said, "Only the object of my work has changed; the work of looking at structures and managing risks is similar."

At Gukhwa Duck Farm in Sinjeon-myeon, Gangjin County, Kang Jungbok is holding up a young duck he is raising.

The name of the farm, "Gukhwa Duck Farm," comes from his wife's name. He said, "A farm is not something you run alone; it lasts longer when the family endures it together," adding, "Returning to farming may be an individual choice, but settling down is a decision made by the entire family." Even during the Lunar New Year holidays, the farm does not stop, but he pays close attention to scheduling in order to secure time with his family.

His return to farming was not an impulsive decision. In the early stage of settling down, he worked at a local agricultural corporation, learning the structure of agricultural production and the flow of distribution, and he personally cultivated soybeans and ryegrass, gaining hands-on experience in rural labor and capital flows. He said, "Even when I worked in the city, I never made decisions based on gut feeling. I also looked at the structure first when deciding to return to farming."

While reviewing options in the livestock sector, he considered black goats and Korean beef cattle but ultimately chose ducks. His criteria were the speed of settlement, the predictability of the profit structure, and risk management. He reduced the burden of sales by using a contract and consignment-raising model, and he could manage performance through indicators such as mortality rate and weight gain. He explained, "The most dangerous thing is an unpredictable situation, and ducks helped reduce that uncertainty."

The year 2025 was a turning point in his journey back to farming. Through the one-on-one leading-farmer mentor-mentee training program at the Gangjin-gun Agricultural Technology Center, he learned know-how in breeding management and farm operation. In the second half of the same year, he received 300 million won in start-up funds for returning farmers in the form of a loan and purchased the entire farm. The farm is currently operated entirely under a consignment-raising system based on contracts with a company.

In 2026, he is scheduled to receive 15 million won in support for the repair and renovation costs of farm houses after being selected as a beneficiary of the Settlement Subsidy Project for Returning Farmers. Kang said, "At first, my goal was simply to survive, but now I am in the stage of building a farm that can last for a long time."

Gangjin-gun emphasized its support system to help returning farmers settle down. Gangjin-gun Mayor Kang Jinwon said, "We are building a return-to-farming system in which leading-farmer mentoring and financial and settlement support continue step by step," adding, "We will work to increase the number of cases in which people return to their hometowns and settle down stably."

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