The Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) held the 2018 Agricultural Outlook Conference on “The Future of Agriculture and Rural Areas with the People” at the Crystal Ballroom on the third floor of the Lotte Hotel (Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul), Jan. 24.
 

This year marks the 21st anniversary of the Agricultural Outlook Conference. The conference, launched with about 100 attendees in 1998, grew into the largest event in the agriculture sector, with approximately 1,700 participants this year.
 

The 2018 conference aimed to focus on strengthening public interest functions of agriculture and contributing to enabling the consumption of safe agricultural products. To this end, with the main theme, “The Future of Agriculture and Rural Areas with the People,” detailed presentation topics were selected in response to the changes in conditions.
 

Among the contents of this year’s agricultural outlook, several changes need attention. Despite economic uncertainty at home and abroad, the agricultural production value is forecasted to grow by about 0.8% compared to the previous year. Also, in spite of increasing management costs and the aging population, farm household income will rise by 2.5% to over KRW 40 million.
 

Due to the implementation of the government’s Rice Production Control Program, the rice oversupply structure is expected to improve gradually. If the government’s animal welfare plan to manage layer chicken rearing density is implemented, the number of layer chickens will decrease by approximately 1.12 million in 2018, and egg prices are forecasted to increase by 5.2%.
 

The farm household income per household will grow by 2.4% year on year to KRW 39.69 million. However, agricultural income is expected to decline, and its proportion in farm household income is forecasted to decrease by 3.1%p compared with last year to 25.5%, showing a continued downtrend. Accordingly, non-farm income in farm household income is expected to become an important income source gradually.
 

In terms of consumption, the consumption of rice and kimchi will decline, while the consumption of meat and imported tropical fruit is forecasted to grow due to the westernized diet.