Research Reports
The Present Status and Development Direction of Smart Agriculture
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AuthorKim, Yeanjung
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Publication Date2013.09.30
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Original
Today’s agriculture industry has expanded from traditional production to the sixth industry. It has developed into a higher value-added industry as it converges with technologies such as IT (information technology), BT (biotechnology), ET (environment technology), and NT (nano-technology). The convergence of agriculture and information and computer technology (ICT) is a new growth engine increasing efficiency in every process of production, distribution, and consumption. This convergence has become more important as a solution to problems which the agriculture sector faces, such as a labor shortage caused by an aging population, unusual weather phenomena, a high cost structure from complicated distribution systems, and rapidly-changing consumer tastes.
This study presents a policy direction for the introduction of smart farming by reviewing its current state, concept, and needs. Next we will present various examples from home and abroad as well as foundation technologies that can be introduced from each industry field. Then we discuss major issues and the conclusion of this study.
First, when it comes to horticulture, smart technologies are now mainly focused on areas such as reductions in production cost and labor burden, high quality production, and quality management in facility horticulture and the fruit-growing sector. More recently, policies for developing and introducing smart technologies are needed in the outdoor vegetable sector.
Second, it is important to meet consumers’ needs at the production and distribution stages through building a system which delivers food safety information. To achieve this at the production stage, IT needs to be applied to the livestock and controlled growth environment monitoring and control system. This means the farm automation system needs to be expanded based on these IT applications. Furthermore, at the distribution and processing stages, advanced distribution technologies using IT need to be introduced, including the convergence of distribution data.
Third, in forestry, productivity can be raised by the use of smart technologies. However, urgent tasks must first be completed, such as information content construction for forest management, infrastructure construction for information and communication, application development, and increasing user competence.
Fourth, the standardization of farm produce should be expanded in order to introduce smart technologies to the farm produce distribution sector. Moreover, the standard for each item should fully reflect the distribution characteristics of farm produce. Therefore, it is desirable that those who are in charge of farm produce distribution conduct cooperative sorting and set these standards by common consent.
Fifth, IT technologies need to be used for rural sightseeing promotion, support for living in rural communities, education and welfare in rural areas, and efficient utilization of agricultural resources. Moreover, relevant policies are needed to enable smooth communication with consumers by modernizing rural areas through IT technologies. For this, IT education and continuous investment in rural residents are necessary.
Sixth, geographic information has a greater impact on creating new added value when it fuses with another industry than when it is used in a single industry alone. Accordingly, it is necessary to strengthen convergence in smart farming going forward. When it comes to the smart water grid, it is expected to enable labor and equipment to be applied effectively, and agricultural water to be used efficiently, through water conservation.
Lastly, in order to expand and introduce smart farming, the inspection of management and actual application conditions need to be carried out among existing IT convergence businesses in the farm produce sector. To expand the government’s investment in IT convergence, research and business development of farm produce should be actively conducted to improve practical use. In the R&BD system, technology development should be carried out with the aim of improving the practical use from the planning stage of research and development investment.
Researchers: Yean-Jung Kim, Seung-Young Gouk, Young-Ryul Kim, Myung-Gi Kim, Jong-Sun Kim, Yoon-Hyung Kim, Kyung-Taek Min, In-Bae Ji, Jae-Hun Sim
Research period: 2013. 4. - 2013. 7.
E-mail address: yjkim@krei.re.kr
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