Farmer foresight led to Korea’s 1st rice export

Lee Won-il, president of Deokyang Farm Corp., in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. His farm is expected to send South Korea’s first rice export in June. By Byeon Sun-koo

Lee Won-il, a rice farmer in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, says he has never been this happy in his whole life. When Korea’s Agriculture Ministry decided last week to allow local farmers to export rice, Lee’s rice farm, Deokyang Farming Corp., became the first beneficiary of the change. Now he is set to ship 200 tons of rice to Switzerland on June 10. “My efforts for the past 13 years are now bearing fruit, but this is only a beginning,” Lee said in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo.
In the late 1980s, the 65-year-old Lee took over his family’s rice farm, which has been passed down through nine generations. But he was reluctant to follow the same old rice farming practices and rely on government subsidies like many farmers did. Lee, realizing he would never be able to make money sticking to the old ways, turned to the concept of “organic produce,” which was already beginning to gain popularity in Japan.
At the time, the concept of organic production, which uses no pesticides or other chemicals, was still foreign in Korea. Many farmers showered their farms with newly arrived chemicals to weed out pests. The government bought all rice production of local farmers no matter what. There was no need to improve the quality of rice. As long as farmers increased production, it led to more income. Talking about improving the quality of rice through organic production was considered a ridiculous idea.
“Back then, every farmer wore a mask and chemical protective suit because the pesticides they sprayed were so strong,” Lee said.
“But I didn't wear any of these since I grew organic rice, so our neighbors, who didn’t know what I was dioing, bet on exactly when I was going to collapse from pesticide poisoning.”
Lee, after years of trial and error, developed a production process for organic rice. In order to attract customers to buy the organic rice, which is more expensive, he began so-called organic rice farm tours.
People who visited his farm saw how the rice was produced without chemicals and were offered a lunch of steamed rice from Lee’s fields. Since then, sales have steadily increased. And then one of his regulars, who had immigrated to Switzerland, called him one day to ask for Lee’s organic rice.
“This customer called last June to ask if I can send my rice to his home in Switzerland,” Lee said.
It was the perfect time for Lee. The Swiss government last year prohibited imports of produce grown from genetically modified seed, which dramatically reduced rice imports from the United States and China, where many farms rely on genetic engineering. Instead, the popularity of organically produced rice from Japan soared. But the Japanese-made rice was too expensive. As Lee offered his rice for a far lower price, one Swiss crop importer suggested Lee sign a 200-ton rice sale contract with him.
“The government’s farming policy that offered unconditional protection has eroded competitiveness of our farming industry,” Lee said. “Now the government needs to adopt new policies to help farmers be more competitive global players like manufacturers did.”

By Park Hye-min JoongAng Ilbo [hawon@joongang.co.kr]