Farmers love their wild berry wine

A wine company jointly set up by farmers and a major liquor maker, Korea’s first ever corporation-farm joint venture, has made a good start, showing it might be a viable source of income for farmers facing tightening competition with cheap foreign imports.
The company is Gochang Myeongju, a manufacturer of bokbunja wine, based in North Jeolla. Bokbunja is a kind of wild berry and a special product from Gochang County.
The company’s first run, 200,000 bottles of Premium Bokbunja Wine made of only first-class bokbunja, sold off in 15 days after its launch on July 4. Orders are already mounting for a second batch.
“There have been many cases where farmers failed in business even with products of good quality because they did not know how to market them,” said Park Yong-seob, a farmer and shareholder of Gochang Myeongju. “It is better that farmers do only what they do well while trusting the rest to companies with expertise.”
About 420 farmers invested 1.5 billion won ($1.6 million), and Kook Soon Dang Brewery Co., a leading traditional Korean liquor maker, chipped in 600 million won to set up the company in June. The farmers grow the berries, and Kook Soon Dang is in charge of making them into wine, which it then markets.
But when about 10 bokbunja farmers first presented this idea, both Kook Soon Dang and other farmers were reluctant, Park said. The company expressed doubts whether farmers will really supply only first-class bokbunja. It also said farmers would withdraw their support, making a joint-venture arrangement unstable. On the other hand, farmers said that only the company would benefit due to its business expertise.
But after several meetings aimed at working out misunderstandings, they finally agreed to the joint venture.
The farmers agreed to supply bokbunja harvested in the middle of June, when the quality is best.
“New Zealand has become the world’s leading agricultural exporter due to the rigorous management of the quality of farm products and construction of a global distribution and marketing network,” said Min Seung-kyu of the Samsung Economic Research Institute. “Joint ventures of this type could help local farmers overcome challenges growing out of the Korea-U.S. FTA.”

By Park Hye-min JoongAng Ilbo