Experts discuss urban farming at conference in Seoul

The poster for the 2022 Seoul International Conference on Urban Agriculture [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

Seoul is holding a two-day international conference on urban agriculture to encourage sustainable development.

The 11th Seoul International Conference on Urban Agriculture kicked off Thursday with the theme “Urban Agriculture in the Age of Transition” at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in eastern Seoul.

The Korean capital started an international urban agriculture network in 2012. Since then, an international conference has been held annually to discuss urban agriculture around the world and to promote the idea.

This year, 22 experts from five countries, including the United States, Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands came together.

“With the response to the climate crisis emerging as an important agenda item, urban agriculture is drawing more attention as an eco-friendly lifestyle that reduces carbon emissions and produces healthy food,” said Kim Eui-seung, First Vice Mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government in an opening speech.

“If the climate crisis leads to a food crisis, social minorities will face greater challenges,” Kim said.

On Thursday, Kwon Young-gull, Chairman of Seoul Design Foundation, gave a speech called “Urban Agriculture Opens the Future.”

People are surrounded by concrete buildings, asphalt pavements, poor water and air quality and electromagnetic waves, Kwon said.

The most direct factor that harms the bodies and minds of people these days, said Kwan, is food — citing GMOs, pesticides and heavy metal-containing foods. And because of this, a significant number of people are looking for healthy eating options and cultivating their own gardens in cities.

“Urban gardens are a new cultural behavior that not only contributes to food self-sufficiency but also brings fundamental changes to life attitudes through the process of touching soil and raising life in a desolate city,” Kwon said.

Turner Wyatt, CEO of Upcycled Food Association, gave a presentation on food upcycling, which was followed by Yoshida Taro, a professor at Nagaro Agricultural University, speaking about maximizing the utilization of food in cities through urban gardening. Kang Dae-hyun, CEO of Farm8, described intelligent urban agriculture.

Friday’s conference will be held under the theme of “Green Healing, Healing Urban Agriculture.”

There will be a presentation on agricultural appropriation for healthy people by Pauline Neugebauer and Nicole Palmowski from Kneipp Germany. Hans Pijls, Ceo of Food for Good and Jung Jae-kyung, CEO of Living Factory, will lecture on healing agriculture, meaning an industry that utilizes various agricultural resources for the recovery, maintenance and promotion of public health.

The event will be broadcasted live on the city of Seoul’s official YouTube channel, and can also be viewed afterwards.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]