This strategic agenda will be delivered through four major programs:

Development of Soil and Fertilizer Management Technologies

We develop soil, water, and nutrient management technologies aimed at achieving a secure sustainable food production. These include chemical and physical techniques to develop soil fertility, protect pollutants, recycle organic matter, and to irrigate crops.

Development of Agricultural Technologies for Climate Change Mitigation

Covering a wide range of climate change and agro-ecology research areas, this program aims at developing a national inventory of greenhouse gases (GHGs), mitigation technologies, and carbon sequestration and balance. It will also evaluate ecosystem services by monitoring biological and agricultural water resources. Weather information system will be established for early and emergency weather warning system and assessment of water and energy balance of agricultural land and crop condition such as area, growth, and yield will be done using remote sensing technology.

Development of Low-input and Ecologically-intensified Organic Agriculture

For the last 10 years, 15 publications from various organic agriculture researches were published and disseminated. These publications resulted in the expansion of the organic agriculture base and increased the number of farmers adopting the technology. However, recent domestic and international changes have shaken the foundation of organic farming. In response to these situations, the national agricultural science and technology research and development (R&D) agenda 1-3 is accelerated to promote the development and expansion of organic agriculture in Korea. A series of organic agriculture R&D activities have been undertaken while synthesis and packaging of organic agriculture R&D took off in early 2014. Studies have been done to assess the multi-functionality of organic agriculture as well as to ensure safety of organic products. In addition, the certification period for low-pesticide food products is expected to end by 2015. To address the prevalence of insect pests and diseases in fruit trees, a study on the development of organic production technology was implemented to convince growers to shift from low-pesticide certification to organic farming. Moreover, development of soil and nutrient management technologies is needed to ensure production of high-quality organic fruits.

RDA plays a vital role in the development of production technologies for organic apples, peers, citrus, persimmon, and grape, hence, on-farm research for these fruit crops is being strengthened. Producing safe and high-quality organic products is one of the best solutions to actively respond to the requirements of emerging markets. Organic farms constitute only 1% of the whole farms in Korea, however, it is considered as the last bastion to achieve food security and environmental protection.

Development of Application Technology for Rural Environment and Resources

Value creation for rural environment and resources entails conservation and development of attractive rural landscape through the use of available rural amenity resources, cultural and indigenous knowledge, and by boosting farm household economy through on-farm diversification activities like rural tourism. Settlement support for re-farmers, rural in-migrants, and multi-cultural family as well as rural residents will be also implemented to achieve sustainable rural society progress.