As the climate heats up, warmer-weather crops like olives and long-grain rice are showing agricultural potential in Korea, but processing gaps could hamper farmers’ prospects.
Olive cultivation has begun to take root in Korea. Some 200 farms on Jeju Island are currently growing olive trees.MOON JUNG-HOON
Moon Jung-hoon
The author is a professor of agricultural economics and rural development at Seoul National University and director of the Food Business Lab.
As the climate changes, Korea’s agricultural map is changing with it. Rising temperatures are steadily pushing northward the southern limit for apple cultivation, raising serious questions about whether apples can still be grown in Korea after 2050. Highland cabbage, meanwhile, has nowhere higher to go.
At the same time, subtropical crops once considered unsuitable for Korea are taking root. Jeju mangoes, though still grown in greenhouses, have earned a reputation for quality. Bananas are now cultivated in Jeju and South Gyeongsang, while domestically grown lemons have found a place in the market. These fruits are emerging as premium alternatives to imports.
Climate change can thus create unexpected opportunities to domestically produce crops Korea once had to import. Visiting Jeju in late August, I was startled to see olive trees, a sight more readily associated with the Mediterranean, stretching toward the sea. Knowing that climate change helped create the landscape made it difficult to celebrate, yet the olive groves also suggested new possibilities for Korean agriculture.
About 200 farms in Jeju are already growing olives. The crop has attracted newcomers to farming as well as open-field tangerine growers whose incomes have declined. Last year, a 1,000-pyeong (35,583-square-foot) outdoor tangerine orchard generated barely 15 million won ($11,220) in gross revenue. Some farmers are switching to olives in hopes of doubling that figure. It is a major gamble for established tangerine farmers, but they are approaching it with a startup mentality.
Olive trees require about five years before commercial harvesting. Jeju produced five tons of fresh olives last year and is expected to produce 10 tons this year and 200 tons a decade from now. The harvested fruit is pressed and sold as premium Jeju olive oil. By-products are also being developed into processed foods, including surprisingly drinkable olive-leaf tea, while pomace left after pressing could become specialty animal feed.
Climate change and government policy are also bringing another crop to Korea: long-grain rice. Sometimes called Annam rice, it is widely grown in Southeast Asia and subtropical regions. Higher in protein and less sticky than the short-grain varieties Koreans normally eat, it has very different characteristics.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has sought to curb short-grain table-rice production to support rice prices while encouraging long-grain varieties for processing and export.
Haenam in South Jeolla has responded quickly. But there is a bottleneck. Ordinary Korean rice mills break long-grain kernels, requiring specialized milling equipment. Only one facility in Korea can properly mill domestically harvested long-grain rice. Other facilities process imported brown long-grain rice into white rice but cannot handle freshly harvested paddy rice. Farmers therefore face difficulties before their crop even reaches consumers.
Nor does Korea have facilities equipped to turn cooked long-grain rice into convenience foods. Its different characteristics require dedicated processing lines. Seoul National University’s Food Business Lab sought to work with Haenam County to develop convenient meals for people with diabetes using Haenam’s high-protein long-grain rice. We had to abandon the project because no suitable processing facility existed. Farmers who followed government policy are now frustrated by the lack of infrastructure.
There is one encouraging development. U.S. Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle recently opened its first Asian location in Seoul. Its signature burritos use long-grain rice, and Chipotle has purchased Haenam’s inventories for use as an ingredient, giving local producers some breathing room.
The days when supply determined demand are over. Demand determines supply. Farmers should not follow government policy only to find themselves facing oversupply, collapsing prices or no buyers.
Designing policies that connect production with processing and actual demand is now a challenge the Agriculture Ministry must address with far greater precision.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
