Abstract
Due to changes in the agricultural market environment and both overseas and domestic farming conditions, uncertainties in agricultural production and management are becoming greater. Hence, there is a stronger need for farmers to choose crops in the optimal condition. This research aims to introduce the result and process of developing a decision support system for selecting crops, aimed to assist farmers in selecting the optimal crops most suitable in the given situation. There are basically three main factors to consider in the decision-making process for farmers when selecting a crop to introduce to their lands. First of all, one must consider how much profit crop A will produce when it is cultivated. Secondly, one must consider which crop to cultivate in order to earn a certain amount of profit. Thirdly, one must consider what is the best way to maximize Farm A's business profit. For instance, a farm may have land as its resource, and one must research which location, type of crop, level of technology, and so forth, to maximize profit.This research creates a database of the profitability of a total of 180 crop types by analyzing Rural Development Administration's survey of agricultural products income of 115 crop types, small land profitability index survey of 53 crop types, and Statistics Korea's survey of production costs of 12 crop types. Furthermore, this research presents the result and developmental process of a web-based crop introduction decision support system that provides overseas cases of new crop introduction support programs, as well as databases of outstanding business success cases of each crop type researched by agricultural institutions.