• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.363-384
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• 2009

This study aimed at finding directions for Korean agriculture to establish a new paradigm of sustainable development. Various problematic issues and concerns in the environment necessitate the transformation of Korea's development paradigm from unconditional growth to "Green Growth" through new policies on green value and review of various advanced researches. In this research, the environment-friendly agriculture's problems, particularly in agribusiness were analyzed. Drawing from Michael Porter's Value Chain Analysis, this research developed a value chain model in agriculture that reflects the environment and the present situations. Future directions in the agriculture sector were also discussed. Korea realized food self-sufficiency through the green revolution in the early 1970s. However, a lot of problems have also occurred, including ground and water pollution and the destruction of ecosystems as a result of the overuse of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. In the late 1970s, the growing interest on environment-friendly agriculture led to the introduction of sustainable methods and techniques. Unfortunately however, these were not innovative enough to foster environment-friendly agriculture. Thereafter, the consumers' distrust on agricultural products has worsened and concerns about health have increased. In view of this, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries introduced in December 1993 a system of Quality-Certified Products for organic and pesticide-free agri-foods. Although a fundamental step toward the sustainability of the global environment, this system was not enough to promote environment-friendly agriculture. In 2008, Korea's vision is for "Low Carbon Green Growth" to move forward while also coping with climate change. But primary sectors in a typical value chain do not consider the green value of their operations nor look at production from an environmental perspective. In order to attain sustainable development, there is a need to use less resources and energy than what is presently used in Korean agricultural and value production. The typical value chain should be transformed into a "closed-loop" such that the beginning and the end of the chain are linked together. Such structure allows the flow of materials, products and even wastes among participants in the chain in a sustained cycle. This may result in a zero-waste sustainable production without destroying the ecosystem.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.109-130
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• 2022

The Vietnamese government has proposed contract farming through a new type of cooperative as an institutional innovation which aims to restructure the agricultural sector. However, policy changes often impact farmers, who bear the primary effects of the transition process. Understanding households' strategies for land use and livelihood is crucial for policymaking in the agricultural development field. This study was conducted in the rural Binh Dao commune in Central Vietnam. We analyzed household members' labor force changes and their livelihood behaviors after their participation in a contract farming scheme using qualitative analysis methods combined with geographic information system (GIS) support, based on secondary data and in-depth interviews of 190 farmers. Simultaneously, we created a digital map of the cooperative's production area to investigate changes in land use and production activities. The findings show that contract farming shaped the vertical coordination of the value chain from the farmers to the cooperative and agricultural product trading companies. Subsequently, it encouraged land use and labor efficiency due to mechanical support. In addition, it also increased productivity and protected farmers from market risks. However, despite its positive effects on agricultural productivity in this case, the contract farming scheme could not achieve the restructuring of the rural labor force toward non-agricultural sectors. Ironically, farmers in the Binh Dao commune tended to increase cultivable land during the agricultural restructuring program, rather than switching their labor forces to non-agricultural sectors. The lack of stable non-farming job opportunities in rural Vietnam results in challenges to the efficiency of agricultural restructuring programs. Consequently, farmers in the Binh Dao commune are still smallholder farmers, depending on the family labor force.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.664-679
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• 2008

This paper attempts to evaluate the local economy and the local economic development policy in Goryeong County and to propose some policy alternatives for local economic development. Goryeong County has a locational advantage, which is not just geographically proximate to Daegu, a large metropolis, but also connected directly to the national highway networks. This region can also be regarded as a rural area, in a sense that the primary industry still plays a more important role for the local economy than the secondary industry and the tertiary industry. However, it is problematic that the local economic development strategies of Goryeong are universal rather than strategic and systematic. In order to design an effective regional economic development policy, the policy makers are necessary to deliberately consider regional specificity and geo-political and geo-economic situations around the region. In addition, it is important to say that policy makers, particularly in rural regions, need to break from the fantasy of high-tech industries. In this context, I propose some region-specific and context-specific policy ideas, including the promotion of the agro-food cluster and the build-up of the em-industrial complexes specialized in mechatronics and transportation equipment manufacturing.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.127-134
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• 2016

Purpose - Value chain in agriculture refers to direct and indirect activities related to value-added process from raw materials to final products in agricultural industries. In recent years, value chain analysis has become more important in the area of agricultural development. This article reviews the concept and importance of value chain analysis in the context of agricultural development and attempts to suggest improvement strategies. Research design, data, methodology - A literature survey was conducted for value chain analysis for agricultural development. The case of agro-value chain in Cambodia was deeply analyzed based upon interviews with government officers and related experts. Results - It seems that agro-value chain in developing countries are not well developed and does not carry out appropriate functions, compared to developed countries. Because value adding facilities, such as storage, processing and packing plants, milling plants, and etc. are not sufficiently constructed, the quality of agricultural products is low. Especially developing countries may loose opportunities to increase value of their product by exporting their agricultural products as raw materials to neighboring countries. Value adding process is also mainly controlled by traders in local markets or wholesale markets in urban areas. Farmers therefore can get lower share of final value of agricultural products compared to the shares paid to traders. Lastly it is argued that governments of developing countries do not play an active role in developing value chains and do not carry out coordinating functions in an effective and efficient manner. Conclusions - The first step to improve agro-value chain in developing countries is to identify and analyze value chain structure of agricultural products and to make development strategies and implementation programs. For improving value chain of agricultural products in developing countries, it is required to provide not only plans for constructing hardwares, such as wholesale markets, storage facilities, processing and packing plants, and etc., but also plans for improving softwares, such as measures for improving product quality and safety, setting up grade and standard, providing market information, and nurturing producer cooperatives.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.522-540
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• 2012

The main aim of the paper is to identify the position or status of Korean economic geography in changing global economic geography by reviewing papers published in Korean geographical journals since the mid-1950s. Since the late 20th century as economic geography has developed significantly with the introduction of new research issues, methodologies, and theory and concepts, economic geography in Korea also has gone through rapid development in terms of both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. The paper attempts to analyze trends in Korean economic geography by reviewing agricultural, industrial, commercial geographies, and others since the mid-1950s. The review of economic geography in Korea would be based on four periods classified by research issues and approaches; foundation (~1950s), positioning (1960s and 1970s), jump and rush (1980s and mid-1990s), and transitional period (late 1990s~). Agricultural geography in Korea has decreased due to increases of the interests in industrial geography since the 1980s. In particular, since the late 1990s industrial geography has undergone a significant transition in accordance with the emergence of new theories of institutional perspectives, centering around issues on value chains, innovative cluster, cooperative and competitive networks, foreign direct investment, flexible specialization and venture ecology. Along with this, there has been changes in the interest of commercial geography in Korea from researches on periodical markets, the structure of store formats, and distributions by commodity, to researches on producer services and retailer's locational behaviors and commercial supremacy according to the emergence of new store formats. Since the late 1990s, many researches and discussions associated with the new economic geography began to emerge in Korea. Various research issues are focused on analyzing changes of local, regional and global economic spaces and their processes in relation to institutional perspectives, knowledge and innovation, production chain and innovative networks, industrial clusters and RIS, and geographies of service. Although economic geography in Korea has developed significantly both in quantitative and qualitative perspectives, we pointed out that it has still limited in some specific scope and issues. Therefore, it is likely to imply that its scope and issues should be diversified with new perspectives and approaches.