• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.234-242
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• 2018

Objectives: This study was to investigate the perception of mothers of elementary school students regarding environment-friendly agricultural products in school foodservice. Methods: A total of 282 mothers whose children were receiving environment-friendly agricultural products during elementary school foodservice in Gyeonggi participated in this questionnaire survey. The survey was conducted to investigate respondents perception and satisfaction with environment-friendly agricultural products in their children's school meals from May 29 to June 9, 2017. Results: About 79% of the subjects were satisfied with school foodservice. The most important aspects of school foodservice were nutrition (35.8%) and sanitation (34.8%). Over 80% of the subjects were aware of environment-friendly agricultural products and about 54% of the subjects checked for a certification mark when purchasing environment-friendly agricultural products. Additionally, 72.3% of the subjects knew that environment-friendly agricultural products were used at school. The advantages of using environment-friendly agricultural products in school foodservice were safety (75.5%) and high food quality (16.3%). About 66% of the mothers knew the school was receiving support from the city or education office for using environment-friendly agricultural products. Additionally, 74.5% of the mothers responded that they are willing to pay for use of environment-friendly agricultural products when subsidies were not supported. Conclusions: The positive perception and high support for use of environment-friendly agricultural products in school foodservice among elementary students' mothers can be used as basic data for expansion of the use of environment-friendly agricultural products in school foodservice.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.103-120
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• 2013

This study aims to examine consumers' trust and purchase intention in environment-friendly agricultural products and factors influencing purchase intention degree of environment-friendly agricultural products. In addition, it aims to help seek national health promotion methods through purchase of consumers' environment-friendly agricultural products by providing the government, businesses, consumer organizations, etc. with basic data on them. The survey was performed for 2 months from August 1, 2012 to September 30, 2012, and a total of 350 questionnaires were distributed and 321(91.7%) copies out of them were used as final analysis data. The results of the study are as follows. First, the analysis of the effects of environment-friendly consumption value on trust in environment-friendly agricultural products showed that all the independent variables including environmental conservation value and economic value had a significant influence on trust in environment-friendly agricultural products, and economic value among them was the most influential item. Second, the analysis of the effects of environment-friendly consumption value on purchase intention for environment-friendly agricultural products showed that all the independent variables including environmental conservation value and economic value had a significant influence on purchase intention for environment-friendly agricultural products, and economic value was the most influential item. Third, the analysis of the effects of trust in environment-friendly agricultural products on purchase intention for environment-friendly agricultural products showed that as trust in environment-friendly agricultural products gets higher, consumers' purchase intention for them increased.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2013

Purpose - The environment-friendly agricultural product market in Korea sees continual high growth. Recently, the Korean government has been actively fostering environment-friendly agriculture as an engine of future growth. Korean people have increasingly become more health-conscious and interested in food safety issues. Many distribution and retailing companies have responded with various promotional activities. However, most of these are not strategic and appear to have unsatisfactory outcomes. The main purpose of this paper is to suggest effective marketing strategies for environment-friendly agricultural products. To achieve this aim, the study empirically investigates the effects of consumer characteristics and trust on the purchase intention of environment-friendly agricultural products. Research design, data, methodology - Based on the theory of planned behavior, and previous studies related to the purchase intention and consumption of environment-friendly agricultural products, we set up five study hypotheses. These related to the demographic characteristics of consumers, purchase intention, and behavior of the products. We then set up a study model and four study hypotheses relating to health consciousness, environmental consciousness, consumer trust level, purchase intention, and behavior of the products. The data were collected using a questionnaire given to consumers living in Seoul and southern Geonggi Province. The final sample size is 403 and mean age is 44.3. SPSS 15.0 for Windows and Amos 7.0 were used as statistical analysis tools. Meaningful results were derived using frequency analysis, correlation analysis, a t-test, and structural equation modeling. Results - Empirical results of this research are as follows. (1) First, it is shown that consumers consider such attributes as intimacy and health to be important when they buy environment-friendly agricultural products. (2) We also found that consumers recognize the value of environment-friendly agricultural products as high, but their trust level as low. (3) Consumer groups consisting of married couples, with higher education, higher income, and higher age are shown to have a higher intention of buying environment-friendly agricultural products than any other consumer group. (4) It is estimated that the level of consumer trust positively affects the purchase intention of environment-friendly agricultural products. The path coefficient (.138) between consumer trust and purchase intention is statistically significant at the α = .05 level. (5). It is also estimated that environmental consciousness positively affects purchase intention. The path coefficient (.245) between environmental consciousness and purchase intention is statistically significant at the α = 0.05 level. The standardized path coefficients of consumer trust and environmental consciousness with purchase intention are .556 and .288 respectively. Therefore, consumer trust affects purchase intention more than environmental consciousness. (6) Finally, purchase intention is estimated to positively affect purchase behavior. Conclusions - Based upon empirical results, this research suggests that marketers of environment-friendly agricultural products should focus more on increasing consumer trust levels, emphasizing the training and education of employees. The government also should pay attention to a standardized certification system for environment-friendly agricultural products. Marketers of environment-friendly agricultural products should consider the consumer groups of married couples, with higher education, higher income, and higher age as a major target segment.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.239-247
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• 2021

In order to confirm the impact of the Positive List System (PLS) being applied to all agricultural products from January 1, 2019, we analyzed 28,693 points of inspection-related data on agricultural products distributed in Gyeonggi-do from 2018 to 2020. The ratio of cases exceeding the standard for the total inspection performance was 1.0% in 2018, 1.2% in 2019, and 1.2% in 2020. Out of the 114 cases exceeding the standard in 2019, 55 were applied on a Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) of 0.01 mg/kg, and out of the 115 cases exceeding the standard in 2020, 66 were applied on a MRL of 0.01 mg/kg. To improve this, it seems necessary to manage unintentional pollution, conventional use for unregistered crops, and illegal pesticides. Fluquinconazole detection resulted from unintentional contamination, and diazinon, chlorothalonil, and methabenzthiazuron detection resulted from conventional use in unregistered crops. Chinomethionat is a pesticide component that was discarded in the past and its current use has been attributed to the smuggling of pesticides. This study and future monitoring data can be used as reference data for system supplementation and on-site management reinforcement.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to develop an environment field monitoring system to measure crop growth. The environment field monitoring system consisted of sensors, a data acquisition system, and GPS. The sensors used in the environment field monitoring system consisted of an ambient sensor, a soil sensor, and an intensity sensor. The temperature and humidity of the atmosphere were measured with the ambient sensor. The temperature, humidity, and EC of the soil were measured with the soil sensor. The data acquisition system was developed using the Arduino controller. The field monitoring data were collected before a rainy day, on a rainy day, and after the rainy day. The measured data using the environment field monitoring system were compared with the Daejeon regional meteorological office data. The correlation between the data from the environment field monitoring system and the data from the Daejeon regional meteorological office was analyzed for performance evaluation. The correlation of the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere was analyzed because the Daejeon regional meteorological office only provided data for the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere. The correlation coefficients were 0.86 and 0.90, respectively. The result showed a good correlation between the data from the environment field monitoring system and the data from the Daejeon regional meteorological office. Therefore, the developed system could be applied to monitoring the field environment of agricultural crops.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2009

Detailed information on soil characteristics is of great importance for the use and conservation of soil resources that are essential for human welfare and ecosystem sustainability. This paper introduces soil inventory of Korea focusing on national soil database establishment, information systems, use, and future direction for natural resources management. Different scales of soil maps surveyed and soil test data collected by RDA (Rural Development Administration) were computerized to construct digital soil maps and database. Soil chemical properties and heavy metal concentrations in agricultural soils including vulnerable agricultural soils were investigated regularly at fixed sampling points. Internet-based information systems for soil and agro-environmental resources were developed based on 'National Soil Survey Projects' for managing soil resources and for providing soil information to the public, and 'Agroenvironmental Change Monitoring Project' to monitor spatial and temporal changes of agricultural environment will be opened soon. Soils data has a great potential of further application in estimation of soil carbon storage, water capacity, and soil loss. Digital mapping of soil and environment using state-of-the-art and emerging technologies with a pedometrics concept will lead to future direction.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1103-1113
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine the consumption behaviors regarding environment-friendly agricultural products by food-related lifestyles of housewives. The data were collected from 298 housewives living in Yeungnam region through a self-administered questionnaire during April, 2010. Frequencies, Cronbach's $\alpha$, factor analysis, cluster analysis, one-way analysis of variance, Duncan's multiple range test and chi-square test were conducted by SPSS Windows. The results obtained from this study were as follows. Lifestyles were categorized into five factors by factor analysis: healthy-seeking type, popularity-seeking type, convenience-seeking type, safety-seeking type and taste-seeking type. The respondents belonged to one of three groups by cluster analysis: popularity-seeking group, convenience-seeking group, and wellbeing-seeking group. The main reason given for purchasing environment-friendly agricultural products was safety. The respondents were satisfied with the safety of environment-friendly agricultural products the most. Many respondents purchased environment-friendly agricultural products at large discount markets, and received information about them from mass media. There were significant differences among three groups in the place of purchase environment-friendly agricultural products, information source for environment-friendly agricultural products, most important factor when purchasing environment-friendly agricultural products, the level of satisfaction with environment-friendly agricultural products and the purchase rate of environment-friendly agricultural products among the monthly food expenses.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2018

This study was performed to review the domestic and international smart farm service model based on the convergence of agriculture and information & communication technology and derived various factors needed to improve the Korean smart greenhouse. Studies on modelling of crop growth environment in domestic smart farms were limited. And it took a lot of time to build research infrastructure. The cloud-based research platform as an alternative is needed. This platform can provide an infrastructure for comprehensive data storage and analysis as it manages the growth model of cloud-based integrated data, growth environment model, actuators control model, and farm management as well as knowledge-based expert systems and farm dashboard. Therefore, the cloud-based research platform can be applied as to quantify the relationships among various factors, such as the growth environment of crops, productivity, and actuators control. In addition, it will enable researchers to analyze quantitatively the growth environment model of crops, plants, and growth by utilizing big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligences.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2012

This study was performed to produce basic data for silty reclaimed tidal lands and to develop techniques of environmentally-friendly utilization in agricultural system. We chose the two sites in Saemangeum reclaimed tidal lands, one (Site I) has been treated with cultivating green manure and conducting the desalinization process through submergence since April, 2007 and the other (Site II) has been under natural condition without artificial treatment. In situ and ex situ physic-chemical properties were determined and comparisons were made for soil profiles examined at these two sites in April 2009. Surface soil of Site I had lower EC and higher field saturated hydraulic conductivity than those of Site II, uncultivated land. Especially, exchangeable sodium content was lowest in Site I Ap1 layer than in other layers. This is probably due to flooding desalination and green manure cultivation. Besides, Ap1 and A2 layers of soil profile in Site I showed brighter soil color and more root observation than those of Site II. This is probably due to green manure cultivation. By the large, for high cash upland crops and intensive agricultural use of silty reclaimed tidal land, site-specific soil ripening such as flooding desalination and green manure cultivation could be useful.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.25-46
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• 2014

Since organized living cooperative associations sold their environment-friendly agricultural products directly to independent consumers in the past, the general distribution channels such as wholesalers had difficulty in handling these products. However, the ratio of distribution via wholesale channel has been gradually increased as consumption of environment-friendly agricultural products has expanded. This study is to address vitalization of wholesale distribution for environment-friendly agricultural products by gathering previous statistical data and analysis. In addition, statistical analysis are conducted by utilizing surveys on forwarders, consumers for environment-friendly agricultural products. As a result, the products producers ship are distributed through dealers at producers sites, producers cooperatives, or food process companies, food companies, internet shopping malls, large-scale distribution companies, consumer groups such as living cooperative associations, direct outlets at consumers sites, or exports. Among the channels, the large-scale distribution companies and franchised special shops account for 47%, the general supermarkets 15.7%, and living cooperative associations 14.6% respectively. By utilizing the research results on producers and consumers, and the distribution weight by channels for environment-friendly agricultural products, the distribution channels for living cooperative associations, wholesale markets, and large scale distribution companies are compared and evaluated. As a result, the level of producers' and consumers' satisfaction for them is the lowest since the low selling price for producers and high distribution margins.