• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.252-260
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• 2011

BACKGROUND: Currently, national biomass inventory are being established for efficient management of the potential energy sources. Among the various types of biomass, agricultural wastes are considered to take the biggest portion of the total annual biomass generated in Korea, implying its importance. However, the currently estimated amount is not reliable because the old reference data are still used to estimate total annual amount of agricultural wastes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Therefore, to provide reliable estimation data, a correct conversion factor obtained by taking into account the current situation is required. For this, the current study was conducted to provide the conversion factors for each representative 8 crop through a field cultivation study. Also conversion factors for 18 crops were calculated using the average amount of each crop produced during 2004 and 2008, subsequently; total amount of agricultural wastes generated in 2009 was estimated using these conversion factors. The total biomass of rice straw and rice husk generated in 2009 were 6.5 and 1.1 million tons, respectively, which consist 75% of the total agricultural based wastes, while the total biomass of pepper shoots and apple pruning twigs were 1.0 and 0.6 million tons, respectively. Despite the high amount of rice-based biomass, their applicability for bio-energy production is low due to conventional utilization of these materials for animal feeds and beds for animal husbandry. In addition to exact estimation of the total biomass, temporal variations in both generated amount and the type of agricultural biomass materials are also important for efficient utilization; fruit pruning twigs (January to March); barley-, been-, and mustard-related waste materials (April to June); rice-related waste (September to October). CONCLUSION(s): Such information provided in this study can be used to establish a master plan for efficient utilization of the agricultural wastes on purpose of bio-energy production.

• 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 Ecology and Environment
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.375-384
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• 2016

Phytoplankton community is one of the important factors for the management of aquatic environment due to generation of varying toxins by harmful algal species. This study was performed to examine the phytoplankton community structure (PCS) in the midstream of Geum River (GR) from January 2014 to December 2015. The water sampling was performed in five stations on 2014, and three stations on 2015. Subsequently, the morphological identification was performed by microscopic observation in laboratory condition. As results, total 265 species were identified and it was comprised of 40.8% of Bacillariophyceae, 9.1% of Cyanophyceae, 44.5% of Chlorophyceae, and the others (4.9%). During the investigation period, total average standing crop of phytoplankton was $12,948cells\;mL^{-1}$, and it was comprised of $7,702cells\;mL^{-1}$ of Bacillariophyceae, $2,821cells\;mL^{-1}$ of Cyanophyceae, $2,121cells\;mL^{-1}$ of Chlorophyceae, and $305cells\;mL^{-1}$ of others. To verify which tributaries of upstream area influence on PCS of midstream of GR, the phytoplankton standing crops of two stations including Mihocheon (MH) and Gapcheon (GC) were examined on 2014, and compared to result of on 2015. The results were shown that the MH station had more similar phytoplankton standing crops with midstream of GR than GC station. The relationship between environmental parameters and phytoplankton dynamics was studied at the investigated station. As results, whereas water temperature and total phosphorus were represented the positive correlation, N/P ratio was remarkably exhibited negative correlation. From the results, it is suggested that the PCS of midstream of GR was more affected by MH station than GC station, and the changes of temperature, phosphorus concentration, and N/P ratio may be important factors on the PCS formation of midstream of GR.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.180-189
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• 2017

Genetically modified (GM) crops have been developed worldwide through the recombinant DNA technology and commercialized by global agricultural companies. Until now, GM crops have not been cultivated commercially in Korea. Commercialization of GM crops requires a compulsory assessment of environmental risk associated with the release of GM crops. This study was conducted to evaluate the frequency of pollen mediated gene flow from Bt transgenic rice (Agb0101) to japonica non-GM rice (Nakdongbyeo), indica non-GM rice (IR36), and weedy rice (R55). A total of 729,917, 596,318 and 230,635 seeds were collected from Nakdongbyeo, IR36, and R55, respectively, which were planted around Agb0101. Selection of the hybrids was determined by repeated spraying of herbicide and Cry1Ac1 immunostrip assay. Finally, the hybrids were confirmed by PCR analysis using specific primer. The hybrids were found in all non-GM rice and out-crossing ranged from 0.0005% at IR36 to 0.0027% at Nakdongbyeo. All of hybrids were located within 1.2 m distance from the Agb0101 rice plot. The meteorological elements including rainfall and temperature during rice flowering time were found to be important factors to determine rice out-crossing rate. Consideration should be taken for many factors like the meteorological elements of field and physiological condition of crop to set up the safety management guideline to prevention of GM crops gene flow.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.431-437
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• 2015

Recently, assessment of nitrogen balance has been required for environmental agriculture. Nutrient management using organic matters in farmlands has been strongly required as a means of extending resource-cycling agriculture and reduction of nitrogen balance. Organic matters-derived nutrients and soil-available nitrogen should be necessarily considered to manage nutrient balance in soil-plant system. In this study, we reviewed the amount of N supply according to types of organic matter such as livestock compost and green manure in arable land. In case of applied livestock compost in soil, nitrogen mineralization was influenced by nitrogen amount of livestock manure and mixed materials. And nitrogen mineralization of green manure in arable land was influenced by types of crop and return period of green manure because of change of C/N ratio. Also, nitrogen supply by organic matter in arable land can be changed by environmental factors such as temperature, moisture in soil. Therefore, nitrogen supply according to C/N ratio of organic matter and analysis method for estimation of soil nitrogen supply availability should be evaluated to set up the nutrient management model.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.163-172
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• 2019

The USLE P factor is a factor that varies depending on how croplands are managed and cultivated. Previous studies tend to overestimate the amount of soil loss because the factor was estimated from the slope of the watershed rather than the estimate of each cultivated land. In addition, the accuracy of estimating the soil loss is decreasing due to the fact that the factor is calculated without considering various conditions of cultivated land defined by Wishmeier and Smith. In order to overcome these problems, the Ministry of Environment (MOE) has proposed to establish the topsoil notification and calculate the P factor according to the cultivation methods (e.g., tillage system, support practice). However, it is required to apply the conditions proposed in the United States to domestic circumstances as it is causing uncertainties. Thus, this study selected the watersheds where soil loss was serious (Haean, Jaun, Banbyeoncheon), measured the actual slopes and slope lengths, and examined the crop, tillage systems, and support practice for each cultivated land. The P factors were recalculated considering the actual conditions of cultivated land and compared to the factors proposed by the previous studies (MOE). As the result of the study, the P factors calculated based on the previous studies were 0.8 ~ 1.0 in three watersheds. On the other hand, it is confirmed that there is a significant difference between the factors notified by MOE and estimated by reflecting the topography and cultivation methods in this study. Therefore, it is considered that the research for developing the cultivation conditions to calculate the P factor suitable for the domestic environment should be continuously carried out.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.329-339
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• 2021

Soybeans (Glycine max), one of major upland crops, require precise management of environmental conditions, such as temperature, water, and soil, during cultivation since they are sensitive to environmental changes. Application of spectral technologies that measure the physiological state of crops remotely has great potential for improving quality and productivity of the soybean by estimating yields, physiological stresses, and diseases. In this study, we developed and validated a soybean growth prediction model using multispectral imagery. We conducted a linear regression analysis between vegetation indices and soybean growth data (fresh weight and LAI) obtained at Miryang fields. The linear regression model was validated at Goesan fields. It was found that the model based on green ratio vegetation index (GRVI) had the greatest performance in prediction of fresh weight at the calibration stage (R²=0.74, RMSE=246 g/m², RE=34.2%). In the validation stage, RMSE and RE of the model were 392 g/m² and 32%, respectively. The errors of the model differed by cropping system, For example, RMSE and RE of model in single crop fields were 315 g/m² and 26%, respectively. On the other hand, the model had greater values of RMSE (381 g/m²) and RE (31%) in double crop fields. As a result of developing models for predicting a fresh weight into two years (2018+2020) with similar accumulated temperature (AT) in three years and a single year (2019) that was different from that AT, the prediction performance of a single year model was better than a two years model. Consequently, compared with those models divided by AT and a three years model, RMSE of a single crop fields were improved by about 29.1%. However, those of double crop fields decreased by about 19.6%. When environmental factors are used along with, spectral data, the reliability of soybean growth prediction can be achieved various environmental conditions.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.17-26
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• 2010

Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.166-172
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• 2018

This study set out to conduct a field survey with smart greenhouse-based farms in seven types to figure out the actual state of smart greenhouses distributed across the nation before selecting a system to implement an optimal greenhouse environment and doing a research on higher productivity based on data related to crop growth, development, and environment. The findings show that the farms were close to an intelligent or advanced smart farm, given the main purposes of leading cases across the smart farm types found in the field. As for the age of farmers, those who were in their forties and sixties accounted for the biggest percentage, but those who were in their fifties or younger ran 21 farms that accounted for approximately 70.0%. The biggest number of farmers had a cultivation career of ten years or less. As for the greenhouse type, the 1-2W type accounted for 50.0%, and the multispan type accounted for 80.0% at 24 farms. As for crops they cultivated, only three farms cultivated flowers with the remaining farms growing only fruit vegetables, of which the tomato and paprika accounted for approximately 63.6%. As for control systems, approximately 77.4% (24 farms) used a domestic control system. As for the control method of a control system, three farms regulated temperature and humidity only with a control panel with the remaining farms adopting a digital control method to combine a panel with a computer. There were total nine environmental factors to measure and control including temperature. While all the surveyed farms measured temperature, the number of farms installing a ventilation or air flow fan or measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide was relatively small. As for a heating system, 46.7% of the farms used an electric boiler. In addition, hot water boilers, heat pumps, and lamp oil boilers were used. As for investment into a control system, there was a difference in the investment scale among the farms from 10 million won to 100 million won. As for difficulties with greenhouse management, the farmers complained about difficulties with using a smart phone and digital control system due to their old age and the utter absence of education and materials about smart greenhouse management. Those difficulties were followed by high fees paid to a consultant and system malfunction in the order.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.131-138
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• 2016

Recently, the cultivated area is reduced, the ratio of upland-field in the total cultivated area is increasing relative appeared in 36.2% in 1990 from 43.7% in 2013. If upland-field can be applied well designed-infrastructure, good income crop production is possible, however, maintenance of infrastructure and a significant portion of the upland-field is maintained under insufficient infrastructure. While imports of agricultural products expanded since the 2000s in progress, looking at the self-sufficiency of upland-field crops, it is reduced to from 90% to 42% for the pepper, it is from 90% to 74% for the garlic, cereals is reduced from 42% by 26%. As a result of these conditions, the competitiveness of farmers has weakened, the risk to meet the challenges of this area of production and supply reduction increased. This study was the first to conduct a basic evaluation index, data analysis and evaluation of indicators to diagnose the agricultural production capacity of the upland field. 12 kinds classified index of producing conditions from the natural environment and eight factors for the cultivation and production capabilities have developed for the assessment of productivity of upland-field (especially Kimchi cabbage). Through this regional imbalance was found, based on the production capabilities conditions are good in Haenam, Gangneung, Pyeongchang. 3 Regions have been low and the lowest Youngwol to 0.8992. Climate(Cultivation conditions) indicators of Mungyeong region is the highest, relatively low areas were in Taebaek. In particular, it is determined to be preferred that the area required for the enhancing the production environment based on providing the convenience for the producing and maintenance of the first production area. It is necessary Increasing part of mechanization, agro-industrial competitiveness through aggressive management plans for facilities as required in the process of post-harvest storage, processing, distribution line can be improved.