• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.615-641
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• 2015

This study analyzes an economic efficiencies of apples, pears, and grapes farming. We evaluate an annual economic overall efficiency (OE), allocative efficiency (AE), technology efficiency (TE), pure technology efficiency (PTE), and scale efficiency (SE) using data envelopment analysis (DEA). We also measure returns to scale of farms, and the change of technical efficiency of frontier farms. Lastly we estimate the effects of some explanatory variables on allocative, pure technical, and scale efficiencies.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.247-265
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• 2024

The aim of the study was to assess whole farm nitrogen (N)-balance in organic Hanwoo farms of different recycling types. N input, output and within-farm N flows were calculated as a farm-gate balance on 12 organic Hanwoo farms. The observed farms were divided into three groups: as (a) recycling farms, with a forage cultivation area (more than 0.1 ha), (b) semi-recycling farms (0.01-0.1 ha) and (c) with non-recycling farms (less than 0.01 ha). The self-sufficiency forage crops for animal feed was 44.4, 15.0, and 4.2% in recycling farms, semi-recycling farms and non-recycling, respectively. The recycling rate of compost was 98.8, 63.8, and 20.6% in recycling farms, semi-recycling farms and non-recycling farms, respectively. The annual farm-gate N surplus (input-output) per head was 42, 47, and 55 kg in recycling farms, semi-recycling farms and non-recycling, respectively. The mean annual N balance per head in recycling farms was less than 28% of non-recycling. The field nitrogen budgets showed 234, 1,161, and 5,476 kg N ha^-1 year^-1 in recycling farms, semi-recycling farms and non-recycling farm, respectively. N-surplus reductions of in recycling farms was 5-23 times lower compared to the semi-recycling farms and non-recycling farm. The nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) was 54, 36, and 29%, in recycling farms, semi-recycling farms, and non-recycling farm, respectively. Results showed that compost recycling through crop-livestock recycling farm is significant in the contributing to circulating N balance and to greater efficiency and productivity. The recycling organic Hanwoo farm had the low N balance and the high NUE. To reduce the N balance, we considered how to increase the amount of recycling by using self production compost. The self production forage crops was mainly considered to reduce the N balance by decreasing input of purchased feeds and increasing crop production and recycling rate of compost.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.17-27
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• 2014

Wild boars are one of the major wild life animals of which the number has increased a lot because there has been any predator and/or competitor in the Korean ecosystem. The increase of their number was a cause damaging crops in farm lands during the growing season in South Korea. This study was done to recognize the spatial pattern of farm lands damaged by wild boars. Totally 2,342 farms were known damaged by wild boars in 2012, and used to statistically analyze the perspectives of the farm land damages by wild boars in ArcMap v. 9.3. Damages by wild boars frequently happened in the western part of Gyeongnam Province including Jinju city, Tongyoung city and Namhae county. Most farm lands damaged were located nearby large mountains in this area. It might cause the number of wild boars increased in this area, which could finally stimulate the increase of farm land damaged by the species. Farm land damages by wild boars were also coincident with the preference of wild boars on their food. They preferred crops (e.g., sweet potato and corn) in uplands and rice paddies and orchards. The reason of their preference on rice, upland crops and fruits was related to the efficiency of their getting much more energy in a unit area. Another reason for the species to come into a rice paddy would be that they enjoy mud bath in there for scraping off parasites such as ticks and lice. Wild boars were seemed much overcrowded during the period from July to October when most of crops and fruits get ripen. About three-quarters of total farm land damages happened in this period. This analysis also said that 1,915 fields (81.8% of total targets) appeared within the 100-meter buffer from boundaries of mountain areas. This meant that wild boars were more sensitive to the anthropogenic land uses than we expected. They seemed to conservatively try their feeding activities in farm lands with paying attention to the human activity.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2014

This work was conducted to study the improvement of reproduction rate from the breeding data collected from four farms from January 2007 to October 2010. The average numbers of service per conception were 1) A farm $1.7{\pm}0.1$ times, 2) B farm $1.5{\pm}0.1$ times, 3) C farm $1.5{\pm}0.1$ times, 4) D farm $1.4{\pm}0.1$ times. The average days from calving to conception was $77.4{\pm}4.8$ days in A farm, $150.8{\pm}11.2$ days in B farm, $90.4{\pm}4.5$ days in C farm, and $71.4{\pm}2.5$ days in D farm. Number of artificial insemination (AI) service per conception was higher at the 30 days before first AI ($2.1{\pm}0.2$ times) than at the 31 days after first AI, and the days from calving to conception were shorter at the 90 days before first AI than at the 91 days after first AI. After timed AI (TAI) treatment, the pregnancy rate was 60.3% for the 58 cows with reproductive disorder. In order to improvement of reproduction rates, the farms has to improve the accuracy of estrus detection, pregnancy diagnosis, check-up for reproductive health, and control of day for first AI periods after calving. The result suggests that farmers need the careful management and reproductive examination of farm animals to improve of reproductive efficiency.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.7-8
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• 2000

Transgenic animals are very useful for scientific, pharmaceutical, and agricultural purposes. In livestock, transgenic technology has been used forthe genetic alteration of farm animals, the production of human proteins inlarge quantities in the milk of transgenic farm animals, and the generation of animals with organs suitable for xenotransplantation. To date, the transfer of foreign genes into farm animals has been performed mainly by microinjection of DNA into the pronuclei of fertilized eggs. However, the overall success rate of transgenic animals in livestock so far has been disappointingly low, eg., the efficiency is 0∼5% in swine, and less than 1% in sheep and cattle, compared with the rate in mice where 5% microinjected develop into transgenic animals. Recently, McGreath et al. (2000) have succeeded in producing the gene targeted sheep by the use of nuclear transfer from cultured somatic cells transfected with a foreign gene in vitro. However, we may need plenty of time until currently employ this method for gene transfer to farm animals. We have been studying to exploit the method for improving production efficiencies of transgenic animals with emphasis of its application to farm animals. The present paper describes three approaches that we have made in our laboratory to improve production efficiencies of transgenic animals, based on the DNA microinjection method. 1. Co-injection of restriction enzyme with foreign DNA into the pronucleus for elevating production efficiencies of transgenic animals. 2. Efficient selection of transgenic mouse embryos using EGFP as a marker gene. 3. Phenotypes of tansgenic mice expressing WAP/hGH-CAG/EGFP fusion gene produced by selecting transgenic embryos. 4. Efficient site-specific integration of the transgene targeting an endogenous lox like site in early mouse embryos.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.225-239
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• 2010

A high prevalence of farmer's work-related musculo-skeletal disorders (MSDs) have been reported in precedent studies. Risk factors - physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic risk factor etc. - in farm-work were identified by previous studies. To prevent farmers from exposing to them and reduce, Agricultural Safety Technology were introduced and used on farm. The purpose of this study is to review and summarize the agricultural safety technology on farm in Korea. According to strategy principles, this technology is classified as four criteria - workload reduction by reducing awkward posture, workload reduction by using manual material handling aids, Comfort improvement by protecting worker from hot, cold environment and work efficiency improvement by workplace redesign and cultivation modification. This technology includes transporting tools, working cloth, personal protective equipment, and pesticide-proof Clothing. Anthropometric study of Korean farmers was also carried out to support the development of equipment and clothes. In long terms, it needs to precaution activity from risk factors by using cultivation modification and working improvement. Although working condition gets better and workload reduce by this technology, it required customized safety technology in each crops - rice cultivation, horticulture and livestock farming. And farmers should use the assistive technology and participate voluntarily in ergonomic intervention program.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.851-858
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• 2018

In this paper, a temperature and humidity algorithm was proposed to enhance the economic efficiency and productivity of smart farm. The basic conditions of smart farms were analyzed, and the information exchange system between sensors and control objects in smart farms based on wireless communication was designed. Based on this, a temperature and humidity control algorithm was developed so that temperature, humidity and soil humidity within smart farm can be followed in predefined values for plant growth. To verify the validity of the proposed design methodology and control algorithm, a prototype of small scale smart farm based on 2.4GHz wireless communication were built and their validity was confirmed through repeated temperature and humidity test.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.230-236
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• 2024

This study aimed to analyze the environmental factors affecting tomato growth by examining the correlation between weather and growth environment sensor data from P Smart Farm located in Gwangseok-myeon, Nonsan-si, Chungcheongnam-do. Key environmental variables such as the temperature, humidity, sunlight hours, solar radiation, and daily light integral (DLI) significantly affect tomato growth. The optimal temperature and DLI conditions play crucial roles in enhancing tomato growth and the photosynthetic efficiency. In this study, we developed a model to correct and predict the time-series variations in internal environmental sensor data using external weather sensor data. A linear regression analysis model was employed to estimate the external temperature variations and internal DLI values of P Smart Farm. Then, regression equations were derived based on these data. The analysis verified that the estimated variations in external temperature and internal DLI are explained effectively by the regression models. In this research, we analyzed and monitored smart-farm growth environment data based on weather sensor data. Thereby, we obtained an optimized model for the temperature and light conditions crucial for tomato growth. Additionally, the study emphasizes the importance of sensor-based data analysis in dynamically adjusting the tomato growth environment according to the variations in weather and growth conditions. The observations of this study indicate that analytical solutions using public weather data can provide data-driven operational experiences and productivity improvements for small- and medium-sized facility farms that cannot afford expensive sensors.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.1520-1532
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• 2020

Objective: Due to rapid economic return, mixed crop-swine farming systems in Korea have become more intensive. Intensive farming practices often cause nutrient surpluses and lead to environmental pollution. Nutrient budgets can be used to evaluate the environmental impact and as a regulatory policy instrument for nutrient management. This study was conducted to select a nutrient budgeting approach applicable to the mixed crop-swine farms in Korea and suggest an effective manure treatment method to reduce on-farm nutrient production. Methods: In this study, we compared current and ideal gross nutrient balance (GNB) approaches of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and soil system budget (SSB) approach with reference to on-farm manure treatment processes. Data obtained from farm census and published literature were used to develop the farm nutrient budgets. Results: The average nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) surpluses were approximately 11 times and over 7 times respectively higher in the GNB approaches than the SSB. After solid-liquid separation of manure, during liquid composting a change in aeration method from intermittent to continuous reduced the N and P loading about 50% and 47%, respectively. Although changing in solid composting method from turning only to turning+aeration improved the N removal efficiency by 30.5%, not much improvement in P removal efficiency was observed. Conclusion: Although the GNB approaches depict the impact of nutrients produced in the mixed crop-swine farms on the overall agricultural environment, the SSB approach shows the partitioning among different nutrient loss pathways and storage of nutrients within the soil system; thus, can help design sustainable nutrient management plans for the mixed cropswine farms. The study also suggests that continuous aeration for liquid composting and turning+aeration for solid composting can reduce nutrient loading to the soil.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.3677-3684
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• 1975

A newly devised dryer with heated air for the farm products, especially suited for high water content materials such as red pepper, Beer ground, each Vegetables, and Low water content materials such as Rough rice was tested for its thermal efficiency and drying mechanism, and the optimum conditions for each sample were established. In order to improve the present rural situation of drying farm products which entirely dependent upon natural solar radiation, a study upon an economic multi-parpose dryer was conducted. A series of drying tests were run first with red pepper which is one of the important cash crop in Korean farm. And successive series of tests were also run with such proaucts as garlic, sweet potatoes, green onion, radish, Beer ground and Rough rice. The results from the above experiment in drying system with heat dryer can be summarized as follows. 1. Drying duration could be shortened by the tempering effect in high water content crop such as red pepper and beer ground. 2. The color changes occured in around 20% water content in red pepper. The degree of color change was heavily affected by high temperature and short drying duration. 3. The drying condition of red pepper was most favourable at the temperature of 85$^{\circ}C$ in early stage and 80$^{\circ}C$ in middle stage and 75$^{\circ}C$ at the final stage, and with the air rate of 0.81㎥/sec and with sample amount of 200kg. 4. The drying condition of Rough rice(I.R.667) was most favourable at the templature of 40$^{\circ}C$ in early stage and 35$^{\circ}C$ in middle stage and final stage and with the air rate of 0.2㎥/sec and with sample amount of 75kg. 5. In order to prevent the color change of red pepper and to assure high efficiency in drying mechanism, it was necessary to lower the temperature as the time passes in drying process. 6. For vege tables, the drying rate were short in early stage and there was also tempering effect. However, for garlics, Constant drying rates through the early and final stages were observed and there were no tempering effects. 7. The drying condition or capability were as follows; Sample drying temp($^{\circ}C$) amount of material(kg) drying time(hr) Red pepper 85 200 9 Garlic 85 150 7 Sweet potato 85 200 6 Green Onion 85 200 4 Carrot 85 200 4 Radish 90 250 4 Rough rice(I.R.667) 35 75 4 Beer ground 90 320 3 Considering the above result of experiments, if this kind of dryers were distributed Korean farm and the optimun process were practiced in rural area, it would certainly help them improving the qualites of their product preventing their undue losses, and thus assuring an increase of Korean farm income and promotion of their living standards.