Daedong Planting the Seeds of Precision Agriculture on Approximately 3.77 Million m² (1.14 Million Pyeong) of Farmland in Saemangeum
Daedong Planting the Seeds of Precision Agriculture on Approximately 3.77 Million m² (1.14 Million Pyeong) of Farmland in Saemangeum
- Applying precision agriculture solutions for up to 10 years on basic food crops such as wheat and soybeans, covering an area equivalent to 526 soccer fields
- Providing solutions based on soil analysis and growth monitoring while collecting data to advance system sophistication
- The company is fully mobilizing its future agriculture capabilities at Saemangeum, including demonstrations of autonomous farming machinery, agricultural robots, and smart implements
Daedong, a leader and pioneer in future agriculture (co-CEOs Kim Jun-sik and Won Yu-hyun), announced on May 20 that it will collaborate for up to 10 years on precision agriculture[i] data collection and solution advancement with Hanmaeum Farming Cooperative Corporation (239 ha, 723,000 pyeong) and Songju Farming Cooperative Corporation (137 ha, 414,000 pyeong), both selected as operators of the Saemangeum Complex Grain Production Complex in Gimje-si, Jeollabuk-do.
This collaboration is part of the Korea Rural Community Corporation’s Saemangeum Complex Grain Production Complex land lease project. To select lease operators, the Korea Rural Community Corporation used farming plans and execution capabilities as key evaluation criteria, with particular emphasis on the inclusion of precision agriculture plans. Hanmaeum and Songju Farming Cooperatives, which submitted plans that actively incorporated precision agriculture, were selected as operators, and Daedong is participating as their technology partner.
The farmland these cooperatives will begin cultivating in June this year totals approximately 3.76 million m² (1.14 million pyeong, 376 ha), equivalent to about 526 soccer fields. This is about four times the size of the roughly 960,000 m² (290,000 pyeong) where Daedong conducted precision agriculture demonstrations focused on rice and soybeans from 2021 to 2024. On this land, basic food crops with high import dependence, such as wheat, soybeans, and corn, will be cultivated, while rice will be excluded.
Daedong will apply precision agriculture solutions capable of customized fertilizer prescriptions based on soil analysis, variable-rate fertilizer application using drone and satellite growth monitoring, data collection from autonomous farming machinery, and the development of tailored growth solutions using crop data on the farmland. At the same time, the company plans to advance related technologies.
Considering the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has designated the Saemangeum Complex Grain Production Complex as an important hub for food security and the future bio-agriculture industry, Daedong is looking to fully mobilize its future agriculture technical capabilities. Within a stable farming environment lasting up to 10 years, Daedong will introduce autonomous farming machinery, smart implements, and agricultural robots to gather diverse agricultural data. Based on this data, the company aims to advance AI agriculture technology and promote its application across the country.
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[i] What is Precision Agriculture? Precision agriculture refers to solutions designed to address food crises caused by shrinking farmland and abnormal weather, enabling the maximum harvest of high-quality crops with minimal resources by utilizing agricultural big data and AI. Before sowing, the soil is analyzed to provide a customized base fertilizer prescription that creates the optimal conditions for crop cultivation. Then, growth data captured by drones is used to generate a variable-rate fertilization map that divides the farmland into zones, allowing fertilizer to be applied in optimal amounts for each section. Precision agriculture is an AI-driven, data-based approach to farming, with the key advantage of simultaneously improving productivity and optimizing resource use.