Changes and Perspectives of Korean Family Farms

Abstract

This paper aims to understand changes in Korean family farm structures. For that purpose, characteristics of families’ inheritance system and relations between farm householders and the local community were ascertained. How family farms procure resources and obtain farm necessary farm labor was analyzed with data from the Agricultural Census. Results of the analysis could be summarized as follows :
First, dissimilar to the Japanese case, the family farm inheritance system does not require farm succession and there are few community restraints to farm management. Therefore, farm succession is being promoted favorably with new householders under the conditions of low barriers to entry for beginning farms. Second, the transaction mechanism preferred by family farms is not organizational hierarchy but market transactions. Regardless of farm scale, many Korean family farm operations rely on custom work and FLCs without owned farm machinery and employed workers. Third, it is hard to expect new forms of farming enterprises, such as group farming or agricultural corporations, being developed or substituting for family farms in Korea.