Effect of Free Trade Agreements on the Structure of Korean Livestock Farming

Abstract

　This paper is an analysis using chiefly unit vote data for 2000 and 2015 from the agricultural census to investigate the structural changes that have taken place particularly among beef cattle breeders in South Korea’s livestock farming since South Korea began to proactively enter into free trade agreements in the 2000s.　Our analysis has uncovered the following points.

　First, the rankings of beef cattle breeders by the scale of the herds being raised have changed.　In 2000, the ratio of small-scale beef cattle breeders to total beef cattle breeders was 93.5%, while the percentage of beef cattle they were raising to the total number of beef cattle was 50.1%.　By 2015, the number of small-scale breeders had considerably declined, to merely 59.2% of all cattle breeders.　In addition, they accounted for only 12.3% of all the cattle being bred.

　Second, many farmers who had been raising small herds of beef cattle on the side while cultivating rice have exited the beef cattle business.　Numerous small-scale operations consist of farmers who are raising beef cattle in addition to their main business of growing rice and other crops.　Between 2000 and 2015, the total number of beef cattle breeders declined by about 180,000, while that of small-scale cattle breeders raising cattle in addition to their main business of rice cultivation declined by about 160,000.

　Third, while areas with high concentrations of small-scale herds are shrinking, areas with high concentrations of largescale herds are increasing.　Looking at the percentage of small-scale breeders by area, we see that areas wherein the percentage of small-sized breeders is 80% or more （i.e., areas with high ratios of small cattle breeders） constituted 85.7% of all areas in 2000;however, we also see that this had diminished to 3.3% by 2015.

　Between 2000 and 2015, the number of South Korean farmers engaged in cattle-raising operations, particularly those with small herds whose main business was rice cultivation, dropped precipitously.　The ratio of beef cattle produced on a small scale dropped as well.　At the same time, the percentage of largescale farms steadily increased, along with their share of beef cattle production.

JEL Classification:Q12