Korea: Seoul’s Urban Agricultural Development Area Has Expanded Eightfold in 14 Years Increasing number of citizens growing directly due to soaring vegetable prices
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the number of urban agriculture participants nationwide reached 1.765 million as of 2023, of which about 650,000 were estimated to participate in the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
By AHN Byoungjun
Maeil Business Newspaper
Mar 3, 2025
Excerpt:
Cho, 67, who lives in Mapo, Seoul, has been growing lettuce and crown daisy on the veranda of his apartment for two years. As the abnormal climate intensified vegetable price fluctuations due to crop conditions, they decided to grow and eat them themselves. The cultured soil was put in the space of the veranda and the seeds were planted, and they were grown without pesticides, but they grew better than expected.
“I feel like my health is improving because I eat salad with freshly harvested vegetables in the morning so that I can sleep well just by watering them well,” Cho said. “I ate lettuce every day during the golden harvest last year to ease the burden on households, and this year, I plan to buy an urban garden in the autonomous district and grow other crops.”
Amid rapid fluctuations in agricultural prices due to increased instability in supply and demand due to abnormal climate, an increasing number of urban farmers are harvesting food directly from their homes or gardens. Accordingly, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and each autonomous district are expanding their sales volume of box gardens and urban gardens from previous years.
Read the complete article here.
Source: https://cityfarmer.info/korea-seouls-urban-agricultural-development-area-has-expanded-eightfold-in-14-years-increasing-number-of-citizens-growing-directly-due-to-soaring-vegetable-prices/
