Gyeong-seop Choi. Area: about 2.45 acres. Items: small-scale production of multiple varieties including garlic, onions, carrots, and peppers. Experience: 10th year of organic farming.
The case of farmer Gyeong-seop Choi, who connects small-scale multi-crop production with local food direct markets, presents a sustainable model that modern eco-friendly organic farming should pursue. Starting from the philosophy of Korean Natural Farming (KNF) introduced by Master Han-gyu Cho, this method applies the Ultra-Low-Cost farming system of JADAM Organic Farming to the field, achieving the dual goals of reducing production costs and restoring the ecosystem. In particular, it is highly notable that the problem of pests like aphids, which is considered the greatest difficulty in early farming, was resolved through no-till farming and formulating self-made JADAM Microbial Pesticide (JMP).
Gyeong-seop Choi, who runs Chamsaegol Green Farm (Sparrow Valley Green Farm) in Sejong, says he thought he should do eco-friendly farming someday while taking KNF lectures from Master Cho when he was working. While working in Busan, he started farming in a kitchen garden, and after retiring, he took JADAM lectures in Hadong and settled in Sejong to start farming about 2.45 acres with small-scale production of multiple varieties. Although it is a lot of work due to the diverse crops, it is rewarding because he sells to 4 local food stores and a Nonghyup Hanaro Mart (a Korean agricultural cooperative market) in Sejong, so there is no worry about sales.
From the beginning of his farming, he farmed in an eco-friendly way as he learned from JADAM and received organic agricultural product certification. Even though he prices his products 10 to 50 percent higher than regular agricultural products at the local food store, many people recognize the value and buy them, so they sell well. Small-scale multi-crop production requires a lot of labor, from small packaging to local food displays, but since his wife dislikes farming, he finds it comfortable to work alone without forcing her to come to the field. He starts working at 6 in the morning and works until 8 or 10 at night, but he doesn't consider it work. He lives joyfully without feeling tired, thinking of it as playing and communicating with the crops.
In the early days, controlling aphids was somewhat difficult, and there were tough times when he had to apply treatments continuously every 1 or 2 days. However, now with no-till farming and making JMP, pests are successfully controlled just by applying it once a week, so there is no difficulty.
- Making Jadam Microbial Pesticide (JMP) : https://en.jadam.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=10986
- Watch video (8 minutes)
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