Im a farmer - I live in Jeollanam-do - Hwasun Choi Haesung
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If you go to Mukgol-gil, Dong-myeon, Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do, it
is full of dark copper jars. The jar, which is too big for an adult man
to lift, contains sweet and bitter smells and bright vinegar. Each jar
is fermented with brown rice for up to six months and three years,
producing up to 75 liters of high-quality vinegar.
Choi
Hae-sung (62), CEO of Ogok Fermentation Village, an agricultural
company, who returned to Mukgol-gil in 2010, carried out a filial return
farming for his mother living alone in her hometown of Hwasun-gun after
honorary retirement. In order to build up agricultural knowledge that
had not existed since returning to farming, CEO Choi participated in
agricultural education conducted by the Agricultural Technology Center
during the day, and visited various places in the farmhouse at night to
learn agricultural theory. Currently, it is established as a
representative farmer of Mukgol-gil, producing fermented foods such as
pork potato brown vinegar, Ulgeum brown vinegar, and Jakdu bean brown
vinegar on 7,74㎡ (2,140 pyeong) of open land and raising annual sales of
50 million won.
Why did CEO Choi, a city man
who graduated from Gwangju Technical High Schools electrical department
and worked for a large company for more than 20 years, choose a somewhat
unfamiliar return to farming?
Choi retired as a
team leader in 2009. In order to bloom the second life of his family
and his/her own, he/she sought a job near Gwangju Metropolitan City, but
it has repeatedly come to nothing due to his/her age. In such a
situation, I suddenly remembered my mother who was alone in her hometown
of Hwasun-gun, and CEO Choi, who grew up alone in her mothers arms
after losing her father, returned to her hometown in 2010 to catch two
rabbits: her mother Bong-yang and the second act of her life.
In
the early days of returning to farming, CEO Choi chose peppers and
beans as cultivation crops, which are easy to produce and grow, and are
suitable for new farmers. However, as a result of the year-end tax
adjustment, he experienced a "deplosion (short for "crashing out") in
which there were no labor costs and profits, but rather recorded
deficits.
CEO Choi said, "I visited the
Hwasun-gun Agricultural Technology Center at the end of 2010 because I
thought it would not work like this," adding, "At that time, a five-time
fermentation education for returnees was in progress." After completing
the training, I became interested in fermented foods," he explained.
Regarding
his early life as a farmer, CEO Choi stressed that he endured with a
single determination to "return to the mind of the examinee." During the
day, he participated in all education programs run by the Hwasun-gun
Agricultural Technology Center, and at night, he visited local farms to
learn practical agricultural knowledge and continued to study natural
fermented vinegar and sauces on his own.
As a
result, CEO Chois training hours, including how to farm soybeans and
training for the fermentation process, were well over 1,000 hours, and
only then did he gradually gain an eye and knowledge for agriculture,
CEO Choi said.
CEO Choi said, "It has become a
great knowledge to participate in a monthly meeting held by the
Hwasun-gun Informatization Farmers Research Association (Hwajeong
Farmers) to share agricultural knowledge and discuss improvements,"
adding, "Currently, all 30 farmers belonging to Hwajeong Farmers run
personal blogs and pass on know-how in the cultivation or production
process to the public." As he belatedly entered agriculture and went
through a series of processes to overcome his previous agricultural
knowledge, an average of 50 prospective farmers visit CEO Chois blog
every day to learn the fermentation process and how to make soy sauce.
In
April 2014, Ogok Fermentation Village Co., Ltd., an agricultural
company run by CEO Choi, was finally selected as a "village company" by
the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs. On top of
that, it was also selected as a "preliminary village company"
implemented by the Jeollanam-do Provincial Office and received 70
million won (50 million won for the Ministry of Government
Administration and Home Affairs and 20 million won for Jeollanam-do).
Using this subsidy as a stepping stone, CEO Choi expanded his business
by establishing a fermentation manufacturing plant and purchasing 100
pots to ferment brown rice.
Of course, he had
an experience of disposing of all of his harvests that year due to the
nature of fermented foods that contaminate all jars even if only one jar
is decomposed, but CEO Choi made his own recipe with all his heart in
the process of failure.
In addition, CEO Choi
plans to expand fermented food manufacturing facilities and sales
channels and focus on developing new products. Currently, CEO Choi will
build an additional vinegar aging room at a 264㎡ (80 pyeong) plant to
develop crickets as a new product of natural fermented vinegar. On top
of that, it also has a bold plan to expand its market through 10 online
shopping malls and 5 offline stores by this year.
CEO Choi advised prospective returnees not to make "urgent purchases" to settle a stable return to farming life.
"There
are three major prohibited items for new farmers," CEO Choi said. "It
is a wise way to run a farmhouse on a trial basis without purchasing
houses, land, and agricultural machinery so that they can take one step
out at any time."
He also hinted that it should permeate and adapt to rural culture with the goal of living together with local people.
CEO
Choi said, "The nagging of the elderly people in the city is an
expression of their own interest and affection," and added, "It is also a
fun factor for returning to farming to harmonize and adapt to the
culture rather than being stressed by the old culture of the elderly."
Finally,
he said, "It is greed to hope for clear results in a short period of
time," and emphasized, "If you set plans and goals on a yearly basis,
you will be on the track of success at some point."
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