Eco-friendly agriculture

Environmental-friendly agriculture refers to the form of farming which does not use chemical pesticide, fertilizer, and antibiotic, or, if any, use the least to minimize the pollution of water, air, and soil when producing agro-livestock goods, to maintain and preserve agricultural productivity and eco system, and produce safe agricultural products. Environment-friendly agricultural product means the certified one among agricultural product with low pesticides, agricultural product without pesticides, and organic agricultural product. (agricultural product with low pesticides has been abolished since 2015)

• · Prohibition of
    chemical pesticide,
    Fertilizer
  - Compliance of
    producing rule such
    as crop rotation, etc.
• · Prohibition of
    pesticide
  - Recommended
    allowance of chemical
    fertilizer 1/3
• · Supplying of feed not
    contained antibiotic,
    Antimicrobial, etc.

Certification logos effect since Jan. 1^st, 2012
※ The old logos had been also allowed to use with new ones till 2013 to prevent the confusion from the confusion from the alteration of logos and lighten the producer's burden of costs.

Four Principles of Organic Agriculture

Differences between conventional agriculture and organic agriculture

Sustainable agriculture of environmental-friendly agriculture

Sustainable agriculture is the act of farming based on an understanding of ecosystem services, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment. It has been defined as “an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will last over the long term.” Sustainable agriculture seeks for agricultural productivity, economic feasibility, environmental preservation, and safety of agricultural products altogether.

Comparison of environmental-friendly farming types in Gyeongnam area  (2008, National Institute of Crop Science)

Farming technique of using organic resource

Chitosan

What is Chitosan?

• Chitosan is the deacetylated unit from chitin which compose of shells of crustacean such as crabs and shrimps, the cell wall of fungi, the outer skin of insects, and chitinous substance is a general term for chitin and chitosan.
• In general, chitosan is made through following courses of washing, dehydrating and drying after cutting crab shells into pieces and then removing calcium carbonate and proteins with hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide each.

Practical Principles

• promotion of soil aggregation by mixing with soluble proteins

           * improvement in drainage, ventilation, and water retentivity

• increase of useful actinomyces in soil
• improvement in soil fertility suffering from injury by successive cropping
• The crustacean like shrimp, crab, and crawfish, etc. contains 30% of protein, calcium carbonate, and chitinous substance respectively; it is effective in the soil amendment by providing amino acid and calcium.

farming techniques utilizing natural resources such as minerals, etc. 

Germanium

What is germanium?

Germanium was not known to the public until it began to be used as the material of semiconducdor in the Bell Labs, U.S., in 1948. Water soluble organic germanium was developed and applied to the human body by the Asai Germanium Research Institute, Japan, in 1967. Germanium has started to gain more popularity since many research papers' announcement of its merits: anti-cancer and anti-virus effect, strengthening the immunity, alleviation of fever, painkilling, detoxification of heavy metals, antihypertensive effect, etc. Germanium farming means to sprinkle germanium over the soil or leaves, helping to grow crops healthy and harvest germanium-contained agricultural products by germanium absorption.

Practical Principles

• No injury by successive cropping due to supplying trace elements necessary for plant's growth in balance

• Inhibition effect of soil sickness
• Energetic root activity by promoting photosynthesis
• Setting up the environment for soil microbes to reproduce resulting from improving the quality of soil

Sulfur

What is Sulfur?

Sulfur has been used as antiseptic since ancient times. Today, it is widely used in many fields as explosive, insecticide, medicine, feed additives, and fertilizer, etc. 

Practical Principle

Sulfur is not only the component of protein and enzyme in plants, but also known as good sterilizer and insecticide in plants, chiefly against powdery mildews and mites.

16 elements (Except for Oxygen, Carbon)

• nitrogen - it promotes growth of leaves
• calcium - it maintains freshness and immunity, produces and delivers starch, sugar, and fat, and strengthens stems.
• magnesium - it is a necessary element for production of sugar, and facilitates to absorb, helps to form fats
• phosphorus - it participates in forming the root in the early period, helps to grow rapidly and bear fruit, and prevents immaturity.
• sulfur - it is a necessary element for protein, maintains blue color, strengthens knots, and helps to form seeds
• ferrum - it helps to form chlorophyll.
• boron - it helps effectiveness of calcium, delivers sugar, promotes health of stems and roots, and maintains the quality of fruit and vegetables.
• manganese - it promotes germination and growth, helps to properly distribute calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, etc., supplies oxygen to soil, and helps chlorophyll formation and carbon dioxide assimilation.
• zinc - it helps formation of chlorophyll and growth of plants
• copper - it recovers and helps to restore the soil messed up with trashes
• molybdenum - it fixes protein nitrogen, and prevents weakness of stems and yellow spot diseases.
• chlorine - it helps the growth of buds and sprouts.