Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Young farmer injects vigor into rice industry
Lee Jae-kwang, head of Ilsan Farming Association Corp., flies a drone for pest control. / Courtesy of the Korea Agency for Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Nam Hyun-woo
Lee Jae-kwang
Lee Jae-kwang, head of Ilsan Farming Association Corp., was named as this month's young entrepreneur in the rice industry by a government agriculture promoting arm, being recognized for his efforts in fresh rice branding and commercialization.
According to the Korea Agency of Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (EPIS), Monday, the agency has been awarding young entrepreneurs in the rice industry this year in a bid to promote rice consumption and introduce the industrial potential of the industry.
Lee, 31, is from a family that has been farming rice for three generations in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province. Along with his two friends, Lee introduced new rice varieties and rice snacks targeting young families.
Lee's rice brand is called “Baro the Mi,” meaning rice milled directly after reaping. It is half-polished rice between brown rice and white rice, which has a balance between the taste of white rice and the nutrition of brown rice.
Baro the Mi is based on “High A Mi,” a rice variety developed by the EPIS. It is containing lysine, an amino acid helping children to grow taller.
By packaging Baro the Mi in small 850 gram bottles, the brand targeted young families consuming less rice than the past.
Recently, Lee launched rice snack “Roasted Brown Rice Chip for My Kid.”
“I hope the award helps improve the awareness of rice from Ilsan, and I will continue making efforts to produce quality rice and attractive rice snacks,” Lee said.
Also Lee's company is running a field experience program target young mothers using “Raquaponics.”
Raquaponics is a term referring to rice, aquaculture and hydroponics, where rice is grown in water containing excretions from aquatic animals, which live in the water cleaned by the rice.
“With Raquaponics, children can watch and learn about the circulation of water between fish and rice, as well as feeling closer to the rice we eat at home,” an EPIS official said.