Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light, though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night.
Gov't eyes new protections for migrant workers to shore up faltering farms
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs building at Sejong Government Complex / Courtesy of Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
By Jhoo Dong-chan
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs unveiled its 2026 plan to support farm labor, the first annual blueprint under a five-year strategy adopted in late 2025.
The plan, announced earlier this week, sets two main targets. The first is to increase the share of farm labor supplied through public programs to 60 percent by 2030, from 51.2 percent in 2024, and the second is to improve working conditions by requiring insurance coverage for seasonal workers.
The number of foreign seasonal workers allocated for the first half of 2026 reached a record 93,503, already surpassing the total in 2025. The public program, operated through Nonghyup cooperatives, has also expanded, with 142 cooperatives now managing more than 5,000 workers.
To ease costs for participating cooperatives, the ministry said it would work with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to revise related rules so that foreign seasonal workers in the public program are exempt from long-term care insurance premiums.
For domestic hiring, the government plans to broaden recruitment channels beyond its existing network of rural labor centers and the Agriwork platform, adding private job sites and public employment centers. A pilot program will also allow neighboring counties with different peak farming seasons to share workers.
Efforts to improve skills among foreign workers will include multilingual training materials — in Vietnamese, Khmer, Lao and Filipino — focused on high-demand crops such as apples, garlic and strawberries. The materials will be distributed online starting in December.
A new visa for skilled workers in agriculture and fisheries, being developed with the Ministry of Justice, is also expected to be introduced this year.
The plan also introduces stricter safety measures.
Farms hiring foreign workers will be required to submit a safety checklist before applying for visas, with a mobile version to follow by year’s end. The Rural Development Administration is developing virtual reality-based safety training content, to be rolled out from 2027, while 700 farmers will be trained as safety leaders by 2026.
To support communication on farms, the agriculture ministry will publish a multilingual guide in six languages covering basic conversation, farming terms and safety rules.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.