Reporter spreads secret of 'mega profit' farming

Lim Hyeon-woo

By Nam Hyun-woo

Lim Hyeon-woo, a senior reporter at The Farmers Newspaper that covers agriculture in Korea, has released an English version of his hit book explaining the know-how behind lucrative farming techniques.

Lim said Sunday that he expects his book, “Megaprofit Farming, Dreams Come True,” in English is going to be a guide to successful farming for not only occupational farmers but also for those who tend vegetable gardens as a hobby.

“This guidebook has been popular among farmers here, with many of them praising the farming techniques introduced in the book,” said Lim. “So I came up with a translated edition in the hope that farmers in other countries can also increase their productivity and I’m quite sure they will be able to do so.”

The techniques Lim and his co-authors, all current and former faculty members of Chonnam National University’s Agriculture Research Institute, include the Gelatin-Chitin disintegrating microorganisms (GCM) farming method. According to Lim, microorganisms are admired as “ideal for organic farming” by both consumers and farmers, but at the same time this bears the risk of complete failure.

“Such a dilemma can be solved by GCM,” said Lim, who learned about the method while reporting on some farms showing noticeable revenue. “Microorganisms used by many farms these days are pricy. So in many cases they were diluted 1,000 to one with water and the results were not as good as expected.

“However, GCM is affordable in both price and accessibility. Farmers can incubate the microorganisms by themselves and they will see them multiply thousands of times within a week, cutting a significant amount of costs,” Lim said.

The book begins with an explanation of GCM and then presents case studies about of farmers who earned thousands of millions of won using GCM, as well as a number of successful local cooperatives and foreign farms. The book explains the technique through cartoons which Lim said is another reason for the book’s domestic success.

After its first edition, published on March 3, 2015, the book established a reputation as “a book that raises farmers’ income.” It went through its seventh printing on Sept. 30, which is significant for a book targeting specific readers and not the general public.

Also, the book was adopted as a text for a number of agricultural institutions, such as Jeonbuk Agriculture Meister College and a number of local agricultural cooperatives.

According to Lim, the book will also be published in the United States and Japan, both of which have advanced agriculture. It will also be published in a few Southeast Asian nations too. A number of universities in Vietnam and Cambodia are in discussion with Lim about adopting the book as a text.