Practices of Sustainable Agriculture in Korea With References for the Development of Sustainable Rice Production Systems

한반도에서 지속농업의 실천방안 지속적 벼 생산체계 개발을 중심으로

In Korea, chemical fertilizers and agricultural chemicals have had a significant impact on food production and these are today thought to be an indispensable part of modern agriculture. On the other hand, socioeconomical and IMF and WTO status in Korea are constant reminders of the vulnerability of our fossil fuel dependent agriculture. A new crop production system to improve economic, environmental and production efficiency must be exploited. Our particular concern has been given to an integrated cropping system involving recycling of crop residues, soil and N management, biological N fixation and multipurpose legumes. As a new integrated crop production system, a no-till direct-sown rice-vetch relaying cropping system has been proposed in this paper. The formulation of this system is based on the conception that N fertilizers being neither limitlessly available nor affordable, the current high-input crop production systems have produced troubled results severe labour shortage ill rural areas, balance of payment, environmental degradation and reduction of human health far exceed economic concerns. A natural and logical consequence is that long-term sustainability of agricultural systems must rely on the use and effective management of internal resources. Based on the information obtained throughout a series of experiments last years we have proved that the no-till direct-sown rice-vetch relaying cropping system dictates biological alternative which can augment, and in some cases replace, N fertilizers. Comprehensive discussions were made for the proposed system and it concluded that the system can offer an economically attractive and ecologically sound means of reducing external nitrogen input and improving the quality and quantity of internal resources, and consequently improving the farmers as well as the national returns.