Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy

Asian Society for Innovation and Policy (아시아기술혁신학회)
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Smart Farming's Contribution to Sustainable Agriculture: Analyzing Linkages between South Korean Smart Farming Policy and Korean Sustainable Development Goals (K-SDGs)

  • Blazka Rupnik (Department of Geography, Seoul National University)
  • Received : 2024.01.25
  • Accepted : 2024.06.03
  • Published : 2024.04.30
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Abstract

Smart farming (SF) receives significant attention not only as a maximizer of agricultural productivity, but also as a strategy to achieve United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), yet the actual state of its contribution to the environmental SDGs remains uncertain. This paper presents a methodological approach for policy analysis by identifying linkages between South Korean SF policies and Korean Sustainable Goals (K-SDGs) targets addressing six main South Korean agriculturerelated environmental issues. Linkage is defined as an explicit measure that acts as a solution to prevent or minimize a specific issue. First, an overview of K-SDGs and six environmental issues (yield productivity, greenhouse gas emission, pest and weeds, water resources, soil quality and biodiversity) reveals that 17 K-SDGs targets address the issues. The analysis reveals significant shortcomings, particularly in the low integration of pesticide use and soil quality concerns into the K-SDGs. Out of a possible 68 linkages between four SF policies and 17 K-SDGs, only 17 were identified, with 10 linking to food production and consumption-related SDGs. This indicates that current smart farming policies put a secondary focus on smart farm technology's potential to minimize environmental challenges. To bridge the gap between SF and sustainable agriculture, SF policies should incorporate climate-smart agriculture, with a specific focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and promote greater collaboration among policymaking institutions.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The author is thankful to the three anonymous journal reviewers and the editor-in-chief for the valuable comments and suggestions that contributed to enhancing the quality of this research.

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