• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2000.11b
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• pp.480-488
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• 2000

Cabbage is the most important vegetables in korea. The cabbage production was based on arduous human labor. A comprehensive research for substituting the human work by machines has been performed at present. In general, cabbage is cultivated on hillside in korea. The harvested cabbage in a field and carrying it to a vehicle for transportation are very laborious work. Hand labor in cabbage transportation to the market damages the quality of cabbage and is also a cause to increase the cost of cabbage production. This study was to design and evaluate a prototype cabbage loader for deserving efficient and safe transportation of cabbage. The developed cabbage loader was a semi-tracked vehicle operated by a hydraulic system, allowing the safe transporting and the loading of cabbage in a steep field. The maximum loading capacity of the loader was 1.0 ton. By using safety devices attached to the loader, the static slopes were 34.0% and 37.4% for the left and the rear roll-over, respectively. The maximum field speed was about 6km/hr with two cabbage pallets of 750kg at a 25% inclined field. The field capacity was about 35 pallets/hr in case of picking up, carrying and unloading two cabbage pallets. The field efficiency of the loader was analyzed to be more than 8 times in comparison of the conventional human labor. The developed loader would be applied for loading and carrying the other vegetables due to the similarity of operations. The study suggested a standard approach to the design of field machines operated in a steep field.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.147-154
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• 2017

Purpose: To reduce the costs of potato seeds and labor of workers, a fully automatic in-situ seeding machine for cutting seed potatoes was developed. Methods: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the seeder performance of the prototype of potato planter by cutting seeds in farmlands from March to April 2017. The study tested the seeder performance at working speeds ranging from 0.28 to 0.45 m/s. The seeding rate and seeding distance were also investigated according to the planned distance between planted seeds from 20 to 30 cm, with 5 cm intervals. Results: Tests on the performance of the developed cutting blade on the automatic potato seeder show that whole potatoes should be used instead of half potatoes. The seeding rates were 88.8% and 82.5% for whole and half potatoes, respectively. When the tractor working speed was increased from 0.28 to 0.45 m/s, the successful seeding rate decreased from 98.8% to 96.3%, respectively. However, with planted seed distances of 20, 25, and 30 cm, the successful seeding rates were near 98%. Conclusions: The developed automatic potato seeder can to improve the labor productivity and cultivation environment of potato farms by the mechanization of the seeding process, which is currently associated with high-labor, -costs, and -hours. Therefore, based on this study, the developed automatic potato seeder provides the mechanization necessary for improved potato cultivation conditions in farmlands.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.298-307
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• 2018

The aim of this study was to enhance the value of the chestnut industry by analyzing the value chain structure. Based on the value chain theory, it is divided into primary activities and support activities. Thus, in total, 27 subjects from Gongju, Buyeo, and Cheongyang were interviewed and self-administered questionnaire. Regarding the value chain structure of the chestnut industry, the primary activities consisted of production followed by cultivation and storing, sorting and packaging, transportation and marketing sales. The support activities were divided into production infrastructure, policy, R&D, and systematization. The primary activities are able to maximize profits through cost reductions. The production was divided into general and environmentally friendly cultivation. Depending on the labor force, it is family-centered labor. However, the installation of harvest nets depends on a hired labor force (40 - 60%) such that it would be necessary to have a mechanized harvest to replace the manpower for the cost reduction. Transportation, marketing sales, and backdoor selling (38.1%) were higher than the existing channels (31.0%) using the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation. The enhancement of value could be created by maximizing profits through the reinforcement of the links between each subject. The production showed strong connections with cultivation/storing, sorting/packing, and backdoor selling and the National Forestry Cooperative Federation. The processing stage is a very simple structure, it would be necessary to have R&D and to support promotions, infrastructure, machines, and sales increases, which should be expanded by connections with other industries like the food industry.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.127-135
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• 2023

This study examined the impact of changes in agricultural production methods on society, the economy, and the environment. While traditional open-field farming relied heavily on natural conditions, modern approaches, including greenhouse and smart farming, have emerged to mitigate the effects of climate and seasonal variations. Facility horticulture has been on the rise since the 1990s, and recently, there has been a growing interest in smart farms due to reasons such as climate change adaptation and food security. We compared open-field spinach and greenhouse spinach using agricultural income survey data, and we also compared greenhouse tomato cultivation with smart farming tomato cultivation, utilizing data from the smart farm survey reports. The economic results showed that greenhouse spinach increased yield by 25.8% but experienced a 29% decrease in income due to equipment depreciation. In the case of tomato production in smart farms, both yield and income increased by 36-39% and 34-46%, respectively. In terms of environmental impact, we also compared fertilizer and energy usage. It was found that greenhouse spinach used 29% less fertilizer but 14% more energy compared to open-field spinach. Smart farming for tomatoes saw a negligible decrease in electricity and fuel costs. Regarding the social impact, greenhouse spinach reduced labor hours by 31%, and the introduction of smart farming for tomatoes led to an average 11% reduction in labor hours. This reduction is expected to have a positive effect on sustainable farming. In conclusion, the transition from open-field to greenhouse cultivation and from greenhouse cultivation to smart farming appears to yield positive effects on the economy, environment, and society. Particularly, the reduction in labor hours is beneficial and could potentially contribute to an increase in rural populations.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.29 no.5 s.106
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• pp.433-440
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• 2004

Worldwide consumption of vegetable soybean has been increasing recently, but in the process of vegetable soybean production, threshing and separation work accounts fur about $80\%$ of overall labor. Therefore, developing of the vegetable soybean thresher is necessary to reduce the cost of labor. The main objective of this study is to acquire the basic in-formations for design of the vegetable soybean thresher which is suitable for domestic circumstances. We made the experimental system to investigate the threshing and separating performance at the several speeds of threshing cylinder and separating blower according to the kinds of threshing tooth. The result are as follows; Threshing performance of vegetable soybean thresher was shown as the best in case the threshing tooth made of rubber which has the 80 of Shore hardness was used at the circumference speed of cylinder of 5.8$\~$8.1m/s. Also separating cleaning performance of vegetable soybean thresher was shown as the best at more than 1,300 rpm of blower speed and $60\~80\%$ of opening ratio of suction port.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.321-328
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• 1998

This study was performed to provide reference materials for the vegetable cultivating farmhouses by investigating profit and marketing situation for the folk vegetables. The survey areas covered 10 cities and counties including Kumsan, 72 farmhouses, and 8 crops including buffterbur and wild rocambole. As a result, the cultivated area of folk vegetables was increased as much as 13.7%, however, marketing cost was higher than that of horticultural crops, because they were not accessed to wholesale market. It was that the optimal period to sell the folk vegetables was shown like Jan. - Feb. for butterbur and day lily, Nov. - Dec. for wild rocambole, and Oct. - Nov. for kind of lettuce respectively. As the result of analyzing economical efficiency, the net profit per 0.1 ha was amounted to 3,438,000 won for butterbur, 3.291,000 won for wild rocambole 1,712,000 won for day lily, and 1,464,000 won for fatsia shoots. Besides, these four crops occupied more than 60% in cultivation area, and their profit was high. Therefore, it is necessary to foster them with special crops in Chnugnam area. The crops that require more labor time were such crops as 632.9 hours for day lily, 584.3 hours for butterbur, and 409.2 hours for fatsia shoots, whereas the crops that required less labor time were such field crops as 219.2 hours for fragrant edible wild aster and 233.8 hours for kind of lettuce.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.117-122
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• 2018

This paper suggests smart agricultural diffusion strategy through advanced ICT technology. Today, the world is threatened by environmental pollution and traditional warming due to global warming, and the decrease in agricultural workers due to low fertility and aging is expected to bring social problems to future food resources. The convergence of ICT technology and agriculture is not a labor-intensive primary industry, but a new paradigm that includes cultivation, manufacturing and services. It is urgent to spread smart farm technology that can supply stable food with low labor force. In this paper, we review the current state of smart farm technology, analyze the impediments to diffusion, and present the direction of smart agricultural development in the future by upgrading ICT technology.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.13
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• pp.55-64
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• 1995

Apple is most favorable fruit in Korea, and apple farmland has been increased before and after the agreements of Uruguay Round and apple is considered as one of strategic agricultural goods. Especially expansion of apple farmland is concentrated in Kyungpook region because of the suitable climate and its market share is about 70 percents in 1992. But in tree age of apple, although newly and replanting area is increasing, the rate of old orchards is higher than that of other regions. In varieties of apple, it is concentrated in Fuji and is forecasted to increase in the future. The amount of apple production of Kyungpook region is 480 thousand tons, that is concentrated in Wui-sung, Young-ju and An-dong. The quantity of apple production per 10a. is 1,315kg, that is low level compared with that of America and Japan, and the gap of technology among farmers is heavily. The difficulties of apple farming in Kyungpook region are summarized as follows. first, the lack of mechanization and facilities due to the small scale of farmland, second, lack of rural labor force, third, concentration on Fuji apple varieties, fourth, low productivity of apple farming.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.69-75
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• 1985

For the purpose of estimating the operating cost for feed production, energy consumption, labor requirement, maintenance cost, and supplies and miscellaneous costs are analyzed and developed as mathematical models. Mathematical model for energy usage Consists of electrical energy, boiler fuel energy and vehicle fuel energy. The mathematil model for electrical energy usage for the swine and poultry feed mill and the complete pelleted feed mill are developed, based on the general model mill and the computer program for its design developed in Kansas State University (Park, 1982). Also, the boiler fuel energy consumption model and the vehicle fuel energy consumption model are developed by analyzing the boiler system and the vehicle operation in the warehouse. In order to develop a mathematical model for labor requirement, the data that Vosloh (1968, 1976) constructed for labor requirement in his model mill are used by assuming that his model mill is similar to this model, in terms of labor assignment standards. Maintenance and repair costs are obtained by assuming to be 5.5% of the total capital investment cost. Also, supplies and miscellaneous costs are estimated by using Vosloh's report and it is approximately 0.87 dollars per ton based on daily production.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.247-261
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• 1991

This Study is designed to present the concret data on the contents of the economic role and their change in the recent decade among women in a Korean Village. The Case Study method was used and the data was obtained through the participant observation. This Study is composed of the three parts. The first part deals with the effect of the agricultural mechanization upon the agricultural labor pattern of women. The second part examines how the introduction of a golf course and the textile factory in the vinicity affects the labor pattern among village women. The last part tries to demonstrate that the increasing contribution of women to the village economy has not yet produced any positive effect to their social status in the village. This is seen through the detailed description of two important village activities, one social(Tae dong-Gae) and the other ritual (Mokshinjae). The Results of the Study can be summarized as fallows. Firstly, the mechanization of farming is responsible for the increasing marginalization of women's labor in farming. This is particularly true for rice cultivation. Horticulture is still cultivated by women. As the mechanization progresses further, this trend will be more articulated. Secondly, it is found that women are actively utilizing the new external economic opportunities. In fact they are found to prefer those non-farming works to the traditional farming work. The former offers them less burdened work, less working hours, and more income than the letter. Lastly, women are found to be completely excluded from the process of the two important village activities. Only men are participants in them, and women only provides the labor for preparation of food and the necessary chores.