• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.467-476
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• 2013

With increasing interest in environmental issues and the quality of surface water becoming inadequate for water supply, the Korean government has launched a groundwater development policy to satisfy the demand for clean water. To drive this policy effectively, it is essential to guarantee the accuracy of sustainable groundwater yield and groundwater use amount. In this study, groundwater use was monitored over several years at various locations in Korea (32 cities/counties in 5 provinces) to obtain accurate groundwater use data. Statistical analysis of the results was performed as a method for estimating rational groundwater use. For the case of groundwater use for living purposes, we classified the cities/counties into three regional types (urban, rural, and urban-rural complex) and divided the groundwater facilities into five types (domestic use, apartment housing, small-scale water supply, schools, and businesses) according to use. For the case of agricultural use, we defined three regional types based on rainfall intensity (average rainfall, below-average rainfall, and above-average rainfall) and the facilities into six types (rice farming, dry-field farming, floriculture, livestock-cows, livestock-pigs, and livestock-chickens). Finally, we developed groundwater-use estimation equations for each region and use type, using cluster analysis and regression model analysis of the monitoring data. The results will enhance the reliability of national groundwater statistics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.122-142
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• 2012

The importance of rainfed areas and animal agriculture on productivity enhancement and food security for economic rural growth in Asia is discussed in the context of opportunities for increasing potential contribution from them. The extent of the rainfed area of about 223 million hectares and the biophysical attributes are described. They have been variously referred to inter alia as fragile, marginal, dry, waste, problem, threatened, range, less favoured, low potential lands, forests and woodlands, including lowlands and uplands. Of these, the terms less favoured areas (LFAs), and low or high potential are quite widely used. The LFAs are characterised by four key features: i) very variable biophysical elements, notably poor soil quality, rainfall, length of growing season and dry periods, ii) extreme poverty and very poor people who continuously face hunger and vulnerability, iii) presence of large populations of ruminant animals (buffaloes, cattle, goats and sheep), and iv) have had minimum development attention and an unfinished wanting agenda. The rainfed humid/sub-humid areas found mainly in South East Asia (99 million ha), and arid/semi-arid tropical systems found in South Asia (116 million ha) are priority agro-ecological zones (AEZs). In India for example, the ecosystem occupies 68% of the total cultivated area and supports 40% of the human and 65% of the livestock populations. The area also produces 4% of food requirements. The biophysical and typical household characteristics, agricultural diversification, patterns of mixed farming and cropping systems are also described. Concerning animals, their role and economic importance, relevance of ownership, nomadic movements, and more importantly their potential value as the entry point for the development of LFAs is discussed. Two examples of demonstrated success concern increasing buffalo production for milk and their expanded use in semi-arid AEZs in India, and the integration of cattle and goats with oil palm in Malaysia. Revitalised development of the LFAs is justified by the demand for agricultural land to meet human needs e.g. housing, recreation and industrialisation; use of arable land to expand crop production to ceiling levels; increasing and very high animal densities; increased urbanisation and pressure on the use of available land; growing environmental concerns of very intensive crop production e.g. acidification and salinisation with rice cultivation; and human health risks due to expanding peri-urban poultry and pig production. The strategies for promoting productivity growth will require concerted R and D on improved use of LFAs, application of systems perspectives for technology delivery, increased investments, a policy framework and improved farmer-researcher-extension linkages. These challenges and their resolution in rainfed areas can forcefully impact on increased productivity, improved livelihoods and human welfare, and environmental sustainability in the future.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of farming methods on mass balance from paddy rice. The experiment fields were established at Chunpo-myeon, Iksan-si in the Saemangeum watershed. Experiment was performed during the growing season to assess water and mass balances of the study field in 2013. The three different farming practices were applied: conventional (TR-A), drainage outlet heighten (TR-B) and slow release fertilizer use (TR-C). Drainage amount from TR-B was reduced by 28.5 % compared to the TR-A, while the amount from TR-C was similar to that of TR-A. Overall, nutrient concentration of paddy water were similar among the treatments except for T-P. Mean T-P concentration from TR-C was lower than that from TR-A (p-value<0.05). As the results of mass balance, TR-B appeared to reduce nutrient surface loss, substantially by 30.9 % and 40.8 % for T-N and T-P an compared to TR-A. TR-C treatment also demonstrated nutrient load reduction by 38.2 % and 40.1 % for T-N and T-P. The study results showed that water and fertilizer treatments are effective in surface load reduction respectively from paddy fields, and, long-term monitoring and evaluation is needed to confirm the reduction.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.73-82
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• 2020

This study was conducted to investigate the differences in carbon storage capacity of soil between the conventional and the organic agricultural cultivation followed by the assessment of their economic values. An analysis of 107 samples in the organic and the conventional rice cultivation soils in six regions across South Korea showed that the five regions, Buyeo-II, Gimhae, Sancheong-I, II and Suncheon, had higher organic soil carbon contents than those of values observed on the conventional soils with the exception of the Buyeo-I areas. Based on the results from soil carbon contents, the carbon storage were estimated to be 36.1 megagram carbon (MgC) per ha in the organic paddy soils, while its conventional paddy soils were 29.4 MgC per ha. It showed that the organic paddy soils were 23 % greater than that of its conventional paddy soils. It was estimated that the carbon trading price for economic assessment was ￦758,100 per ha in the organic paddy soil and ￦617,400 per ha in the conventional paddy soil.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.53-58
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• 2006

The Korean Ministry of Agricultural & Forestry(MAF) has designated some model areas and has supported financially to encourage sustainable farming under the environment-friendly agriculture rearing project(EARP) since 1995. This study was conducted to diagnose the project and to find ways to improve the effectiveness of EARP. The 18 areas (823 ha) such as Gyeonggi-Do, Gangwon-Do, Chungcheongbuk-Do, Chungcheongnam-Do, and Jeju-Do of 32 areas under EARP in 2004 were examined. Most of the practices implemented in EARP areas were not practical for sustainable agriculture except some equipments and facilities. It was thought that practical technologies for sustainable agriculture were more essential than equipments and facilities to improve the effectiveness of EARP. And area-specific technologies are needed to decrease environmental pollution. For example, liquefied slurry application and duck-rice farming in paddy fields near a watershed could increase the possibility of water pollution by nutrient outflow. Soil characteristics were important factors that could affect the effect of practices on environment conservation. Woodchip application and subsoil crash were not effective in coarse-textured soils. It was recommended that every practices under EARP should be re-examined in the light of the effects on environment before implementation and be evaluated by experts after completion.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.102-144
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• 1999

The major problems of food crop cultivation in Korea are low yield of most crops except rice. inefficient cultivation techniques for aged farmers. and low international competibility. Therefore, development of cultivation techniques of food crops should aim the yield. quality improvement, labor reduction and production cost. The primary issue for increasing the yield of soybean, barely and wheat is to reduce the yield gap between the farmer's yield and recommended ones of experiment station. More advanced cultivation techniques needs to be developed. and/or the conventional breeding methods to be reconsidered. The newly developed labor-saving mechanized technique needs to reduce labor hours , and the cost of agricultural implements and machineries. In other words the labor-saving mechanized technique should be developed based on the improvement of total farming system as well as systemic fundamental innovation of cultural methods. The efficiency of solar energy use in food production of Korea in 1997 is as low as $0.52{\%}$ so there is much room to increase yield. It is recommendable that the concept of food Production should be changed to energy Producing efficiency Per unit area basis from volume and weight of food materials. Moreover, introduction of resonable cropping system is needed to increase yield of main crops, farmer's income, solar energy use efficiency, and decrease of land service expenditure. Current cropping system emphasized on economic crops. especially in vegetables , is not desirable for resonable use of arable land. stability of agricultural management and staple food crop self-sufficiency ratio. It is desirable to increase food crops . that are energy of carbohydrate and protein rich and land dependent crops. in cropping system. And the agronomist should develop the cultural methods to replace food crops for food self-sufficiency and stable farming management instead of economic crops in current cropping system. Low-input and environmentally-sound crop cultivation techniques, especially nitrogen-reducing culture technique which is directly related to food crop quality, also needs to be developed urgently. The extended cultivation of corn in upland and barely and wheat in lowland as a feed stuffs is recommended to prevent further decrease of food self-sufficiency ratio, which is mainly caused by the high reliance on imported feed grain. It is also considered that the calculation and presentation methods of standard agricultural income needs to be improved. The current calculation method uses unit land area of 10a regardless of crop kinds , characteristics of agricultural management and cultivation scale. So, it is apt to lead misunderstanding of farm income value. Therefore. it should show an income of average farmers for certain number of years. Research and developing system for food producing is not desirable because they are conducted currently individual crop and mono-culture basis. But actual agricultural income is usually earned by cropping system including upland and lowland. For example. the barley and wheat is usually cultivated in double cropping system. The cooperation among research institutes such as university agribusiness. government and farmers is indispensible. The public information and education on importance and consumption habit of food crops is necessary in Korean society to increase food self-sufficiency through nationwide cooperation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.140-146
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• 2014

This paper presents a case study to develop e-learning contents of agricultural safety based on the assessment of risks of 4 selected crops and stock farming: rice, potatoes, apples, tomatoes and stock raising. The aged farmers, who are main workforce of current Korean agriculture and relatively more vulnerable to various risks of agricultural work compared to younger workers, were considered as the main users of the contents in developing them. The safety guidelines were presented as simple as possible and the interfaces were designed to be simple and easy to use so that the older users can use it without much difficulty. In making the scenarios of the contents, risk assessments were carried out for each crop and stock farming with the focus being on occupational diseases rather than accidental injuries. To make the contents more attractive to the farmers, the functions requiring active responses from the users, such as answering simple questions, were included in the contents. Usability evaluation by experts of ergonomics and agricultural tasks were carried out in modifying the draft version, whereas formal usability test was not included in the case study. Though there are some limitations in the developed contents in the aspects of evaluation of usability and effectiveness, this case study shows the structured procedure of developing e-learning safety contents based on the risk assessments on agricultural tasks. The developed e-learning contents are expected to be used practically and easily in educating and training older farmers about safety and health of agricultural tasks.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.98-104
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• 2001

Cultivation area of the plastic film-house has been continuously increased with the increase of consumers' income. Intensive land use without fallowing or crop rotation caused severe problem such as salt accumulation in soils and in turn retarded growth and low productivity. This study was carried out to solve them derived from longterm intensive farming practices. Seven farmers who are practicing plastic film-house cultivation were recommended for case study by municipal government and selected for their excellency of cultivation and soil management. The cultivation periods of these systems were in the range of 5 to 40 years in the regions mainly located in alluvial soil cultivated with cucumber, tomato and red pepper. The soils texture of the excellent farmers' fields were silt loam or sandy loam, ranged from 7 to 15 percents of clay contents. Soil bulk density, depth of plowing layer and soil aggregates contents of the farmers' soils were 0.89, 23.1 cm, 61.6% whereas those in neighboring soils were 1.10, 17.8 cm, 54.2 %, respectively. And pH, OM and $NO_3-N$ of the farmers' soils also were better than those of neighboring soils. There was no difference in population densities of nematode between the good farmers' and neighboring soils, but actinomyces and Fusarium densities of recommended farmers' soils were better than neighboring soils. The major farming practices by the good farmers were characterized by deep plowing with flooding, amendment of crude organic matter, and reduction of chemical fertilizer application before transplanting, and also drip irrigation and liquid manure application after planting. They also conducted solar sterilization with or without flooding, removal of plastic films during rainy days and culturing rice or corn as rotation crops to avoid the problems mentioned above.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.595-604
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• 2015

Soil chemical properties in paddy fields were found to be varied depending upon different cultivation methods such as environmentally-friendly, conventional, and two-crop farming systems and different topographical regions, namely plain, middle mountainous, and reclaimed land regions. Overall soil pH was found to be in optimal range (pH 5.5~6.5) for rice cultivation, except with conventional cultivation fields of the reclaimed lands in Jeonnam province. Electrical conductivity (EC) was relatively higher in the two-crop cultivation fields than in others. However, the concentrations of available phosphate as $P_2O_5$ were exceptionally higher in the two-crop farming fields, thus in submerged paddy condition the phosphate could be released into streams and rivers. Soil organic matter (SOM) contents were mostly in optimal range ($25{\sim}30g\;kg^{-1}$) for paddy field in Jeonbuk province, but in Jeonnam province they were slightly higher values of the range. The concentrations of available silicate ($SiO_2$) were mostly depended on the cultivation methods and the region, but some of paddy fields contained extremely high $SiO_2$ concentration. Statistical relationships among the soil chemical properties showed as follows: Correlations between EC values and exchangeable cation concentrations, between SOM contents and CEC values, and between available $SiO_2$ concentrations and pH, EC, exchangeable cations, and CEC values were positively significant, whereas total nitrogen concentrations were significantly negatively correlated with the concentrations of exchangeable K and Mg. These results might be very useful to establish benchmark paddy fields contained with certain levels of soil fertility.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.138-147
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• 2022

Paddy fields are important habitats for maintaining the biodiversity of agricultural ecosystems. Recently, as the need for safe food and biodiversity conservation has increased, the rice cultivation methods have undergone changes. This study was conducted to investigate the fish fauna in Environmentally Friendly Paddy fields (EFP) and Conventional Paddy fields (CP), and compare the characteristics of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus and Aphyocypris chinensis populations in EFP and CP. A total of 2,703 fish were collected and classified into six families and 13 species. Our results showed that there was a difference in the proportion of fish populations in the two paddy fields, and the number of individuals in EFP was higher than in CP. The weight values of M. anguillicaudatus were higher in EFP than in CP, and the total length, body length, and weight values of A. chinensis were higher in EFP than in CP. Conditional factor(K) values also showed similar trends in EFP and CP. Our results indicate that the farming practices in paddy fields have a significant effect on the characteristics of M. anguillicaudatus and A. chinensis populations, and the results of this study can be used as basic data for securing biodiversity in future agricultural ecosystems.