Gokseong-gun, the Home of the World Rose Festival, Also Ranks First in Rose Quality

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do, famous for its World Rose Festival, is strengthening cooperation with local rose farms and dreaming of becoming a true hometown of roses.

According to Gokseong-gun on the 21st, on the 20th, county officials visited the farm of Mr. Yoo Suhyun, who produces high-quality cut roses.

Representative Yoo started rose cultivation in 2016 after returning to farming from Gwangju Metropolitan City, with two large greenhouses each 11 meters high. As his confidence in rose cultivation grew, he called his son to join him for full-scale rose farming.

Together with his son, a young farmer, they added two more greenhouses, expanding the scale to a total of four greenhouses covering about 3,600 pyeong (approximately 11,900 square meters). Currently, they produce about 28 varieties of spray and standard cut roses using hydroponics, and they dream of developing the farm into Gokseong-gun’s representative rose complex.

In particular, Representative Yoo introduced advanced equipment such as unmanned pest control devices, CO₂ generators, plasma ozone generators, cooling systems, and sodium lamps to cultivate high-quality roses. Through this, they maintain optimal growing conditions year-round and produce high-quality roses throughout all four seasons.

The produced roses are delivered 3 to 4 times a week, 300 bunches each time, to the AT Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation and the express bus terminal flower market, gaining recognition in the flower market as top-grade roses.

Gokseong-gun is known as the hometown of the Rose Festival, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. For the Rose Festival to become a genuine local festival, roses must also establish themselves industrially and be deeply connected to the lives of local residents. Therefore, Gokseong-gun is committed to providing administrative support so that local rose farms can find a way forward and settle stably.

During the visit to Representative Yoo, county officials investigated temperature and humidity inside the facilities, root zone temperature, moisture content, and listened to the farm’s difficulties to discuss solutions together.

Representative Yoo said, “Although the demand for flowers has decreased significantly, there is always demand for high-quality flowers, so we will focus on quality.”

He added, “By scaling up the farm in the future, I hope to become Gokseong’s representative rose farm, well known for the World Rose Festival.”