The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Selects 'Geochang Apples' as Grand Prize at Fruit Industry Expo

At the '2021 Fruit Industry Expo Representative Fruit Selection Contest,' Mr. Lee Hong-deuk from Geochang-gun received the Grand Prize. [Image source=Geochang-gun]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Geochang-gun, Gyeongnam announced on the 6th that Lee Hong-deuk, a farmer from Namha-myeon, won the grand prize by submitting Fuji apples at the award ceremony of the '2021 Fruit Industry Exhibition Representative Fruit Selection Contest' held at the aT Center in Yangjae-dong, Seoul.

The encouragement prize was awarded to Choi Ok-su from Ungyang-myeon for the Arisu variety.

Now in its eleventh year, the 'Korea Representative Fruit Selection Contest' is the largest domestic event in the fruit farming sector, hosted and organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Fruit Farmers Cooperative Federation.

This year, a total of 143 entries were submitted, including 103 pieces of seven general fruit varieties by city and province (apple, pear, persimmon, citrus, grape, peach, kiwi) and 40 pieces of four forest fruit varieties (chestnut, walnut, astringent persimmon, jujube).

The event organizer selected a total of 46 final candidates through appearance, measurement, and orchard evaluation, awarding a total prize money of 63 million KRW. The grand prize was 5 million KRW, the excellence award 2 million KRW, and the outstanding, encouragement, and special awards were each 1 million KRW.

Lee Hong-deuk, currently serving as the president of the Namha Dunma Farming Group and a farmer with 17 years of apple cultivation experience, shared his cultivation know-how, saying, "To ensure stable fruiting, I thoroughly performed artificial pollination with pollen, and to intensify the juice and aroma, I increased the amount of organic fertilizer applied."

Gu In-mo, the mayor of Geochang-gun, said, “I am pleased and sincerely congratulate that Geochang apples have won a major award as representative fruits of Korea in 2021. At this moment when Geochang apples are taking a leap toward a new 100 years, I hope this will be a great encouragement to all apple farmers.”