Apply for Eco-Friendly Agriculture Direct Payments... Applications Accepted Until the End of April

Payment in December this year
Up to 1.4 million KRW per 1 hectare

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 1st that it will accept applications for the eco-friendly agriculture direct payment, which supports enhancing the public functions of agriculture such as environmental conservation through the spread of eco-friendly agriculture, from the 2nd to April 30th.

Farmers certified for eco-friendly agricultural products (organic and pesticide-free) can submit the 'Application for Selection as an Eco-friendly Agriculture Direct Payment Recipient' along with a copy of the eco-friendly agricultural product certification to the township, town, or neighborhood office where their farmland is located. Recipients will be selected and notified in May, and after compliance inspections by city/county/district offices and certification bodies from May to October, the direct payment will be made in December this year.

This year’s budget for eco-friendly agriculture direct payments is 22.8 billion KRW, the same as last year, and payments will be differentiated according to certification level (organic or pesticide-free) and crop type (rice paddies, fruit trees, vegetables, etc.), with a payment limit of up to 5 hectares per farm.

For rice paddies, payments are 700,000 KRW for organic certification and 500,000 KRW for pesticide-free certification. For fruit trees, 1,400,000 KRW for organic and 1,200,000 KRW for pesticide-free certification are paid, while for vegetables, special crops, and other field crops, 1,300,000 KRW for organic and 1,100,000 KRW for pesticide-free certification are paid.

Pesticide-free certification payments are made for up to 3 years, and organic certification payments for up to 5 years (including 3 years for pesticide-free). From the 6th year of organic certification, recipients can continue to receive the organic sustainability direct payment, which is 50% of the organic direct payment rate, without any time limit.

Recipients eligible for the 2023 eco-friendly agriculture direct payment are those who obtained eco-friendly certification by October 2022. If certification is renewed during the project period (November 2022 to October 2023) and remains valid at the time of payment (December 2023), the direct payment can be received.

However, cases such as cultivation in artificially created media or containers, farmland without signs of normal cultivation and management, or harvesting plants growing naturally in the wild are excluded from direct payment eligibility. Also, if the initially applied certification level or plot changes, or if the project recipient changes (succession) due to farmland sale, lease, death, etc., a change report must be submitted to the township, town, or neighborhood office where the direct payment was applied, attaching a copy of the changed certification issued by the certification body within 30 days from the date of certification information change or succession approval.

Joo Won-cheol, Director of the Eco-friendly Agriculture Division at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "This year, we plan to strengthen publicity by producing and distributing guidebooks to cities, counties, and township offices to ensure that all eco-friendly farmers who meet the direct payment requirements apply without omission, and by sending notification messages through NongHyup ATMs."