Nam-il Kim, Vice Mayor of Pohang City, 'The Answer Lies in the Field' Communication Walk in the Agri-food Industry Field

Visit to Agricultural Specialty Product Processing Companies and Subtropical Crop Farms, Listening to On-site Voices

Efforts to Improve Farmers' Income through Marketing Strategies and Technical Development of Income Crops

Kim Nam-il, Vice Mayor of Pohang City, visited major agricultural sites on the 2nd, including agricultural specialty product processing companies and subtropical crop farms, to listen to the voices from the agri-food industry and engage in communication.

Kim Nam-il, the vice mayor, is touring the Pohang Agricultural Technology Center on the 2nd.

On this day, Vice Mayor Kim visited the Pohang Agricultural Technology Center, ‘Beomchon’ (CEO Lee Dong-wook), which exports local specialties overseas, and ‘Pohang Handmade Beer’ (CEO Lee Kwang-geun), which developed a brand using local agricultural products, as well as a subtropical crop farm that has recently attracted much attention.

Beomchon, established in 1920, has continued its family business for over 100 years across four generations with a unique manufacturing method, mainly producing and distributing traditional red pepper paste, Korean side dishes, and Korean sauces.

In particular, they newly developed an export product by fermenting and aging Pohang Mulhoe, packaging it in small portions for long-term storage, and exported about $200,000 (250 million KRW) to the United States last year. They are preparing to expand exports through the expansion and improvement of processing facilities.

Since its establishment in 2021, Pohang Handmade Beer has mainly used locally produced rice, barley, and raspberries to develop and sell four brands: Janggi Eupseong (Sour Ale), Dongbin Naru (Lager), Daebohang (Strong Ale), and Cheongryong (Rice Ale). They also offer craft beer making experiences and plan large-scale production through beer processing business in the future.

The city cultivates subtropical crops on 2.65 hectares across 11 farms, including Hallabong, Cheonhyehyang, banana, coffee, baekhyanggwa, and apple mango. The banana farm has been harvesting bananas organically since 2020 and supplying them to school meals and local food markets, while the Hallabong farm has gained local residents’ love by starting experiential tourism.

During the on-site communication, farmers expressed concerns about heating costs and distribution difficulties due to the characteristics of subtropical crop cultivation. After listening to the farmers’ opinions, Vice Mayor Kim Nam-il stated that he would do his best to expand and maintain subtropical crop cultivation.

Vice Mayor Kim Nam-il said, “Based on the difficulties and opinions from the field, we will carefully read changes in the crop cultivation environment and actively support various marketing strategies and new income crop technology development to increase farm income.”