Goyang Agricultural Technology Center Opens One-Day Plant Hospital for Healing Companion Plants
12th Urban Agriculture Festival ‘Let’s go Sikjipsa’ Held on 11-12
Leading Development, Verification, and Expansion of Customized Healing Agriculture Programs
Mayor Donghwan Lee: “Ensuring Mental Care for Goyang Citizens by Promoting Companion Plants and Healing Agriculture”
Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang Special City, is giving a greeting at the opening ceremony of the 'Goyang Special City Plant Hospital.' ㅡPhoto by Goyang City＞Han
Goyang Special City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Dong-hwan) is set to captivate plant caretakers and urban farmers by promoting therapeutic agriculture. It is the first basic local government to operate a Plant Hospital and will also host an urban agriculture festival under the theme "Let's go Sikjibsa" (plant caretaker). Additionally, the city is accelerating the development, effectiveness verification, and dissemination of therapeutic agriculture programs, expanding their social value.
Mayor Lee Dong-hwan of Goyang Special City stated, "By operating the Plant Hospital, we aim to assist citizens who raise companion plants and prove the effectiveness of therapeutic programs through the jointly established measurement system to promote their spread. The 12th Urban Agriculture Festival this year offers beneficial and enjoyable programs for plant caretakers, so we hope everyone will come and experience a healing time."
Open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. by reservation... Free diagnosis, analysis, and prescription
The Plant Hospital opened on the 1st floor of the main building of the Goyang Agricultural Technology Center on the 26th of last month. Funded with 150 million KRW donated by NH Nonghyup Bank Goyang Branch and eight other Nonghyup branches, the Plant Hospital consists of a reception and diagnosis room, a comprehensive pest and disease analysis lab, and a therapeutic agriculture room. It operates on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting from the 1st and can be accessed through integrated reservations on the Goyang city website.
Visitors bringing companion plants or crops with issues can receive free diagnosis and prescriptions. By filling out a diagnosis request form detailing the plant’s cultivation environment, management status, and special notes, visitors receive consultation and guidance on care methods, including simple prescriptions such as repotting and pesticide treatment. For crops, specialized consultations are conducted by connecting with crop-specific managers. When visual inspection is insufficient, the comprehensive pest and disease analysis lab conducts in-depth analysis of fungi, bacteria, viruses, soil, and other issues to provide prescriptions.
The therapeutic agriculture room is equipped with stress measurement devices, cognitive function testers, and other therapeutic effect measurement systems to provide customized services to program participants through pre- and post-assessments. Those interested in learning more detailed crop and companion plant management can also enroll in agricultural education courses offered at the Agricultural Technology Center.
The Plant Hospital will operate temporarily until the end of the year, with plans to formalize operations next year after refining the operation manual. A separate inpatient room will be prepared for companion plants requiring long-term treatment when same-day treatment is not possible. Additionally, the city plans to operate a mobile companion plant hospital utilizing external experts such as urban agriculture managers and young farmers.
The 12th Urban Agriculture Festival... Various attractions including instant gardening and Kawaji rice seed excavation
On the 11th and 12th, the 12th Urban Agriculture Festival will be held at the lawn square of the Goyang Agricultural Technology Center. Under the theme "Let's go Sikjibsa," the festival offers lectures, experiences, markets, and events to allow the growing number of plant caretakers to engage in diverse agricultural activities in daily life.
In particular, the hydroponic plant one-day class allows participants to create hydroponic plants using Philodendron, an easy-to-grow indoor plant, together with an indoor gardening expert. In the seed paper and pairing workshop conducted with the plant lifestyle brand "Seed Keeper," participants will make seed paper and gift seeds suitable for their partners. Interested individuals can make advance reservations through Goyang city’s integrated reservation system.
The Kawaji Rice Seed Museum within the Agricultural Technology Center offers various exploration routes for children. They can decorate half-moon stone knives and pottery, excavate rice seeds like archaeologists, and harvest lettuce from the vegetable garden.
Experience booths include a "Little Farmer’s Mini Library" prepared by Samsong Library and drone soccer using pest control drones, offering unique experiences. Instant gardening and repotting sessions are also available for beginner plant caretakers raising companion plants for the first time, providing new homes for their plants.
Additionally, notable lectures include "Success Stories of Veranda Gardening" by YouTuber and author Lee Hae-sol, who wrote "From Today, Veranda Farmer," and an indoor plant talk by an agricultural researcher from the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science. The market features local foods and processed agricultural products grown directly by Goyang farmers, as well as products made by cancer survivors participating in the National Cancer Center’s horticultural therapy program.
Therapeutic agriculture programs linked with medical institutions... Expanding throughout society
Goyang City is leading the spread of therapeutic agriculture programs by operating customized healing programs for different users and proving their medical effectiveness. The therapeutic program for dementia patients conducted in collaboration with Heavenly Hospital in 2022 won the Best Award at last year’s Spring Conference of the Human-Plant Environment Society and the Excellence Award at this year’s Central Therapeutic Agriculture Competition.
Since 2021, the city has been working with the National Cancer Center to create therapeutic gardens and run horticultural therapy programs for cancer patients annually. It also plans to continue joint research and development on therapeutic agriculture with Konkuk University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation until 2030. Since August, therapeutic agriculture programs have been operated for patients and caregivers at the Ilsan Hospital Primary Care Development Center, with post-program results measured using the Plant Hospital’s therapeutic measurement system.
The city provides customized therapeutic programs for people with disabilities, alcohol addiction patients, schools, families of crime victims, case managers, and self-support workers, spreading therapeutic agriculture throughout society. Since last month, a service contract has been underway to develop tailored therapeutic agriculture programs for each target group, with plans to integrate these into therapeutic farms next year to establish and expand a Goyang-style therapeutic agriculture system.
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