Dangjin City Selected for Two Sites in Ministry of Agriculture and Food Seasonal Worker Project

Daehoji Nonghyup and Sinpyeong Nonghyup Selected... Hopes to Alleviate Labor Shortages in Farming Villages

Public seasonal workers. / Dangjin City

On the 15th, Dangjin City in Chungnam announced that two locations, Daehoji Nonghyup and Sinpyeong Nonghyup, were selected for the 2025 Rural Manpower Brokerage Center (Public Type) project organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, securing a project budget of 200 million KRW.

The public-type seasonal labor project operates by having Nonghyup hire seasonal workers and supply them on a daily basis to farms experiencing labor shortages, with the farms paying a usage fee for the service.

The city has been expanding the introduction of foreign seasonal workers, from 7 in 2021, 125 in 2022, and 707 in 2023, to 1,263 as of 2024. For the public-type seasonal labor project, the number of centers has increased from one in 2023 (supporting 1,422 farms and mediating 3,645 cases) to two in 2024 (supporting 2,589 farms and mediating 6,801 cases).

Additionally, the city is making efforts to systematically introduce and support foreign seasonal workers by providing partial support for cultural experiences, medical expenses, and insurance premiums.

A city official stated, "With the selection for this project, we expect to effectively respond to the demand for short-term workers needed for less than one month and resolve the labor shortage issues faced by small-scale farms. We will continue to communicate with the agricultural field and steadily implement various policies to ensure smooth manpower supply."

Meanwhile, Dangjin City has applied for the allocation of 1,426 seasonal workers for 268 farms next year and is awaiting confirmation of the assigned number from the Ministry of Justice.