The second person from the left, Mayor Baek Sunghyun of Nonsan City, is shaking hands with Mayni Prince Priba, CEO. / Nonsan City Hall
Nonsan City in Chungnam Province announced on the 15th that it is partnering with the world’s leading company in greenhouse solutions to promote the creation of a smart farm complex equipped with global-level technology.
On this day, Mayor Baek Seonghyeon met with Meiny Prins, CEO of Priva, at City Hall and agreed to establish advanced technology exchanges and a partnership for the development of the smart farm complex.
Priva is a Dutch company that holds the top market share and export volume in the greenhouse solutions sector, with branches in 15 countries worldwide.
CEO Meiny Prins showed great interest in Nonsan City’s initiative to establish a smart farm complex this year and, among all local governments in Korea, made Nonsan her only stop during her visit to the country.
Mayor Baek stated, “Agriculture and rural areas have the potential to become the center of endless change, encompassing healing, life, and even tourism, depending on our ideas and development. Overcoming the global climate crisis and reducing agricultural costs and securing income through the spread of new technologies is crucial.”
He continued, “Nonsan is a rural area with a high dependence on agriculture. Since the launch of the 8th popularly elected administration, we have been pursuing profitable agriculture by combining agriculture and industry based on five major strategies for agricultural development and three principles for agricultural income. We expect significant changes in agriculture as Priva’s technology meets Nonsan’s vision for smart agriculture.”
CEO Meiny Prins said, “Utilizing and concentrating the local ecosystem will be the innovation that leads next-generation agriculture. I hope that the vast amount of data we possess on the food industry and ways to increase farmers’ income will contribute to Nonsan’s smart agriculture innovation.”
The Chungnam-style smart farm complex (youth self-reliance type) is a large-scale export complex being established this year with a total project budget of 13 billion KRW, aiming to support the independence of young farmers based on smart farms.
The city plans to begin detailed design and infrastructure construction in May, select 35 farms in October, and start construction of the smart farm facilities in January next year.
The smart farm facilities will include youth self-reliance allotment types as well as production, distribution, education, and research and development functions.
The city expects that young farmers will increase their income based on the specialized export complex and enhance the competitiveness of Nonsan’s agriculture.
The city also plans to actively adopt advanced technologies for the smart farm complex and pursue its own new technology development.
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