Hongseong County Holds Launch Ceremony for National Agricultural By-product Safe Disposal Support Team

Pledge to Refrain from Illegal Burning and Field-Edge Fires

Hongseong County Office / Hongseong County

On the afternoon of the 13th, Hongseong County in Chungnam announced that it held the "2025 National Agricultural By-product Safe Disposal Shredding Support Team Launch Ceremony and Campaign" at the county Agricultural Technology Center auditorium, with officials from the Rural Development Administration, Korea Forest Service, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and Nonghyup in attendance.

During the launch ceremony, the public and private sectors pledged to work together to create a stable agricultural environment by refraining from illegal burning and field-edge burning, utilizing agricultural by-products as resources, and preventing safety accidents during shredding operations.

In addition, the Hongseong County Governor, the Administrator of the Rural Development Administration, the Deputy Commissioner of the Korea Forest Service, and the Director-General of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety joined the shredding support team in agricultural by-product shredding work, listened to the difficulties faced by workers, and collected opinions for expanding the shredding service.

Since last year, Hongseong County has been operating a mobile agricultural by-product shredding support team to establish a resource circulation culture by using shredders to finely break down agricultural by-products such as pepper stems, perilla stalks, and tree branches generated after harvest, returning them to the soil instead of burning them, thereby preventing wildfires and reducing fine dust emissions.

Lee Yongrok, Governor of Hongseong County, said, "Through the agricultural by-product shredding support last year, the area of wildfire damage in the county decreased by more than 70% compared to the average year," and added, "As full-scale farming activities begin in March and burning of field edges and agricultural by-products becomes frequent from February, we will support the shredding support team's on-site services to be actively carried out."

Meanwhile, in 2023, the largest wildfire ever occurred in the Seobu-myeon area of Hongseong County, causing significant damage by destroying 1,454 hectares of forest.