Daedong to Implement Precision Agriculture on 1.14 Million Pyeong of Saemangeum Farmland

Precision Agriculture Solutions to Be Applied to an Area Equivalent to 526 Soccer Fields

Daedong announced on May 20 that it will collaborate for up to 10 years on precision agriculture data collection and solution advancement with Hanmaeum Agricultural Corporation and Songju Agricultural Corporation, both of which have been selected as operators for the Saemangeum Complex Grain Production Complex project in Gimje, North Jeolla Province.

This collaboration is part of the Korea Rural Community Corporation's Saemangeum Project Team's public tender for the lease of the complex grain production complex. The Rural Community Corporation used farming plans and execution capabilities as the main evaluation criteria for selecting operators, with particular emphasis on the inclusion of precision agriculture implementation plans as a core evaluation item. Hanmaeum and Songju Agricultural Corporations, which submitted plans that actively incorporated precision agriculture, were selected as operators, and Daedong will participate as a technology partner alongside them.

The farmland these corporations will cultivate from June 2025 covers approximately 1.14 million pyeong (376 hectares), equivalent to about 526 soccer fields. This area is about four times larger than the 290,000 pyeong where Daedong conducted precision agriculture demonstrations focused on rice and soybeans from 2021 to 2024. The crops to be cultivated on this land will be basic food crops with high import dependency, such as wheat, soybeans, and corn, while rice will be excluded.

On this farmland, Daedong plans to implement precision agriculture solutions including: customized fertilizer prescriptions based on soil analysis; variable fertilizer application using drone and satellite-based crop growth monitoring; data collection from autonomous agricultural machinery; and the development of customized crop growth solutions utilizing growth data. Daedong also intends to further advance related technologies. In addition, within a stable farming environment for up to 10 years, Daedong plans to introduce autonomous agricultural machinery, smart implements, and agricultural robots currently under development, in order to secure a wide range of agricultural data. Based on this data, the company aims to advance AI agriculture technology and promote its domestic adoption.

Lee Kwanguk, Head of Domestic Business at Daedong, stated, "The fact that precision agriculture has been officially included as a key evaluation criterion for the Saemangeum lease project demonstrates the government's recognition of the necessity and importance of spreading precision agriculture. Through this Saemangeum project, we aim to prove the effectiveness of precision agriculture solutions for basic food crops and lay the foundation for nationwide expansion in the future."