Gyeonggi Province Launches New Dairy Experience Support Project for Socially Disadvantaged Children and Adolescents

Dairy Experience Program for 900 Children and Adolescents in Five Cities and Counties
Emotional Growth Through Interaction with Animals at Dairy Farms in Nature
New Income Sources and Stable Management Expected to Revitalize the Dairy Industry

Gyeonggi Province announced on May 23 that it will newly launch the "Socially Considerate Dairy Experience Support for Children and Adolescents" project this year, providing opportunities for dairy farm experiences to various socially disadvantaged children and adolescents, including out-of-school youth, children from single-parent families, and low-income youth.

Poster for the "Socially Considerate Dairy Experience Support for Children and Adolescents" Project. Provided by Gyeonggi Province

The province expects that by allowing participants to experience dairy farming firsthand?something rarely encountered in regular school curricula?they will gain a better understanding of livestock farming, and that interacting with animals will also have therapeutic effects.

This project will be carried out in five cities and counties: Gimpo, Yangju, Icheon, Gapyeong, and Yeoncheon, offering a total of 90 experience sessions. Each session will accommodate 10 participants, allowing a total of 900 students to take part. The program covers not only the experience fees but also lunch and insurance costs. Socially disadvantaged children and adolescents, either as individuals or as groups, who wish to participate can contact the livestock department of their respective city or county for more information.

Each farm has prepared its own program so that participants can directly experience the dairy production process, such as feeding animals and making cheese and yogurt, helping them gain a new perspective on livestock farming.

Shin Jonggwang, Director of Livestock Policy at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "Supporting dairy experience goes beyond simple rural experiences. It is an opportunity for children to develop a new understanding of the livestock industry through hands-on participation, which can help them achieve emotional stability and form healthy eating habits. We expect that interacting with nature will help them foster sound values."

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province plans to continue promoting projects that operate experience-based dairy farms incorporating the sixth industrialization (rural convergence industry), in addition to the production of livestock products by dairy farmers, to create new sources of income and stabilize management, thereby laying the foundation for the future development of the dairy industry.