Analysis Region: Agricultural and rural areas in 11 cities and counties of Chungcheongbuk-do
Core Regions: Jincheon-Eumseong Smart Agriculture Demonstration Axis, Jecheon-Boeun-Okcheon-Yeongdong-Goesan-Danyang rural areas experiencing population decline
Agenda: Amidst the decline and aging of the agricultural population, climate risks, and rural labor shortages, are smart farms, AI, agricultural data, young farmers, regionally specialized crops, and agri-food exports being connected to form a single productivity and income transformation system?
Golden Time Type: Critical + Opportunity
Reference Date: August 28, 2026
Version: Regional AX Golden Time Intelligence v3.1
Chungbuk agriculture is not so much a region where the production base has collapsed, but rather one where the demographic structure is weakening faster than the production base . According to the National Data Center's 2024 Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Survey, the agricultural population in Chungbuk stood at approximately 140,000 , a 21.5% decrease from 178,000 in 2015. While the rate of decline itself was relatively lower compared to the other nine provinces nationwide, the age structure deteriorated more rapidly. In 2024, the elderly population aged 65 and over accounted for approximately 78,000 ( 55.9%) of the agricultural population , while the youth population aged 20 to 39 was approximately 9,000 ( 6.2%) . Compared to 2015, the youth population decreased by 54.1%, while the elderly population increased by 20.0%. ( National Data Center )
Dependence on external labor to maintain production is also expanding. North Chungcheong Province has allocated 6,275 foreign seasonal workers to 2,098 farm households in 2026 to address rural labor shortages . This represents an increase of 1,356 workers, or approximately 27.6%, compared to the previous year. While this is highly effective in securing labor during the peak farming season in the short term, if the aging agricultural population and labor shortages are not addressed through a transition to automated and data-driven agriculture, the expansion of the foreign workforce could become entrenched as a continuous supplementary measure substituting for a transformation of the production structure. ( North Chungcheong Provincial Government )
Conversely, the technological transformation of Chungbuk agriculture in 2026 has entered a more concrete stage than in the past. To reduce the initial investment burden of smart farms centered on large-scale glass greenhouses, the North Chungcheong Provincial Government has launched a dissemination project worth a total of 4 billion won for 20 "Chungbuk-type smart farms" that utilize existing vinyl greenhouses and facilities. For young farmers, the province is promoting a smart farm startup support project worth 4.5 billion won across 10 locations in six cities and counties experiencing population decline . ( North Chungcheong Provincial Government )
The core of smart agriculture is also shifting from facilities to data. The Chungbuk Agricultural Research and Extension Services has proposed a direction to establish a control system integrating facility and open-field data, starting with 72 farms in 2025, and to develop a production prediction platform, beginning with tomatoes. Watermelon farms in Jincheon and Eumseong developed an AI growth prediction model by analyzing growth and environmental data collected over two years using machine learning and deep learning. ( Ares )
R&D investment for 2026 has also been significantly expanded. The Chungbuk Agricultural Research & Extension Services secured 21.8 billion won across 84 projects in the national agricultural R&D competition and will conduct research over the next 3 to 5 years on areas such as watermelon smart farming, sensing-based precision soybean crop monitoring, AI-based smart agriculture, and climate change response. This serves as evidence that Chungbuk agriculture is moving beyond the stage of simply distributing facilities to a phase of creating its own agricultural AI models based on local crop data . ( Ares )
From a market perspective, there is also potential for a shift. In 2025, Chungbuk’s agri-food exports reached $842 million , a 20.1% increase from the previous year, marking an all-time high. However, processed foods accounted for 85% of the exports, while fresh produce made up only about 12%. This is why the performance of Agricultural AX should not be judged solely by total export figures. It is necessary to separately track how the increase in processed food exports has actually translated into raw material contracts, prices, and income for Chungbuk farmers. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
Therefore, the core problem of Chungbuk agriculture does not lie in the low adoption rate of smart farms.
The key is whether agricultural productivity is rising faster than the rate at which the agricultural population is declining , and whether that increase in productivity is translating into farm income, contract sales, exports, and youth settlement.
The next two to three years is a critical period for establishing a transition structure that goes from farmland and facilities → growth and climate data → AI prediction → automation and decision-making → productivity and quality → contracts, processing and exports → farm income → youth settlement .
Currently, Golden Time is determined by Critical + Opportunity .
The reason it is critical is that the aging agricultural population and the decline in the workforce are already underway and difficult to reverse.
The reason it is an opportunity is that transitional means such as data integration, AI crop forecasting, low-cost smart farms, youth startups, and agri-food exports are operating simultaneously in 2026.
The agricultural population in North Chungcheong Province stood at approximately 140,000 in 2024, accounting for 7.0% of the national agricultural population. This represents a decrease of 38,000 over nine years from about 178,000 in 2015. While the overall decline rate was 21.5%, the direction of change by age group is more significant. During the same period, the youth agricultural population decreased by more than half, falling from approximately 19,000 to 9,000, while those aged 65 and older increased from 65,000 to 78,000. ( National Data Center )
In 2024, 55.9% of the agricultural population in North Chungcheong Province was aged 65 or older, while the middle-aged group accounted for 34.1% and the youth group for 6.2%. The agricultural workforce structure is moving beyond mere aging to a stage where the human link for transferring production technology and farming know-how to the next generation is rapidly weakening . ( National Data Center )
Another characteristic of Chungbuk's agricultural structure is the significant regional differences in product types.
Jincheon and Eumseong have an intensive agriculture base favorable for smart farming demonstrations, such as greenhouse vegetables and watermelons.
Goesan can be linked with organic farming and food processing.
Yeongdong is connected to the grape, persimmon, and fruit tree industries with the wine industry.
Boeun has jujubes, Okcheon has grapes, peaches, and lacquer, Danyang has garlic, and Jecheon has medicinal and natural assets.
The AI project for specialized materials in five cities and counties with declining populations, identified in No. 014, also already suggests a direction to convert these regional agricultural and natural assets into functional raw materials.
Therefore, the spatial structure of agriculture is difficult to explain with a single smart farm model.
Facility horticulture AX, open-field precision agriculture, fruit tree climate forecasting, agri-food processing, functional raw materials, and export-oriented agriculture must be designed differently by region.
The adoption of smart farms and agriculture AX are not the same.
Even if sensors are installed in facilities and automated irrigation and nutrient solution systems are introduced, if farmers cannot analyze the data or use it for production and pricing decisions, the technology remains merely automated equipment.
Therefore, the following relationships must be distinguished.
- Smart farm installation ≠ Agriculture AX
- Sensor data ≠ AI decision-making
- Starting a business as a young farmer ≠ Long-term settlement
- Increase in production ≠ Increase in farm income
- Increase in exports ≠ Increase in farm gate prices
- Exporting processed foods ≠ Expanding the use of local agricultural products
- Expansion of foreign workers ≠ Transformation of workforce structure.
The 2026 Chungbuk-type Smart Farm project has revised the existing high-cost model. Utilizing existing facilities, it applies only essential technologies such as beds, nutrient solutions, and ICT, supporting a total of 20 sites with a maximum of 200 million won per location. This marks a shift in the policy structure from large-scale, fully automated facilities to a technological transition that existing farmers can afford. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
However, 20 locations is not a scale that will change all of Chungbuk agriculture.
The policy value of this project lies in how effectively a proven low-cost model can be repeatedly spread to farms of the same product, rather than in the success of individual farms.
The same standards must be applied to AI crop forecasting as well.
Even if an AI growth prediction model for Jincheon and Eumseong watermelons has been developed, it will only yield results if actual farms adjust irrigation, ventilation, nutrient solutions, and harvest timing, leading to improved productivity and quality. ( Ares )
The current stage of Chungbuk Agriculture AX is the start of technology demonstration, and the overall conversion rate from technology → farm decision-making → productivity → marketability has not yet been fully disclosed.
The first structural change is that the core production factor of agriculture is shifting from land + labor to land + data + automation + energy .
As the agricultural population declines, fewer people must manage the same amount of farmland. Consequently, the ability to predict and automate the timing of agricultural operations by utilizing data on crop growth, weather, soil, and pests becomes the core of agricultural productivity.
The Chungbuk Agricultural Research & Extension Services is also collecting data from 72 farms and planning to expand the scope of integrated control to include facilities, open fields, and leased smart farms in cities and counties, which reflects this structural change. ( Ares )
The second change is the shift from facility automation to Prediction Agriculture .
The Jincheon-Eumseong watermelon model is structured to analyze key growth factors using two years of growth and environmental data, with AI predicting crop conditions. It is a stage where, rather than replacing farmers' experience, experience is standardized into data to enhance the reproducibility of decision-making. ( Ares )
The third is the combination of climate change response and smart agriculture .
The 21.8 billion won in R&D secured by the Chungbuk Agricultural Research & Extension Services for 2026 includes climate change response, AI and big data smart agriculture, and sensing-based precision crop management; additionally, a project for a zero-carbon AI smart farm based on agricultural solar power was also submitted. ( Ares )
The fourth point is that the agricultural value chain is shifting from raw material production to processing, functional products, and exports.
Processed foods accounted for 85% of Chungbuk’s $842 million in agri-food exports by 2025. While fresh produce also increased by 15.4%, the core of the export industry is already processing, branding, and distribution. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
Therefore, agricultural policy must also move away from a structure that manages only production per unit area and instead connect production → processing → contract → brand → export .
The fifth point is that rural labor policy is shifting from a focus on domestic labor to a dual structure of foreign seasonal workers and automation.
The allocation of 6,275 seasonal workers in 2026 alleviates labor shortages, but in the long term, a strategic balance is needed between increasing the workforce and enabling production with fewer personnel. ( Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Government )
The most distinct change in Chungbuk's smart agriculture policy in 2026 is the three major strategies: rental, distribution, and startup types .
The structure provides low-cost Chungbuk-style smart farms to existing farmers, offers rental smart farms to young people and those returning to farming, and directly supports facility construction for young people wishing to start businesses. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
A total of 4 billion won will be invested to distribute Chungbuk-style smart farms, selecting 20 locations and providing up to 200 million won per site. It is an expansion model designed to lower initial investment costs by utilizing existing facilities such as vinyl greenhouses. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
The youth smart farm startup support program targets the population-declining regions of Jecheon, Boeun, Okcheon, Yeongdong, Goesan, and Danyang, covering a total of 10 locations with a budget of 4.5 billion won. It supports the construction of facilities worth approximately 450 million won based on a 3,000㎡ area, with a subsidy rate of 70%. Seven locations have been selected for the period up to May 2026, and applications were accepted for the remaining three. ( Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Government )
In terms of education, the Young Farmer Smart Farm Incubation Course runs for 120 hours from March to December . It includes practical training throughout the entire crop growth cycle, visits to leading farms, and expert consulting. For the 2026 Professional Farmer Program at the Future Agriculture Education Center, training for 385 participants is planned across 17 courses, covering areas such as smart agriculture, agri-food processing, entrepreneurship, and young smart farming. ( Ares )
In terms of research, 84 national R&D projects and 21.8 billion won have been secured for 2026. Practical applications centered on regional crops are being promoted, including watermelon smart farms, precision soybean cropping, AI smart agriculture, and climate response. ( Ares )
In terms of market, the 2026 agri-food export target has been set at $900 million, higher than the previous year , and approximately 4.3 billion won will be invested in 13 export support projects. ( Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Government )
Currently, Chungbuk has begun to possess all policy instruments of facilities → education → data → R&D → export .
The next step is to connect these five elements to a farm-unit growth path .
Agriculture in Chungbuk has a different starting point compared to regions possessing large-scale smart farm innovation valleys.
Even internal data from the Chungbuk Agricultural Research & Extension Services assessed that Chungbuk faced limitations in specialized smart farm practical training due to the absence of a Smart Farm Innovation Valley. To address this, the institute began establishing its own incubation system, integrated data control, and demonstration center starting in 2025. ( Ares )
Therefore, the Chungbuk-type competitive strategy is likely to be differentiated by the low-cost conversion of existing farms and the accumulation of local crop data, rather than by the method of replicating large-scale new facilities.
In terms of the agricultural population, the 21.5% decline rate in North Chungcheong Province in 2024 was similar to the national average of 22.0%, but the growth rate of the elderly population was 20.0%, higher than the national average of 13.2%. ( National Data Center )
In other words, the rapid rise in the proportion of elderly producers is a greater structural risk to Chungbuk than the decline in the agricultural population itself .
On the other hand, agricultural and food exports are relatively strong.
It grew by 20.1% to $842 million in 2025, ranking second among all cities and provinces nationwide in terms of growth rate. ( Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Government )
Therefore, Chungbuk faces both an agricultural productivity crisis and the expansion of the agri-food market simultaneously.
Connecting these two creates an opportunity.
If this connection is not made , an Agriculture-Food Decoupling may occur, where exports by processed food companies increase but the production base of local farms weakens .
The agricultural population of North Chungcheong Province in 2024 is 140,000.
Of these, 78,000 are aged 65 or older, and approximately 9,000 are young adults. ( National Data Agency )
The number of foreign seasonal workers in 2026 is 6,275. ( Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Government )
The specialized smart farm startup incubation training program is for 20 participants. ( Ares )
There are 10 locations receiving support for youth smart farm startups. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
There are 20 Chungbuk-type smart farms in operation. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
The initial data collection target for smart agriculture integration is 72 farms. ( Ares )
Agricultural R&D consists of 84 projects totaling 21.8 billion won. ( Ares )
Agri-food exports amount to $842 million. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
These figures should not be directly compared as they represent policies of completely different scales.
However, the structure is clear.
While there is an existing agricultural population of 140,000 people in Chungbuk agriculture, advanced smart agriculture policies are still in the demonstration and leading stage, involving only tens to hundreds of farm households.
On the other hand, the workforce supplement has already expanded to a scale of over 6,000 seasonal workers.
In other words, the current pace of change is closer to responding to labor shortages than to the large-scale expansion of smart agriculture .
If this situation persists, agricultural production may be maintained, but the pace of structural transition is likely to slow down.
Conversely, if data from 72 farms can be converted into standard models by item and reused by thousands of farms, the spread of smart agriculture could be much faster than the number of facility investments.
The core of Chungbuk Agriculture AX is not to create a new system for each farm, but to repeatedly replicate proven crop models .
The first gap is agricultural data coverage .
While smart farming monitoring has begun, we are not yet at the stage where data on growth, soil, weather, farming operations, and production volume for all farms in North Chungcheong Province are being accumulated using the same standards. The 72 farms currently included in the data collection represent an important starting point, but they constitute an initial dataset when compared to the entirety of agriculture in North Chungcheong Province. ( Ares )
The second is the gap between empirical evidence and diffusion .
Even if an AI watermelon growth prediction model is developed in Jincheon and Eumseong, it must be verified whether it is reproducible at other farms with the same variety, facilities, and climate conditions. ( Ares )
The third is the gap between facility investment and farm profitability .
Even with low-cost smart farms, there are self-financing costs, energy expenses, and maintenance costs that farmers must bear. It is necessary to verify whether the payback period is shortened solely by increased productivity.
The fourth is the gap between youth entry and settlement .
Ten young farmers starting a smart farm is a separate issue from remaining in the region and generating a stable income five years later.
The fifth is the gap between production and the market .
Even if production volume is increased, farm income may decrease if prices fall. For crops like Shine Muscat, it is necessary to manage both production expansion and price fluctuation risks simultaneously.
The sixth is the gap between agriculture and agri-food companies .
Processed foods accounted for 85% of Chungbuk's agri-food exports in 2025. If the increase in exports by local food companies does not lead to an increase in the contracted use of agricultural products from Chungbuk, agri-food exports and the farm economy could become disconnected. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
The seventh is the gap between agricultural automation and rural services .
Even if AX in productive agriculture advances, it is difficult for young people to settle in rural areas if living conditions such as medical care, transportation, housing, and education deteriorate.
The biggest structural readiness gap is ultimately between technology readiness and farm business readiness .
The first foundation of Chungbuk Agriculture AX is the Agricultural Data Commons .
It is necessary to establish minimum data standards for each crop.
Weather → Soil → Growth → Inputs → Farming → Pests and Diseases → Yield → Grade → Selling Price
This basic data must be accumulated in the same way for each farm to increase the reusability of the AI model.
The second is a Digital Twin for each crop.
For greenhouse horticulture, focus on temperature, humidity, CO₂, nutrient solution, and light intensity; for fruit trees, focus on flowering, pests and diseases, moisture, climate, and yield; for open-field crops, focus on soil, rainfall, growth, and mechanical operations; and the accumulation model must vary by item.
The Chungbuk Agricultural Research & Extension Services' 5,331㎡ Advanced Smart Farm Demonstration Center and Integrated Data Control Center serve as the infrastructure to research and verify this model. ( Ares )
The third is the agricultural workforce structure.
It is difficult to require all elderly farmers to operate AI themselves.
Therefore, a three-stage support structure consisting of farm users, local agricultural technology centers, and data agriculture experts is required.
The fourth is an agricultural machinery and robot sharing system.
Sharing services through Nonghyup, agricultural technology centers, and farming cooperatives can be more efficient than small-scale farms purchasing individual robots and drones.
The fifth is market data.
Production forecasting alone is not enough.
The risk of overproduction can be reduced by linking wholesale markets, online channels, export prices, and consumption trends with production planning.
The final data of Agriculture AX must be linked to income, not just production volume .
Currently, the AX policies that most directly reach farm households are low-cost smart farms and support for youth startups.
Because Chungbuk-style smart farms upcycle existing agricultural facilities, they have lower investment entry barriers than large-scale new greenhouses. Although the maximum investment per site is 200 million won, a 30% self-financing requirement exists, so the actual payback period and debt burden for farmers must be tracked. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
The Youth Smart Farm program in areas with declining populations supports the construction of facilities worth approximately 450 million won based on a 3,000㎡ area, providing a 70% subsidy. For long-term settlement to occur, operating funds, sales channels, energy costs, and technical support must work together after the facilities are secured. ( Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Government )
Data-driven agriculture must also be implemented in the actual decision-making of farm households.
What the watermelon AI model needs to provide to farmers is not complex algorithms, but decision information such as how much water to irrigate today, when to ventilate, when to harvest, and what the expected yield is.
Farmers' perception of Agricultural AX should be measured not by the number of platform accesses, but by reductions in labor hours, input savings, reductions in defect rates, and changes in production volume, quality, and income .
Chungbuk Agriculture AX must be designed differently to suit the industrial structure of each region.
Jincheon and Eumseong are already demonstration regions where AI models based on watermelon growth data have been developed. ( Ares )
Goesan has a high potential to connect organic farming and food processing with data-based production, quality, and distribution.
Yeongdong can combine fruit trees, wine, climate, crop conditions, and price forecasting.
Jecheon can connect natural products, biotechnology, and the functional analysis of agricultural products.
Boeun, Okcheon, and Danyang need shared data, machinery, and AI services centered on regionally specialized crops that even small-scale farms can use.
The way to reduce the spatial agricultural gap in Chungbuk is not to install identical glass greenhouses in every region.
It is realistic to start by creating a single representative model of the major crops in each region that is easiest to digitize, and then disseminate it to neighboring farms .
Therefore, if an Agricultural AX Node is designated for each city and county, it is necessary to design it with a structure of representative crop → dataset → demonstration farm → standard model → regional diffusion rather than the industrial complex method.
The time for the agricultural population in North Chungcheong Province is already rapidly decreasing.
The agricultural population decreased by 21.5% from 2015 to 2024.
During the same period, the youth farming population decreased by 54.1%, while the elderly population increased by 20.0%. ( National Data Center )
If this trend continues for another 10 years, it will move beyond a simple labor shortage to a stage where the number of farmers capable of transferring experience and skills decreases .
The greatest irreversibility in agriculture is not just the disappearance of farmland.
Tacit Knowledge, such as variety selection, soil management, pest and disease response, and harvest judgment accumulated over a long period, is disappearing along with farmers without being converted into data .
Currently, Chungbuk has begun to establish an initial foundation to convert this knowledge into data.
Data collection from 72 farms began, a watermelon AI model was developed, a smart farm demonstration center was put into operation, and a national R&D project worth 21.8 billion won commenced in 2026. ( Ares )
Support for youth smart farms also began at the same time.
In other words, the time to connect the experience of existing farmers with the new technology of young farmers through data is now overlapping.
If this opportunity is missed and the retirement of elderly farmers proceeds prematurely, it will be difficult to reacquire the training data and experience specialized for Chungbuk agriculture even if AI develops later.
Therefore, the period from 2026 to 2028 even carries the significance of being the digital succession period of agricultural knowledge .
12-1. Golden Time Application Case in Basic Local Governments ① — Jincheon-gun
Jincheon is one of the most suitable regions for the technology demonstration of Chungbuk Agriculture AX.
The Chungbuk Agricultural Research & Extension Services developed an AI growth prediction model by collecting big data on growth and environment from watermelon farms in Jincheon and Eumseong for two years. It analyzed key growth factors affecting productivity using machine learning and deep learning. ( Ares )
The Jincheon-type Golden Time lies in not leaving this model as a research achievement.
Watermelon farm data must be connected in the order of growth → weather → environmental control → production volume → grade → price .
If AI only predicts production volume, it is a production technology model.
When shipment timing and market price are combined, it becomes a business model.
If this spreads to all farms in Jincheon, joint sorting, shipment, and contract volumes can also be adjusted using production forecasts.
At this stage, regional-level Crop Intelligence is formed rather than individual farm AI.
If agricultural cooperatives and distributors also participate, it becomes possible to adjust the expected production volume → shipment plan → logistics → contract → price .
Jincheon's Golden Time is not the time to improve the accuracy of watermelon AI, but the point in time when production forecasting is connected to local distribution and income decision-making .
12-2. Golden Time Application Cases in Basic Local Governments ② — Yeongdong-gun
Yeongdong is more suitable for a combined AX of fruit trees, agri-food, and tourism than for facility farming.
Yeongdong possesses fruit trees such as grapes and persimmons, as well as a wine industry, and No. 014 confirmed that the development of persimmon peel as a functional ingredient for blood sugar control was included in the 2026 regional specialized AI and bio business.
Agricultural risks in Yeongdong are particularly sensitive to climate.
For fruit trees, low temperatures during the flowering period, heatwaves, heavy rainfall, pests and diseases, and weather conditions during the harvest period have a significant impact on yield and quality.
Therefore, the Yeongdong-type AX is a Climate + Orchard + Market Intelligence rather than a facility control-centric smart farm.
That is the key.
You must connect weather forecast → flowering/pests and diseases → growth → estimated yield → quality → storage → price → sales.
By connecting this to wine, tourism, and functional raw materials, fluctuations in raw material prices can be diversified across various industries.
AI will play a role in predicting the entire value chain of a single agricultural product rather than automating agricultural production .
Yeongdong's Golden Time is not the time to increase grape production, but the point in time to transform the fruit industry into a high-value-added data industry resilient to climate risks .
The first loss is the disappearance of agricultural knowledge .
If retirement proceeds without the experience of elderly farmers being digitized, it is difficult to restore the know-how accumulated in local crops.
The second is the entrenchment of external dependence in the agricultural workforce structure.
Seasonal workers are a crucial production workforce, but unless the production structure is automated and advanced, the scale of their deployment must be continuously expanded whenever a labor shortage occurs.
The third is the cost of failure for young farmers.
Even if support is received for smart farm facilities, failure to establish the business after the initial investment may occur if market, management, energy costs, and technical support are not interconnected.
The fourth is data monopoly.
If agricultural data is separated by private platforms, farmers will not be able to fully utilize their own data, and it will become difficult to create public regional agricultural models.
The fifth is climate risk.
The longer crop forecasting and variety switching are delayed, the more likely farmers are to have to urgently switch crops at a time when existing suitable cultivation sites are no longer suitable for climate change.
The sixth is the separation of export growth.
If agricultural and food exports increase but raw materials are sourced externally, the growth of the processing industry may proceed independently of the increase in farm income in Chungbuk.
The biggest loss is that the number of farmers decreases while the production methods remain the same .
The agricultural AX conditions in Chungbuk are stronger than expected.
The Agricultural Research and Extension Services has its own smart farm demonstration center and data control infrastructure. ( Ares )
Secured a national project worth 21.8 billion won for regional crop R&D. ( Ares )
There also exists a concrete empirical example called the watermelon AI model. ( Ares )
Support for youth smart farm startups and the distribution of low-cost smart farms have also begun. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
The agri-food export market has also grown to a size of over $800 million. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
By connecting these assets, Chungbuk can compete in crop-specific AI operation models rather than in smart farm facility costs.
The goal is to create a watermelon AI model, a Yeongdong fruit tree model, a Goesan organic farming model, a Jecheon natural product model, and to disseminate each model along with data standards.
If total production and income can be maintained even if the number of farm households decreases, the economic impact of the decline in the agricultural population can be mitigated.
In addition, young farmers can be provided not only with land but also with verified data, cultivation models, markets, and contract partners .
In this case, the structure of starting a youth farm business can change from learning new agricultural technology through trial and error from scratch to acquiring a proven Agricultural Operating Model .
Changes to observe | Things to do with AX | Policy decision | Verification indicators |
| Decline in agricultural population | Analysis of priority for agricultural automation | Intensive support for high-labor crops | Working hours/ha |
| Increase in elderly farmers | Datafication of experiential knowledge | Digital Succession | Data-driven farms |
| Smart Farm | Establishment of standard models for each crop | Spread after verification | Productivity · ROI |
| Agricultural data | Agricultural Data Commons | Establishment of public standards and rights | Number of linked farms |
| Climate Risk | Crop conditions and pest prediction | preemptive response | Damage rate |
| young farmers | Providing Management Digital Twin | Facility + Sales Channel Support | 3- and 5-year survival rates |
| seasonal workers | Labor demand forecast | Combination of manpower and automation | manpower shortage rate |
| agricultural production | Linked to demand and price forecasting | Item and Shipment Adjustment | Price volatility |
| agri-food companies | Raw material supply chain matching | Expansion of contract farming | Proportion of raw materials within the province |
| export | Market-specific Demand Intelligence | Item-specific strategies | Farm revenue |
The policy runtime should be managed in the following order : farms and farmland → growth and climate data → AI prediction → agricultural work and automation → productivity and quality → processing, contracting, and export → farm income → youth settlement → rural sustainability .
Critical + Opportunity
Chungbuk agriculture is not a region with low technical readiness.
The Agricultural Research and Extension Services has secured a research foundation for AI and smart agriculture, and attracted 84 national R&D projects worth 21.8 billion won in 2026. ( Ares )
An AI model for predicting watermelon growth has already been developed, and integrated agricultural data control and data collection based on 72 farms have begun. ( Ares )
Twenty low-cost Chungbuk-type smart farms and ten youth smart farms in population-declining areas are also being promoted starting in 2026. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
In the market, agri-food exports reached an all-time high of $842 million. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
Therefore, technology, markets, and policies all exist.
However, the population structure is moving much faster.
55.9% of the agricultural population is 65 years or older, while the youth population accounts for only 6.2%. ( National Data Agency )
The number of foreign seasonal workers has also been expanded to 6,275 by 2026. ( Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Government )
There is a time lag between the rate at which the agricultural workforce is declining and the rate at which smart agriculture is spreading.
Therefore, the current judgment is Critical + Opportunity .
The critical factor is that the age structure of the agricultural population is shifting in an irreversible direction.
This is because it marks the point where technologies and policies to digitize existing agricultural knowledge and connect it with AI, automation, and the market have begun simultaneously.
- Chungbuk agricultural population
- Proportion of agricultural population aged 65 and over
- Agricultural population aged 20–39
- Number of farm households and cultivated land area
- Cultivated area per farmer
- Scale of introduction of foreign seasonal workers
- Labor hours by crop
- Cumulative number of smart farm households
- Actual operation rate of Chungbuk-type smart farms
- Smart farm investment payback period
- Number of farms linked to smart farming data
- Data accumulation by crop
- AI prediction accuracy
- Actual utilization rate of AI recommendations
- Changes in productivity by crop
- Changes in defect and product rates
- Energy cost and input reduction rate
- 3- and 5-year survival rates of youth smart farms
- Changes in income and debt of young farmers
- Area and amount of damage from climate disasters
- Differences in disaster damage to farms utilizing AI and prediction
- Usage rate of raw materials from Chungbuk by agri-food companies
- Contract farming amount and number of farms
- Changes in exports of fresh produce and processed foods
- Changes in farm income of AX participating farms
The most significant data gap currently is that while smart farms, AI research results, and agri-food export statistics exist separately, there is a lack of publicly available Farm Outcome Intelligence that connects these to farm-specific productivity, costs, sales prices, farm income, and youth settlement .
Runtime Chain
Agricultural Population & Climate → Agricultural Data → AI Prediction → Automation & Farming → Productivity & Quality → Contracts, Processing, & Exports → Farm Household Income → Youth Entry → Local Settlement → Rural Sustainability
The first evidence for Chungbuk Agriculture AX is the age structure of the agricultural population. In 2024, the agricultural population was approximately 140,000, a 21.5% decrease from 2015. During the same period, the youth population declined by 54.1%, while the elderly population increased by 20.0%, causing the proportion of those aged 65 and older to rise to 55.9%. ( National Data Center )
The second factor is a labor shortage. North Chungcheong Province allocated 6,275 foreign seasonal workers to 2,098 farm households in 2026, a 27.6% increase from the previous year. This demonstrates that external labor has become structurally important for maintaining current agricultural production. ( North Chungcheong Provincial Government )
The third point is a shift in the direction of smart agriculture policy. Moving away from an approach centered on expensive glass greenhouses, North Chungcheong Province has launched a low-cost smart farm project utilizing existing vinyl greenhouses, totaling 4 billion won across 20 locations. At the same time, it is promoting support for 10 youth smart farm startups worth 4.5 billion won in six cities and counties experiencing population decline. ( North Chungcheong Provincial Government )
The fourth point is that Agriculture AX has entered the data phase. Starting with 72 farms, a control system to unify smart agriculture data is being established, and in Jincheon and Eumseong, an AI growth prediction model has been developed based on two years of actual watermelon data. ( Ares )
The fifth is research capability. The Chungbuk Agricultural Research & Extension Services secured 21.8 billion won from 84 national R&D projects for 2026 and designated AI, big data, climate change response, and region-specialized crops as core research areas. ( Ares )
The sixth factor is the market. Agri-food exports are projected to reach $842 million in 2025, a 20.1% increase, and approximately 4.3 billion won will be invested in 13 export support programs with a target of $900 million in 2026. However, given that processed foods account for 85% of exports, export growth was not directly equated with farm performance. ( Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Government )
Structural insights remaining from this analysis
The biggest crisis facing agriculture in North Chungcheong Province is not the fact that the number of farmers is decreasing.
The fact that agricultural production methods change slower than the rate at which the number of farmers is decreasing is a greater risk.
Currently, two responses to the rural labor issue are proceeding simultaneously.
One is to bring in more foreign seasonal workers.
Another is to reduce the amount of labor required itself through smart agriculture, AI, and automation.
The two policies are not in a competitive relationship.
In the short term, both are needed.
However, the long-term importance must change.
The 6,275 foreign seasonal workers in 2026 is a policy to maintain current production levels.
AI and smart agriculture is a policy designed to create a structure that can be produced even 10 years from now .
Therefore, the performance of rural manpower policies should not be evaluated simply by how many necessary personnel have been secured.
We must simultaneously look at how much the labor time required to cultivate 1 hectare of crop has been reduced.
If this indicator does not decrease, the structural problem will not be resolved even if the number of seasonal workers continues to increase.
The second insight is that the competitiveness of Chungbuk smart agriculture may stem from the depth of data rather than the scale of large-scale facilities .
Chungbuk did not have a Smart Farm Innovation Valley.
Rather, for this reason, they are choosing low-cost smart farms and data models centered on local crops. ( Ares )
There are actual watermelon farms in North Chungcheong Province.
Actual growth data was accumulated for two years in Jincheon and Eumseong.
If the AI created from this data improves farm decision-making, it becomes an Agricultural Intelligence Property optimized for Chungbuk .
The structure is different from purchasing general-purpose smart farm solutions in other regions.
The same applies to fruit trees.
Yeongdong grapes require data on Yeongdong's climate, soil, varieties, and cultivation methods.
Goesan organic farming also requires a separate dataset.
The same goes for Danyang garlic and Boeun jujubes.
Ultimately, the data competitiveness of Chungbuk agriculture is likely to be built from a collection of small, high-quality models specific to each crop, rather than from a single massive general-purpose AI.
The third insight is that elderly farmers should not be interpreted solely as an obstacle to AX.
The current agricultural population of 78,000 aged 65 and older represents the greatest risk of aging, as well as the largest unstructured knowledge database possessed by Chungbuk agriculture. ( National Data Center )
- In which soil is the quality good?
- If the rainy season is prolonged, at what point should pest control be carried out?
- How the yield decreases depending on how the flowers bloom.
- Which varieties survive better in a specific region?
This knowledge does not all exist in the database.
If this experience of elderly farmers is connected with sensors, records, interviews, and growth data before they retire, it can be converted into a learning asset for agricultural AI.
It is necessary to design this as Digital Agricultural Succession .
It is a method that not only supports the succession of farmland but also transfers land, cultivation data, work records, variety information, sales channels, and business partners to young people as a single agricultural management asset.
The 10 Youth Smart Farm projects also become more effective when combined with this structure.
Even if young people are provided with facilities worth 450 million won, the risk of failure is high if they are made to experience everything from crop selection to sales from scratch. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
Conversely, if verified local farm data is provided, existing farmers act as mentors, and AI models and contract sales outlets are connected, the risk of starting a business can be significantly reduced.
The fourth insight is that Agricultural AX should not end with productivity technology alone.
Even if the productivity of agricultural products increases, prices fall if there is overproduction.
Therefore, true agricultural AX must combine Farm Intelligence + Market Intelligence .
If AI predicts production volume, Nonghyup and distributors can adjust shipment quantities in advance.
If demand in export markets increases, contract production of the relevant item can be increased.
Processing companies can also contract with farms in advance for the required amount of raw materials.
The projected increase in Chungbuk's agri-food exports to $842 million by 2025 is an important market foundation capable of creating this connection. ( Chungbuk Provincial Government )
However, the fact that processed foods account for 85% of total exports presents another challenge.
Even if food companies in Chungbuk grow, if they purchase raw materials from other regions or overseas, the Local Value Capture of Agriculture AX is low.
Therefore, in the future, the purchase amount of raw materials from Chungbuk must be tracked along with the export amount of agricultural and food products .
When exports by local food companies increased by 10%, it is necessary to verify whether contract farming with local farmers also increased.
The region-specific material AI analyzed in No. 014 is also connected to this structure.
If local resources such as Boeun jujubes, Danyang garlic, Okcheon lacquer, Jecheon broccoli, and Yeongdong persimmon peels are converted from simple raw materials into functional materials, the added value of agriculture can be separated from production volume.
Even if farmland and the number of farmers decrease, if the value of a unit of product increases, the likelihood of maintaining local agriculture increases.
Therefore, the ultimate goal of Chungbuk Agriculture AX is not More Production .
It is close to More Value per Farmer · More Value per Hectare · Less Labor per Unit .
The area that a single farmer can manage increases, and more added value is created from the same agricultural products,
Price risk must be diversified through contracts, processing, and exports.
This structure must be established to offset the decline in the agricultural population with productivity.
The reason why 2026–2028 is the Golden Time is that the time axes of the agricultural population and technology investment intersect.
Elderly farmers are still in the field.
The youth smart farm has now begun.
Data collection from 72 farms is also in its early stages.
AI growth models are also being created for the first time.
21.8 billion won in R&D will also be carried out over the next 3 to 5 years.
In other words, it is a period when analog knowledge and digital technology in agriculture coexist .
Once this period passes, even if technology advances, local experiences for learning may disappear.
Therefore, the first thing Chungbuk needs to do right now is to preserve the farmers' experiences and farm data rather than installing more facilities .
Golden Time Thesis — The AX Golden Time for Chungcheongbuk-do agriculture is not about installing a few more smart farms or securing more foreign seasonal workers. The key lies in whether we can transform the cultivation experience held by elderly farmers into data on plant growth, soil, climate, and agricultural operations within the next two to three years, and connect this with AI prediction, automation, startups by young farmers, contract farming, and agri-food exports, thereby transitioning to an agricultural system where fewer people produce more stably and generate higher added value. With 55.9% of the agricultural population already over the age of 65, if we miss this digital succession of knowledge now, we risk losing the very field data that is most important for training Chungcheongbuk-do agriculture, even if better AI emerges in the future.
Version | Reference Date/Revision Date | Major changes |
| v1.0 | 2026.08.28 | The first analysis was conducted on the population decline, aging, climate, and labor risks of Chungbuk's agriculture and rural areas, as well as the transition to Smart Agriculture AX. It cross-verified the agricultural population of 140,000 in 2024 (55.9% elderly, 6.2% youth), 6,275 foreign seasonal workers in 2026, 20 low-cost Chungbuk-type smart farms worth 4 billion won, 10 youth smart farms worth 4.5 billion won in population-declining areas, data monitoring for 72 farms, AI growth prediction for watermelons in Jincheon and Eumseong, 84 national R&D projects worth 21.8 billion won, and agri-food exports of $842 million in 2025. Through the cases of Jincheon and Yeongdong, the Runtime and Digital Agricultural Succession were presented, covering the progression from farmland and households → growth and climate data → AI prediction → automation and agricultural operations → productivity and quality → contracts, processing, and exports → household income → youth settlement, and the Golden Time was determined to be Critical + Opportunity. |
