▲ Sancheong Poultry Cooperative / President Lee Sang-ho

On a Jiri Mountain 250 meters above sea level is Sancheong Poultry Cooperative. 450,000 hens on a 330,000 square meter field are hatching eggs which are managed by cutting edge facilities from the US and Germany.

The cooperative is known to be the best egg farm in South Korea thanks to clean air, rich forest and first grade water. Those who have toured the farm voice together that there was no unique poultry farm smell at all. To prove it, the cooperative president Lee Sang-ho runs a museum and a sculpture garden and organizes a rose festival once a year in and around the farm.

“Sancheong Poultry Cooperative boasts cutting edge automated cages and product lines. From temperature and the feed to water supply and toxic gas detection, the automated system records and alarms. The system also plays the classical music for emotional stability of hens and for longer lifespan” says Lee.

In 2009, Sancheong Poultry Cooperative earned the South Korea’s first eco-friendly poultry farm title alongside the nonantibiotic eggs certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. And in 2018, the cooperative obtained HACCP. 

Under its non-pollutant, non-disease, freshest and rich nutrition motto, the cooperative produces 250,000 eggs a day and supplies in cold chain, the low-temperature keep and delivery to consumers. The surroundings of the farm are sealed off with concrete to prevent any possible soil pollution.

“Treatment of the droppings is very important for health of hens and farmers as well as environment. We use the German Salmet clean manure system to treat the droppings eco-friendly. The system also helps us make and supply yearly 200,000 batches of organic fertilizers to farm houses nationwide.”

The Sancheong Sangol Museum, Lee built with his own expense of 2 billion won (1.7 million USD), displays 192 registered relics and 400 unregistered such as potteries, porcelains and documents on the first and second floors, and another around 400 farming tools in the basement. A cafeteria is on the second floor and accommodation and activities are facilitated on the third floor. It is being shut at the moment due to the virus spread.

Sancheong County has numerous historical sites and remains of the Gaya Kingdom. A number of records of King Suro, King Guhyung, King Heungmu and General Kim Yu-shin are taken place here. As an ardent advocate for our historic relics, Lee wishes the museum to play part in promoting regional heritages.