▲ Haman Farmer’s Cooperative / President Park Jae-min

(PowerKorea) With fast spreading sharing economy in South Korea, farmers and consumers are also moving fast with mutual interest in production and distribution. This way, consumers check whether they are eating healthy agricultural products while famers increase income. And Haman Farmer’s Cooperative is a good example in building trust between farmers and consumers.

Park Jae-min, the president of the cooperative, quit university to fly to Japan to learn Japanese cuisine. He trained for 2 years at a school and further 1 year at a hotel. Back in Korea, he took in charge of Japanese cuisine and an interpreter at a prestigious company where he met his wife.

“Working for a conglomerate in South Korea is the envy of many. But the reality, at least for us, was like squirrels going round and round in a treadwheel. One day, my wife brought up with a life in rural area and I agreed. So we wrapped things up and left for Haman County” looked back Park.

Much worried about what to do and hazing of the locals, but the locals rather welcomed the couple and helped for many things about farming. The locals were more pleased than the Park couple when his wife gave a birth as the village had not heard the cry of a baby for 20 years. 

With unsparing support of the locals, Kim and his wife started with beans and perilla seeds. They learned many during the course of their lives as farmers and reached to a conclusion that farmers need to share things with people in the city in order to survive. A number of people shared the same thought with the couple and thus set sail was the Haman Farmer’s Cooperative in 2017.

The cooperative brought up perilla oil to make and sell in cooperation. This is because oils products can be saved in bottles and sold throughout the year unlike the fresh agricultural products which must be sold within several days or thrown away otherwise. 

The cooperative introduced the brand Byeol Byeol Farmers and is selling oils, peaches and dried persimmon through social media as well as offline stores. Each member of the cooperative plays a farmer and a choice of product developer, media marketing, services, planning and operational support to maximize work efficiency.

At the same time, the cooperative brought up various engaging programs for city dwellers such as weekend farm, voluntary work, farm party and direct market in the city to build a good sharing agriculture. Byeol Byeol Activity especially was designed for both young and old farmers in the region for engagement.

“We will keep working hard to bring up more sharing agriculture programs so that famers and city dwellers can benefit each other” says Park.

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