South Chungcheong Province Selected as a Metropolitan-Linked Regulatory Free Special Zone for Smart Agriculture

[Financial News Hongseong = Reporter Kim Won-jun] South Chungcheong Province (Chungnam) has been finally selected in the government’s competition for the ‘Metropolitan-Linked Regulatory Free Special Zone for Smart Agriculture,’ a program designed to ease regulations on new technologies and industries. Accordingly, Chungnam will work with local governments in the Honam region, including Jeonnam-Gwangju and North Jeolla Province, to launch a full-scale demonstration project for the commercialization of electric agricultural machinery and charging systems.
According to Chungnam on the 3rd, the smart agriculture project submitted by Chungnam, Jeonnam-Gwangju, and North Jeolla Province was finally designated as a Metropolitan-Linked Regulatory Free Special Zone at a meeting of the Regulatory Free Special Zone Committee organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Introduced for the first time this year, the ‘metropolitan-linked’ model allows multiple local governments connected through an industrial value chain to jointly use regulatory exemptions to demonstrate new technologies beyond the boundaries of a single local government. Two fields were selected in this competition: smart agriculture and new marine leisure.
With the designation of the special zone, Chungnam will focus on verifying the performance of electric agricultural machinery and the safety of charging infrastructure across a 2.927-square-kilometer area in Asan, Hongseong, and Yesan County. The project will run for four years, from next year through 2030, with a total budget of 8.9 billion won, including demonstration research and development (R&D) and customized commercialization support.
The main demonstration tasks cover two areas: verifying the safety of charging facilities for electric agricultural machinery using solar-powered direct current (DC), and verifying the safety of electric agricultural machinery charging systems and their operation using existing electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Chungnam National University (CNU) will lead the special-zone project, with three related companies participating to demonstrate core technologies. After the demonstrations are completed, Chungnam Technopark will take charge of providing close support for commercialization, including technology transfer and market launch.
Chungnam plans to maximize synergies by linking this Regulatory Free Special Zone project with the ‘Eco-Friendly Agricultural Machinery Digitalization and Electrification Demonstration Project’ currently being carried out in the Naepo Agricultural and Life Sciences Cluster District. The province aims to establish a full-cycle industrial ecosystem covering the research and development (R&D), demonstration, safety verification, and commercialization of electric and eco-friendly agricultural machinery, making it a future growth engine for the region.
Most agricultural machinery distributed to farms in South Korea has traditionally been powered by internal combustion engines, which have been identified as one of the main causes of carbon emissions and ultrafine dust in rural areas. If the designation of this Metropolitan-Linked Regulatory Free Special Zone accelerates the distribution of electric and electrified agricultural machinery, it is expected to make a significant contribution not only to achieving carbon neutrality in rural areas but also to dramatically reducing farmers’ fuel costs amid an era of high oil prices.
In addition, Chungnam’s demonstration technology for electric charging infrastructure is expected to combine with Jeonnam-Gwangju’s direct-current distribution technology and North Jeolla Province’s AI and autonomous-driving unmanned agricultural machinery technology to develop into a nationwide ‘super-gap integrated smart agriculture solution.’
A Chungnam official said, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ selection of our proposal has laid the groundwork for thoroughly verifying the safety and performance of electric agricultural machinery and charging systems." The official added, "We will firmly strengthen the foundation of the eco-friendly agricultural machinery industry with the Naepo Agricultural and Life Sciences Cluster District as its hub, and spare no administrative or financial support to ensure that the results of the demonstrations lead to companies’ actual commercialization and stronger global industrial competitiveness."
[email protected] Kim Won-jun Reporter