Hongcheon County launches push to develop agricultural machinery industry, explores bringing an expo to Hongcheon at Daegu fair

【Financial News | Hongcheon—Reporter Kim Gi-seop】Hongcheon County has launched efforts to turn the agricultural machinery industry into a new growth engine for the region, viewing as an opportunity both the northward shift in cultivation areas due to climate change and the aging of rural communities.
According to Hongcheon County on the 5th, County Governor Shin Young-jae visited the International Agricultural Machinery & Materials Fair, being held in Daegu that day, to survey the latest technologies and market trends in the domestic and international agricultural machinery industry. The county said the visit was its first on-site step toward fully implementing a pledge of its 9th popularly elected administration: fostering a Hongcheon-style agricultural machinery and agricultural materials industry.
At the fair, Governor Shin met with representatives of the Korea Agricultural Machinery Cooperative and expressed his desire to bring a domestic agricultural machinery expo to Hongcheon. They will also discuss the conditions for hosting it, how to proceed and future cooperation. He also met with representatives of agricultural machinery manufacturers and exchanged views on ways to produce and distribute agricultural machinery locally.
The county has turned its attention to the agricultural machinery industry because agriculture is a major part of the region. With the number of older farmers growing and rural labor becoming increasingly scarce, the county believes there is a greater need to develop and distribute machinery suited to local agricultural conditions. Its plan is to make this a new growth industry for the region, rather than limiting its role to supporting agriculture.
“In rural areas where labor is scarce and farmers are getting older, machinery suited to local land and crops will soon become a new source of income,” said Hongcheon County Governor Shin Young-jae. “With cultivation areas steadily moving north, now is an opportunity, and we will make Hongcheon a hub for the agricultural machinery industry by attracting an expo and working with manufacturers.”

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