A Study on the Status and Farming Consciousness of Environmental Farmers - Based on Hongsung, Chungnam Province -

환경보전형 농업종사자의 영농의식 및 실태에 관한 연구

The purpose of the study was to search for the developmental plan of the environmental agriculture by investigating the farming consciousness and the actual condition of farmers engaged in environmental agriculture. A case study along with personal interviews were carried out to investigate the farming consciousness and actual conditions of environmental agriculture in Hongsung area. The results of the study were as follow; 1) Farmers engaged in environmental agriculture had higher educational level and was generally younger in age than that of farmers in general. There were many Christians among the farmers engaged in environmental agriculture, however, there was no significant difference in terms of religion and farming career between the groups of practicing and non-practicing environmental agriculture. 2) Farmers practicing environmental agriculture were more interested in preservation of agricultural environment than the higher prices of agricultural products. 3) Most of the farmers practicing environmental agriculture wanted to take technical education on environmental agriculture and were highly interested in the preserving traditional agricultural style. 4) Farmers practicing environmental agriculture were more satisfied with a present farming life as well as government's agricultural policy than non-practicing farmers, and had plan for increasing scale of farm.