(1) Reasons for Proposal
In a situation where the aging and hollowing of agriculture and rural communities are intensifying, the necessity of fostering smart agriculture based on automation, precision, and unmanned technology is becoming important to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of agriculture.
Despite the necessity of fostering smart agriculture, there is no institutional basis to support it, so smart agriculture-related fostering and dissemination policies are not being implemented stably and systematically in a consistent direction.
The establishment of a separate Act to foster and support smart agriculture aims to systematically promote the smart agricultural policies, which had been decentralized, and improve the effectiveness of them. This Act aims to improve the lack of labor and the limitations of knowledge and technology due to aging and population decline in the agricultural and rural sectors and contribute to the development of domestic industry and promotion of exports by incorporating the ICT and data technology of the 4th Industrial Revolution into agriculture.
(2) Major Provisions
□ Define the purpose and main terms of the Smart Agriculture Act (Articles 1 through 2)
¡ The purpose of the legislation is defined as enhancing the competitiveness and sustainability of agriculture by fostering smart agriculture and contributing to the growth and development of farmers, agriculture, and rural communities (Article 1).
¡ The Act defines the terms of “smart agriculture,” “smart agricultural data,” “smart agriculture promotion zone,” “smart agriculture base complex,” and “smart agriculture manager” (Article 2).
□ Establish a promotion system for fostering and supporting smart agriculture (Articles 5 through 8))
¡ Stipulate the establishment of a five-year promotion plan that includes mid- to long-term goals, base formation, standardization, data utilization support, etc., to promote systematic and consistent smart agriculture fostering policies (Article 5).
¡ Stipulate the annual action plans according to the promotion plan to improve the feasibility of the established promotion plan through the management and evaluation of the performance of the promotion plan (Article 6).
¡ Stipulate the establishment of a smart agriculture promotion plan according to the circumstances of local governments and provide the basis for different budget support, etc., depending on the results of the evaluation of Si/Do’s plans (Article 7).
¡ Stipulate the implementation of an annual survey on smart agriculture to promote the feasibility of policy establishment (Article 8).
□ Lay the foundation for fostering and supporting smart agriculture (Articles 9 through 13)
¡ Stipulate model development support such as productivity improvement using smart agriculture and automated and unmanned growing methods for individual farmers to experience the effects and outcomes of smart farming and to easily introduce smart farming (Article 9).
¡ Stipulate the fostering of related service industries (data collection and analysis, guidance on the growth management of agricultural and livestock products, disease prediction, etc.) that may support the spread of smart agriculture for each farm (Article 10).
¡ Stipulate the designation of regions equipped with facilities that comprehensively support youth training, equipment verification, data utilization, etc., as base complexes to create a smart agricultural industry ecosystem and to provide financial support in cases where a specialization project under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Regulation of Regulation-Free Special Zones and Special Economic Zones for Specialized Regional Development is promoted in a region including a base complex (Article 11).
¡ Stipulate the basis for establishing the “smart agricultural base complex operation foundation” so that local government-funded institutions to operate regional base complexes can be established (Article 12).
¡ Stipulate to apply special cases (extension of lease period, private contract possible, etc.) under the Public Property and Commodity Management Act to the cases that the land of public property in the relevant region is leased to a farmer, enterprise, etc., for the smooth operation and activation of a base complex and promotion zone (Article 30) (Article 13).
□ Personnel fostering and publicity for smart agriculture (Articles 14 through 18))
¡ Stipulate human resource development and education to secure domestic smart agricultural competitiveness by fostering professional personnel such as smart agriculture R&D, equipment, and data (Article 14).
¡ Stipulate the establishment of a smart agricultural manager certification system to lay the institutional foundation for smart agricultural professionals to enter related service industries, etc. (Article 15).
¡ Stipulate the designation of institutions with human/material bases and capabilities related to smart agriculture education as educational institutions for smart agricultural professionals to secure expertise in smart agricultural education (Article 16).
¡ Stipulate educational cooperation to jointly develop and operate curricula and training programs through collaboration with domestic and foreign universities and research institutes related to smart agriculture (Article 17).
¡ Stipulate the discovery/promotion of best practices and provide rewards and incentives (Article 18).
□ Support smart agricultural technology development and standardization (Articles 19 through 23)
¡ Stipulate the establishment of a five-year core technology development plan including current status and prospects of smart agriculture core technologies, development goals, and strategies, etc., to overcome the technological gap with advanced countries and support the localization of core equipment, etc. (Article 19).
¡ Stipulate the promotion of technology development support projects to implement the core technology development plan (Article 20).
¡ The absence of domestic smart agricultural standards is acting as an obstacle to the growth and spread of smart agriculture, but it is difficult for domestic smart agricultural companies to lead standardization because they are very small. Stipulate the promotion of standardization to support the government-led development of equipment standards, data collection standards, research and study on the application status of standards, etc. (Article 21).
¡ Stipulate the establishment of demonstration facilities and aids for demonstration and verification expenses to support the equipment development, etc., of small smart agricultural enterprises (Article 22).
¡ Stipulate market support for market development projects, etc. and smart agricultural equipment (Article 23).
□ Activate the collection and utilization of smart agricultural data (Articles 24 through 28)
¡ Stipulate the building of a material foundation necessary for collecting, providing, and processing various data to foster and spread data-based smart agriculture (Article 24).
¡ Stipulate the basis to produce and collect data using data foundations and platforms (Article 25).
¡ Stipulate the provision of collected data by utilizing data platforms and supporting data analysis and utilizing consulting, etc., to activate data-driven smart agriculture (Article 26).
¡ Stipulate the establishment and operation of data platforms to improve the efficiency of data collection and its use (Article 27).
¡ Stipulate the installation of data centers to build equipment and facilities required for the production, collection, and provision of data (Article 28).
□ Dissemination and spread of smart agriculture (Articles 29 through 37)
¡ Stipulate the dissemination of technology and equipment such as equipment for each farm and support consulting, etc., considering the high initial entry cost of smart agriculture (Article 29).
¡ Stipulate the designation and creation of smart agriculture promotion zones to promote the spread of smart agriculture by integrating and scaling smart farms (Article 30).
¡ Stipulate the head of Si/Gun/Gu as an implementer who can promote the project for creating a smart agriculture promotion zone within the promotion zones under Article 30 (Article 31).
¡ Stipulate that when a project implementer implements a project for creating a zone, he/she shall establish an implementation plan for the project for creating a zone in accordance with the promotion zone creation plan and obtain approval from the Mayor/Do Governor (Article 32).
¡ Stipulate that if a project implementer obtains approval of the implementation plan pursuant to Article 24 to simplify administrative procedures when creating a promotion zone, it is deemed as if approval and permission under the Grassland Act, Mountain Districts Management Act, and Act on Funeral Services, etc., were made (Article 33).
¡ Stipulate obligations for smart agricultural equipment sellers to perform follow-up management, such as equipment repair and education on how to use equipment to ensure the efficiency and usefulness of the introduction of smart agriculture (Article 34).
¡ Since the domestic market size is limited for the growth of the domestic smart agriculture-related equipment and service industry, stipulate international cooperation with foreign governments, enterprises, etc., on the development and dissemination of smart agriculture (Article 35).
¡ Stipulate export consultation, information sharing support, etc., to support overseas advancement of smart agricultural equipment enterprises (Article 36).
¡ Stipulate the establishment of the “Smart Agricultural Promotion Agency” to establish a professional organization that oversees various policies, such as the data, dissemination, and spread of smart agriculture (Article 37).
□ Hearing (Article 38)
¡ Stipulate that a hearing shall be conducted in the case of cancellation of designation in Article 11 (7), Article 15 (7), Article 16 (4), etc. (Article 38).
