Korea's rural communities are in turmoil as a nationwide farmland audit gets underway. The government says it aims to root out speculative landholdings, but on the ground, it is innocent tenant farmers who are bearing the brunt. Absentee landowners are increasingly terminating lease contracts and demanding that tenants "vacate the land." For farmers who have already finished planting, it comes as a bolt from the blue. Some landowners are even attempting "disguised farming," planting fruit trees to evade the audit's net. That is why farmers' groups in Jeju have decided to establish a "Tenant Farmer Protection Center." It is said that 70 percent of Jeju's farmland is owned by outsiders. Paradoxically, the farmland audit could end up shaking the very foundation of Jeju's agriculture.
The farmland audit, which began on the 18th of this month, will be conducted over two years. This year's audit targets farmland acquired after the 1996 Farmland Act took effect, while next year's will cover land acquired before that date. Ten priority categories — including farmland in the Seoul metropolitan area, land transaction permission zones, and land owned by foreigners or agricultural corporations — will be examined using drones. The government has pledged strong sanctions against speculative farmland after the audit. But on the ground, farmers are crying out: "In the end, won't tenant farmers be the ones to suffer?" With sham lease arrangements aimed at pocketing direct payment subsidies or tax breaks running rampant, absentee landowners are likely to terminate contracts when facing sale orders, claiming they will "farm the land themselves."
As of 2024, tenant farmers account for 47 percent of all farmers. Some forecasts suggest that figure will exceed 80 percent by 2030. With an aging population, the number of farmers who directly till the land is bound to decline, and the separation of land ownership from farm management is accelerating. The government has expanded its budget for purchasing public lease farmland to a record high and is easing eligibility standards to protect actual cultivators, but it is failing to keep pace with the speed of change on the ground.
The demographic, ownership, and management structures of rural Korea are changing rapidly. The principle of "land to the tiller" — that only those who farm should own farmland — is enshrined in the Constitution. But on the ground, the question has already shifted from "who owns the land?" to "who actually farms it?" Isn't it time to move beyond an ownership-centered approach and shift the policy framework toward an era of "farmland for farming," ensuring that farmland is properly used for cultivation? Only then will the anxiety of tenant farmers be put to rest.
