Cabbage production has ballooned to over 20 percent higher than it was just a year ago. The glut has forced prices down, and growers are responding by destroying some of their crop. Joseph Kim reports.

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Aewol-eup, Jeju City

A roaring tractor plows a field and slowly crushes fully grown cabbages back into the soil from where they came.

Overproduction of the crop is forcing farmers to give up their cabbage, and for some, it brings tears.

INTERVIEW
Kim Hak-jong / Jeju Cabbage Supply Regulating Committee
It’s painful to see cabbages being thrown out. But farmers are voluntarily discarding their crop hoping the prices will not drop any further.
<인터뷰 : 김학종 / 제주양배추출하조절위원회장>
"과잉 생산되다보니 가격 하락으로 농가 스스로 자율 폐기를 (하고 있습니다). 마음은 아프지만 남은 물량으로 제 값을 받는다면 그나마 위로가 될 것 같습니다."

850 local farmers have decided to plow over 10 percent of their production.



This winter has been relatively warm and the area for growing cabbage has increased, which raised the crop production to 114,000 tons.

That is 21 percent higher than a year before.


Prices of the crop have plunged.

Wholesale prices of cabbage were set at 5,400 won per 8 kilograms nationwide last week.

That's a decrease of 11 percent from December, 2018 and 34 percent lower than a year before.

The Jeju office of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and the Jeju Cabbage Supply Regulating Committee held a meeting and agreed to control supply.

Recording
Kim Byeong-hyeon / Cabbage grower
We agreed in order to supply the right amount of cabbage to the market and overcome the overproduction crisis.
<싱크 : 김병현 / 양배추 농가>
"양배추의 원활한 수급 조절과 유통 처리로 위기의 양배추 산업을 극복하고."

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9,000 tons being discarded

9,000 tons of cabbages grown on 165 hectares or 10 percent of the total production are being discarded.

If the prices continue to drop after the supply control, farmers will do more to control shipments.

[Reporter] Joseph Kim
[Camera] Kim Seung-cheol

Better policies on crop supply and management are needed to avoid repeating this cycle of overproduction, price collapse, and crop abandonment.

Joseph Kim, KCTV