Produce a farming plan even when buying a single weekend farm

On the 15th, a suspicion was raised that a former high-ranking public official who served as the head of the Multifunctional Administrative City Construction Administration in charge of the construction of Sejong City purchased land near the Smart Industrial Complex in Sejong City. There is a banner on the roadside of Sejong City stating that the government officials of Sejong City will report on speculation. News 1

The government plans to revise the relevant laws and regulations so that even when urban residents purchase farmland less than 1000m2 for weekend farm experience farms, they must submit a farming plan. This is because criticism is growing that small farmland is being abused as a means of speculation due to the LH (Korea Land and Housing Corporation) incident.

An official at the Prime Minister’s Office said on the 15th that “when non-farmers purchase farmland less than 1,000 square meters, we plan to make it mandatory to issue a farming plan.” “In consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, we plan to submit the amendment to the Farmland Act to the National Assembly as soon as possible.” The official said, “When purchasing farmland over 1000㎡, local governments receive an agricultural management plan, but farmland under 1000㎡ is promoting a plan to receive a more simplified document (farm plan).”

The government is planning to mandate the occupation and farming experience of the buyers of farmland to be entered in the agricultural management plan and farming plan. Even now, there is a space to write the job in the plan, but it is not mandatory. For this reason, there were many cases where public officials and employees of public institutions were left blank or falsely written down. If job description becomes mandatory, the government believes that it will be possible to more rigorous screening for speculation by public officials, etc.

A government official added, “It would be difficult to have urban residents who already have farmland less than 1000㎡ submit farming plans because of the retrospective controversy.”

On that day, the police conducted a large-scale seizure and search of city councilors and local government officials, allegedly suspicious of speculation. The seizure and search were conducted by the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency, the Gyeonggi Northern Police Agency, the Busan Police Agency, and the Sejong Police Agency.

1000㎡ weekend farm must also prove’actual farming’… Farmland transactions and prices likely to shrink
Weekend farms are also abused as a means of speculation due to the LH crisis’Intellectual’

The reason why the government decided to strengthen the screening when purchasing a weekend farm was due to the LH (Korea Land and Housing Corporation) incident. When the means of speculation by LH employees turned out to be farmland, sparks spread to small farmland for weekend farms and the like. It was pointed out that weekend farms and experiential farms were also frequently abused as a means of speculation. Accordingly, the government is planning to revise the relevant laws and regulations so that a farming plan is issued even when purchasing small farmland less than 1000㎡. However, in this case, there are also concerns that the farmland transaction itself will contract significantly and the price of farmland will fall.

○ Reinforced regulations on weekend farms by the government

The current farmland law makes it a principle that’farmland can only be acquired by farmers’. However, as the rural population aging worsened and the rural population declined, urban residents were also allowed to acquire farmland in limited cases. Non-farmers with farming experience can acquire farmland of 1,000 square meters or more if they submit an agricultural management plan that they plan to farm in the future. If the farmland size is less than 1000m2, exceptions have been made so that urban residents can buy and build farming without an agricultural management plan.

These exceptions also have implications for farming support. An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs explained, “When the 2003 Farmland Act was revised, allowing city residents to acquire some farmland was expected to stabilize or increase farmland prices.” Kim Soo-seok, an honorary senior research fellow at the Korea Rural Economic Institute, said, “It is important to strictly limit the act of converting farmland to prevent farmland speculation.” It is also necessary to consider that there was an aspect.”

For this reason, the government is also thinking of an alternative to partial regulatory strengthening. First of all, small-scale farmland used for weekend farming, such as less than 1000㎡, is under review to receive a more simplified document than the agricultural management plan, the farming plan. After acquiring farmland, the screening on whether or not to actually farm is also going to lower the intensity compared to over 1000㎡. However, as the criticism of public officials and employees of public institutions is so intense, the policy is to strengthen screening and post-testing.

○Is the farmland disposal order effective?

Although the government said it would issue an order to dispose of farmland in the wake of the LH crisis, some point out that there are many holes. This is because the suspension of orders for disposal of farmland under the Farmland Act is widely applied. The order to dispose of farmland is usually issued when farming is not carried out, but if farming is established after the order is issued, the disposition is postponed. In rural areas near large cities, it is said that “it is not possible to verify, so even if you go back and forth with a hoe on the weekend, the disposition will be suspended.”

According to the National Farmland Use Survey Plan announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in August last year, out of the 111641 people who were obligated to dispose of farmland in 2017, only 1310 were ordered to dispose of them in 2018, the following year. Only 11.2% of those who were suspected of violating the Farmland Law due to not farming or illegal lease were taken to dispose of farmland.

If a violation of the Farmland Act is detected in the survey on the actual conditions of use of farmland, the farmland owner is obligated to dispose of the farmland within one year. If disposition is not carried out after one year, a disposition order is issued, and if disposition is not completed within 6 months after the order, a performance compulsory fee will be charged. However, the disposition order is postponed for just’pretending’ to rebuild farming within one year after the disposition obligation is imposed. Like the LH incident, it is possible to defer the degree of planting seedlings. After three years of farming, the disposition obligation is completely canceled.

Regarding this, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food explained that “deferral of disposition is at the discretion of the head of the mayor, county, and ward,” and said, “If the sale of farmland for speculative purposes such as the LH incident is detected, it is expected that a disposition order without delay will be issued.” The Ministry of Agriculture and Food is known to be under review by legal experts.

It is analyzed that even if LH staff cannot clearly prove that they have dumped using inside information, it will not be easy to order disposition. In this case, it is necessary to follow the procedure for ordering to dispose of the existing farmland law violation. It is pointed out that there is no sharp way to force the disposal of farmland if the employee said that he would rebuild the farming properly and showed the appearance of farming.

Reporter Seo Min-jun/Kim Nam-young/Kang Jin-gyu [email protected]