Background : Angelica dahurica is the dried root of Angelica dahurica Bentham et Hooker f., a perennial plant belonging to the Umbelliferae family. Since its peak at 63 hectares in 2000, the cultivated area of Angelica dahurica dropped to its lowest level at 14 hectares in 2014 although there had been a short bounce back to 59 hectares in 2007. The decrease in the cultivated area has created a vicious cycle where even a small change in production amounts causes Angelica dahurica prices to fluctuate, leading farmers to become reluctant to cultivate the species. Therefore, this study aims to provide growers with new information on Angelica dahurica cultivation technology development, based on surveys and analyses of the difficulties and needs the farmers have. Methods and Results : Setting the nationwide Angelica dahurica farming households as the population, this study looked into 11 households of growers from main producing areas including Yeongju, Yeongcheon, and Bonghwa. Researchers carried out the survey by visiting the farmers and conducting face-to-face interviews using a prepared questionnaire. The survey was conducted for 2 months (from July to August 2016) to identify difficulties and specific characteristics of farming Angelica dahurica. SAS 9.2 was used for the statistical analysis. Conclusion : The surveyed types of difficulties identified were varieties, seeding, fertilization, pests, water management, weeding, soil, and drying. The results indicate that seeding (2.2) is the most serious difficulty, and water management (2.5), weeding (3.1), fertilization (3.7), pests (3.9) and others followed. Regarding specific technical problems, browning roots in the process of drying (61.5%) was the biggest concern along with germination after seeding (23.1%) and water management in the fields (15.4%). In response to the question about their willingness to expand farming in the future, no households showed intentions of expansion, while 36.4% reported intentions to reduce and 63.6% to maintain their current Angelica dahurica cultivation. The causes of weakening supply include low prices (54.5%), unreasonable pricing (36.4%), and difficulties in selling due to lack of retailers. Therefore, it seems necessary for the government to support sustainable Angelica dahurica farming by taking measures such as contract farming with herbal medicine circles, a minimum production cost guarantee system, or joint purchasing by the Agricultural Cooperative Association.

• Don Woo Choi(Gyeongsnagbuk-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services) | 최돈우
• Chang Gi Son(Gyeongsnagbuk-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services) | 손창기 Corresponding author
• Dong Chun Kim(Gyeongsnagbuk-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services) | 김동춘