The domestic artificially sweetened beverage market has grown rapidly in recent years, and sodas have led this growth. This study investigated consumer food purchasing behavior of artificially sweetened sodas in terms of the food health stereotypes of “vice” and “virtue”; used to denote unhealthy and healthy food purchases, respectively. The study was conducted using consumer panel data collected by the Rural Development Administration from 2017 to 2020. Given the semi-continuous nature of artificially sweetened soda purchases, Cragg’s two-part model was used for the analysis. The probability of purchasing artificially sweetened sodas increased as expenditure on snacks (a vice food category) increased. However, of those panelists who purchased artificially sweetened sodas, expenditure on artificially sweetened sodas decreased with expenditure on snacks and increased with expenditure on fruits (a virtue food category). These results suggest that vicious-lifestyle consumers choose artificially sweetened sodas when they regulate eating habits, whereas virtuous-lifestyle consumers increase artificially sweetened soda expenditure for hedonic consumption to reduce guilt based on a sensible trade-off effect.

This study aims to investigate protein consumption market trends in Korea. Protein consumption was divided according to the protein source into meat, fishery, and plant-based protein. To accomplish the goal of this study, food purchase data from 525 households panels collected by the Rural Development Administration over the last 10 years were used. The results of the study showed an increase or decrease in protein consumption by protein type over the last 10 years, and a reason to explain this change has been suggested. Specifically, this study found a dramatic increase in the consumption of several proteins, including beef sirloin, beef tenderloin, seasoned beef & steak, pork belly, pork shoulder, pork neck, seasoned pork, pork cutlet, sweet and sour pork, canned ham, chicken drumstick, chicken breast, dak gangjeong, Chinese fried chili chicken, salmon, eel, abalone, squid, octopus, webfoot octopus, octopus minor, canned whelk, tofu, cold bean soup,and plant-based milk. Some items showed no increase in consumption (such as beef jerky, pork rib, sausage, bacon, whole raw chicken, cutlass fish, oyster, fish cake, crab stick, surimi sausage,and canned fishery), whereas a few items showed decreased consumption (e.g., mackerel, pollack, cod,and canned tuna)

This study analyzes overall honey consumption and purchasing behavior, and in particular, seeks to identify factors that influence the willingness to pay (WTP) for native honey. A survey of 500 South Korean consumers was conducted to understand their purchasing experiences and perceptions related to honey. A multiple linear regression analysis was carried out to comprehend the effect of the following factors on the willingness to pay for native honey: 1) knowledge of honey, 2) health consciousness, 3) the unhealthy = tasty intuition (UTI), and 4) positive perception of sweetness. As a result, consumers with more knowledge about honey, higher health consciousness and more positive perception of sweetness were more willing to pay for native honey. On the other hand, past honey purchasing or consuming experience had no significant impact on the willingness to pay for native honey. Marketing strategies and implications were derived from the characteristics of native honey consumers identified in this study.

Poultry is one of the three major meats in Korea and is a representative source of protein. The annual per capita consumption of chicken has been showing steady growth trends, with an increase of approximately 89% in 2018 compared to that of 2005. In this study, we investigated the domestic chicken production and consumption, and conducted an overall study on the domestic chicken industry. By using consumer panel data, we analyzed the characteristics of consumers buying chicken. Specifically, poultry was categorized into two types: traditional raw chicken and processed chicken, which emphasizes convenience. The purchase of raw chickens has generally been on the decline. From these, however, the proportion of native Korean chicken and chicken cuts is on the rise. Processed chicken, on the other hand, continues to grow, especially online. After examining the consumption characteristics of consumers who buy chicken, it was found that the purchase share increased with increasing age of native Korean chickens, whereas the purchase share increased with decreasing age of processed chicken. Based on these results, we confirmed that it is necessary to establish differentiated marketing and promotion strategies for each consumer target for the growth of chicken market.

Fig is a fruit of which the flesh is very sweet, and it is a tree which has been grown for fruit in Korea since long time ago. However, since the flesh of fig tends to be easily softened, commercial cultivation of this fruit began later than that of other fruit trees grown for profit, however, the cultivation and demand of fig tend to be increased steadily due to the development of technology for storage and distribution since the 2000s. In addition, as the domestic dining culture is getting diversified, the dishes cooked by using fig as a food material are introduced through diverse foods including dessert, and it is possible to intake fig in diverse ways, but not through the traditional processed food. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a measure of expanding the consumption of fig as a processed food, and it will be possible to overcome the limitation of short storage period, while securing the competitiveness of the fig industry. In this research, we have studied the history of domestic fig cultivation, current status of it and status of processed foods through related documents and materials, and the characteristics of the consumers who purchase figs. Fig is a traditional fruit, however, we could find out the fact that the consumers tend not to recognize it as a traditional one. Therefore, if we could add fig to various processed foods utilizing its sweet taste, rather than increasing the consumption of fresh fruits, it may increase the consumption of it.

The aim of this study was to forecast the future Health Functional Food (HFF) market trends of Korea by studied about policies and market situation in Japan. The HFF is a food that is given an additional health function. In contrast with traditional foods, the HFF has unique characteristics in that it can be produced under the political regulations. The market size of the HFF was growing gradually due to the increased of an aging population and consumer need for high quality and diversified foods. The reason why the HFF market in Japan grew up earlier than other countries, Japan was the first country that institutionalized the HFF policies. Therefore, in this paper, by examining the policies and the market situation of Japan through literatures, we forecasted upcoming political and market situational changes of Korea’s HFF market. We noticed that consumers needs about the HFFs which diversified, confidently ensured safety and ingredients will increase. In this regard, the government will reorganize legislation in order to increase the confidence of the safety of HFFs. In addition, the market size of domestic HFFs which are produced by major food companies will grow.

This research is about visualizing data for efficient use in agriculture, by measuring the understanding of graphs according to their features. A questionnaire consisting of one graph, either a bar graph or line graph, and a question about data, was made. According to the results, the time spent answering the question did not differ between the line graph and the bar graph. However, the rate of correct answers differed: that of the bar graph was 50% and the line graph was 0%. This implies that participants answered using the bar graph more accurately regarding whether the data involved understanding the absolute value. From this result, it is clear that using proper features of graphs according to the characteristics of data improves the understanding of information. In addition, a strategy to utilize information and communication technology in agriculture effectively was discussed.

In several industries, including the agriculture industry, information and communication technology (ICT) expenditure has been gradually increasing. This study explores the ICT investment of Korean agricultural corporations, and examines the effect of ICT investment on their profitability using an IT portfolio framework. As the organizational capabilities and environment in which ICT is used is critical in examining its impact, the IT-savvy level is used as a moderator. An increase in ICT investment size results in a significantly positive effect on profitability in organizations with higher IT-savvy levels, whereas there is no effect in organizations with lower IT-savvy levels. This study shows the necessity of understanding the structure of ICT investments in the agriculture industry, and suggests the importance of organizational capabilities and environment in making best use of ICT.

Since 2000s, proper utilization of IoT (Internet of Things) technology is a key factor for a firm to become more competitive, and this stream is not exceptional for the food and agriculture industry. Along with this stream, Korea government organization, for example MAFRA (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs), elected to adopt IoT technology, such as USN and RFID technologies, in the food and agriculture industry. Based on the IoT technology, MAFARA launched six “IoT based farm” project in 2007. IoT based farm project includes IoT based greenhouse system project, and it shows drastic efficiency in terms of cost reduction. When it comes to the productivity, however, the effect of IoT based greenhouse system is still ambiguous. In this regard, this study conducted systems analysis and design for IoT based tomato greenhouse in order to help farmers’ decision making related to the productivity by establishing standardized database structure and designing output form to analyze productivity indices. Proposed systems analysis and design can be utilized as a data analysis tools by farmers. Productivity data from the proposed systems is can be used by researchers to identify the relationship among environment, plant growth and productivity. Policy makers also can refer to the data and output forms to predict the quantity of fruit during certain period and to revise production guideline more precisely.

This study aims to analyze the differences of ginseng product consumers and segment Korean fresh ginseng and red ginseng root markets based on attributes for the purchase. As a result of analyzing survey data, the red ginseng root consumers had different aspects from fresh ginseng consumers. According to the result of cluster analysis, the fresh ginseng consumers were subdivided into three segments (safety-oriented consumption cluster, label centered consumption cluster, and high involvement consumption cluster), while the red ginseng root consumers were subdivided into four segments (convenience-oriented consumption cluster, high involvement consumption cluster, raw material's safety-oriented cluster, and raw material's information importance cluster). ANOVA and Crosstab were conducted to investigate characteristics of each cluster.

The purpose of this study is to prove that new values for the agricultural food area can be created by combining various big data collected in the agricultural food area and analyzing them in an appropriate analysis method. For this, the analysis techniques generally used were studied, and the use of the big data in the various areas of the current society was explored through practical application instances. In addition, by the current status and analysis instances of the big data use in the agricultural food area, this study was conducted to verify how the new values found were being used.

Research and technology has been transforming the agriculture to agribusiness which encompasses all operations with all the connections from faming per se, to manufacture & distribution of production supplies and farm commodities. Further, with the revolutionary development of information technology in the last two decades, we cannot talk about agribusiness process alone without considering the information technology embedded in the artifact, process, and structure. Despite the emergence of precision agriculture (PA) which is supported by IT based innovations which can not only improve efficiency in farming operations but also contribute to environmental sustainability, the adoption of IT among farmers and in agriculture industry are rather low than expected. Thus, Korean government has been seeking to converge IT into food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries to improve the competency of the agribusiness, and much progress has been made. This paper investigated the status quo of the current IT convergence with Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Korea, and further proposed future policy directions.

This study aims to subdivide consumers by attributes determined mainly by consumers of fresh ginseng. It is to compare and analyze the characteristics by cluster, and to deduce the implications on distribution and marketing. For this study, a survey was conducted targeting 250 consumers of fresh ginseng. The factors were deduced through performing the exploratory factor analysis on the results of the survey, and the consumers of fresh ginseng were classified through cluster analysis. As a result of the study, the attributes considered for the purchase of fresh ginseng were condensed to the three factors: physical characteristic factor, safety factor, and cultivation indication information factor. With these as the standard, the consumers of fresh ginseng were subdivided into the three clusters: safety-oriented consumption type, label-centered consumption type, and high involvement consumption type. It was found that there were differences in demographic characteristics and attributes considered for purchase of fresh ginseng by cluster analysis. This study suggests the implications for revitalization of the fresh ginseng industry by subdividing consumers of fresh ginseng and suggesting the characteristics by cluster.

The Asian food market has been growing recently, due to the role played by major Asian countries, which include Korea, China, and Japan. This study is purposed to investigate the potential of the food market in these Northeast Asian countries and to suggest future direction for global food companies. For in-depth analysis, this study is limited in scope to the confectionery market and analyzes that market within two frameworks: first, the ‘Market Attractiveness Matrix’ which transforms the ‘BCG Matrix’ to fit into the food market in order to analyze the flow in the Asian confectionery market; and second, analysis of the potential growth of the market using a Category Development Index (CDI), which aids in understanding the growth potential of a market. The European food market has recently reached its capacity and is now experiencing a low growth rate (Data Monitor, 2011). It is time for food companies to find a new ‘blue ocean’ to avoid fierce competition in the mature markets of Europe. Therefore, this analysis of the confectionery market, using the Market Attractiveness Matrix and CDI will suggest opportune directions for global food companies.

In recent times, NFC technology adaptations for smartphones have been increasing. This study proposes the adaptation of agri-food business models based on NFC technology and presents the basic technological characteristics of NFC. An NFC tag can store more information than prior tagging technology methods, such as QR codes, and provides a better user experience. Based on the unique features of NFC, this study suggests an NFC business model application for the agri-food business.