The smart farm market in Korea is experiencing sustained growth. The market size is expected to grow at an impressive compound annual growth rate of 23.44%, from KRW 1.2755 trillion in 2018 to KRW 3.6508 trillion in 2023. The market value has grown significantly over the years, increasing from KRW 1.568 trillion in 2019 to KRW 2.9605 trillion in 2022. Notably, as of 2020, the equipment supply sector related to smart farm production had the highest share of 45.5%, followed closely by the smart agricultural machinery sector with 23.56%.
As of December 2021, the smart farm industry comprises 1,012 companies, including 821 core companies and 191 related companies. Most of these companies operate in the facility horticulture sector, with a notable concentration in plant factories and open-field fruit trees. Among these, the plant factory and open field fruit tree segment has a particularly robust presence. Last year, Korean smart farm systems showed remarkable growth in exports and orders, reaching a total value of USD 260 million. This figure represents a significant threefold increase over the previous year. An analysis of the export trend reveals key milestones: USD 2.41 million for three companies in 2018, USD 2.23 million for seven companies in 2019, USD 6.29 million for seven companies in 2020, and USD 5.5 million for eight companies in 2021, eventually reaching USD 171,000.

As of January 2024, the smart farming sector in Korea has experienced significant growth, with 893 domestic smart farms focusing on facility horticulture and 492 focusing on open field crops. Facility horticulture stands out, with strawberries leading with 465 locations, tomatoes with 184 locations, paprikas with 70 locations, and cucumbers with 59 locations. Among open field crops, grapes lead with 119 locations, followed by 65 onion farms, 48 each of green onion and apple farms, 21 cabbage farms, 16 peach and blueberry farms, 14 garlic farms, and 10 tangerine farms. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in 2021 showed that approximately 56.7% of farms with smart farm facilities actively collect ICT data. Among these, facility horticulture farms (858) are the most common, followed by open field vegetable farms (157) and open field fruit farms (116). On average, 25.6% of the farms using data are involved in analyzing and applying the information collected. In particular, open field orchards lead in implementation with an impressive rate of 41.5%.
As a result, most smart farms have demonstrated higher production efficiency compared to the period before the system was implemented. In 2021, the first year of implementation, the facility horticulture sector saw an impressive increase of over 33% in production and shipments per unit area compared to the previous year. At the same time, there has been a reduction in labor hours of approximately 12%. In addition, there was a remarkable increase of more than 34% in the production of high-value products. The use of smart systems also reduced production costs by reducing the use of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. As a result, agricultural income per unit area increased by more than 40%. In terms of energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions decreased by an average of about 2%. A similar positive trend was observed in fruit trees, where production and shipments per unit area increased by more than 5-6% in the first year of system implementation, and the production of high-quality products also increased by more than 2.7%. In field vegetables, production and shipments per unit area increased by more than 3.5% year-on-year in the first year of implementation. In addition, the production of quality products in this sector increased by more than 10.2%.