Abovefarm

Last week Abovefarm’s team was in South Korea.

 

South Korea organic movement has a long history and deep roots in local communities.

 

We met several examples of alternative food systems and best practices in organic agriculture

 

The Korean Hansalim Federation Hansalim it’s a perfect example of bottom-up farmers and consumers organization.

 

Hansalim means in English “protecting all living beings”. The principles of the Hansalim federation are based on mutual trust: farmers shoulder the responsibility for consumers’ health, while consumers shoulder the responsibility for farmers’ livelihoods.

 

Hansalim cooperates with more than 2,000 individual farmers. The farms produce organic food for more than 1.6 million clients. The food distribution is managed through 21 food distributing cooperatives, 180 organic stores and an advanced home delivery system.

 

What is unique about Hansalim is that farmers sell directly to Hansalim and get back 76% from the sales price, as sales do not go through any middle-persons.

 

Hansalim does not focus only on the marketing and sale of organic food. Much of its effort lays in advocating the benefits of organic agriculture, the importance of local food and integrated farming systems with animal husbandry and the cycling of natural resources as a way of preserving Korean agriculture and sustainability.

 

To learn more: www.hansalim.or.kr

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   ——   2019.9.3