North Gyeongsang agricultural institute selected for AI commercialization support project

The North Gyeongsang Province Agricultural Research and Extension Services announced Sunday it has been selected for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' rapid commercialization support project for AI applications in the agriculture and food sector, and will now move forward with commercializing "Farm Toktok," an autonomous oriental melon cultivation service that combines generative AI with greenhouse control technology.

The project is part of the government's "AX-Sprint" initiative, which aims to accelerate the AI transformation of everyday life and industry by helping bring fully developed AI products and services to market within one to two years.

The Ministry of Planning and Budget oversees and coordinates the initiative, with 11 ministries including the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs taking part. This year, the government will provide 754 billion won ($485 million) in support for 229 products and services.

The selected project, titled "Agriculture-Specialized LLM-Based Autonomous Smart Farm AI Agent," carries a total budget of 2 billion won and will run for one year, covering development, field demonstration, service launch and distribution to farms.

Four companies are participating in the project, including the Seongju Oriental Melon and Vegetable Research Institute, the Chilgok-gun Agricultural Technology Center and IT firm UBN Co., all working to commercialize smart farming technology for oriental melon cultivation.

The Seongju Oriental Melon and Vegetable Research Institute and the Chilgok-gun Agricultural Technology Center plan to roll out the Farm Toktok service to 50 oriental melon farms in the Seongju and Chilgok areas during the project period, following field demonstrations and applicability testing.

"Building on this selection, we will work to commercialize AI services that farmers can use easily and safely, and actively support efforts to strengthen the competitiveness of North Gyeongsang's oriental melon industry and improve farm productivity," said Jo Yeong-suk, director of the North Gyeongsang Province Agricultural Research and Extension Services.