Farmers favor insurance over facility upgrades as extreme weather intensifies

As heat waves, heavy rains and droughts grow more frequent, South Korean farmers are prioritizing expanded agricultural disaster insurance over facility upgrades. Farmers are willing to sign up for insurance and adjust their farming schedules to cope with abnormal weather, but the high upfront costs of reinforcing facilities remain a significant deterrent.

According to a pilot survey on the first-quarter 2026 farmer sentiment index released Thursday by the Korea Rural Economic Institute, 42.75% of respondents said they had already taken steps or planned to "sign up for agricultural disaster insurance or expand their coverage" — the highest share among all survey categories. Of those, 19.43% said they had already enrolled or increased their coverage, while 23.32% said they planned to do so.

A large share of farmers also said they would adjust the timing of their farming activities. Some 31.06% said they were already doing so or had concrete plans to, and when those "considering it" were included, more than 73% were reviewing changes to their sowing, transplanting and shipping schedules.

Facility investment drew a more cautious response. Nearly half of respondents — 49.03% — said they had no plans to reinforce or invest in facilities, the highest "no plans" rate among the four survey categories.

Switching to crop varieties better suited to a changing climate also drew considerable interest, with 46.23% saying they were considering it — a sign that farmers may be open to broader shifts in cultivation practices. Still, 31.65% said they had no such plans, underscoring that crop transitions remain a difficult undertaking.

Kim Tae-hu, a research fellow at the Korea Rural Economic Institute, said the pattern likely reflects the economics of each option. "Facility investment carries a heavy upfront cost, whereas agricultural disaster insurance allows farmers to recover from disaster losses at a relatively low cost — which appears to be why farmers tend to reach for insurance first," he said. He cautioned, however, that the two approaches are more complementary than interchangeable, and that the survey results alone should not be used to draw broad conclusions about the overall state of Korean agriculture.