Uiseong-gun wins North Gyeongsang agricultural policy award for 13th consecutive year

Uiseong-gun in North Gyeongsang Province won the top prize at the 2026 North Gyeongsang Province municipal agricultural policy evaluation, setting a record for the most wins by any county in the province.

The county received the grand prize at the 31st Farmers' Day ceremony held Wednesday at Dongnak Hall of the North Gyeongsang Provincial Government building.

The win marks 13 consecutive years of recognition and the county's sixth grand prize overall. Uiseong-gun County Mayor Choi Yu-cheol attended the ceremony.

The North Gyeongsang agricultural policy evaluation assesses all 22 cities and counties in the province across eight categories, including agricultural transformation, retail, agri-food, smart farming innovation, livestock policy, and animal quarantine and welfare.

Uiseong-gun earned high marks for expanding cooperative farming as part of its agricultural transformation policy, constructing dormitories for farmworkers, upgrading agricultural distribution facilities with smart technology, and securing competitive grants for spreading open-field smart farming technology.

The county also drew recognition for designating agriculture as a core area of county governance and focusing on farmer support and market expansion.

It expanded a nationally first-of-its-kind card-based customized farm supplies support program, subsidized agricultural machinery repair costs and rental fees, broadened special health screenings for women farmers, and diversified the countries of origin for seasonal foreign workers.

The county is also working to strengthen the competitiveness of local agricultural products — deepening a long-term partnership with Lotte Wellfood for Uiseong garlic ham and pursuing broader distribution channels through retailers including Hyundai Department Store.

For 2,282 farms (1,024 hectares) affected by agricultural disasters, the county pushed to provide about 3.66 billion won ($2.72 million) in recovery support.

"We will continue to reflect farmers' voices in policy and diversify processing and distribution to ensure Uiseong leads the way in future agriculture," County Mayor Choi said.