South Gyeongsang Province sends volunteers to help aging Miryang apple farmers with harvest

South Gyeongsang Province dispatched volunteers Thursday to help apple farmers in Miryang with their harvest, as a worsening labor shortage during the picking season — driven by rural aging and rising labor costs — continues to strain farming households. The province held its "2026 Autumn Provincial Rural Labor Support Event" in Songbaek-ri, Sannae-myeon, Miryang, assisting two apple farms with harvesting and transport work across roughly 1 hectare.

About 140 people took part, including Governor Park Wan-su, provincial and Miryang city civil servants, local lawmakers, officials from the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation's South Gyeongsang branch and the Korea Rural Community Corporation's South Gyeongsang regional office, members of women's organizations, and students from Gyeongsang National University. After receiving instructions on work techniques and safety guidelines, participants harvested and transported apples in the orchards. Park joined the work before meeting with farmers and agency officials to hear about on-the-ground difficulties, including this year's crop conditions, shipping circumstances and the burden of labor costs.

"Rural aging is making it increasingly difficult to secure the workers needed during harvest season in time, and that is adding to the burden on farming households," Park said. "It is important to help ensure crops are harvested at the right time so that farmers can turn them into income." Park added that the province would assess the extent of heat-crack damage to apple crops in Miryang's main production areas, work with relevant agencies to develop countermeasures, and strengthen systems to ensure labor support reaches farms that need it when they need it.

South Gyeongsang Province has designated the period through Nov. 27 as its intensive autumn rural labor support period, connecting farms with workers through 19 rural labor brokerage centers across the province based on each farm's harvest schedule. For farms requiring short-term labor, the province is also supporting the use of foreign seasonal workers through a public seasonal employment program and pursuing projects to improve working conditions.