‘Murung Farm’ sets example for agro-business
JEJU — Around this time last year President Moon Jae-in visited Murung Farm, an agricultural cooperative on Jeju Island, encouraging the farmers there to become “a self-help agro-business model.”
The presidential visit helped raise public awareness about the farmers’ cooperative in the small village of Murung 2-ri on the western end of Seogwipo, a city on the south coast of Jeju Island.
However, even before his visit, the farmers’ cooperative, which was registered as a corporate body in 2011, was already a local rockstar.
“Although the store opened before 2011, it was that year that we officially became an agricultural corporative. Before that, it was a village-based grocery store the farmers had been preparing little by little by putting in investments,” Kim Seung-bo, director at the Murung Farm and an organic farmer, said during an interview with The Korea Times earlier this month.
The cooperative was established with the farmers’ investments. Today 45 Murung 2-ri farmers are members, accounting for nearly 18 percent of local residents.
Only one person from each household is allowed to register as a member. The cooperative aims to have 70 percent of the villagers join.
“We don’t make much money. Our total revenue last year was merely 650 million won which is less than average small- and medium-sized supermarkets make a year. But what we do is meaningful. We buy products from our Murung 2-ri farmers at a price 10 percent higher than the national agricultural cooperative and when we profit, we return seven percent to eight percent of dividends to the farmers in proportion to their investment. We know it’s not a huge amount of money, but still meaningful,” said Kim Soon-il, manager at Murung Farm.
“It’s a win-win for farmers and customers because farmers can make a little more money from their products and consumers can buy quality products. It also helps boost employment of the elderly because they’re the ones who come in to package the boxes.”
Although it is difficult to package products grown only at Murung 2-ri, the cooperative prioritizes buying products from their own members; only on occasions where a certain product cannot be found in their region, do they reach out to farmers in other regions.
The self-help business model is to attract subscribers who sign up for monthly, weekly and bi-monthly delivery of boxes filled with products they request: fruits, vegetables, dairy goods, packaged products and even meat.
The monthly and bi-monthly boxes are shipped nationwide while the weekly boxes are for local foreign residents, mostly teachers, who need a helping hand in grocery shopping due to the language barrier and distance to stores.
“Our monthly box of fruit and vegetable assortment has 341 members as of March this year and our bi-monthly fruit box has 80 members.
“The weekly box has 55 members and goes only into the Global Education City. It consists of nine vegetables and three fruits with additional requests like milk or chicken. We deliver it right to their door,” Kim Soon-il said.
The weekly service began in 2016 when foreign teachers requested Murung Farm help them with shopping. Membership has fluctuated, but demand has been consistent.
Other than selling regular boxes, Murung Farm also has gift sets and experiential programs for members who want to see how the products are produced there. They offer programs such as plucking tangerines at farms and making mochi rice cakes with them.
It all began in December 2009 when Jeju Olle, a corporate body for the Olle Trails, introduced the village to Venta Korea to start a partnership.
The company was looking for a social contribution opportunity while Jeju Olle wanted to do something in appreciation for Murung 2-ri’s contributions to paving Olle trails 11, 12 and 14.
The air purifier company then started to help the village create a brand and promote itself.
The aim of the cooperative isn’t to create a huge profit, but for the legacy to live on to consolidate the village for years to come.
“I think it’s a great benefit for us to have a village company that becomes the central point in town. It will be important to keep the tradition going throughout generations to continue to solidify the community. It’s not about the money. It’s more about the mission,” Kim Seung-bo said.
The establishment of the cooperative has increased community cohesiveness.
“Even farmers are individualistic because they’re busy. But with this cooperative, we’ve been able to meet more and hang out more. We see performances here, screen movies here and grow closer together,” he said.
A handful of farmers here are farmers who have not inherited the farms but rather those who quit office jobs in order to pick up farming.
Kim Seung-bo and Kim Soon-il are both cases of office workers-turned-farmers, the latter relocating to Jeju from Seoul after working as marketing manager at an IT company while the former quit his office job in Jeju City.