<Anchor>
Gyeongbuk region is the country where the most apples are grown, and it is predicted that Gangwon-do will become the main producer in the near future.
Even rice grown in warm weather can produce less rice if the weather gets too hot and humid.
<Reporter>
The place where I am standing is the Eulji Observatory at an altitude of 1,000m in the northernmost part of Yanggu-gun, Gangwon-do.
You can see North Korea at a glance right in front of you, and the so-called 'Punch Ball' area around Haean-myeon, Yanggu-gun, spreads out behind you.
This bordering area is being transformed into a hometown of apples.
Apples ripen lusciously on each of the wide basins and mountain slopes.
[Kim Hong-sik / Apple Farmer: Before that, I couldn't even dare to come here (apple farming) and it was cold.
If I said I was going to plant an apple tree, would the people around me become apples here?
It's been incredibly cold here in the winter.
When I went out and cleared the snow, I was exhausted.]
However, the number of apple farms that used to grow by one or two now has over 100 households.
Apples grow best at an average annual temperature of 8 to 11 degrees Celsius.
For firm flesh and high sugar content, the daily temperature difference must also be large.
The coastal area was at the forefront of extreme cold, but as the average annual temperature rose to 10.4 degrees Celsius, it became an optimal place for growing apples.
[Shin Dong-cheol/Agricultural Support Division, Yanggu-gun Office: Just 20 years ago, it was down to minus 25 degrees Celsius, making it impossible to grow apples.
Now, Yanggu has a large daily temperature difference, making it a suitable place to grow apples...
.]
As a result, more and more farmers are moving to Yanggu, leaving the southern apple-producing areas that are getting hotter.
[Sim Jeong-seok / Relocating from Cheongsong, Gyeongbuk: (in the southern region) As the number of tropical nights increased, the storage of Hongro fell sharply, so only Busa could not be
farmed .
I did.
[Choi Won-geun / 50 years of apple farming: (How did you come to Yang-gu, Gangwon-do?) Starting in Bonghwa, Gyeongbuk, Yesan, Namwon, Muju…
After traveling all over the country, I have come this far. (Where are you going next? When this is over?) I have nowhere else to go...
.]
The proportion of apple orchards in the total farmland in Haean-myeon has increased to 15%.
According to the statistics of arable land, apple cultivation has increased rapidly in the mountainous regions of Gangwon-do, while the traditional main producing region of Gyeongsang-do is gradually decreasing.
The average annual temperature in Korea is rising by 0.3 degrees per decade.
The Rural Development Administration predicted that, if climate change continues as it is, by 2050, apple cultivation will be possible only in the mountainous regions of Gangwon-do, and after 2070, there will be hardly any areas left for growing apples in Korea.
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<Reporter Seo Dong-gyun>
It's a paddy field just before harvest, and there are dark spots here and there.
Bacterial rice bacterium has developed on rice.
Enlarging an image
[Farmer: This is completely just chaff, I can't eat any animals at all, and nothing is useless...
.]
Bacterial disease that develops well in warm and humid environments.
The damage is increasing every year, and the main reason is that the summer weather is getting hot and humid.
[Farmer: The weather is going to be like this in the future, so I don't know how to deal with it.
Now, it seems that the dry season and the rainy season are divided.] When
the bacteria were cultured at 28°C and 35°C and inoculated into rice, the difference is clearly visible.
[Suyeon Choi / Researcher of National Institute of Food Science: If you look at 33 degrees, you can see that the ears are now more brown than green at 28 degrees.]
Bacteria are also a problem, but rising temperatures also have a negative effect.
As a result of research conducted by the National Institute of Food Science and Technology, it was found that the quality of rice decreased as the gene expression level decreased under high temperature conditions.
If the warming continues, the concentration of carbon dioxide increases and photosynthesis of plants becomes active, but it is analyzed that high temperature is much more negative for growth.
The increase in precipitation in summer in Korea and the frequent occurrence of torrential rain are also worrying.
If the ears of rice are kept wet due to frequent rain, the sprouts will germinate early.
Varieties that can withstand high temperatures, bacteria and typhoons are being developed, but it is not easy to keep up with the pace of climate change.
[Chung-geun Lee / Dr. National Institute of Food Science and Technology: (due to climate change) rice yield is coming down.
(Technologies to prepare for this) are being developed.
We are doing this, but it is not so easy because climate change is progressing further.]
These problems do not impede rice supply and demand right now, but it will be different in the future.
The food self-sufficiency rate of Korea is 45% and the grain self-sufficiency rate is 20%, the lowest among OECD member countries.
Crop imports are also highly dependent on one or two countries, and extreme weather events in those countries can lead to food security issues.
[Nam Jae-cheol / President of the Korean Society for Agricultural and Forestry and Meteorology: (Overseas due to climate change) production disruptions happen.
Typically, grains are imported from countries such as the United States, Brazil, and Argentina, such as when a hurricane comes...
.]
If climate change continues, the foods we always eat may disappear from the table one by one.
(Video coverage: Kim Se-kyung, Kim Seung-tae, video editing: Kim Jun-hee, Park So-yeon, design: Ban So-hee, Seo Seung-hyun, Lim Chan-hyuk, Jo Su-in)