An Assessment of the Spatial Patterns and Characteristics of Farmland Abandonments ;A Case of Jeollanam-do Province, in South Korea

Abstract:

Countries in the European, American, and Asian continents have experienced substantial increases in farmland abandonment. Abandoned farmland may cause problems, not only in reducing agricultural production but also in deteriorating local communities, and nearby ecosystem. Farmlands have been abandoned for reasons, such as urbanization, industrialization and aging population in rural communities. Simultaneously, the condition of the agricultural parcels would cause the abandonment, such as slope, elevation, distance to paved road, and land uses. Sometimes, proximity to the pre-existing abandoned farmland might induce the abandonment of the neighboring farmlands. To better manage the agricultural resources, it is necessary to understand what drives the farmland abandonments.

In this backdrop, we aim to assess the locational factors that explains agricultural farmland, in the context of Gwangyang city, Jeollanam-do, South Korea, the province with the largest agricultural land in the country, and has experienced the farmland abandonment issues. We examined the four driving factors of farmland abandonment ; Environment conditions, Local conditions, Society conditions and Farm conditions. We use spatial regression modeling, such as spatial lag and error models to address spatial autocorrelations. The finding of this research will provide local governments with better understanding on the locational pattern and characteristics of abandoned farmlands, so this study will be valuable in establishing the rural policies of abandoned farmlands to prevent possible negative consequences.

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea under Grant number NRF-2017S1A5A8020226, and Creative- Pioneering Researchers Program through Seoul National University(SNU).