Author(s): Song Soo Lim, Dae Eui Kim, Eun Chan Choi, Seong-Bong Jeong
The decline and aging of farmers are threatening sustainable agriculture and rural areas in Korea. The reduction in young farmers is the biggest obstacle to agriculture and rural development. To cope with such a serious challenge, the Korean government established a young farmers fund as an investment vehicle in 2020. As an ex-ante analysis, this study analyzed the perception, attitude, and willingness to participate in the investment scheme by young farmers. To this end, a survey was conducted across the country and the logistic regression model was estimated to reveal the factors that determine young farmers’ intention to participate. Results show that the financial characteristics of farms, including gross receipts, are the positive predictor of the probability of young farmers’ participation in the investment fund. The larger the sizes of government subsidies and the loan balance, the higher the interest in investment, suggests young farmers face financial constraints and collateral problems. Only when the low awareness of the young farmers fund is improved can a desirable investment ecosystem be created in the long run.