Publication

Farmland Handled as Real Estate Policy: The Farmland Census, Mandatory Disposal Orders and Farmland Solar Power

This issue brief examines Korea’s 2026 farmland policy, pursued within the frame of eradicating speculation and reforming real estate. Since August 28 the amended Farmland Act has made disposal orders mandatory, and a census of 1.36 million hectares acquired after 1996 is under way. In the basic survey, illegal leasing (21.1%) was the most common suspected violation and ownership restriction violations were 1.4%. On September 21 the government and ruling party decided to pursue a special act deferring disposal for customary violations while reviewing agrivoltaics as alternative income on farmland that is hard to farm, although the Agrivoltaics Act requires farming to continue every year. The same month the President called the principle that farmland belongs to those who farm it a constitutional command yet spoke of “solar farming” combining farmland, forest and miscellaneous land, while the grid plan reported at the same meeting said new projects in Honam are possible only after 2034. In the Institute’s survey (RIO 2026-08, n=1,002), 65.5% opposed mandatory disposal orders. In place of a conclusion, the brief leaves questions for the President, the government and the ruling party.