Korean agriculture is characterized by small subsistence farms.
Average farm size remains almost constant at around 1 hectare for several decades and it is very small even by Asian standards. An average farm size has been growing slightly despite a marked reduction in farm population and government s policies to expand farm size. About 60 percent of farm households have less than 1 hectare of farmland due to its geographical and economic factors. Almost all farmland is in the form of small plots scattered in the mountainous areas of the country. Rice is the dominant crop, accounting for about 31 percent of the total agricultural production value, and 51 percent of the total area cultivated in 1996.