Farmland is very expensive and pasture land is limited. As the general economy grows, there will be more pressure to develop farmland. Labor costs are high and labor is becoming unionized. Imported grains and forages are also very expensive. These high costs are driving efficiencies and the pursuit of higher productivity.
Rice is the most important crop in Korea.
Rice, as well as various vegetable and fruit crops, produce more income than forages. Rice straw has become a major forage roughage. The Korean government initially had a very restrictive policy against forage imports. Alfalfa was imported only by government permit which was very difficult to obtain. The first alfalfa pellets were imported in 1987 and the first alfalfa cubes and alfalfa hay in 1988.