The phrase “young farmer” is something we occasionally hear in the news. But for many of us, it still feels distant from everyday life. Before this interview, that was about all the editor knew as well. But after meeting farmer Park Sangbong, the editor realized how superficial that assumption had been—and felt a bit embarrassed. Listening to his story, it became clear that the words “young farmer” don’t fully capture who he is.
Park laughed during the interview and said, “I’ve been farming for over ten years, but I still have a long way to go.” Yet watching him grow the potatoes that give Gamzabatt’s potato bread its signature flavor, while steadily developing his own farming methods, the editor saw something else: a quiet kind of passion. When asked what keeps him farming, he answered like this:
“Farming needs 99% luck.
But if you give your best to the remaining 1% of effort, it never betrays you.”
Q. Hello, farmer Park. Could you briefly introduce yourself?
A. Hello. I’ve been growing potatoes for about three or four years, but I’ve been farming longer than that. I officially started farming in 2013, so it’s been a little over ten years now.
Q. What stage are you currently in with this year’s potato farming?
A. Usually in March, we prepare the fields by spreading compost and fertilizer and applying pest control. We plow the fields and get everything ready. Right now all the potatoes have been planted, so we’re in the management phase. That means removing weeds and preventing pests and diseases so the potatoes can grow well.
Q. We hear there are many potato varieties. Which ones do you grow?
A. I mainly grow Seolbong and Dubaek, which are familiar potatoes with white flesh. I also grow a variety called Rose, which has red skin and bright yellow flesh.
Q. How did you start growing potatoes?
A. For a long time I grew gondre herbs. Around six or seven years ago, through a young farmers’ group, I met Miso Lee, the founder of Gamzabatt. A few years later the gondre market began to decline, so I was thinking about what crop I should grow next. Miso suggested that I try growing potatoes. It was actually a bit late in the season to start potato farming, but I was grateful for the opportunity and gladly said yes.
Q. Was it difficult switching crops?
A. Oh, there were a lot of ups and downs. Now that I’ve been growing potatoes for three or four years, I’m used to it. But at the beginning it was really tough. Potatoes are very sensitive to weather. If it rains too much, they rot. If it gets hotter than usual, the yield drops dramatically. So I spent a long time learning through trial and error.
Q. You mentioned growing gondre before. How did you first get into farming?
A. My father grew many crops—tomatoes, peppers, potatoes—so farming felt very natural to me.
When I was young, I would follow him to the fields and ride on the tractor. It was a lot of fun. I wasn’t very good at studying though (laughs). When I was in middle and high school, my father even built the first greenhouse in our village, and the farm became quite large. Back then, a 10kg box of tomatoes sold for 60–70,000 won, and sometimes we sold 100 boxes a day. So I always thought vaguely that farming might be a good career one day.
Later my father reached a point where it was difficult for him to continue farming. That made me think seriously about doing it myself. So I decided that if I was going to do it, I should do it properly. I studied at the Korea National College of Agriculture, graduated, and began farming in 2013. So this year marks 11 years.
 | Q. What does a typical day look like for you? A. It changes depending on the season, but usually I wake up around 4:30 in the morning. By the time I get ready and head out to the fields it’s about 5:00 AM. First I ventilate the greenhouse and then check the fields to make sure the crops are growing well. Sometimes I remove weeds, and if needed I apply herbicides. Soon I’ll also install stakes for peppers and spray treatments in the potato fields.
Q. When is the busiest time of year? A. These days the weather is unpredictable, so honestly it feels busy all the time (laughs). Even if it rains today and stops tomorrow, we can’t immediately enter the fields because the soil becomes too soft and heavy with water. If you try to bring in heavy machinery at that point, it can get stuck.
|
So the key is letting the ground dry properly. But this spring it has been raining every three days, which makes things difficult. Unexpected situations like that can be stressful—it makes your mind feel busy.
Q. With so many unpredictable factors, how do you manage stress?
A. These days I go to the bathhouse or sauna. In the past I used to think constantly about things like “What should I do after the rain stops?” or “What should I prepare next?” But farming doesn’t always follow plans. So now I sweat it out in the sauna, calm my mind, and organize what I can do right now. That helps me a lot.
Q. How do you usually work with the Gamzabatt brand?
A. Usually we sign a contract each winter. Before Lunar New Year we decide which varieties to plant, where to plant them, and how much to produce. During the growing season, the Gamzabatt team regularly visits the fields to check the crops and help with management. Then in the fall I harvest the potatoes and send them to Gamzabatt.
Q. What has changed since you started working with them?
A. Quite a lot. With gondre herbs, we harvested in spring and received income then. But potatoes start in winter and the income comes in fall, so the pattern is very different. The first year of potato farming was especially difficult, but Gamzabatt was very considerate. Sometimes they advanced payments after harvest, and they even covered transportation costs. They truly consider the farmer’s situation, which helped a lot.
Q. Is there a moment that stands out in your memory?
A. Last year there was a lot of rain, which reduced both yield and quality. I was worried, but Gamzabatt still purchased the potatoes without hesitation. They said, “We already signed a contract, so it’s right for us to buy them.” That meant a lot to me.
Usually companies change their attitude depending on the market price. If prices drop, they try to lower the purchase price or become stricter about quality. But Gamzabatt never does that. Because of that, I can focus entirely on farming itself. I think Gamzabatt genuinely tries to build trust with farmers.
Q. Farming requires time and care throughout the entire year. What has kept you going for more than a decade?
A. To be honest—because it makes money (laughs). Of course there were many difficult times.
When that happened, I remembered something my father told me: “Just because this year’s harvest failed, will you stop farming next year?” He reminded me that I still had land and the ability to grow crops. That gave me strength.
I also gained confidence from seeing that farming could support my family. When I was in my twenties, my family went through financial hardship. The debt was too large to repay with a regular salary. But I was able to pay it off through farming. That experience showed me that hard work could truly change things.
When I first started, I had almost nothing. Over time I built storage sheds and bought tractors—two of them now. Because of those experiences, I believe that next year can succeed too. It’s a confidence built on real experience.
Q. What does farming mean to you?
A. Farming is 1% effort and 99% luck. But if you truly do your best, it doesn’t betray you. When growing crops, you realize why people say “farming is done by the sky.” Weather and market prices are things we can’t control. Still, tools like greenhouses and machinery help us overcome some of those challenges.
“If I give my best effort to what I can control,
farming returns that effort in its own way.”
Q. Do you have a farming technique you’re proud of?
A. I still have a lot to learn after just 11 years, but I think I’ve found a healthier way to grow potatoes. I cut the seed potatoes before planting them in the field. When they’re dried in the sun for a longer time, the sprouts grow better and it helps prevent diseases. It’s something I discovered by chance—my own little method (laughs).
 | | A Message to Customers Who Will Taste His Potatoes
“I want people to know that they don’t need to worry too much about pesticides.
These days the PLS (Positive List System) is applied in Korea, which means crops cannot be harvested if pesticide residues exceed strict limits. Because of that, farmers manage crops even more carefully. The pesticides used today are also designed to be less toxic and to dissipate quickly.
So the potatoes used to make our potato bread are grown safely. I hope you can enjoy them with peace of mind.” |
The phrase “young farmer” is something we occasionally hear in the news. But for many of us, it still feels distant from everyday life. Before this interview, that was about all the editor knew as well. But after meeting farmer Park Sangbong, the editor realized how superficial that assumption had been—and felt a bit embarrassed. Listening to his story, it became clear that the words “young farmer” don’t fully capture who he is.
Park laughed during the interview and said, “I’ve been farming for over ten years, but I still have a long way to go.” Yet watching him grow the potatoes that give Gamzabatt’s potato bread its signature flavor, while steadily developing his own farming methods, the editor saw something else: a quiet kind of passion. When asked what keeps him farming, he answered like this:
“Farming needs 99% luck. But if you give your best to the remaining 1% of effort, it never betrays you.”
Q. Hello, farmer Park. Could you briefly introduce yourself?
A. Hello. I’ve been growing potatoes for about three or four years, but I’ve been farming longer than that. I officially started farming in 2013, so it’s been a little over ten years now.
Q. What stage are you currently in with this year’s potato farming?
A. Usually in March, we prepare the fields by spreading compost and fertilizer and applying pest control. We plow the fields and get everything ready. Right now all the potatoes have been planted, so we’re in the management phase. That means removing weeds and preventing pests and diseases so the potatoes can grow well.
Q. We hear there are many potato varieties. Which ones do you grow?
A. I mainly grow Seolbong and Dubaek, which are familiar potatoes with white flesh. I also grow a variety called Rose, which has red skin and bright yellow flesh.
Q. How did you start growing potatoes?
A. For a long time I grew gondre herbs. Around six or seven years ago, through a young farmers’ group, I met Miso Lee, the founder of Gamzabatt. A few years later the gondre market began to decline, so I was thinking about what crop I should grow next. Miso suggested that I try growing potatoes. It was actually a bit late in the season to start potato farming, but I was grateful for the opportunity and gladly said yes.
Q. Was it difficult switching crops?
A. Oh, there were a lot of ups and downs. Now that I’ve been growing potatoes for three or four years, I’m used to it. But at the beginning it was really tough. Potatoes are very sensitive to weather. If it rains too much, they rot. If it gets hotter than usual, the yield drops dramatically. So I spent a long time learning through trial and error.
Q. You mentioned growing gondre before. How did you first get into farming?
A. My father grew many crops—tomatoes, peppers, potatoes—so farming felt very natural to me.
When I was young, I would follow him to the fields and ride on the tractor. It was a lot of fun. I wasn’t very good at studying though (laughs). When I was in middle and high school, my father even built the first greenhouse in our village, and the farm became quite large. Back then, a 10kg box of tomatoes sold for 60–70,000 won, and sometimes we sold 100 boxes a day. So I always thought vaguely that farming might be a good career one day.
Later my father reached a point where it was difficult for him to continue farming. That made me think seriously about doing it myself. So I decided that if I was going to do it, I should do it properly. I studied at the Korea National College of Agriculture, graduated, and began farming in 2013. So this year marks 11 years.
Q. What does a typical day look like for you?
A. It changes depending on the season, but usually I wake up around 4:30 in the morning. By the time I get ready and head out to the fields it’s about 5:00 AM. First I ventilate the greenhouse and then check the fields to make sure the crops are growing well. Sometimes I remove weeds, and if needed I apply herbicides. Soon I’ll also install stakes for peppers and spray treatments in the potato fields.
Q. When is the busiest time of year?
A. These days the weather is unpredictable, so honestly it feels busy all the time (laughs). Even if it rains today and stops tomorrow, we can’t immediately enter the fields because the soil becomes too soft and heavy with water. If you try to bring in heavy machinery at that point, it can get stuck.
So the key is letting the ground dry properly. But this spring it has been raining every three days, which makes things difficult. Unexpected situations like that can be stressful—it makes your mind feel busy.
Q. With so many unpredictable factors, how do you manage stress?
A. These days I go to the bathhouse or sauna. In the past I used to think constantly about things like “What should I do after the rain stops?” or “What should I prepare next?” But farming doesn’t always follow plans. So now I sweat it out in the sauna, calm my mind, and organize what I can do right now. That helps me a lot.
Q. How do you usually work with the Gamzabatt brand?
A. Usually we sign a contract each winter. Before Lunar New Year we decide which varieties to plant, where to plant them, and how much to produce. During the growing season, the Gamzabatt team regularly visits the fields to check the crops and help with management. Then in the fall I harvest the potatoes and send them to Gamzabatt.
Q. What has changed since you started working with them?
A. Quite a lot. With gondre herbs, we harvested in spring and received income then. But potatoes start in winter and the income comes in fall, so the pattern is very different. The first year of potato farming was especially difficult, but Gamzabatt was very considerate. Sometimes they advanced payments after harvest, and they even covered transportation costs. They truly consider the farmer’s situation, which helped a lot.
Q. Is there a moment that stands out in your memory?
A. Last year there was a lot of rain, which reduced both yield and quality. I was worried, but Gamzabatt still purchased the potatoes without hesitation. They said, “We already signed a contract, so it’s right for us to buy them.” That meant a lot to me.
Usually companies change their attitude depending on the market price. If prices drop, they try to lower the purchase price or become stricter about quality. But Gamzabatt never does that. Because of that, I can focus entirely on farming itself. I think Gamzabatt genuinely tries to build trust with farmers.
Q. Farming requires time and care throughout the entire year. What has kept you going for more than a decade?
A. To be honest—because it makes money (laughs). Of course there were many difficult times.
When that happened, I remembered something my father told me: “Just because this year’s harvest failed, will you stop farming next year?” He reminded me that I still had land and the ability to grow crops. That gave me strength.
I also gained confidence from seeing that farming could support my family. When I was in my twenties, my family went through financial hardship. The debt was too large to repay with a regular salary. But I was able to pay it off through farming. That experience showed me that hard work could truly change things.
When I first started, I had almost nothing. Over time I built storage sheds and bought tractors—two of them now. Because of those experiences, I believe that next year can succeed too. It’s a confidence built on real experience.
Q. What does farming mean to you?
A. Farming is 1% effort and 99% luck. But if you truly do your best, it doesn’t betray you. When growing crops, you realize why people say “farming is done by the sky.” Weather and market prices are things we can’t control. Still, tools like greenhouses and machinery help us overcome some of those challenges.
“If I give my best effort to what I can control,
farming returns that effort in its own way.”
Q. Do you have a farming technique you’re proud of?
A. I still have a lot to learn after just 11 years, but I think I’ve found a healthier way to grow potatoes. I cut the seed potatoes before planting them in the field. When they’re dried in the sun for a longer time, the sprouts grow better and it helps prevent diseases. It’s something I discovered by chance—my own little method (laughs).
“I want people to know that they don’t need to worry too much about pesticides.
These days the PLS (Positive List System) is applied in Korea, which means crops cannot be harvested if pesticide residues exceed strict limits. Because of that, farmers manage crops even more carefully. The pesticides used today are also designed to be less toxic and to dissipate quickly.
So the potatoes used to make our potato bread are grown safely. I hope you can enjoy them with peace of mind.”