Tangerine Farmers: Resilience & Independence

On December 7, 2025, the warehouse of farmer Kim Yun-cheon’s tangerine field in Sinheung-ri, Namwon-eup, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do was overflowing with a sweet scent. Freshly harvested tangerines were waiting to be shipped. “Try one. It’s hard to make tangerines like this.”

Mr. Kim confidently handed over the tangerines and showed the sugar and acidity measurements he received from Namwon Agricultural Cooperative a month ago. The sugar content was 14.8-15.4 Brix and the acidity was 0.69-0.84%, and the average sugar content of Jeju tangerines was 9.4 Brix (as of 2024). It was evaluated as a ‘special product’ for the top 1%.

However, this quality is not fully reflected in the price. This is because the joint selection shipping association (public selection association) organized by each agricultural cooperative sets the average price for each sugar content (above 13 Brix, 11-12 Brix, and below 10 Brix) every 15 days and makes a joint settlement. As auction prices at Garak Market in Seoul fluctuate significantly, public election associations were formed for each local agricultural cooperative from 2015 to 2016 to stabilize prices, but problems such as opacity in the distribution process are still being raised.

The problem is that Agricultural Cooperatives only views agricultural products as ‘quantity’ and erases the characteristics of individual farmers. “The moment it is shipped to Nonghyup, ‘Kim Yun-cheon tangerines’ disappear and are mixed with other farmers’ tangerines. Even if I cultivated them with the best quality, I do not necessarily receive the highest price. The settlement fee will probably be less than 20,000 won (5 kg) after deducting shipping costs (600 won), packaging materials (625 won), transportation costs (1,200 won), and Nonghyup brokerage fees (4.5% of the wholesale price).” Mr. Kim said.

There is also a problem that farmers are excluded from the price negotiation process. So it is difficult to predict the price. The distribution channel is largely divided into delivery to large supermarkets and auction at Garak Market, and it is not known through which specific channel ‘Kim Yun-cheon tangerines’ are sold. Therefore, even if more sugar is accumulated in the fruit by growing it using the relatively expensive ‘Tyvek’ method (the brand name of a synthetic material made by DuPont in the U.S.) like Mr. Kim, these efforts are buried in the distribution process and are not accurately reflected in the price. Mr. Kim said, “Shouldn’t there be an opportunity to say how much money was spent and what efforts were made while farming?” and “I’m not saying that my tangerines should be priced well. I just want to know through what process the appropriate price was formed.”

Despite this situation, Jeju is an island, so considering transportation methods and costs, it is difficult for farmers to ship to the market directly, so they have no choice but to rely on the role of the agricultural cooperative. Another factor that cannot be ignored is that Nonghyup’s shipment performance has a decisive influence when applying for government or local government support projects such as the ‘facility modernization project’, which is supported with tens to hundreds of millions of won. However, the tendency of farmers to deviate from the ‘public route’ of ‘Nonghyup → Garak Market Auction → Wholesaler → Retailer → Consumer’ is intensifying. The share of tangerine shipments to Nonghyup, which reached 64.1% in 1999, fell to 26.9% in 2024. On the other hand, the proportion of transactions through general merchants such as agricultural corporations increased from 29.9% to 31% during the same period. The proportion of direct transactions also increased significantly from 11.2% to 20% over the past 10 years.

An official from Jeju Agricultural Cooperative explained, “The reason why the proportion other than agricultural cooperatives has increased is because older farmers, who have difficulty finding labor during the harvest season, prefer plowing, which involves harvesting all at once.” However, Mr. Kim countered by saying, “It is true that there is a big labor problem, but if transparent and stable price decisions are guaranteed when sending goods to Nonghyup, who would bother to engage in wholesale trading?” and “It can be said that trust in Nonghyup and the government is at an all-time low.”

Farmer Ko Jeong-hwan farms 8,000 acres of tangerines in Wimi-ri, Namwon-eup, Seogwipo-si, Jeju Island, and runs the Tangerine Fragrance Village Farming Association (Tangerine Fragrance Association), which independently selects and distributes tangerines from over 30 farms. We are also engaged in paddy field trading, which is a harvesting agency.

On December 7, Mr. Ko was waiting for the shipment of about 5 tons of tangerines. It is mainly shipped to the Gangseo Agricultural Products Wholesale Market in Seoul and the Cheongnyangni Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market, and the price is kept constant at 30,000 to 32,000 won throughout November and December. Every day, we negotiate quantity and price with wholesalers (market wholesalers) through a fixed-price contract. The commission is around 2%, which is lower than that of Nonghyup. Tangerine prices are also calculated daily. Mr. Go said, “At first, I sent items to the Garak Market auction, but the prices fluctuated so much regardless of whether they were good or bad, so I stopped trading.”

By trading through a farming cooperative like this, you can learn about the distribution channels of how tangerines are delivered to consumers, and you can also reflect consumer responses in your farming. For example, even with the same Tyvek tangerines, tangerines with a slightly more sour taste are sent to the Gangseo market, which has many young consumers. On the other hand, tangerines with less sourness are sent to Cheongnyangni Market, where there are many consumers in their 60s or older. Baek Hye-sook, CEO of the Sustainable National Table Forum, said, “Agricultural cooperatives and public wholesale markets, which are supposed to provide solid support for farmers’ farming activities by investing a huge amount of public funds, are instead promoting price instability and being distrusted due to their opaque distribution structure.” “Nonghyup explains the field clearing transaction as an unstable transaction method, but in reality, it allows farmers to secure bargaining power for the crops they grow themselves and is helpful in establishing mid- to long-term farming plans.” Regarding this, the person in charge of the Jeju Island Tangerine Distribution Department commented, “Isn’t the diversification of citrus distribution a good thing for farmers and consumers?”

There are also farmers who deal 100% directly. Kim Gyun-hwan, a farmer who runs a 5,000-pyeong Manbo farm in Topyeong-dong, Seogwipo-si, Jeju, switched his tangerine sales to 100% direct sales 10 years ago. Mr. Kim only grows persimmons such as Hallabong, Cheonhyehyang, and Redhyang. Most of them are targeting the ‘gift’ market targeting acquaintances and regular customers. Mr. Kim said, “We also sent our farm to auction about 10 years ago, but the price fluctuations were too large and the margins were small,” and “Luckily, we have a lot of old customers, and the division of production and sales among family members has been well established, so we can do 100% direct transactions.”

Kim Yun-cheon also decided to ship only 7 tons of the 10 tons of tangerines produced from 2025 to Nonghyup and trade the remaining 3 tons directly through an acquaintance. However, direct transactions are not perfect. Although we would like to increase the scale of direct transactions, we must consider that a 20-30% commission is charged when selling to an unspecified number of people through distribution channels such as online shopping malls. Mr. Kim Yun-cheon said, “Direct trading costs more than four times more than regular trading (large-scale through agricultural cooperatives or merchant farming cooperatives) and produces a lot of waste.” He added, “From 2023, direct trading will be possible because the price of tangerines is good, but when the price is bad, the volume of direct trading also drops sharply.”

So, what kind of distribution process does general transactions through agricultural cooperatives or merchant farming cooperatives go through? Jeju tangerines leave Jeju Port at 4 PM every day and arrive in Mokpo and Wando, Jeollanam-do at 7 PM. Afterwards, it is transferred to a truck and sent to wholesale markets across the country from 11 p.m., arriving at Garak and Gangseo markets in Seoul around 12 noon the next day.

There are wholesale merchants who handle intermediate transactions in Garak and Gangseo markets. Even if the same wholesaler deals with auctioned goods, he or she is called a ‘middle wholesaler,’ and if he or she engages in fixed-price sales with farmers, he or she is called a ‘market wholesaler.’ Market wholesalers are responsible for most distribution of agricultural products in many countries such as the United States, Europe, and Japan, but in Korea, since auctions are the main focus, market wholesalers are introduced only at the Gangseo Market (60 people).

On December 11, at the Gangseo Market, tangerines from the Tangerine Fragrance Association were being sold at 30,000 won per 5 kg for medium size and 32,000 won per 5 kg for small size. Chae Gyu-jae, CEO of Daewoo Ginseng Distribution, a market wholesaler, said, “We’ve been keeping the same price for over a month. That’s not difficult. It rained today, so the number of customers decreased a lot, so we can just keep it here and sell it tomorrow.” This means that maintaining a constant price is not difficult if you adjust supply and demand depending on the day-to-day situation.

However, such an easy task is impossible in auction markets such as Garak Market. This is because all items received that day must be processed during the auction period of approximately one hour. Even if tangerines of the same quality are produced by the same farmer, if no one wants to buy them, the price continues to fall. On the same day, at the Garak Market auction, 5 kg of special (first place) tangerines, such as the tangerine scent combination, were traded for a maximum of 43,000 won and a minimum of 3,000 won. The problem is that the price gap is extreme, but when a box of 5 kg falls to 5,000 won, there is almost no profit to farmers, excluding transportation costs, packaging costs, shipping costs, and various other fees. “From 2019 to 2022, when settling the settlement, (Nonghyup) often asked me to pay more money.” Yuncheon Kim said.

Nevertheless, the government insists that in principle, auctions should be held at Garak Market on the grounds that prices are determined based on the principles of supply and demand and are thus transparent. Farmers think differently. Garak Market’s share of national agricultural product distribution fell significantly from 31.2% in 2003 to 19.7% in 2020. Lim Seong-chan, president of the Korea Market Wholesalers Association, said, “It is true that a very small number (about 0.5%) of the highest quality products, such as those for department store fruit baskets, still go to Garak Market. However, more and more farmers and retailers visit Gangseo Market.” “I wish the passive government and Seoul City would think about it,” he said.

Under this system, even if tangerine prices rise, farmers’ income does not change significantly. “Even if the price of tangerines goes up, it does not lead to farmers’ income because the harvest has decreased. Jeju is on the front line of the climate crisis due to typhoons, high temperatures, and frequent rains during the harvest season. (In response to this, the government) told them to invest in facilities and diversify products, so prices plummeted due to the increase in imports such as mandarins, and the same thing happened repeatedly. Why is the debt of Jeju farmers nearly twice the average?” Yuncheon Kim said. The debt of Jeju farmers was 83.67 million won per person in 2024. The national average is 45.01 million won.

*This coverage was proposed by the Sustainable National Table Forum, and was conducted by three media outlets, Hankyoreh 21, Sisa Sign, and Weekly Kyunghyang, to track the problems in the distribution structure of agricultural products that are highlighted every year by tracking the distribution routes of representative winter fruits, such as Jeju tangerines, Andong apples in Gyeongbuk, and Sancheong strawberries in Gyeongnam.

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