Many people think that agriculture is about farming. Of course, farming is a significant part of agriculture, and CALS can be deemed as a college that teaches how to farm. However, we believe there is so much more than the notion that CALS simply teaches how to farm. Seoul National University’s CALS believes that we are responsible for leading and developing the Korean agriculture and life sciences industry as ‘”an institution that researches and educates about: the phenomenon related to life and environment (which is the foundation of agriculture); and the material, resource and sustainable energy industries that are based on agriculture, all of this in addition to teaching how to farm.”

Accordingly, if your question is, “Does CALS only teach students how to farm?” the answer is “no”. CALS researches and educates about agriculture and life sciences—to be more specific, it conducts research and provides education on cutting-edge knowledge and technology in the wide variety of fields that deal with phenomenon related to: life and environment; natural materials and resources; and sustainable energy.

Seoul National University’s CALS has made significant contributions to the development of national economy through its Green Revolution and White Revolution. Professor Shingyu Hyun transformed desolated Korean hills into densely covered forests in the 1960s, and professor Moonhoe Huh triggered the Green Revolution, which provided Korea with food self-sufficiency and achieved Korea’s desire cherished for its 5,000 year history, by developing the Tongil Calrose - with these two achievements alone, CALS helped Korea build a foundation for its industrialization.

Now, agriculture is turning into an industry that determines the quality of people’s life, as it satisfies diverse demands of consumers. While agriculture of the past simply produced foodstuff for people, agriculture today creates new values and cultures through advanced science and technology. CALS stands in the center of such change and is taking a dynamic leadership of the industries of agriculture, food and life sciences by advancing related technologies and transforming agriculture into science.

You must have heard that many futurologists and noted scholars have foreseen that bio-technology, nano-technology and environmental technology will become the core technologies of the 21st century. The industry of agriculture embraces all three technologies - the future of agriculture industry is indeed bright.

­ “In the future, bio-engineering, agriculture and environmental technology will be combined into hyper-agriculture, which will take the leading role in food and medicine markets.” - Alvin Toffler
­ “Agriculture will become one of the most positively potential industries within two to three decades.” - Jim Rogers
­ “Agriculture faces challenges and enormous economic opportunity at the same time.” - Barack Obama

CALS plays a pivotal role in leading and developing the industries and careers related to agriculture and life sciences and the field’s most prominent research and education institution thereof. Thus, the role and research scope of CALS of Seoul National University is expected to continue to expand further in the future.

‘Agriculture - the Industry Expected to Grow in the Future’, a report issued by Korea Rural Economic Institute(“KREI”) in 2014, painted a very promising picture of the future of agriculture, for the following reasons: ① the values of agriculture and farming villages are growing, as society gives greater weight to emotional values; ② instability of food supply and demand and changes in demand for agrifood; ③ development of life science industries and expansion of the scope of agriculture; ④ globalization and export of agricultural products, ⑤ lifestyle changes towards the slow life and slow food. (See the diagram below.)
It is anticipated that such change will create demand for the CALS graduates in various areas of industries.

It is difficult to quantitatively identify the size of industries related to CALS, because they include not only the traditional industries of agriculture, forestry and stock-raising, but also food, bio-engineering and many more. However, if we highlight some of the key industries, the sizes of industries related to CALS are as follows:

First, the bio-engineering industry. According to the latest information made available by Datamonitor, the size of the global bio-engineering market in 2009 grew by 5% (to USD 227.1 billion) from the previous year, and the annual average growth rate of the market was expected to be approximately 7.2%. The U.S. led the global bio-engineering industry with a 41.2% (USD 93.7 billion) share of the market, followed by the EU and Asia-pacific who accounted for 21.5% (USD 49 billion) and 21.4% (USD 48.6 billion), respectively.

The size of the Korean bio-engineering industry as of 2011 was KRW 6.6 trillion, which grew by 13.1% year-on-year. The size of the Korean bio-engineering industry was found to have almost doubled (from KRW 3.7 trillion to 6.6 trillion) in the past five years (from 2007 to 2011). This means that the annual average growth rate of the Korean bio-engineering industry is 15.5%, which is higher than those of manufacturing and electronic industries (which are 12.2% and 12.7%, respectively).

The importance of the food industry is also growing day by day. According to “Major Indices on the food Industry in 2015” published by the Korea Agro-fisheries & Food Trade Corp., the size of the Korean food industry (including food & beverage manufacturing and restaurants) as of 2013 was KRW 156.87 trillion, which grew by 2.9% year-on-year. The number may seem low, but when compared to that of 2004 (KRW 91. 89 trillion), the sector has grown by a whopping 70.7%, and as of 2007, the industry recorded an annual average growth rate of 7.5%. When combined with the food distribution (retail and wholesale) business, the size of the wider Korean food industry reaches KRW 332 trillion.

Next, the stock-raising industry. According to the MAFRA, the production value of the stock-raising industry as of 2013 was KRW 16.2 trillion, which accounted for 34.8% (when based on the added value, 15.8%) of the production value of the entire agriculture industry. When the sizes of the stock-raising industry and its upstream and downstream industries are included, the total reached KRW 60.4 trillion.

According to “Agriculture Industry Outlook 2014” by KREI, the stock-raising industry is expected to achieve an annual average growth rate of 8.1% from 2007 to 2012. The report also estimates that the size of the stock-raising industry will reach KRW 6.1 trillion in 2022 when the trend of growing added value of the industry is taken into account.

Lastly, the industries related to forests. According to “the 5th Basic Plan for Forests” issued by the Korea Forest Service, sustainable lumber production is expected to steadily grow thanks to the continued expansion of forest land. Accordingly, the total accumulation of forest (in million ㎥) is expected to grow to 800 (in 2010) → 1,227 (in 2030) → 1,443 (in 2050), and the accumulation of lumber per hectare in 2050 is expected to be 1.8 times larger than that of today (125㎥ (in 2010) → 194㎥ (in 2030) → 225㎥ (in 2050)). As forest resources are expected to grow and overall income levels continue to rise, the number of persons recreationally visiting forests is expected to grow: the number of vacation visitors (who stay in a forest for eight hours or longer) (in millions) is expected to grow from 106 (in 2010) → 140 (in 2020) → 182 (in 2030) → 263 (in 2050); and the number of general visitors (who stay in the forest for less than eight hours) is expected to grow from 1,168 (in 2010) → 1,578 (in 2020) → 2,070 (in 2030) → 2,391 (in 2050). The demand for lumber is expected to grow at a rate of 2.5% per year, due to increasing demand for bio-energy, with demand growth leveling off to a gradual rise from 2020. The demand for non-timber forest products, such as chestnut, pine nut, shiitake mushrooms and walnut, is also expected to grow, as illustrated in the following table:

The government is eager to develop the industries related to agriculture and life sciences. According to the 3rd Mid-to-long-term Basic Plan (Draft) for Development of Agriculture & Life Sciences for 2013~2022 published by the Rural Development Administration in 2013, the government invested KRW 582.9 billion for the past ten years (from 2003 to 2012) at a 34% annual rate of increase, as part of programs to develop the agriculture and stock-raising industries through agriculture and life sciences. Such quantitative indices show that the sizes of industries related to CALS will continue to grow.

The two majors share similarities—they both study plants in terms of life sciences. However, the Crop Science and Biotechnology major mainly deals with all food, medicinal and energy crops, while the Horticultural Science and Biotechnology major mainly deals with horticultural plants, such as fruit trees, vegetables and flowers.

When the Vocational Education and Workforce Development major was originally established, the program was called “Agriculture Education”. The name was changed to the Agricultural Industry Education major before it finally received its current name. Because the two former majors mainly dealt with practical work related to the business of agriculture, the major was placed under the Department of Plant Science of CALS. The scope of the concentration’s subjects was subsequently broadened, but since the program had originated under agriculture education, the major still belongs to the Department of Plant Science.

The Forest Environmental Science major studies the preservation, management and use of forest resources, and the Environmental Materials Science major studies how to efficiently use the lumber derived from these forests. As trees get old, they consume more oxygen and absorb less CO₂. Accordingly, old trees must be harvested and young trees must be planted to maintain the efficiency of forests. For us to maintain the performance of forests at an appropriate level, the subjects related to these two majors must be actively studied.

The Biosystems Engineering major includes an exploration into many subjects, including agricultural machinery, bio-sensors, medical engineering, and more. Please refer to the websites of CALS and its majors for more information.

While the Department of Materials Science and Engineering studies chemical materials using ceramic, metallic and other materials, the Biomaterials Engineering major studies bio-materials such as proteins and living organisms..

While the Department of Food & Nutrition studies food and their nutritional properties, the Food Science and Biotechnology major studies the entire process related to food, including production, processing, distribution and storage, all from the perspective of life sciences.

Seoul National University has entered into academic exchange and cooperation agreements with major universities around the world and is engaged in a variety of exchange and partnership projects under these programs. The student exchange program is an especially active component of this system.

Exchange students to three regions are selected every semester, which means that students who wish to take part in the program must plan ahead. Candidates must present the language test score which is no older than two years from the date of your dispatch to the partner school. The most important issue related to successfully completing the student exchange program is selecting the school you want to study in. Thus, it will be helpful for you to fully review the information on the school appropriate to you and the classes you would like to take. We recommend that you collect information about the schools and choose the school you wish to attend in advance, by visiting the web sites of the schools with which Seoul National University maintains student exchange program agreements or by visiting the Office of International Affairs. Exchange students to three regions, including Asia, the Americas and Oceania and Europe are selected every semester.

Seoul National University has established the Office of International Affairs to support its students with the university’s student exchange programs and their study abroad. For further information and application to the program, please visit the Web site of the Office of International Affairs (http://oia.snu.ac.kr/).

The CALS Graduate School of Seoul National University is composed of seven Departments and two Interdisciplinary Programs. There are: Department of Plant Science (Program in Crop Science Biotechnology and Program in Horticultural Science); Department of Forest Sciences (Program in Forest Environmental Science and Program in Environmental Materials Science); Department of Agricultural Biotechnology (Program in Food Science and Biotechnology, Program in Animal Science and Biotechnology, Program in Applied Life Chemistry, Program in Plant Microbiology, Program in Entomology and Program in Biomodulation); Department of Landscape Architecture and Rural Systems Engineering (Program in Landscape Architecture and Program in Rural Systems Engineering); Department of Biosystems and Biomaterials Science & Engineering (Program in Biosystems Engineering and Program in Biomaterials Engineering); Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (Program in Agricultural Economics and Program in Regional Information); Department of Agricultural & Vocational Education; Interdisciplinary Program in Agricultural Biotechnology; and Interdisciplinary Program in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. The Program in Biomodulation under the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Interdisciplinary Program in Agricultural Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Program in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology are available only in the graduate school.