Organizational issues in group farming in South Korea

Two types of group farming are analyzed: a farmer-initiated, village-wide cooperative work team for rice transplanting; and a government-sponsored joint rice farming program. Data comes from a 1977 case study of two villages in Pyongtek County, Kyonggi Province, in northwestern South Korea. Discussed are the organization, rationale and operations for the cooperative work team (CWT) and joint rice farming activity. The two types of group farming are compared as they concern organizational issues which arise in cooperative agricultural operations. These issues are: source of initiative; level of interaction; participant mobilization; leadership and decisionmaking, compensation; and performance incentives. The author explains how the factors of subjective economic rationality and compatibility with the social setting account for the greater success of the CWT. The bases for group farming in South Korea and the prerequisites for the functioning of the natural village as the critical organizational unit are explained.