President Lee Jae-myung emphasized the importance of research and development (R&D) investment in his ‘2026 Budget Proposal Speech’ on November 4, stating that next year’s budget is the first to usher in the era of artificial intelligence (AI). He mentioned that investing in future industries and core technologies such as AI and biotechnology will overcome the low-growth crisis and create a driving force for national growth through science and technology. The government’s R&D budget for next year has been confirmed at a record high of approximately 35.5 trillion won.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has allocated 261.7 billion won for R&D in the agricultural and food sector for next year. This is an increase of about 15.5% compared to the previous year, aimed at addressing issues such as aging rural populations, labor shortages, and climate crises by strengthening the technological foundation and accelerating technological innovation. The ministry plans to focus its investments on future growth industries such as smart agriculture and green biotechnology.
The ministry’s R&D budget for next year will be used in five major areas. These include the production technology innovation sector aimed at leading smart agriculture innovation technologies, the bio-resource industrialization sector focused on developing agricultural bio-resources and green bio-materials, the climate and disease response sector for developing technologies to address climate crises and prevent animal diseases, research related to the future food industry to secure global competitiveness for K-food, and the innovation ecosystem sector for technology commercialization, workforce training, and research infrastructure expansion.
The ministry has also allocated a total of 24.8 billion won for seven new projects, including AI-based agricultural transformation technology, intelligent agricultural work collaboration industrialization, overcoming intractable diseases in pets, and responding to pharmaceutical raw material supply chains based on agricultural bio-resources. These new R&D projects for next year aim to apply advanced technologies such as AI, biotechnology, and robotics to agriculture to improve productivity and efficiency and lead to substantial changes in the agricultural field.