Farm machinery maker Daedong said on Tuesday it was selected as the final operator for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' "national agriculture AX platform build-and-operate project".

The project is structured to be led by private companies, with the government providing financial and administrative support. It is designed to be operated by a special purpose company (SPC) jointly funded by the government, local governments and the private sector. The goal is to build an agriculture AX business model that is sustained through its own revenue rather than short-term subsidies. The SPC can be extended after the project period ends depending on results and operating conditions.

A consortium led by Daedong that includes LG CNS, Daedong Agtech, Daeyoung GS, Artfarm Agricultural Cooperative Corporation, Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Special City and Muan County plans to establish a public-private SPC within this year. Total project investment is 254.6 billion won, and Daedong will contribute about 20 billion won. The SPC aims to generate cumulative sales of about 1.53 trillion won over the next 20 years.

The SPC will run three businesses: an AI and data platform, AI greenhouses and precision farm-work services. It will integrate growth, environment, work and production data from open-field and facility farming, with AI analysing the data and linking it to real-world work by autonomous farm machinery and agricultural robots to create a virtuous cycle. In Muan County, it will build AI greenhouses spanning 21.6 hectares to be used for environmental and growth management, harvest forecasting and cultivation decision-making.

Won Yu-hyun (원유현), vice chairman of Daedong, said the aim was to build a national agriculture AX standard model that connects agricultural AI technology to real business through the project. He said Daedong also aims to spread a proven model at home and abroad and develop it into a competitive "K-AI agriculture" model. He said the group will mobilise its AI, robotics, advanced farm machinery and smart farming capabilities that it has prepared over the past five years to contribute to the success of national agriculture AX.