"Wilted and Rotted" Stench Fills the Air... Even New Diseases Emerging

[Anchor]

Even the high-altitude areas of Gangwon Province, which used to be cool even in the mid-summer, have not been spared from the recent heatwave. The soaring temperatures are affecting the growth of highland vegetables, raising concerns about this year's harvest already.

[Reporter] Mo Jae-sung from G1.



This is Anbandegi in Gangneung, a high-altitude area 1,100 meters above sea level.

It is South Korea's largest highland vegetable cultivation complex.

While it was once favorable for highland farming due to cool temperatures even in mid-summer, farmers' concerns are growing as temperatures have continued to exceed 30°C (86°F) recently.

[Kim Bong-rae / Head of the Gangneung Farmers' Association: Due to the heatwave, the existing cabbages are practically being blanched right where they stand from the extreme heat. A phenomenon where they soften and just collapse is happening right now.]

Summer highland cabbages are typically shipped two months after planting seedlings, but when temperatures exceed 30°C (86°F), the likelihood of pests and bacterial soft rot increases significantly.

As the heatwave continues, some cabbages are rotting and decomposing like this due to disease.

If you look inside, there is a considerable amount of moisture, and a foul odor is filling the air.

This crisis facing highland vegetables has been accelerating year by year as temperatures rise.

As a result, an increasing number of farmers in Anbandegi, Gangneung—famous for its highland cabbages—are turning to cultivating cabbages (such as green cabbages) that are more resilient to high temperatures.

[Yang Won-joo / Cabbage Farmer: Because it's so hot, soft rot occurs, and something called rust disease turns the inside black, or a physiological disorder called leaf blight happens, so even though the outside looks fine, it rots from the inside.]

As temperatures rise, diseases that were previously nonexistent in highland areas are also appearing.

If droughts or typhoons overlap, the damage is highly likely to increase.

[Lee Young-gyu / Head of the Highland Agriculture Research Laboratory, Highland Agriculture Research Institute: The occurrence of a new disease, Verticillium wilt, is showing a rapid upward trend. What used to be about 100 hectares in 2023 has now increased to over 200 hectares....]

With climate change threatening even highland vegetables, changes to the agricultural authorities' cabbage supply and demand policies seem inevitable.

(Video by Shin Ik-gyun / G1)

Mo Jae-sung (G1)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.