Introduction

A story from a red pepper grower

I still have a lot of troubles growing red peppers though I have been doing it for years. How much will I be able to harvest this year? Will it rain a lot during the summer? Will any disease or insect pest strike my field? A series of worries keep me uneasy. But my agony goes away when I imagine the joy of harvesting the red peppers which are like my children. I whispered to them, “Please grow well this year, my children,” after planting them in the field. After that, it started to rain, which quenched their thirst. I thanked the spring rain for listening to my prayer.

An SMS was just delivered to my mobile phone before I went to the field in the morning. It read, “Beware of strong wind in Gonam-myeon area in the afternoon.” This short message was from the agricultural extension service center. It was a great reminder to me, although I had already heard that from the TV weather forecast last night. I checked and fastened the supporting sticks of each red pepper plant. I came back to the field the next day to find that everyone was safely in their seats.

It is still spring, but the muggy days have continued. I could not decide when I should spray pesticides. As you know, phytophthora blight and anthracnose are horrible diseases which can destroy an entire field. I saw my neighbor spraying pesticides yesterday. But I am still not sure because the price of pesticides has been rising. In addition, I was hesitating because the spray might lead to my pesticide residue exceeding the limit, which would prevent me from receiving eco-friendly product certification.

A few days later, I received an SMS from the agricultural extension service center. “[Caution] Red pepper blight!” It was not a warning level, but my wife and I decided to spray the chemicals. I used to follow what my neighbors did, so I frequently sprayed pesticides on the plants. But now I reduced the number of sprays and was able to control diseases at the right time thanks to the SMS alert service.

Time slipped by, and it was time to harvest my red peppers. I asked my neighbor, “Hey, how many times did you spray pesticides this year?” He replied, “I guess I sprayed 3 times more that you did. I should have followed you. I find no difference between your peppers and mine.”

It is worthwhile to save labor and money by reducing the number of times I use a chemical spray. But one of my biggest achievements was that I was able to build up trust with my customers by providing them with safer and healthier products.