South Korea's Kimchi Threatened by Warming Weather

2024-09-07

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1
  • One of the most popular foods in South Korea is kimchi.
  • 2
  • It is a kind of fermented cabbage or other vegetables.
  • 3
  • Now farmers, manufacturers and scientists say climate change is affecting the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage used to make the dish.
  • 4
  • Cabbage grows best in cooler climates.
  • 5
  • Growers usually plant it in mountainous areas where temperatures during the summer growing season used to stay mostly below 25 degrees Celsius.
  • 6
  • Studies show that warmer weather tied to climate change is now threatening these crops.
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  • There may even come a time when it will be too hot for South Korea to be able to grow napa cabbage.
  • 8
  • Lee Young-gyu studies diseases that attack plants.
  • 9
  • He said the best temperatures for cabbage are between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius.
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  • In the fields and in kitchens - both in factories and homes - farmers and kimchi makers are already feeling the change.
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  • Spicy, fermented kimchi is made from other vegetables such as radish, cucumber, and green onion, but the most popular form is still mostly cabbage.
  • 12
  • The Agriculture Ministry calls Lee Ha-yeon a Kimchi Master because of her knowledge of kimchi.
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  • She said that in higher temperatures, the heart of the cabbage goes bad, and the root softens.
  • 14
  • "If this continues, then in the summertime we might have to give up cabbage kimchi," said Lee.
  • 15
  • The government statistics agency reports the area of highland cabbage farmed last year was about 4,000 hectares.
  • 16
  • That is less than half of what it was 20 years ago.
  • 17
  • The Rural Development Administration, a state farming organization, predicts that the farmed area for napa cabbage will shrink in the next 25 years to just 44 hectares.
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  • They expect there will be no cabbage grown in the highlands by 2090.
  • 19
  • Researchers point to three reasons for such a small area of crops.
  • 20
  • They include higher temperatures, unpredictable heavy rains and unwanted insects and diseases that become more difficult to control in the warmer and longer summers.
  • 21
  • South Korea's kimchi industry is already fighting lower-priced imports from China, which are mostly served in restaurants.
  • 22
  • Those imports rose by almost seven percent for the year through the end of July.
  • 23
  • That is the highest level ever.
  • 24
  • The government is trying to prevent high prices and shortages by storing large amounts of cabbage.
  • 25
  • Scientists are also racing to develop crop varieties that can grow in warmer climates, handle changes in rainfall and resist fungal infections.
  • 26
  • Seventy-one-year-old Kim Si-gap is a farmer who has worked in the cabbage fields of the eastern region of Gangneung all his life.
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  • Kim fears these varieties will be more costly to grow.
  • 28
  • And they might not taste the same.
  • 29
  • "When we see the reports that there will come a time in Korea when we can no longer grow cabbage, it was shocking on the one hand and also sad at the same time," Kim said.
  • 30
  • "Kimchi is something we cannot not have on the table. What are we going to do if this happens?"
  • 31
  • I'm Jill Robbins.