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2026 Vol.53, Issue 3 Preview Page

Management & Economics

Effects of local food direct market openings on regional farm structure: Staggered difference-in-differences evidence from 56 si and gun in Korea
Chaebeen Yoon1
,
Juyoung Yoo2*
1Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, USA
2Department of Agroindustry Innovation Research, Korea Rural Economic Institute, Naju 58321, Korea
*Corresponding Author
1 September 2026. pp. 429-444
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Abstract

Local food direct markets are Korea’s principal policy instrument for direct-to-consumer agricultural marketing, yet whether they reshape regional farm structure remains untested because existing evidence relies on surveys of participating farms, which are subject to self-selection. We examine whether direct market openings change crop composition and farm management structure at the si and gun level. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design and an annual panel of 56 si and gun in three Korean provinces from 2010 to 2023, we find no significant effects on crop composition: five diversity indices including the Herfindahl index, the share of vegetable and fruit farms, and paddy reliance measures show no significant change, although the confidence intervals do not rule out modest effects. The full-time farm share rises by 4.2 percentage points and the number of full-time farm households increases by approximately 13.5%, both significant at the 1% level, while total farm households show no significant change—a pattern consistent with transitions of existing part-time farms into full-time farming. These results suggest that the effects of direct market openings appear in farm households’ labor allocation rather than in crop conversion, which entails substantial fixed costs. Our findings caution against evaluating direct market programs solely by short-term changes in regional crop composition and suggest that management-type indicators merit consideration as complementary performance measures.

Keywords
direct-to-consumer marketing
farm structure
full-time farming
local food
staggered difference-in-differences
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Information
  • Publisher :Institute of Agricultural Science, Chungnam National University
  • Publisher(Ko) :충남대학교 농업과학연구소
  • Journal Title :Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
  • Journal Title(Ko) :농업과학연구
  • Volume : 53
  • No :3
  • Pages :429-444
  • Received Date : 2026-08-04
  • Revised Date : 2026-08-06
  • Accepted Date : 2026-08-18
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.7744/kjoas.530311
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