Soil and water conservation is an integral part of slopeland agricultural development and management of soils. In Korea, unfavorable natural environmental and socio-economic factors contribute to the acceleration of soil and water loss in farmland. Korea is a mountainous country with two-thirds of the total land area consisting of steep mountain slopes. In addition, slopeland is prone to soil erosion due to the coarse texture of soil and concentrated heavy rainfall during the monsoon season. Slopeland agriculture is practiced in small farms. Due to the low level of consolidation, agriculture is labor-intensive because it is difficult to use machines and is characterized by low profits and techniques. Slopeland development may create social, ecological and environmental risks and thus does not meet the criteria of sustainability if not properly managed. Slopeland management requires more care to manage soils in terms of erosion and water deficit due to the characteristics of steep slope, shallow soil depth and heavy rainfall.
A project for the development of technology for soil and water conservation in Korea was initiated by the Association for Korean Reclamation Project within the framework of the UN Special Fund in 1961. A soil survey was conducted for slopeland development. In 1962, the Reclamation Promoting and Farm Conservation Law was enacted to promote the prevention of soil and water loss. Land development was conducted by using the original topography for reclamation into arable land including contour terracing and bench terracing to control soil erosion.
The technologies for soil and water conservation in Korea included soil and water loss measurement for different cropping systems, soil management, slope length and steepness using lysimeters, technology for artificial rain simulation, and also iso-erosion maps by analyzing rainfall characteristics. Monitoring of soil, water and nutrient loss was conducted in an agricultural watershed for the development of a simulation model. Recently, a comprehensive soil conservation project has been conducted in sloped farmland in Korea. For the project, engineering technologies and agronomic conservation practices were applied to control serious erosion problems in an alpine vegetable cultivation area.