Entering Modong-myeon, Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province, grapevines greet the eye everywhere. Vineyards stretch between paddies of grain turning golden yellow here and there. Beneath "rain-shelter" facilities—constructed with iron posts and plastic roofs only—clusters of green grapes wrapped in paper bags lined up across the trees. They were Shine Muscats, awaiting harvest.

The black grape variety known commonly as "Campbell," or "Campbell Early," had already been harvested in the summer, and its protective plastic sheeting was stripped away. Some plots featured only iron posts without plastic, where young saplings were nurtured. Round vinyl greenhouses, where artificial heating is used through the winter to advance the Shine Muscat harvest into the summer, were also visible.

Nestled against the foothills of Mt. Baekhwasan, Modong-myeon boasts large diurnal temperature ranges, providing ideal conditions for viticulture. Capitalizing on these advantages since the days it predominantly grew Campbell Early some thirty years ago, the region has built a brand identity known as "Sangju Baekhwanmyeon Grapes."

At the Seosangju Agricultural Cooperative’s produce collection center in Idong-ri, Modong-myeon, workers were busy loading large wing-body trucks with boxes of Shine Muscats stacked on pallets. As local farmers harvest and bring in Shine Muscats—three to four clusters packed into 2-kilogram boxes—the cooperative consolidates them and ships them to major wholesale markets nationwide, including Garak Market in Seoul.

Only the banners hanging here and there revealed the crisis facing local grape farmers to outsiders. In front of the Modong Health Sub-center hung a striking red banner reading: "A box of grapes for three to four thousand won! Grape farmers are dying!" It was put up by the Sangju Peasant Association.

"That is what the auction price for a 2-kilogram box of Shine Muscats comes down to at Garak Market. For farmers struggling with production, it’s practically 3,000 to 4,000 won. Most people generally receive 5,000 to 6,000 won. Only a handful get around 10,000 won. A couple of folks yielding exceptionally top-tier quality might get 12,000 won... It doesn't even cover the labor costs," said Son Seok-hwan, head of the Modong-myeon branch of the Sangju Peasant Association.

At a three-way intersection near the produce collection center, a large banner advertised: "Shine Muscat vineyard, 1,298 pyeong [approx. 4,291 sq. meters], 1,146 pyeong for sale." Phrases like "urgent sale of vineyard" also caught the eye along the road between Sangpan-ri and Bangye-ri in Modong-myeon. It was a "full-option vineyard," complete with grapevines, iron posts, rain shelters, and even a cold-storage facility. Kim Wan-jin, 49, head of the North Gyeongsang Province Grape Federation who farms in Sangpan 2-ri, pointed to the real estate ad and said: "Vineyards that used to go for 200,000 won per pyeong don't even sell for 100,000 won now. No one is buying. Even if you buy that land to farm, the math doesn't work out."

The Heyday of the "Emperor"

Lee Sang-il, 48, whom we met in Sangpan 2-ri, was once a baker running pastry shops in Seoul, Uijeongbu, and other areas. When his shops closed back-to-back during the COVID-19 pandemic, he moved to this village in 2020 to take a break and help out his brother-in-law, who farmed grapes. Working in his brother-in-law's vineyard for over a year changed his perspective.

"Grape farming gets insanely busy during peak season, but it slows down a bit afterwards. At the time, Shine Muscat auction prices were still holding strong at around 20,000 won for a 2-kilogram box. So I bought one plot, then bought another, expanding and expanding..."

It started when he purchased a 900-pyeong vineyard complete with vines and facilities for 180,000 won per pyeong. The vineyards he accumulated now span 4,000 pyeong. He bought 2,200 pyeong and leases the remaining 1,800 pyeong. The debt he incurred to purchase the land amounts to about 200 million won. However, Shine Muscat prices began to tumble in 2022. Lee believed they would soon recover. "Since they had commanded great prices for so long, I thought all I had to do was farm skillfully and produce good grapes."

Shine Muscat farming took root in Sangpan 2-ri in 2014. Kim Wan-jin, a lifelong local, first encountered the grape that year. "I tried a Shine Muscat given to me as a gift; it was sweet, carried a subtle fragrance, and you could eat the skin. It just melted in your mouth. This is going to work. I have to plant it."

Kim started uprooting his Campbell Early vines and replacing them with Shine Muscats. Until then, Kim used to load harvested Campbell Early into his truck three times a week and drive about 80 kilometers to an apartment complex in Daejeon. For a 5-kilogram box of premium Campbell Early sold directly to consumers, he pocketed 9,000 to 15,000 won. But for Shine Muscats, merchants lined up offering to buy them directly off the vine (pjeon-maemae) at 7,000 to 10,000 won per cluster.

As Shine Muscats grew famous, television crews visited Sangju. Each time, Kim looked into the camera and declared: "This is truly a grape you might see once in a hundred years." Aspiring farmers poured into the region to take up grape farming. In Sangpan 2-ri alone, about ten households including Lee Sang-il migrated and began cultivating Shine Muscats. The press dubbed this expensive fruit the "Emperor Grape." But the emperor’s heyday was short-lived.

Once Shine Muscats commanded high prices, grape farmers across the country rushed into cultivation. Local governments even began distributing Shine Muscat cultivation technology. Son Seok-hwan, head of the Modong-myeon branch, noted: "Agricultural technology centers in cities and counties encouraged farmers to plant them for income growth, so Shine Muscats spread everywhere from Jeju to Gangwon. The sheer volume exploded, dragging prices down."

According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute, the nationwide Shine Muscat cultivation area (estimated) surged more than 13-fold in just seven years, rising from 472 hectares (1 hectare = 10,000 square meters) in 2017 to 6,307 hectares in 2024. Its share of total grape cultivation area skyrocketed from 3.6% to 43.1% over the same period.

Kim Wan-jin pointed out that overproduction is a problem, but consumer alienation due to declining quality is an even bigger issue. "To bring out the authentic taste of a Shine Muscat, you should leave only about 25 clusters of 700-gram grapes on a single tree. That way, when ripe, the sugar content reaches 18 Brix, or at least 16 Brix. But as prices kept dropping, farmers started thinking about leaving more clusters on the vines or making them larger. If we farmers had properly circulated quality produce, consumers wouldn't have turned their backs on us like this, even with overproduction."

Just as important as how many clusters are left on a tree is when they are harvested. "Observe! 120 days after full bloom, yellowish-green color, 18 Brix sugar content." Near the produce collection center hung banners urging compliance with the Shine Muscat harvest schedule. The advice is to harvest 120 days after full bloom, when the grapes turn a yellowish-green hue and their sugar content reaches 18 Brix.

Sometimes, merchants who buy vineyards outright push the harvest forward. Kim Wan-jin explained that because farmers want to release their produce when market prices are relatively favorable, ensuring the grapes are fully ripe takes a backseat. "Many of the vineyards in Modong-myeon bought up by merchants have already finished harvesting. They should technically be picked right now to taste their best, but merchants harvest them early because they need the inventory."

Farmers also have practical reasons for opting for pre-harvest orchard sales. Those without cold-storage facilities have nowhere to store grapes harvested from 2,000 to 3,000 pyeong plots for long. Waiting for prices to rise is difficult. Shipping harvested grapes to wholesale markets incurs labor, packaging, and transportation costs, with no guarantee of favorable auction prices. Considering these costs and efforts, accepting 1,000 to 3,000 won per cluster and letting merchants harvest them directly feels like the better option.

Will It Cross the "Hwanggan Pass"?

Lee Sang-il showed a message he received from Seoul Cheonggua at Garak Market in Seoul. It was an auction winning-bid price notification arriving at 3:40 AM. Lee’s Shine Muscats, harvested the previous day and shipped to Seoul, went to auction around midnight. Seventy 2-kg boxes containing three clusters each were successfully bid at 11,000 won per box, while fifty 2-kg boxes containing four clusters fetched 9,000 won per box. Compared to other farmers who received 5,000 to 7,000 won per box that day, these were high prices.

"This is the top-tier auction price at Seoul Cheonggua, and yet this is all it amounts to. My calculation was that we need to make about 5,000 won per cluster just to make a living, but yesterday the grapes went for less than 3,000 won per cluster. Every time, children's education expenses and such fall a little short. And other farmers have it even harder."

When asked to calculate production costs for Shine Muscats in Sangpan 2-ri, Kim Wan-jin broke down the expenses based on a 1,000-pyeong yield: fifteen rounds of pesticide spraying cost 1.5 million won, and fertigation fertilizers cost another 1.5 million won. Thinning labor, paid at 180,000 won per day, requires 33 workers costing 5.94 million won for the first phase, and 16 workers costing 2.88 million won for the second phase. Adding other production costs, Kim estimated his cost of production at approximately 2,590 won per cluster. Lee's average winning bid price of roughly 2,976 won per cluster was only about 400 won higher than Kim's estimated production cost.

Kim Wan-jin remarked: "Those who have been cultivating Shine Muscats for a long time can maintain a modest livelihood. But newcomers started farming with invested capital and debt, and their incomes are not yet stable. About half of the newcomers in our village have turned to side jobs. They work farming hours, and then go out to work part-time at the technology center or unload produce at the distribution hub. They have to go make money elsewhere when they aren't farming just to survive."

Recently, a newcomer farmer who grew Shine Muscats in South Chungcheong Province took their own life. Reports indicated that amidst plunging grape prices and the onset of agricultural settlement loan repayments, the farmer struggled severely with financial hardship. Referencing this incident, Kim said:

"Right around where Sangju crosses into Yeongdong, there’s a place called 'Hwangganjae.' Everyone there says the same thing these days: 'I need to cross Hwanggan Pass.' Because their debt is completely unmanageable, they feel they have to leave, or even run away overnight..."

Kim Wan-jin has exported the Shine Muscats he grows through the agricultural cooperative. He mentioned that they are supplied to the U.S. market at 6,000 to 7,000 won per cluster. With domestic prices poor, they are searching for outlets abroad. However, only about 80 farming households export through the Seosangju Agricultural Cooperative. Exportation cannot serve as a breakthrough for all farmers.

If they were to give up Shine Muscats, what should they plant instead? Returning to the traditional Campbell Early variety presents its own obstacles: scorching summer heat causes coloring failures, where grape berries fail to turn black and remain reddish. In one Campbell-growing plot in Modong-myeon, reddish berries had fallen onto the ground. Lifting the fallen leaves revealed a sour smell alongside a swarm of fruit flies. Farmers noted that such extreme heat damage in Sangju has been occurring for the past three years.

Looking over his Shine Muscat field, Lee Sang-il said: "Right now, there are no other proven items. Campbell suffers from coloring issues due to extreme heat, and new alternatives carry too much uncertainty. Some farmers are cultivating alternative crops, but who knows what will happen if their harvest volumes surge next year? It's not easy to switch to something else. I can't find a way out."

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]