A "PhD-Level Farming Assistant" in Farmers' Hands... The RDA's "AI Transformation"

A young farmer who noticed symptoms of a possible pest or disease in a rice paddy had previously needed to ask village elders for a diagnosis and solutions, or search separately across multiple systems for information on pests and diseases, soil, weather, and pesticides. Now, however, all the farmer has to do is take a photo of the rice plants with a smartphone and ask Isagi, an artificial intelligence (AI) farming information service developed by the Rural Development Administration (RDA), to get a diagnosis and solutions. The RDA also plans to introduce AI Saessagi to support researchers' research, agricultural technology extension, and administrative work.

According to the RDA on October 20, Isagi was downloaded 17,819 times from January through August this year, and farmers submitted 90,000 questions. An RDA official said, "AI Isagi is a service designed to help farmers get the farming information they need by talking to a single AI, without having to move between multiple systems. It draws on 560,000 pages of agricultural expertise accumulated by the RDA over many years and 300,000 pest and disease images to ensure the expertise and reliability of its answers."

The video-based diagnosis feature for crop diseases and pests in "AI Isak 2.0." Rural Development Administration

Screenshot of the AI Isaki 2.0 app launched by the Rural Development Administration on the 30th of last month. Source: Rural Development Administration.

Ask a question or take a photo, and AI answers... A "PhD-level farming assistant" in farmers' hands

On September 30, the RDA launched Isagi 2.0, with improved answer performance and practical usability in the field. The most significant new feature is photo-based diagnosis of pests and diseases. The update also added fertilizer-use recommendations and a voice-based farming diary, and redesigned the service for mobile use. If the symptoms are not caused by pests or diseases, it finds similar symptoms in registered specialist publications (the Agricultural Encyclopedia) and provides an answer. The RDA also operates a quality assurance team made up of dedicated staff and 25 technical experts across different fields.

Work is also underway to connect previously fragmented information systems. The RDA plans to link 36 services across 17 information systems covering pesticides, weather, fruit trees, food, farm management, livestock, and other areas. Once the connections are complete, users will be able to check weather, soil, and pest and disease risks, as well as pesticide registration information, with a single question. In 2027, the RDA plans to upgrade the service to AI Isagi 3.0 by adding tailored farm management consulting, data links with other organizations, and web search capabilities.

Learn, share, and build for themselves... Employees get AI Saessagi for work

Farmers have Isagi, while RDA employees have Saessagi. Saessagi is a work-focused AI that supports research, agricultural technology extension, and administration. One example is the RDA's in-house prototype, AI Research Colleague, which links 12,504 research records from the past 10 years to check whether proposed new projects duplicate existing work. The National Institute of Agricultural Sciences has built a system that brings together individual technologies to identify field demonstration research projects, while the National Institute of Crop Science has developed an administrative support chatbot to provide information on public inquiries and research projects and assist with National Assembly matters.

The RDA is also developing the people who will use AI. It is hiring 13 specialists in advanced fields, including digital bio, AI model development, and agricultural robotics. It is also pursuing practical AI training linked to job duties in each occupational series, as well as assessments of employees' AI and data capabilities.

The “AI Isagi” exhibition and hands-on experience area at the 2026 Agricultural Technology Expo. Rural Development Administration

The RDA is not stopping at simply "using" AI. A total of 1,106 people participate in AI Dure Teotbat, an online knowledge-sharing community, to share their experiences using AI. At the "AI Ideathon Together," where employees design AI tools to meet their own needs, eight of the 59 submissions were selected as outstanding ideas. Chajeumi, which recommends staff based on their areas of work; Gwasu Jikimi, a decision-support tool to help fruit growers respond to abnormal weather; and the Hangeul Report Assistant all grew out of problems employees encountered in their work. The RDA has created a process to identify demand for AI in the field through the ideathon, verify potential uses with prototypes, and then incorporate commonly useful features into AI Saessagi and roll them out across the organization.

"Open data and connect research with extension" to get innovations into the field faster

Data is ultimately central to AI services and research innovation. Accordingly, on July 14, 2026, the RDA launched the National Core Data Opening Project to establish a system for collecting and opening pest and disease images for AI training, while expanding the scope of data collection to include unstructured data such as photos and videos. The "Agriculture and Rural Public Data + AI Startup Competition," held jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, drew 290 teams. Of the winning teams selected at the awards ceremony, 10 used the RDA's public data.

The RDA is also seeking to change the existing approach of conducting research first and disseminating the results afterward. It is establishing an integrated project framework in which technology extension departments participate from the planning stage, rather than waiting until research is completed to disseminate the technology. It also plans to require field performance evaluations before research projects conclude, so that developed technologies can be brought to the field more quickly. A pilot program is also underway to scout externally for the advanced technologies needed. While assessing the suitability of pilot projects, including the use of autonomous transport robots, the RDA is also working with the Korea Institute of Agricultural Technology Promotion and the National Technology Bank (NTB), among others, to use technology information and establish a cooperative system for identifying and matching technologies, with the aim of quickly finding private-sector technologies that can be applied to agriculture.

Lee Seung-don, Administrator of the Rural Development Administration

Lee Seungdon, Administrator of the Rural Development Administration, said, "AI Isagi has made it possible for farmers to receive the RDA's latest agricultural technology information in real time, regardless of time or location. We will continue to upgrade the service and develop it into an intelligent farming assistant that every farmer can rely on in the field." He added, "With AI Saessagi, which employees are building themselves, we will transform how work is done across research, agricultural technology extension, and administration, and help research outcomes reach farming communities more quickly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.