North Korea farming remains one of the regime’s most persistent vulnerabilities, with chronic food insecurity rooted in poor soil, outdated infrastructure, ideological constraints on agricultural reform, and the ongoing tension between collective farming and the individual responsibility system. Daily NK covers North Korea farming through reports on harvest conditions, seasonal mobilizations, fertilizer and equipment shortages, agricultural policy directives from Pyongyang, and the ground-level reality facing farmers across the country’s provinces. Our in-country sources provide some of the most detailed and timely reporting on North Korea’s agricultural situation available in English.
Tag: farming
North Korea grain prices dip from record highs but remain near...
Grain prices in North Korean markets fell slightly in the third week of June 2026 after hitting all-time highs earlier in the month, as...
North Korean households squeezed by human waste quotas as state touts...
Neighborhood watch units in parts of North Korea have ordered each household to submit 50 kilograms of dried human waste as fertilizer by mid-July...
North Korea demands detailed rice-planting reports from Hwanghae farms
North Korea's central authorities ordered South and North Hwanghae provinces, the country's leading rice-growing region, on June 9, 2026, to compile detailed rice-transplanting reports...
North Korea’s grain stores look more stable, but a good harvest...
North Korea's state-run grain stores appear to be operating more reliably than in previous years, but experts say the improvement reflects last year's bumper...
Satellites show North Korea’s rice planting running ahead of schedule
North Korea's farms are planting rice slightly faster than in past years, with progress in 2026 running 2.7 percentage points ahead across eight sample...
Shorter shifts, stricter controls for North Korean women mobilized to farms
Members of North Korea's official women's organization are working four-hour shifts in the country's 2026 weeding campaign, but authorities now demand written proof that...
North Koreans skip state mobilization to run private gold operations from...
North Korean people living near gold mines in North Pyongan province have converted their homes into makeshift processing operations, crushing and washing ore to...
North Korean farms grind to a halt as fuel shortages cripple...
Fuel shortages are forcing North Korean farms to abandon mechanized equipment during the critical rice transplanting season, with workers left to haul seedlings by...
Mass livestock deaths at Kim Jong Un’s model farm trigger political...
Hundreds of pigs, goats, and rabbits have died at a state breeding farm in North Korea's Sepho district, and authorities have dispatched a high-level...
North Korea makes parents pay to feed students forced into rice...
Parents across North Korea are being pressured to supply food for their children mobilized for rice planting season, bearing costs the state is unwilling...
