The study analyzed the programs operated in the Agricultural Technology Centers and Agricultural Research & Extension Services in cities and counties across the country for about three years between 2014 and 2016.

The programs were steadily operated in most of the metropolitan cities during the period. In particular, Busan opened the largest number of educational programs including two programs in 2014, 11 in 2015 and 15 in 2016. In addition, 21 municipal and county Agricultural Technology Centers including Sokcho, Suwon and Chungju began to provide the consumer horticultural education programs for the first time in 2016.

In 2014, most of the educational programs were about living horticulture and urban agriculture in the form of agricultural universities. In 2015, the master gardener education programs were mainly provided as well as the professional courses including play garner license, urban farmer and urban agricultural leader, and the programs related to therapeutic agriculture were operated in the Gyeongbuk area. In 2016, the professional courses had been steadily operated from 2014 and 2015, mostly including the horticultural therapy courses for institutionalized children, people with intellectual disabilities and people with atopic dermatitis and the horticultural activities and school farm programs for elementary and middle school students (Table 2).

Aside from the Agricultural Technology Centers, any farms designated by Rural Development Administration across the country can participate in the education programs in operation with various crops and themes. Approximately 16 times more agricultural educational farms were distributed in cities and counties than in metropolitan cities.

Total 557 educational farms were distributed on 12 crops including food, fruit trees, vegetables, flowers, mushrooms and herbs and insects. Among them, Gangwon Province had 70 educational farms, which was the highest number, followed by Gyeongnam with 69 farms, Gyeongbuk with 63 farms and Chungnam with 62 farms.

The most popular crops in 557 farms were fruit trees, which were mainly grown in 105 farms, followed by vegetables in 76 farms and flowers in 64 farms.

According to the review of the number and operation time of the consumer horticultural education programs by year in cities and counties nationwide for about three years between 2014 and 2016, the number and operation hour almost doubled in 2016 from 2015. Busan metropolitan city expanded its consumer horticultural programs compared to other cities and counties as agricultural education in the city increased by 2.2 times in 2015 from 2014. Gwangju had continued to increase the number of programs since 2014 and Jeju had provided the consumer horticultural educational programs from 2015 (Fig. 2). The number of the consumer horticultural education programs had steadily increased in eleven regions including Busan, Pyeongtaek and Chilgok. Gyeonggi Province, where new projects were launched in eight cities including Suwon and Seongnam in 2016, provided 3.6 times more educational programs for 2.7 times more hours, which turned out to be the biggest change (Fig. 3). The Ganwon area with less population than other cities and counties had been actively operating the consumer horticultural education programs based on Wonju, in which the provincial government was located. Samcheok had been steadily operating the educational programs in the Agricultural Research & Extension Services and four regions under its newly launched project in 2016 (Fig. 4). The Jeolla area provided a lower number of educational courses related to the consumer horticultural education programs than other regions with only 3 programs in 2014, but was quickly expanding the programs by starting new projects in four regions including the Agricultural Research & Extension Services in 2015 and additional five regions in 2016 (Fig. 5). The Chungcheong area had operated the consumer horticultural education programs based on Cheongju. Three regions including Chungju started the new projects in 2016 and the programs were fast expanding to Gongju and Yesan, which experienced the movement of population due to the relocation of the Chungnam provincial government building (Fig. 6). Gyeongsang Province had increased support for the programs in three areas including Yeongju and the number of the consumer horticultural education programs had been on the decline in six regions with a decreasing population. Gyeongnam Agricultural Research & Extension Services in Changwon started a large scale new program in 2016 (Fig. 7).

The following is the organization and overview of the consumer horticultural education programs in Agricultural Technology Centers in metropolitan cities, cities and counties across the country in 2016. The programs were operated by 134 workers in 114 departments of 78 Agricultural Technology Centers (Table 3).

The educational effects can double when practical education is provided along with theory education in the consumer horticultural education programs. As an example of work-oriented education, learning on plants is not enough by only observing the plants but can be completed with first-hand experiences of students. It is possible to increase the awareness of students of the learning content through work-oriented education such as seeding and fertilizing plants, keeps body healthy, learn the preciousness of life by cultivating the plants with affection that students personally planted and provide an opportunity to take interests in the nature, all of which help students’s holistic development (Park, 2002).

Municipal and county Agricultural Technology Centers had an advantage over private centers as they had experimental fields and management facilities. The analysis results of the scale of the practical training areas were as shown in Fig. 8 and the overview of the farms designated by Rural Development Administration where various educational programs were provided was indicated in Fig. 9.

In terms of the scale, Seoul Agricultural Technology Center with the highest number of consumers had five practical training areas sized 53,136 m² in total including the nature exploration area, followed by Gyeonggi (56,888 m² ), Gangwon (15,884 m² ) and Gyeongbuk (12,781 m² ). Among the regions with more than five practical training areas, Dangjin had the largest number of practical training areas, which was seven, but in a smaller size of 4,584 m² , followed by Yeongju with six training areas, Yangsan with five areas and Suwon, Yeosu and Suncheon with four areas. Each practical training area was in different sizes but the average size was 1,306 m² per training area. By considering the number of allowed students at a time, it is identified that the educational effects can be improved by expanding the size of the practical training areas to 1,000 m² depending on the themes (Fig. 8).

Approximately 16 times more agricultural education farms were distributed in cities and counties than metropolitan cities. All over the nation, 557 education farms were distributed for 12 crops including food, fruit trees, vegetables, flowers, mushrooms and herbs and insects. Among them, Gangwon Province had the highest number of education farms, which was 70, followed by Gyeongnam with 69 farms, Gyeongbuk with 63 farms and Chungnam with 62 farms. The most popular crops in 557 education farms were fruit trees. The number of fruit tree farms was 105, followed by 76 vegetable farms and 64 flower farms (Fig. 9).