Baek Jongsu is a farmer in his sixth year of returning to farming. In February 2016, he decided to move to Wanju and, as a base camp, lived for two years in an apartment in Bongdong-eup. Then,in February 2018, he bought a house with a large yard in Oiyul Village, Yulgok-ri, Gosan-myeon, and since then, he has produced peppers, zucchinis, watermelons, and cabbages in 5 greenhouses near his home using eco-friendly agricultural methods. The farm is named ‘GoBaek Farm’, taking the letters of his last name Baek and Go from Go Eunyeong, his wife, who he calls his sidekick.

Baek Jongsu's record of Wanju settlement tells an exemplary story of returning to farming and rural areas. At the beginning, he did not build a house or start farming. Instead, at first he worked as an office manager at a village company in Gyeongcheon for one year and as a staff member at the Wanju-gun Return to Agriculture Support Center for three years to learn knowledge and information about the region, villages, farming and people. Of course, he received a salary for his work, which was a great help economically.

"Now, I’m living with as few external activities as possible, and focusing on farming and parenting as much as possible. I have three daughters who are 10, 7, and 2 years old. I have goals for eco-friendly agriculture, and I have seen good results, but there are difficulties in reality. The information is asymmetric, and the agricultural support policies still have many drawbacks. My sidekick introduced me to various projects of the Wanju Cultural City Support Center, and from March this year, I organized a meeting with eco-friendly farmers nearby to start a ‘Meeting with No Representatives.’I wanted to talk about eco-friendly agriculture in Wanju, and I also wanted to think about the influx of people."

Baek Jongsu described farming as a "special industry that must reveal and share all the processes and results." He said he has lots of worries about people. They know very well about cars and houses and talk about them a lot, but when it comes to the food that they eat and digest day after day, they make no effort to learn how it is produced and distributed. Further, he also added that although Wanju is implementing a successful agricultural policy with local food and they have considerable experience and achievements in eco-friendly agriculture, that it is time to prepare for a new response to the climate crisis, zero waste, and changes in the consumer market.

"From now on, I have a goal to proper conditions in Wanju where anyone who is interested in eco-friendly agriculture can proudly take on a challenge with pride. Just as there were not many people who expected local food to succeed like this at first, I am sure that eco-friendly agriculture will definitely see good results if we challenge it more systematically and actively than now."

Baek Jongsu's ‘GoBaek Farm’ has its own farming philosophy, "Together with producers, consumers, and the earth." Instead of vinyl mulching used for pepper farming, he uses multi-use herbicide mats. And in the case of red pepper straps, he uses multi-use attraction lines instead of nylon straps. He grows zucchinis without plastic mulching. Although the cost is more expensive and the process of working is complicated, he does it because he believes it is less harmful to the earth and us too. His small efforts like these have been introduced several times in newspapers and broadcast media.

"Not long ago, my project was selected as a 'small research project for cultural diversity' by the Wanju Cultural City Support Center and I will submit a research plan soon. This time, I plan to interview eco-friendly farmers and conduct a consumer awareness survey. I'm going to organize the thoughts and desires of the producers and the consumers from my point of view. I don't exactly know yet what to do specifically and how my small research and practice will develop.“