What’s your favorite tomato? — What kind of tomato do you like?

Won Seunghyeon, CEO of Geuraedo Farm, dreams of a future where people ask each other, ‘What flavor of tomato do you like?’ After all, tomatoes don’t have just one flavor.

Interviewer Parc Jinmyoung
Interviewee Won Seunghyeon (CEO, Farm Nevertheless)

One day, ‘heirloom’ tomato recipes suddenly started flooding social media. Honestly, I wasn’t curious about their flavor at all—I figured tomatoes all taste pretty much the same. I dismissed it as just a passing trend drawn to their unusual appearance. It wasn’t until I learned that heirloom tomatoes are pure, non-genetically modified varieties that retain their original form that I finally became curious about their taste.
Located in Yeongwol, Gangwon-do, Geuraedo Farm grows more than 30 varieties of heirloom tomatoes using seed-saving methods, collecting seeds from harvested fruit. Combined with over 40 years of accumulated organic farming know-how, the tomatoes it produces each have their own distinct color, flavor, and aroma. Geuraedo Farm is an organic farm that a husband has cultivated since 1983 for the sake of his frail wife. In 2015, their son, a former brand designer, rebranded the farm under the name Geuraedo Farm. The name draws its spirit from his parents’ habitual response whenever he suggested farming the easy way like everyone else: “Geuraedo geureomyeon dwegetnya” (“Even so, is that really okay?”). The tomatoes of Geuraedo Farm embody the life of parents who farmed without compromise, holding fast to their basic principles of producing food.

We’re curious about what the tomato farm looks like in April. What season is it right now?
Inside the greenhouse, the tomatoes sown last winter have grown waist-high and are bearing fruit, while outside, flowers are blooming and new sprouts are emerging. As the days grow longer, the farm gets busier. The warmer it gets, the more exhausting the work becomes, but seeing the landscape burst with life brings a real sense of joy.

Please introduce the two brands you currently run, Ttang-ui Girok (Record of the Land) and Tomarrow.
Ttang-ui Girok is our agricultural produce brand, through which we sell the tomatoes and beets we grow. The name comes from the idea that these crops are a record created by my parents’ devotion to the land since 1983, along with countless seasons and the workings of nature. The lineup includes organically grown gito (cherry tomatoes), pure heirloom tomatoes, beets, samnamul, and chwinamul, among other seasonal products.
Tomarrow is a service brand oriented toward sustainable agriculture. It focuses on two issues facing modern agriculture: sustainability and diversity. The name combines “tomato” and “tomorrow.” It reflects our desire to go beyond simply delivering delicious produce, to share the hidden value of farming, and to spread awareness of the importance of the land and the diversity of varieties as part of the journey toward sustainable agriculture. Through Tomarrow, which runs a tomato-focused exhibition, library, and culinary experience program on one side of Geuraedo Farm, visitors can gain a deeper understanding of tomato farming.

I heard you disliked farming as a child. What was the decisive moment that led you to leave your career as a brand designer and return to the farm?
While preparing to change jobs, I helped my parents with their farm branding on the side. Interviewing them directly, I came to realize just how precious the farming methods they’d devoted their lives to really were. It struck me so deeply that I felt regret for not having understood it sooner. Having watched their lives up close, I felt a sense of duty to share the true value of organic farming with more people. At the same time, I saw it as a good opportunity to build my own brand, and that gave me the courage to make the leap.
I’ve always believed that the most important thing in branding is treating a brand as if it were a living being. To do that, I needed to truly understand agriculture myself. In the end, I went so far as to start my own farm. I thought that running the farm myself, rather than simply helping my parents, would lead to more genuine and effective branding.

What did you focus on most when branding Geuraedo Farm?
Most modern people aren’t very familiar with farming, and consciously or not, many hold negative impressions of it. I wanted people to see that farming isn’t something unrefined or grueling, but something that can be sophisticated and enjoyable. I made sure to design the farmer’s office beautifully and organize the farm’s layout neatly, so that even young children might dream of becoming farmers here. At the same time, I made it a priority not to diminish the value of the labor my parents devoted their entire lives to.

It seems like it wouldn’t be easy to reach out to the public while firmly maintaining the values the farm has upheld for so long.
Our farm’s slogan is “Fruit kept without compromise.” The moment we compromise, I believe the farm’s identity collapses. No matter how attractive an offer might be, if it goes against the direction or values Geuraedo Farm stands for, we’ve firmly turned it down. Honestly, there are times when turning down a big opportunity brings regret and lingering doubt, but in those moments, remembering my parents’ decades of perseverance—always saying “geuraedo” (“even so”)—helps me steady my resolve.

I heard Geuraedo Farm first gained real recognition thanks to its heirloom tomatoes. What led you to start growing pure, non-genetically modified heirloom varieties?
Native seeds are often seen as outdated or inefficient. But native varieties, shaped by adaptation to local conditions, are actually quite special and precious. The F-1 hybrid varieties that have become widespread for the sake of productivity can, by nature of being crossbred, only be farmed once. Since they don’t go through a process of adapting to the land and new seeds are planted every year, seeds whose genetic traits aren’t fixed remain disconnected from the local environment no matter how many years pass.
Pure varieties (including native ones), on the other hand, develop unique characteristics as they adapt to the land when their seeds are collected from the fruit itself. In the end, I became convinced that the relationship between seed and region could be a breakthrough for the future of agriculture, which led me to try growing pure varieties. I wonder if today’s agricultural market, in its pursuit of ever-higher productivity and efficiency, might be losing sight of what matters most.

Could you share a bit of Geuraedo Farm’s soil management know-how?
Honestly, most farmland in Korea isn’t great soil for farming. There’s very little old soil that’s well suited to agriculture. Korean farming has long relied heavily on chemical fertilizers compared to the rest of the world, and the soil has long since lost its natural function.
Geuraedo Farm puts a great deal of effort into improving poor soil conditions. Every year, we focus on soil management by fermenting organic matter ourselves and cultivating microorganisms, working to build an ecosystem favorable to plant growth. For example, we make natural compost by fermenting finely crushed oak bark, which strengthens the soil’s ability to hold ions (nutrients and moisture), creating conditions where microorganisms can thrive. Plants grown in healthy, vigorous soil are noticeably more flavorful and aromatic.

How is sustainable tomato farming carried out?
The soil cycling I mentioned earlier comes first, followed by a focus on seed management. Tomato seeds can be used for up to five years after collection (of course, longer is possible, but we recommend using them within five years). Since we can secure a large quantity of seeds at once, there’s no risk of the variety being lost, and we can prepare for unforeseen crises as well.

Is there a travel destination you love because of tomatoes?
The Vesuvio (Vesuvius) region in southern Italy comes to mind first, known for its beautiful scenery and delicious tomatoes. There’s a variety unique to that area called ‘piennolo del vesuvio.’ It’s eaten fresh, but when dried in the shade for a year, it develops a strong tartness along with a bitter, mysterious flavor. I’d want to go back just for that tomato.

Is there a destination you’d like to visit?
Whenever I travel, I make a point of seeking out tomato farms—it feels like a treasure hunt, both fun and rewarding. I’ve visited many farms in Europe, the U.S., and Japan, but I’ve never had the chance to go to South America, where tomatoes originally come from. I’d love to encounter wild tomatoes growing in the Andes Mountains of Peru.

What kind of sustainable way of life do you hope to convey through tomatoes?
Soil is not an infinite resource. It takes 2,000 years to form just 10 centimeters of fertile organic topsoil suitable for farming, yet we lose 24 billion tons of soil every year. According to data from the International Union of Soil Sciences, by 2050 the amount of arable soil available will be only half of what it is today. Soil matters far more to our lives than any other mineral resource, but it's disheartening that so few people realize this. I believe our way of life can only be sustained if more consumers start paying attention to living, breathing soil, the farming methods that preserve it, and the diverse foods that grow from it.

Do you have any plans or goals for the future?
Right now, productivity is the only standard by which Korean agriculture measures success. On top of that, the widespread mindset of treating 'single crop, single variety cultivation' as the standard formula is turning agricultural produce more and more into mere feedstock.
In biology, humans are called Homo sapiens. The word ‘sapiens’ is said to come from the Latin ‘sapere,’ meaning ‘to taste.’ I think that shows just how fundamental tasting is to human nature. I believe diversity in crop varieties can only be sustained if individual tastes are allowed to exist. I hope our attempt to explore the diversity of well-grown crops and the range of flavors they offer will resonate with many people. If it does, maybe other farms will join in this challenge too, and together we can bring some diversity into Korea's increasingly uniform agricultural market.