Traditionally, barley was the second most important crop in the Korean Peninsula. When Japanese colonial authority in the early 20th century transplanted Japanese agricultural science and related discourses to Korea, it became the main agenda to increase production and consumption of barley, to spread the growing demand for rice over the Japanese Empire. While plant breeding scientists developed higher-yielding new varieties, nutritional scientists propagated a variety of discourses that emphasized nutritional value of barley, and the colonial government mandated (partial or whole) replacement of rice with barley in everyday diet. This triangle of agro-science, nutritional science, and coercive administration even survived dissolution of the Japanese Empire in 1945 and remained the backbone of South Korean food policy by the late 1970s. When South Korean government declared the accomplishment of the Green Revolution of rice in 1977, self-sufficiency of barley was officially acknowledged as the next goal. It soon turned out, however, that this “second phase” of the Green Revolution was an unreachable goal. Despite considerable innovations from the agricultural scientists, which could contribute to actual increase in barley production, people’s memory of coercive consumption led them to avoid barely. Meanwhile, influx of affordable wheat flour from the US also provided alternative options to Korean consumers, which had never been available in the previous Japanese Empire network that emphasized self-sufficiency. By showing the demise of barley cultivation in South Korea, this paper illustrates how the interaction among science, society, and state is embedded in the artifact of barley.
