The Institute for Korean Science and Civilization has published Agricultural Technology and Korean Civilization (JBNU University Press), which examines Korean agricultural civilization within the broader flow of Korean history based on the historical changes and development of agricultural technologies in Korea. The book was written by JBNU Professor Emeritus So Sun-yeol and Professor Yeom Jeong-seop of Hallym University.

This book was planned as part of JBNU's History of Korean Science and Civilization Series, through which the institute issues research volumes that study all aspects of Korean scientific civilization across all periods, from Cheomseongdae to semiconductors. To date, 22 volumes have been published.

The significance of this book lies in its framing of agricultural technology within the context of Korean civilization, constituting a history of Korean agricultural civilization. It is the first to attempt a structural approach to the concrete form of an 'agricultural-technology civilization' and to organize the findings. Based on a conceptual clarification of the visible substance of an 'agricultural-technology civilization,' the book examines aspects of 'Korean agricultural-technology civilization,' introducing the perspective that agricultural history should be understood not merely as a history of techniques but as a history of agricultural-technology civilization.

In this sense, the book aims to elucidate Korean civilization centered on agricultural technology. On one hand it pursues a general history—'A History of Korean Civilization Seen Through Agricultural Technology'—and on the other it focuses on the domain of 'Korean Agricultural Technology Civilization,' specializing in agriculture and technology.

Organized into seven chapters, the book comprehensively systematizes Korean agricultural civilization by tracing the historical changes and development of agricultural technology from the beginnings of prehistoric cultivation to modern agricultural techniques.

Chapter 1 outlines how cultivation first began in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages and gradually spread. Relying on archaeological excavation results, it examines the start and spread of cultivation through changes in farming tools, the practice of slash-and-burn cultivation, and the process of rice paddy introduction.

Chapter 2 reviews the transition from mere cultivation to agriculture as a social status and how agriculture came to account for the dominant portion of social production. It examines the social dissemination and spread of iron farming implements in ancient agricultural systems, changes and development in agricultural techniques such as ox-plowing, and the actual form of economic and social governance. The chapter investigates dry-field and paddy-field farming techniques of the Three Kingdoms period, agriculture and hydraulic facilities of Unified Silla, and pays special attention to the "Silla Village Documents" to clarify governance systems and social structure.

Chapter 3 approaches the Goryeo period from the perspectives of middle-agriculture policies and agricultural rites, summarizing changes in the land registration system to consider the historical significance of transformations and fluctuations in the medieval agricultural system. It also focuses on the shift in farming methods that emerged as a consolidated pattern toward the end of the Goryeo period and synthesizes its historical importance. In addition, the chapter examines the development of hydraulic facilities and the introduction and spread of cotton cultivation.

Chapter 4 analyzes the early Joseon period's continuous-cropping system and crop cultivation methods for both paddy and dry fields, reviewing the farming techniques presented in Nongsa Jiksseol (Straightforward Rural Explanations). It traces the compilation processes of agricultural manuals by the state and private individuals, outlines the trajectory of national agricultural policy, and reviews land reclamation, the construction of hydraulic facilities, changes in farm management, and the rural economy.

Chapter 5 documents the development of rice and coarse grain cultivation techniques in the late Joseon period and the cultivation of introduced and commercial crops, then examines improvements in agricultural implements and the development of hydraulic facilities. While summarizing trends in the compilation of agricultural manuals, the chapter assesses their historical significance and elucidates fluctuations in farm management, the rural economy, natural disasters, and the implementation of emergency measures for food shortages.

Chapter 6 considers how the agricultural-technology system of the Joseon period changed during the Japanese colonial era by examining shifts in agricultural production structures. It reviews colonial agrarian administration and agricultural-technology research that produced these systems, and evaluates changes in agricultural technology from production and management perspectives. The chapter then contrasts these changes with traditional farming methods to assess the characteristics and nature of modern agricultural technology.

Chapter 7 examines post-liberation agriculture, rural society, and agricultural technology, and reviews the Green Revolution and food self-sufficiency, which marked a new era for agricultural technology. It then considers the development of agricultural production and technology, reviews changes in agricultural technology, and offers prospects for future agricultural technologies.