Jecheon Subtropical Smart Greenhouse (제천 아열대스마트온실)

The project dates from 2021, when Jecheon was selected for a national infrastructure programme supporting balanced regional development. On land at the city's Agricultural Technology Center it provided for a subtropical smart greenhouse, an aquaponics facility and a smart-farming test bed, with a budget of 4.768 billion won and completion targeted for 2022. Together with gardens of native, mountain and health-giving plants, it was to form a future botanical garden, provisionally called Jecheon Botanical Garden and described as the only one in the north of the province, linked to tourist sites in the town centre.

The greenhouse finally opened on 22 December 2023. It has a dual role: research and trial cultivation of new cash crops in a warming climate, and public access as a place of healing agriculture. After a year, regional press reported that the tropical crops had thrived despite a harsh climate and management problems, pests included. About 70,000 people visited in 2024, some 200 a day. A barefoot walking trail laid with five tonnes of red clay was opened from January to April 2025, and the city has said it wants the site to combine advanced farming with tourism, culture and local food.

The facility has three parts: the smart greenhouse itself, the centrepiece of the site, an aquaponics unit and a smart-farming test bed. The greenhouse offers 1,985 m² of indoor space. An automated control system manages the climate, which press reports describe either as held at a constant 25 °C or as averaging 22 °C with about 50 per cent humidity.

Heating relies on air-source heat pumps which, according to the city, have cut fuel costs by two thirds, an asset in the face of Jecheon's cold winters. The aquaponics unit couples fish farming with soil-free cultivation, the fish waste serving as fertiliser for the plants. Inside, the route runs through a sequence of spaces, including a decked walk beneath Canary palms, a flower garden, a zone for African caudiciform plants and a 'secret garden'. The sources consulted do not name the designer of the building.

At opening the greenhouse displayed about 170 species and 1,200 subtropical plants, including 23 species of fruit trees, along with flowering plants, trees and shrubs. More recent descriptions, including that of the national tourism organisation, refer to around 1,300 species, while one report distinguishes 120 subtropical crops from 1,200 kinds of flowering plants; the figures do not match exactly.

Plants mentioned include bananas, papayas, coffee, noni, passion fruit (백향과) and bird-of-paradise flowers (극락조화), an avenue of Canary palms and a collection of African caudiciform plants that includes Adenia globosa and 구갑룡. The flower garden is planted to bloom in every season. The aquaponics unit shows how fish and crops can be raised in a closed loop, and the trial plots are meant to identify new farm products suited to a warming climate.

The greenhouse stands within the grounds of the Jecheon Agricultural Technology Center in the Sinwol-dong district. An hour is enough to see it; in 2025 a barefoot red-clay trail was offered there from January to April. The aquaponics unit nearby shows the research side of the project.

Winter is when the visit makes most sense: the city itself invites people to seek out subtropical warmth there during the cold season. The city sees it as a stop to combine with the other tourist sites of central Jecheon.