While the closest thing most students get to gardening is stealing virtual vegetables on kaixin001.com, 28-year-old Shi Yan, a Ph.D candidate in agriculture at Renmin University of China (RUC), is going organic, promoting eco-agriculture and healthy living by bringing co-op vegetable farming to China.
Organically inspired
Located in Houshajian village, Haidian district, Beijing, Shi runs the Little Donkey Farm, a 100 mu (6.65 hectare) plot part of the RUC Experimental Agriculture Center, an over 13 hectare campus extension designed to develop eco-agriculture.
"Our goal is to farm in harmony with nature, and from pure earth produce pure food," she said.
In April 2008, Shi was awarded an internship in the US by taking part in a half-year exchange with Earthrise Farm Foundation in Madison, Minnesota, US, a non-profit organic agricultural education organization. It was there she was first introduced to CSA (community support agriculture), a system of produce exchange that directly connects organic farmers and consumers.
By selling prepaid "shares" consisting of a weekly delivery of vegetables to a business or residence, farmers are able to provide freshly picked vegetables while increasing their cash flow before harvest season.
This system also cuts out distribution costs, a way to reduce prices and make organic produce more competitive. In Shi's case, a share costs between 1,600-1,800 yuan a year, and deliveries are made twice a week.
Working the field
In some cases, CSA provides consumers land to plant their own vegetables on cooperative farms, exchanging their labor for reduced prices. Shi made some small adjustments to the US model to fit local markets, adding a "rental share" component to the system.
Charging 1,200 yuan a year, consumers rent a 30-square-meter plot and are provided seeds, fertilizer and guidance by RUC interns to plant their own vegetables and reap their own harvest.
"In the US, consumers just provide their labor for lower prices. I believe that Chinese people have more affection for the earth and like to feel they have a right to the land they farm," she said.
Beginning her career in April of last year, Shi knows the difference between being a real farmer as opposed to an agricultural student in sweat and labor. In order to drum up business, Shi would give lectures to communities around Beijing on the importance and benefits of organic produce, not coming back until almost midnight.
But through her hard work, they have already signed over 100 clients.
Delivery dilemmas
Shi and her 10 interns usually can pick and package vegetables like carrots and turnips a day in advance. But for green leaf vegetables such as cabbage, they have to get up at 4:00 am to pick them for same day delivery.
"Because only vegetables picked the same day are fresh enough," she said.
Due to their scattered client base, her team travels all across Beijing making deliveries, leaving them exhausted and unable to take on any more accounts.
"Considering this is a pilot program, we just hope to satisfy our existing clients first," said Shi.
Although Shi refused to disclose any specifics as to their profit last year, she said, "It's OK," adding that money is not their most important goal.
"Most of our profit is used in training interns as well as holding lectures on organic vegetables," she said.
According to Shi, though there is a growing market for organic produce within majorcities, the main reason most consumers opt for non-organic produce is because of price.
"It's not easy for most to pay 1,000 yuan a month for healthy vegetables," Shi explains. "However, many don't think twice about going to eat in restaurants several times a month."
Also, Shi explains that many are still unaware of the health risks of the chemical fertilizers that go into the vegetables they eat, something she is looking to change.
"Our farm is a channel for organic-vegetable-lovers to get the produce they want, as well as a place to help introduce more people to healthy food and organic living," she added. |
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