Office workers quit China's poisonous produce for the farm

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2012-12-15

Qi Jing, left, and Xiao Nan. (Photo courtesy of Qi Jing and Xiao Nan)

Qi Jing and Xiao Nan shuffle out of their Beijing desk jobs on Friday and head off to the countryside for the weekend, a normal routine for the farm owners who unintentionally dug up a business from their earthen interests, the party-run China Youth Daily reports.

Skepticism over the quality of the food on their plates brought the two women to reconsider their eating habits in a radical way. China has seen little improvement in its food safety standards. Almost every week the public finds out that there is mercury in their baby food, plasticizers in their drinks or that the oil they use to cook came from the gutter. Some foods, like eggs and even peas, end up being entirely, inedibly fake.

Qi and Xiao's iFengshou farm, started on a piece of rented land in the suburbs, is their solution. It opened to the public in April after more than 200,000 yuan (US$32,000) in investment.

The savvy duo make their money from the excess produce they began to sell to followers of their blog. "We didn't do it for profit in the beginning, but waste should not be tolerated," Xiao said.

One of their friends once called the duo's idea "out there and ridiculous" but later designed a postcard for the farm because of its growing popularity, the newspaper said.

Alternative "farming" is far from outlandish and is becoming mainstream far beyond the reaches of the modest Beijing venture. In Hong Kong, residents who have caught the chemical scent of China's produce have begun to stuff tiny plots into every space conceivable. Corn and cabbage sprouts on rooftops, on balconies and in communal plots all over the tightly packed city, according to the New York Times.

Organic, community-supported agriculture is cropping up all over the mainland. Even big business — from state-owned power companies to telecommunications — is cashing in on the rebellion. Company-owned plots of land are a way to unite employees through community work and guarantee healthy produce in office canteens, says US-based Health Impact News Daily.

The iFengshou farm women rent miniature plots on the land to people who also feel cornered by China's food industry, and are overrun with constant updates to their blog and customer orders. "Sometimes I feel as if I've been kidnapped by the farm," said Xiao. "But the farm has overhauled our lives."

Seventeen of the 20 lots on the farm have been rented out, and they deliver fresh produce to additional 20 families in the city.