Urbanites in thrall to a growing passion

Wang Xin is a landscape designer by profession and a farmer in practice. His customers believe the strawberries he grows on his organic plantation in the southern outskirts of Beijing are “the best in China”.

Every day, when men and women of similar age are stuck in heavy traffic and endless meetings, the 33-year-old revels in his rural life, far from the downtown crowds.

He rises with the sun and works all day in the fields or visits the farmers’ market to sell his fresh produce. At the end of the day, he goes to bed with sore muscles and falls into a deep sleep.

He does not take time to consider whether the work is hard, preferring to get on with the job. “It has become my lifestyle. This is the life I chose to live,” he said.

In a country where food is so central to the national culture, many well-educated urbanites like Wang are returning to the countryside and dedicating themselves to growing fresher, healthier food.

Every Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday, Wang brings freshly-picked strawberries to the organic farmers’ market in Beijing. They are grown naturally in nutrient-rich soil, without the use of fertilizers, pesticides, growth hormones or chemicals.

“I don’t plan on becoming filthy rich, or I wouldn’t have gone for organic farming,” Wang said. With his firm, athletic build and healthy tan, it is hard to picture him as the designer who used to spend days and nights in front of a computer screen.

Having majored in landscape botany, Wang has always been a plant lover. When he was 25, he realized his sedentary lifestyle was making him gain weight, and he could no longer stand being an office drone. He quit his job, rented two plantation sheds in the suburbs and started his farming career from scratch.

Last month, Wang presented this winter’s first fruit from a batch he planted in September. However, the work really began in July, when he prepared all-natural organic matter to enrich the soil.

The formula has been perfected through years of research in collaboration with Beijing University of Agriculture, where he studied, to simulate the formation of the fertile dark forest soil of Northeast China, known for its high crop yields.

Logically, the true foundation of organic farming lies in soil content: if the soil is right — as a living organism with a complex organic structure — the outcome is safe, and tasty food can be grown without the need for fertilizing chemicals, according to Wang.

But quality produce is not his only objective. He hopes to build a cultivation model that rejuvenates the soil itself, because regular planting and overexploitation can lead to soil degradation within a matter of years.

Wang’s life on the farm has not always been a smooth ride, but aftnatural er a rough start he believes he has learned valuable lessons. He has gone back to his old university and visited colleagues in Tochigi prefecture, Japan, to study the most modern organic farming techniques.

“For organic farming to become truly sustainable, revitalization of the soil is key. I am certain that in three to four years, the soil I have been reviving will keep getting healthier and healthier,” he said.

Wang is not the only person working hard to master soil rejuvenation.

In Alshaa League, a semi-arid region in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in North China, Ma Yanwei has spent years reinvigorating saline soil by applying watersaving methods to cultivate fruit and crops suitable for local conditions.

Sweet melons are the best-selling produce from Ma’s farm. Their sweet taste is the result of many years of study, experimentation and hard work in the desert.

Ma aims to find an ideal organic farming method to maximize the use of the scarce water resources and repair the soil.

“As long as the soil improves, it is to harvest healthy produce,” he said.

In the past six years, he has seen a growing number of young people returning to the countryside to take up farming. In 2017, he established a network that allows new farmers to communicate, exchange experiences and help each other. “It means we will be able to avoid longer detours and the mistakes made by others,” he said.

For 18 years, Zhang Zhimin, who used to work as a foreign trade expert, has been building an idyllic farm in the southwestern suburbs of Beijing to produce food crops and preserve biodiversity.

As a speaker of several languages, Zhang was sent to work in the food import-export sector when China opened its market to the outside world. She believes that “agriculture is the art of man and nature working together”.

On her biofarm, called Heaven’s Blessings, nature rules man. Instead of eliminating weeds and pests, the wholesome biosphere works autonomously to produce seasonal harvests.

“Agriculture is the management

In Wang’s vegetable shed, the natural ecosystem ensures the harvest is healthy and no outside intervention is necessary.

“I have observed that the grass that coexists with the crops functions as a regulatory factor for the microclimate by keeping the soil moist,” he said.

Also, a native species of spider that weaves webs among the vegetables feeds on minuscule whiteflies that are usually hard to detect, thus preventing the need for harmful insecticides.

Having learned about the latest farming models in Japan, Germany and Israel, Wang has also turned to ancient Chinese agricultural traditions to find inspiration to better coordinate human activities with nature.

At a Farmers’ Assembly at China Agricultural University last month, Meng Fanqiao, a professor at the university’s College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, said organic/ecological farming is an important measure to improve the quality and safety of agricultural produce.

“Organic/ecological farming is of vital significance for economic development as well as environmental protection in rural areas. It should play a leading role in China’s rural revitalization and the building of an ‘ecological civilization’,” Meng said.

Ma Xiaochao, a project officer with Know Your Food, a community group that focuses on food sustainability, said, “We hope to promote healthy eating as a mainstream choice, along with organic ways of producing healthy foods.”

Jin Shuqin, from the Research Center for the Rural Economy at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said: “The green development of the countryside is a strategy that goes hand-in-hand with food security and higher incomes. Revitalizing the environment is a crucial aspect of overall rural rejuvenation.”