Goods to market
One of the busiest lifestyle markets in Beijing is Farm to Neighbors (FTN), which operates every weekend in the Liangmaqiao area of the city. It was launched in 2014 by Erica Huang, who sought to provide a venue for farms around Beijing that practiced organic agriculture in her quest for clean eating in China.
Both Sun and Wu supply FTN with produce which is driven by a more aware public who are demanding healthier options, much in line with the country’s current supply-side reform that seeks to remove red tape and allow the market to have a bigger voice in where resources should be allocated.
From small beginnings, FTN has grown to more than 50 vendors each weekend, which is made up of farmers, food artisans and craftspeople, with visitors exceeding 2,000 each day. Many of the vegetables and foodstuffs found at FTN are new to Chinese consumers and have been requested by foreign visitors who want a taste of home, from a safe source they can trust.
FTN and similar outlets across China are providing a vital resource for these farmers and suppliers. “Most of them do not supply to conventional markets because of their high cost of organic-standard production and this makes their selling price too high for conventional markets,” said Huang, adding that organically grown foods are at least 50 percent pricier than conventionally grown foods, she said.
According to Huang, similar markets have sprung up in China’s big cities such as Guangzhou, Dalian, Kunming, Hefei, Chengdu and Shanghai.
She said that while most of FTN’S farmers are not “organic farms” by legal definition, due to them being of a small-scale without the means to get organic government certification, all the farms supplying produce have been inspected by her team and have their farming methods registered for the sake of transparency.
“I think FTN is important because it builds a sense of community and bonding in an age of rapid development. It provides a face-to-face platform where people can learn where their food comes from and who produces it. They can even visit the farms to see how food is grown, I think this is very special,” she said.
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