A white-collar couple concerned about food safety scandals decided to get back to nature and grow organic vegetables on their own farm on Chongming Island.


For many Chinese urban dwellers troubled by a series of food safety scandals, the idea of organic vegetables - grown without chemical additives - is catching on.

Chen Shuaijun and his wife Shen Hui, both 30, took that idea and turned it into reality.

Chen, a banker, and Shen, an IT professional, spend weekdays at their respective jobs in the city. But on weekends, they are out on Chongming Island where they operate a 3.2-hectare farm growing chemical-free vegetables that they market on a pre-paid, home delivery basis.

They called their farm Dreamy and all the produce they grow is a dream come true: vegetables free from synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and genetic engineering.

Grow one's own food

Organic vegetables are taking root in China, where suspicions are running high about the quality of food that lands on dinner plates.

Public concern has been raised by scandals about ginger smoked with sulfur to keep it fresh, pigs fed with toxic chemicals to promote leaner meat and bean sprouts treated with banned additives to make them look shinier. Then, too, there have been scandals about chemical-laced milk and adulterated steamed buns.

Since 2008, a string of gut-wrenching scandals has made people like Chen and Shen wonder about the reliability of government food-safety inspections and assurances that food is safe to eat.

"We simply couldn't dine with ease any more, so we decided to grow our own food," Shen said.

The idea of running an organic vegetable farm quickly took shape in their minds and soon blossomed beyond farming for self-sufficiency. Seeing the trend of "eating natural" catching on in the city, the couple began to consider it as a business.

Chen's native Chongming Island, just off the coast from Shanghai, appeared to be an ideal place to turn their dream into reality.

The ecosystem on the island remains healthy because manufacturing industries have never quite taken a toehold there. And it's only a two-hour drive from downtown Shanghai, making it possible to commute fairly easily.

In late 2009, the couple leased 8 acres of land and began building their farm from scratch. Having spent nearly 200,000 yuan (US$30,840) on the lease, tools and seeds, the couple had little money left over to hire farm hands, but they were lucky to have two experienced volunteers - Chen's parents.

"We spent a lot of family time on the farm that winter, which was a critical season for the land conversion," Shen said.

Pesticides and chemical fertilizers were once generously used on their farm site, as they are across much of China. To help the soil renew itself and eliminate chemical contamination, the couple used organic cultivation techniques from the start.

"That meant weeding, tilling and nurturing the land with animal manure, all by hand," Chen explained. "We believe in the power of nature and respect its rules."

The couple grow all the vegetables in the open air and strictly follow a time chart for sowing and harvesting. They mainly rely on natural enemies to fight against pests, and are often out in the fields picking off unwanted visitors by hand.

Getting smarter

With pesticides gone, attacks by insects were heavy in the first year. Their first crop of cucumbers failed last summer as a result, and the recent drought did serious damage to eggplant and broccoli.

But Chen and Shen were undaunted. By planting a wide variety of crops, they managed to overcome failures in some and meet their delivery obligations to customers.

"Organic farming not only honors traditional agriculture, but also requires a scientific approach to managing a bio-diverse portfolio," Chen said, sounding every bit a banker. "We are getting smarter on that score, but we aren't quite there yet."

Dreamy's yields are still unpredictable and usually small. The farm can supply only a small group of customers, whose prepaid fees largely make up the farm's revenue.

Chen does the sums. He reckons revenue from the crop this year will reach 200,000 yuan - just enough to make ends meet.

That doesn't count implicit costs, like the voluntary work Chen's parents do tending the farm while the couple are away working in the city. Dreamy does hire temporary help, numbering anywhere between three and ten people, depending on the season.

"We are really grateful for what they have done for us," Shen said of his parents. "Right now we can't afford to be 100 percent committed because we still need our jobs in the city to support everything here."

The couple said if Dreamy's finances eventually climb to half their current earnings, they will give up their city jobs and devote themselves full-time to the farm. In the meantime, they are cautious about expanding beyond their capabilities.

According to Shen, a lot of big organic farms are playing a dicey game, using so-called bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides to boost their productivity without really knowing their formulas or possible side effects of products they are heaping on crops.

"Such shortcuts are too risky for human health and the environment." Shen said." Besides, we prefer to stick to what we promised."

Their slogan of "purely natural" is a big eye-catcher for their customers, who are mostly young urban dwellers pursuing healthy lifestyles. They form a sort of community as the farm's members.

Chen and Shen said they prefer their current marketing system to that of supplying supermarkets, which are the main sales channels of organic food in China.

Doorstep delivery

Their doorstep delivery service means the vegetables don't suffer from long transport or manhandling through various distribution channels. That makes them fresher and more affordable.

For delivery of 300 kilograms of Dreamy vegetables in a year, a customer pays 4,600 yuan, which includes 1,000 yuan for delivery costs. Each kilogram of the organic produce costs 12 yuan, half the average price for the same kind sold in supermarkets.

"The farm membership system also forms a close producer-consumer relationship, which is mutually beneficial," Chen said.

Customers interested in knowing where and how their vegetables are grown are invited to visit Dreamy farm. Some do come.

According to Chen, even the organic food industry isn't scandal-free. The absence of national standards has spawned instances of unscrupulous vendors buying organic farming certificates for crops that aren't chemical free.

"Dreamy hasn't become certified yet because we believe that 'tasting is truly believing' in this business," Chen said.

With holes eaten through some crops and vegetables in not-so-perfect shapes, it takes a while to educate new customers that what they see is really proof of the naturalness of the produce.

"They all eventually admitted the taste was amazing," Shen said. "Sometimes we are so used to fake and artificial foods that we forget what is truly genuine and natural."