Family starts organic farm on Chongming Island
Print Edition
Starting a farm and growing your own vegetables and chickens sounds romantic and idealistic, but magazine editor Jiang Ying is doing it on Chongming Island.
“Operating a farm is not as poetic as it sounds. It took a lot of investment, energy and sweat,” said 48-year-old Jiang Ying, a Chongming County native working in the city. Though raised on a farm, he knew virtually nothing about agriculture.
“But I’m not too frustrated since I never expected to make money,” Jiang, editorial director of Shanghai Insurance, told Shanghai Daily.
Appalled by food safety scandals, in March 2012 Jiang leased 20 squar kilometers on the island, naming it Xiangtai Farm, meaning Auspicious and Peaceful. His brother and his family operate the farm and he visits on weekends and holidays.
“Food safety issues affect almost all types of agricultural products and we didn’t know what we could eat anymore,” said Jiang. “On my farm, I cannot change the quality of soil and water, but at least I won’t use pesticides or additives.”
The farm grows vegetables, rice and fruit and raises poultry, livestock and fish that feed his Jiang’s family and some of his close friends.
In the first year, Jiang invested more than 1 million yuan (US$164,700) on infrastructure and land improvement.
When he was 18, Jiang left Chongming to attend the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He has lived downtown ever since.
Because he lacked experience, everything was a problem at first. Chickens flew over the wire fence and escaped, ducks and geese got over the banks of a canal. Since he used no hormones in fish feed, his fish grew much slower than expected.
Jiang insisted on sticking with very traditional farming methods: no pesticides, no artificial feed, hormones or antibiotics for the animals. As a result, his harvest is 20 percent smaller than his neighbors’ and the chickens didn’t mature and begin laying eggs for 10 months, compared with four months at his neighbors’ farms.
Other farmers warned him that his vegetables would be eaten by insects and that without antibiotics, his chickens would die.
“I would tell them it’s OK, we can eat what the insects leave behind,” Jiang said. He plants his own chicken feed, much of it wheat. In the first year, almost all the wheat went to feed the poultry.
Now thanks to his brother and hired villagers, the Auspicious and Peaceful Farm is doing well, though not making a profit. Jiang sells to friends and others recommended by word of mouth. He makes home deliveries. Jiang and his family only eat seasonal, locally produced food. In the future, he expects to build a house on the farm to reward his brother. Meanwhile, he is planning to retire on the farm.
“I’m almost 50 years old and it’s time to think about it,” he said. “It would be beautiful to have a house and garden.”
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