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All-China Women's Federation

http://www.womenofchina.cn/html/womenofchina/report/148440-1.htm

CHINA  - WOMEN WEEKDAY PROFESSIONALS, WEEKEND FARMERS

By Chen Lu - Editor: Zhao Liangfeng - January 8, 2013

Like thousands of their peers in Beijing, Qi Jing and Xiao Nan work in an office from Monday to Friday. But as soon as the weekend hits, they shut down their computers and hop into a car to drive to the outskirts of the city where they own a small vegetable farm.

The farm, called Aifeng Farm, covers an area of 20 mu (1.33 hectares) and produces 60 types of vegetables. Qi and Xiao also keep three geese and several chickens there.

Qi Jing (L) and Xiao Nan run a farm in the outskirts of Beijing. [cyol.com]

A Rural Idyll

Situated just outside the city, Aifeng Farm is divided into smaller areas planted with vegetables and walnut and cherry trees. There is also a Greek-style house painted a cheerful blue and white.

Qi and Xiao met on a trip and decided to set up their farm when they realized they were both passionately concerned about the food safety scandals that have rocked China in the past few years.

Undaunted by their lack of experience, they invested 200,000 yuan (US$ 32,258) this April to rent land and hire laborers to set up the farm.

They also hired a professional agricultural technician to guide them on various issues, such as what types of vegetables to plant, when to plant them and how to protect them from insects.

"Technically speaking, our farm produce cannot be labeled organic, but we never use pesticides. We sometimes pick off the insects by hand, and we only use organic fertilizers which meet the national standards," said Xiao. "It's our aim to produce vegetables with the most natural taste."

Qi and Xiao were surprised to find that their small tract of land yielded a rich bounty of vegetables, far beyond what they and their families could consume.

To prevent the produce from going to waste, they decided to sell some. After they posted photos of their farm and the produce on their Weibo (China's version of Twitter) account, many people began placing orders.

"At first, we didn't think about making money from it. We just didn't want to waste the vegetables," said Xiao.

Then Qi designed a logo for their farm and registered the brand as ‘Aifengshou', literally translated as ‘love harvest'. Their advertising angle was that their produce was safe and healthy for potential customers since they themselves consumed it, which soon attracted a number of clients.

Later, they divided their farm into smaller parcels of land and rented them out for 3,000 yuan (US$ 484) a year each. People who rent them can plant vegetables there themselves or ask the farm to help them do it.

Escape from the City

"We don't intend to quit our jobs," said Qi, whose job is actually very well-paid.

"But working on the farm has changed our lives completely," added Xiao.

The two spend all their weekends on the farm. On Saturdays, they leave downtown Beijing at 7 in the morning and arrive at their farm half an hour later.

After assigning delivery tasks to their employees, they start to process the surplus vegetables, cooking them or turning them into pickles. After two busy days, they drive back to the city with a load of freshly harvested vegetables.

Despite the busy farm work, Qi and Xiao have come to love their little farm. When Xiao is stuck in a traffic jam in the city and sees the fog hanging over the skyscrapers, she thinks longingly of her farm and can't wait for the weekend. No matter how tired she is after work, she makes sure to update information about the farm on her Weibo account.

When Beijing was struck by heavy rains recently, Xiao spent many a sleepless night tossing and turning in bed because she was worried about the farm. "Sometimes, I feel I have been ‘kidnapped' by my farm," said Xiao.

Commitment to Quality

As their farm business began to grow, Qi and Xiao began to adopt the idea of community-supported agriculture (CSA), an alternative, locally-based socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution.

Although their friends laughed at their idea in the beginning, when their farm began to attract more and more customers, one friend designed a greeting card for the farm.

Their reluctance to use pesticides also means that although the vegetables are of the highest quality, they may not look as perfect as store-bought ones. In fact, one elderly woman who had placed an order complained about the appearance of the vegetables and threatened to cancel the purchase.

But when she ate the vegetables, she was surprised at how good they tasted. Soon, she had become a regular client and even recommended the farm produce to her neighbors.

Currently, the farm is able to cover its expenses with the income it brings in. Qi and Xiao hope to recover all their investment in three to five years.

"At the very least, the farm provides us with a steady supply of fresh vegetables and offers us a place to escape to and relax on the weekends," they said. "What more could we possibly ask for?"