Located in Songjiang, Tongchu ‘s farm is about an hour’s drive from downtown Puxi and quite easy to get to. Driving southwest and once you leave the downtown freeways and roads the agricultural fields are suddenly noticeable and a contrast to the other farm areas we’ve visited so far. There are a handful of light industrial factories and we crossed the Huangpu river (which by the way didn’t look so good at all) but the majority of land use is agricultural. It felt like a drive out into the “countryside.”
Tongchu organics is on a road off a main road and surrounded by other local farms and a natural water canal on one side. Upon arrival we were shown their vegetable packing room, pretty well set up with glass windows and a group of ladies with aprons and caps working inside on the vegetable washing conveyor belt machine. Tongchu supplies many of the supermarkets, restaurants and hotels in town and they have always had a large lettuce and leaves supply to meet the demand for salad ingredients for Western tastes. This leaf washing was quite a novelty as it occurred to me that we weren’t shown the washing/packing area in the other farms. So far so good, we were impressed.
Next we went out to check out the water supply and a small pump/purifier machine which purifies the natural water sources. Again the quality of water and cleaning process is one I know people are interested in and all I can report is that all farms purify the water, just how safe it is for vegetable watering and us eating raw vegetables I don’t know but as Tongchu produce a lot of salad mixes the leaves are pre-washed and then packed in bags/plastic boxes.
Tongchu is 100 hectares, in between in size of the previous 2 farms we visited, and is only 2 years old. Previously the owners sourced and imported organic products such as shampoo, dried foods etc. We were told the soil has been cleaned and that they use a combinations of soils and organic soil from Canada and Mongolia. Also reassuring was that the organic certifiers had come the other week to take soil samples and do ongoing tests. (the certification and ongoing monitoring of the industry is still not clear to me yet)
We walked around the farm, again most vegetables are grown in the tent/canopy enclosures and were told that because its winter they don’t grow out of season vegetables. We learnt that corn isn’t traditionally winter food and we shouldn’t eat it in this season. Lots of cabbage, lettuce, leafy greens, spinach, radishes could be observed and even though I’m no soil expert this soil did look very healthy and rich. Could have something to do with the newly installed watering system I spotted up above, and turns out its only 2 months old. Tongchu organics use a raised sprinkler system, similar to the other farms, and the similar hanging boards to catch bugs inside.
One thing we were pleasantly surprised with was the variety of herbs they have, Tongchu organics has one large tent in which they grow a comprehensive range of potted herbs. Everything from lemongrass, dill, basil, parsley, chocolate mint, to spearmint and rosemary, and one of their owners is working on home herb growing system which is pretty neat, so later this year people could have their own herb garden on their balconies. Also impressive was that all the vegetables and herbs in every tent were well labeled and identifiable for visitors. Tongchu organics also showed us another new glasshouse nearby on another property, inside they grow more leafy greens and a wide variety of young lettuce to supply to the restaurants and hotels.
Tongchu does do home deliveries like the other farms and are welcome to visitors at the farm by appointment. Their vegetables are readily available at City Super branches in Shanghai. http://www.tongchu.com.cn/
Overall whilst I’m no expert I think the farm visits so far have been worthwhile in starting to understand the nature of organic farms in and around Shanghai and answering the question on everyone’s mind; is it worth paying more for organic fruits and vegetables? My answer is yes. I don’t eat organic 100% yet but from hearing stories about Chinese farmers growing a patch for sale and a patch for themselves and all the potential pesticides and growth inducing chemicals on regular vegetables I’m more inclined to check out the organic suppliers and options in Shanghai. Again, I believe it is all relative and we can only do and buy what we believe is clean, healthy and affordable.