Hi everyone, my name is Kimberly and I have recently been asked to contribute to this website in the area of health, food, nutrition & well-being. I’ve been in China for almost 8 and a half years and have always been conscious of our surroundings in terms or air, water, food but have never really taken the time to explore certain areas for myself. Until now that is. Over the past 10 months I have moved on from just being well through exercise and fitness to seriously trying to be well through what I eat. A TCM course, food therapy and now Integrative Nutrition has played a huge part in my shift from some packaged foods, eating out and convenience to whole foods, grains and incorporating organic produce as much as possible.
With the aim of trying to understand what the term “organic” means in Shanghai and of course being able to answer confidently that organic farms are relatively healthy and the produce better than the local wet markets, I embarked on a few weekend adventures to the organic vegetable farms to find out if and how their farms are clean, chemical free and healthy.
Some key issues that a wise friend told me before going out to the farms to look for and ask about include; soil, water supply, nearby water sources and rivers, surrounding infrastructure and manufacturing or industry, vegetable produce handling and refrigeration/ transportation.
BIOFARM
Biofarm is located a lot closer than I thought, a short 40 minute ride from downtown Puxi, Shanghai. It is in the Pudong area and not far from light industry and what I could call on the fringe /beginning of small agricultural fields. Off the highway you drive past sparse factory buildings, and a small river and then suddenly its roadside farm land.
The farm is bigger than it appears at first, with many rows of partitioned “indoor” greenhouses. It was a cold winter day when we went however inside the various tents it’s cozy and the smells of fresh soil and vegetables were evident. We stepped into the lettuce and herbs section first and the colour and fragrance hit us first. I’m a city girl who loves her vegetables but this overwhelming greenness was inspiring with bright green, dark green, a large selection of leaves, stalks and stems surrounding us. We inquired about the soil and were told that it is clean and some of it imported from Japan originally, we were impressed. Then the water- supply comes from nearby natural sources, very interesting I thought as unfortunately the small river nearby didn’t look totally clean. I’m also not one hundred percent sure about the drainage and surround water catchments either to be very honest.
Biofarm does not use any pesticide or herbicides , instead they have a number of big yellow cards hanging in well spaced out fashion over the vegetable rows and this is covered in hormones we were told. The male bugs are attracted to this and end up stuck to it and caught. This helps the farm manage pests however they do have overnight problems from time to time and if the bugs get in a whole crop can be eaten in a few hours as a midnight snack.
Despite some mixed thoughts the best part of the morning was picking fresh green vegetables and taking them home. They definitely taste better and have amazing texture compared to supermarket “plastic” looking and plastic wrapped vegetables. It’s all relative folks…….it may be hard to find 100% organic in Shanghai (Biofarm is IFOAM certified) but this stuff was better than what I’ve had so far and you can’t get much fresher than this and eating purple carrots, celery and broccoli right out of the ground. Delicious!
Biofarm is open to the public every weekend and I encourage you to get out there on a sunny day and do some grocery shopping. They also have a barn style area with dry goods such as nuts, beans, grains, brown rice, organic juice concentrate (the passionfruit and apple one is a favourite ingredient in my smoothies), dried fruit, and if in season- organic apples. They also have organic eggs from Yunnan if you ask the team. Biofarm has a great spirit, a positive and welcoming onsite staff who will show you around and it was a worthwhile and enjoyable excursion for us.
Biofarm will deliver produce to your home in Puxi or Pudong on a weekly basis, however encourage you to come to a collective pick up point if possible to get your vegetables and reduce transportation and ensure quality freshness.
Next week, we’re heading to Tony’s Farm in Nanhui district.
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