On the 19th of October, a group of MID students paid a visit to the Tongzhou farm of Shared Harvest[1]. The main goal of this field trip was to get a clearer view of agriculture challenges, whether those concern food security, food safety, or soil and water pollution.
Shared Harvest farms follow organic farming and Community Supported Agriculture principles. It was a good occasion for Tsinghua students to learn more about those approaches and the role they might play in taking up the challenges mentioned above. Indeed, organic farming is acknowledged to better preserve health and environment while Community Supported Agriculture aims at building direct and fair relationship between farmers and consumers.
After a quick look at the fields and the discovery of the wide variety of vegetables available, the students were given three presentations. First, they were introduced to the food and agricultural trends and issues in China by a master graduate in International Relations and Sustainable Development, Clementine Turgeon, who is also currently working as a volunteer on the farm. Later on, the students were given a more specific and scientific presentation on soil preservation by David Crook, agronomist at the International Potato Center in Beijing. Finally, the founder and manager of Shared Harvest, Mrs. Shi Yan, talked about the raison d’être of Shared Harvest and the reasons for adopting a Community Supported Agriculture scheme.
The group of attendees had the opportunity to engage in interesting questions and debates after those three presentations. But the students were not only here to listen to presentations, and soon were they back on the fields and did farm work under the late afternoon sun.
One day in a farm may not be enough to fully assess the food and environment challenges that China is facing. However, there is little doubt that this visit enhanced students’ comprehension and curiosity about those core elements of Chinese development sustainability.
Contributed by Hubert Thieriot, MID 2013 Class
[1] http://www.sharedharvest.cn
