“The term ”food safety" is no longer unfamiliar to Chinese citizens. In recent years, successive incidents such as tainted milk powder, gutter oil, and the precocious puberty controversy have repeatedly pushed the psychological limits of an already anxious public.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/
“There exists a certain degree of information asymmetry in China's food market. People are unable to determine whether the food they purchase is safe. As economic income continues to rise, Chinese citizens are paying increasing attention to their dietary health. This demand for food safety assurance has given rise to the emergence of closed-loop organic farms,” said Meng Zhaoli, chief researcher of the Industrial Technology Group at the Samsung Economic Research Institute of China, in an interview with China Industry and Economy News.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/
The so-called closed-loop organic farm is a farm operating under the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) model. Unlike traditional agriculture, food consumers establish a direct economic relationship with food producers, with no intermediaries involved. Consumers must sign an agreement with the farm at the beginning of the production cycle, pay farmers a certain production fee, and share the risks of agricultural cultivation with the farmers. Chemical fertilizers are prohibited in the agricultural production process, and fully transparent green organic production must be achieved.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/
This green organic agriculture model has been developed in the United States for 20 years, while in China it is still in the exploratory stage. In 2008, Renmin University of China and the Haidian District Government jointly established the Little Donkey Civil Farm in Beijing, which became one of the first typical CSA-model farms in China.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/
Shi Yan, founder and director of the Little Donkey Civil Farm, told a China Industry and Economy News reporter, “The farm is currently developing well, and its income and expenditure have reached a balance. The farm's customers are divided into two types: regular shares and labor shares. We use organic fertilizers such as vermicompost and sesame paste residue, fully achieving ecological agriculture. Both types of customers can supervise the farm's production processes.”บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/
Shi Yan told reporters, “The concept of the Little Donkey Civil Farm is still relatively new, but this model of production can provide customers with reliable food safety assurance. Customers with labor shares can also come to the farm on weekends to work on the land they have leased. After all, this satisfies people's need for a certain pastoral sentiment and is also a way of leisure.”บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/
“I have been living in Beijing for more than 10 years. Every day I am squeezed into the city working busily. On weekends, all I do is go out for meals with friends or surf the Internet. If there were a farm where I could cultivate and relax, I believe it would be a good place to go,” Mr. Gao, a businessman in Beijing, told a China Industry and Economy News reporter after learning about the Little Donkey Civil Farm.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/
According to the reporter's investigation, every Saturday and Sunday in Beijing, citizens drive to the suburbs to purchase agricultural food produced by local farmers. The reason for buying vegetables in the suburbs is simply that they are “greener, healthier, and safer to eat.”บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/
However, problems also exist in the development of closed-loop organic farms. Wen Tiejun, dean of the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at Renmin University of China, once pointed out, “China's CSA-model farms require consumers to pay in advance, which differs from the traditional consumption model of paying and then taking goods. Changing the concept of consumption patterns is a major issue in their development.”บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/
“China's closed-loop organic farms are still not high in terms of development scale and awareness,” said Meng Zhaoli. This model of production and consumption exists only in Beijing and Shanghai. If greater improvements can be made in publicity and distribution models, its development potential is unlimited. Today's booming group-buying consumption method can be applied to the development of closed-loop farms. Of course, in the fully transparent production process, modern supervision methods such as electronic monitoring should also be introduced to gain the trust of more consumer groups.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/
Analysis by the Samsung Economic Research Institute of China points out that before 2000, China basically had no domestic organic agricultural product market, and more than 95% of organic agricultural products were exported through organic trade. Over the past 10 years, organic food has developed rapidly in China, with China's organic food sales reaching 200 billion yuan in 2009. The business model of closed-loop organic farms is increasingly recognized by people. If closed-loop organic farms can effectively form alliances with the catering industry, they will expand into an even broader market.บทความมาจากFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/th/11268/