A foreigner in Shanghai reaps a bumper vegetable harvest, and the secret lies in listening

Original headline: Ecological functions are becoming ever more prominent, more attention is being paid to protecting water, soil and air, and the level of industrialized operation keeps rising...

Shanghai's urban agriculture through the eyes of a "foreign vegetable grower"

Lange Shi is an American. In 1992, he began contracting and operating a farm on the outskirts of Shanghai, introducing more than 500 new varieties of European and American vegetables, becoming Shanghai's first "foreign vegetable grower" engaged in vegetable cultivation research. A few years ago, he was even specially appointed as a senior advisor by the Songjiang District Agricultural Commission. "Use the lowest chemical cost to grow the best vegetables, while protecting the local water and soil environment" is Lange Shi's cultivation philosophy.

"The secret of a bountiful harvest lies deep in the soil." Not long after sitting down, "foreign vegetable grower" Lange Shi solemnly handed a small slip of paper to the reporter, with this sentence written on it in English.

Lange Shi, from the United States, is a well-known "foreign vegetable grower" in Shanghai. He has been engaged in vegetable cultivation research in Shanghai for more than 20 years, introducing more than 500 new varieties of European and American vegetables. His farm, with an almost miserly model of frugality, vividly demonstrates a model of high-end ecological agriculture. Not long ago, the 71-year-old Lange Shi also received the 2015 Shanghai Magnolia Memorial Award.

Old Lange is now no longer able to run a farm of two to three hundred mu, and spends most of his time at his home at the foot of Sheshan, writing a memoir of his agricultural practice in China. He has always paid close attention to Shanghai's agriculture and farmers, and for this reason he even renewed the lease on a few mu of land to carry out soil experiments on vegetable cultivation, and sometimes he still drives a tractor to plow the fields.

"In recent years, the ecological function of Shanghai's agriculture has become increasingly prominent, and more and more attention has been paid to protecting water, soil and air. Farmers have also been organized more scientifically, establishing family farms of an appropriate scale and obtaining more respectable returns. This is something I could hardly have imagined before." Lange Shi said that with the guidance of scientific concepts, agriculture and farmers will not be marginalized, but will have an ever more promising future.

In 1988, Lange Shi came to China because of business to promote fertilizers, and began cooperating with the Shanghai Soil and Fertilizer Station to carry out soil experiments. At that time, the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium nutrients in the soil on the outskirts of Shanghai were extremely unbalanced, and crop yields therefore could not be effectively increased. Later, farmers gradually recognized the importance of nitrogen fertilizer and potassium fertilizer, but then overapplied them, causing damage to the soil once again. In 1992, Lange Shi began farming practice in Pudong, exploring how to restore and balance the soil. For a fairly long period, he was a lonely demonstrator.

Now, he is delighted to see that nearby farmers have begun to understand how to care for the soil. Throughout Songjiang District, the "one-third system" has become an agricultural institution: every year, one-third of all grain fields are planted with crops, one-third are planted with green manure, and one-third are left to rest and recuperate. Combining farming with nurturing the land can both increase grain yields and protect the soil from being overdrawn.

Lange Shi's observations were confirmed by Sun Lei, director of the Municipal Agricultural Commission. During the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, Shanghai's urban agriculture adhered to the direction of green ecological development, promoted the comprehensive utilization of agricultural waste, controlled and reduced agricultural non-point source pollution, improved the rural ecological environment, and achieved sustainable agricultural development. Last year, the comprehensive utilization rate of agricultural waste in the city reached 91%, basically achieving a ban on straw burning. In the functional positioning of Shanghai's modern urban agriculture, the ecological function was placed first, followed by production function, leisure function and so on.

The changes in farmers, the main operators of agriculture, surprised Lange Shi even more. Regarding the family farm model that Songjiang took the lead in exploring, he talked about it with great relish: "Organize farmers scientifically and in an orderly way, with each household planting one to two hundred mu of grain fields. While obtaining relatively high income returns, they also treat the land and agriculture with more care..."

Lange Shi believes that a key to the family farm model is that it has cultivated a new generation of farmers with skills, ideals and a spirit of dedication, and thus Chinese agriculture also has prospects for sustainable development.

Indeed, over the past five years, the level of industrialized operation of Shanghai's agriculture has kept rising, and various new types of operating entities have continued to emerge. By the end of last year, the city had 2,787 grain-producing family farms, 3,192 farmers' cooperatives with a certain operating capacity, and 386 leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization. Farmers' incomes have also risen steadily. Last year, the per capita disposable income of Shanghai's rural residents reached 21,192 yuan, an increase of 35% over 2011. The real growth rate of Shanghai rural residents' income has been faster than the growth of urban residents' income for 7 consecutive years.

Lange Shi said he hopes to stay in Shanghai all along and personally witness Chinese agriculture, farmers and rural areas becoming more and more beautiful. (Reporter Huang Yongdi)