Urban dwellers get a chance to grow their own food

Health scandals in China in recent years that have made millions of people wary about the food they buy have created at least one other breed: city dwellers who rent plots of land to grow their own food and who can boast of having their own little piece of the good life.

But many of these city farmers have realized that the attraction of getting back to basics also has its unattractive sides, such as the hard, usually thankless, work needed to successfully grow crops. The result is that many plots have fallen into disuse and many of the formerly enthusiastic farmers have moved onto other interests.

However, there are cases of these farms being turned into thriving ventures. One such is Yifendi Farm, a cooperative run by Nanyuan Village in the Fengtai district of Beijing, set up in 2009.