Exhibitor



HomelandGreen Limited

https://www.homelandgreen.hk/


Team



Josephine Wen Ning Chen

Wendy Wong

Connie Lam

Daniel Yuen


Location



Hong-Kong ,China


Summary


The display aims to share with international counterparts the success witnessed in three local farms transitioning into the practice of regenerative farming with focus on improving soil health and carbon sequestration resulting in pest-free, yield increase, cost reduction and better consumer satisfaction. The next step will be reaching out for research partnership and incentive systems where farmers' contribution to ecological benefits can be rewarded. Things never happen overnight; strategies adopted in the past 8 years (up to early 2021) for raising awareness, building up trust and credibility, engaging potential partners and building up support networks will also be shared.

Note: a brief update as of early 2023 is available at Stand 0166.


Presentation



Promoting Regenerative Farming in Hong Kong, China


Details of the Presentation

2019 Land Utilization in Hong Kong

area
Urban area24.9%
Agricultural land4.5%
Fish Ponds1.4%
Others69.2%

Source: HK Planning Department

Who are we?

HomelandGreen is a Hong Kong based charitable organization established by a small group of volunteers on 17 June 2013, World Day to Combat Desertification, with the motto ‘Be just to the earth; for the sake of all beings.’ To this date, we only have less than ten active members, mostly full-time career workers and a few retirees. We receive no public fund and run all programs from our own reserves.

We organize voluntary tree planting activities to help combat desertification in Inner Mongolia and promote regenerative farming in Hong Kong. 

What we intend to share

In this presentation is our story of promoting regenerative farming in Hong Kong, well-known for being a highly urbanized metropolitan, for the past seven years, the strategies we have adopted and the progress we have made.  

By that we mean

  • We are trying to support local environmental conscious and open-minded farmers to transition into practices of regenerative farming to grow healthier crops free of pesticides, increase yield and income, as a means for soil regeneration to address issues of food safety, food security, and climate change. We believe that these pioneering farmers who also bring ecological benefits to the world deserve better rewards than what they are doing now.
  • We are also trying to arouse public’s awareness of issues related to food production and consumption both locally and world-widely and hope to solicit support to move Hong Kong towards green consumption.

Our story

We plan to start by sharing the stories of three farming partners of different background, age and experience, each at a different stage on the road towards regeneration.

  • Eva, with whom HomelandGreen has partnered for about three months under all the constraints of the pandemic, who is trying hard at the trial-and-error stage.
  • Cheong Gor, 30 months partnership with HomelandGreen started late 2018, presently midway on the road towards regeneration.
  • Alice, came to learn from HomelandGreen as a fresh university graduate in 2017, chose a career path subsequently promoting regenerative farming as a full-time worker in a local conservation agency.

Then we will review the strategies we have adopted in the hope that we can get advice from international counterparts so that we can move faster and better, and of course, happier.

Meet Eva – a farming partner HomelandGreen working with for about three months going through the trial-and-error stage

Meet Cheong Gor, an experienced farmer HLG partners with for more than 30  months, midway on the road towards regeneration

Meet Alice, a young environmentalist turned full-time farmer promoting regenerative farming

How did it all start?

HomelandGreen began our involvement in voluntary tree planting projects to combat desertification in 2012 in Inner Mongolia after learning of the incredible story of the land restoration work of NPO-GreenLife in Hure Banner, a remote small county in eastern Inner Mongolia which was once almost totally desertified.

The once totally desertified land was consequently turned back into arable land and local peasants managed to make a better living by adopting sustainable zero-waste agroforestry practices that continues to regenerate the land. upon the technical advice of the agricultural bureau.

HLG tree planting activities and study trips in arid areas in China

  • Through the various tree planting experience and study trips, HLG learned of the world-wide land degradation problem not only in extremely arid areas but also as a result of exploitative agricultural practices all over the world in the past several decades and that working from the soil up can be an alternative way of farming that may help remediate a lot of the damages done to agricultural land and as a way of mitigating climate change.

We then began our journey to promote regenerative farming in Hong Kong in 2015

What are our strategies?

Strategy 1 : Learning – We decide to equip ourselves and learn from the leading masters in the field of farming from the soil up, later known as regenerative farming

Strategy 2 : Arouse public awareness – We reach out to the public to raise awareness about the relationship between soil health, plant health, planet health, and human health through talks to different audience with different background in different settings

Strategy 3 : Walk our talk – We set up thermal compost sites with recycled natural materials and teach about thermal composting – soliciting support from environmental groups along the way

Strategy 4 : Visit Farms – We visit local conscientious farmers to understand the potential obstacles for them to transition into more regenerative way of farming


Strategy 5 : Build up HLG credibility – We invite our overseas professional partner to offer free training on regenerative farming to experienced local farmers

Strategy 6 : Cultivate young minds – We sponsor young environmentalists for overseas training in regenerative farming as incentives for their longer-term commitment to our cause

Strategy 7: Build up a semi-professional training team – We involve better-informed farmers as teaching assistants at HLG workshops as continuous professional training

Strategy 8 : Provide free workshops and consultancy service – We run free workshops for local farmers on various themes of regenerative farming and provide consultancy service within our resource capacity

Strategy 9 : Run small scale trials in schools – We help run regenerative farming programs for school kids with the support of the trained volunteers as preparation for collaborative partnership with local farmers to manage their transition to regenerative farming

Strategy 10 : Form collaborative partnership with farmers – We adopt a zero-risk approach to help responsive farmers to transition into the practice of regenerative farming to build up long-term partnership

  • Three such examples have been introduced earlier.
  • Will continue to expand this partnership network within the resource capacity of HomelandGreen.

Strategy 11 : Involve collaborating farmers as co-trainers – We involve our collaborating farmers in our public talks and promotional programs

Strategy 12 : Reach out more through social media and networks – We create our HomelandGreen Facebook to reach out to non-English speaking community and HomelandGreen Website to a wider audience

  • Website : www.homelandgreen.hk
  • Facebook : www.facebook.com/HomelandGreen.hk
  • Videos on regenerative farming workshops and experimental farms
  • (Please see the word doc listing FB links on HLG local activities)
  • Videos on large-scale land recovery projects HLG involved in
  • (Please see the word doc listing FB links to HLG videos on HLG voluntary tree planting trips to combat desertification in Inner Mongolia, the study trips to witness the process and results of such restoration work,  and local tree planting activities)
  • Videos on translation work from reputable open source on the science and practice of regenerative farming for the purpose of knowledge dissemination
  • (Please see the word doc listing FB links of HLG translation work to promote regeneration farming)
  • Videos on translation work from open source of reputable international organizations or authorities with missions of mitigating climate change through ecological land recovery or relevant promotional materials to alert the public of global ecological
  • (Please see the word doc listing FB links of HLG translation work on global ecological issues)

Strategy 13 : Reach out to international like-minded counterparts – We join memberships of international organizations with coherent missions as HomelandGreen

  • HLG becomes a member of the French 4p1000 Initiative and takes part in its various task force and this virtual display to learn more from the international community
  • HLG becomes a member of Regeneration International to learn from the successful experience on the promotion of regenerative farming in areas and countries with different climatic and cultural contexts
  • HLG seeks to reach out for research partnership for more scientific documentations of the process and results of our experimental work and incentive systems where farmers’ contribution to ecological benefits can be rewarded. For the latter, we are happy that we have been approached by specific organizations and such partnership is under exploration.
  • HLG members join membership of the Soil Science Society of America for our continuous professional development

What next?

  • A better tomorrow, of course.
  • We look forward to an even happier trip with more partners, more resources, more learning opportunities, more supporters, and more successful experiences to continue to heighten our spirit and keep our momentum.

Thank you.  

June 2021

Update 2023

Please refer to Stand 0166 for updates in 2023.  Thank you.


Images



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Videos




Meet Eva - a farming partner HomelandGreen working with for about three months going through the trial-and-error stageMeet Cheong Gor, an experienced farmer HomelandGreen partners with for more than 30 months, midway on the road towards regeneration

Meet Alice, a young environmentalist turned full-time farmer promoting regenerative farming

How did it all start?

An example in video of a free workshop given in 2021 – Introducing the microBIOMETER

Run small scale trials in schools


Meet the team

During the indicated periods, one of the team members is available for a video chat.





Stand NoTime zone+/-UTC

Date

Start local time (hh:mm)

Duration (hh:mm)Attendant

Video chat link

0027





https://meet.jit.si/4p1000_stand_0027
0027





https://meet.jit.si/4p1000_stand_0027
0027





https://meet.jit.si/4p1000_stand_0027


Contact





Events & Calls




Resource




Profile




Handouts



  File Modified
PDF File eva1.pdf Apr 28, 2022 by Marc Bernard
Microsoft Word Document Meet Eva_20210414.docx Apr 28, 2022 by Marc Bernard
JPEG File Strategy 2.jpeg Apr 28, 2022 by Marc Bernard




8 Comments

  1. Thank you for sharing with everyone the work you are doing in regenerative farming. I would like to invite you to visit our Stand 19 - Agripower Australia, to learn about the benefits that silicon fertiliser has for conservation agriculture, soil and plant health, and carbon sequestration. Please leave a message for us if you would like to meet and talk more! www.agripower.com.au

    1. Hi Josephine, Thank you for reaching out and messaging us at Agripower Australia. We are very interested in talking further with you about our product and the potential for its use in Hong Kong. Perhaps the best way to connect would be for you to share with us an email address or if you could email us at info@agripower.com.au. That way we can talk all things science! We look forward to hearing from you. Regards, Sarah

  2. Thrilled to see the stand as a summary of the last decade's experience! Feeding people with nutritious food while enhancing environmental health is the only way to our future. Thanks for showing us that it could be done even in a developed city like Hong Kong.

  3. Anonymous

    So touched to see all the time and efforts dedicated to promote regenerative farming in Hong Kong. It is always the hardest to bring about change in mind especially when paradigm shift is involved, each step is not an easy one but will gradually lead us to the goal!

    It is also encouraging to see farmer's expressing their own views witnessing the crops and cost improvement after implementation of Regenerative farming practices, which is the most convincing.


  4. Anonymous

    Remarkable works and progress made by a small volunteer group in promoting regenerative farming in a densely populated city like Hong Kong.

  5. Good evening. I am Dr. Nandini from BAIF Development Research Foundation, India.  We are participating in this virtual EU Fair and have shared our work on 'Soil restoration for achieving sustainable livelihoods, climate change adaptation and mitigation' through stand no 37. Please do visit our stand for understanding the work in India. 

    This is also to share with you all that we have planned a sharing event on 25th May between 14.00 to 15.00 IST (+/- 5.5 UTC). The topic of this sharing event is 'Environmentally sound and climate smart program interventions through BAIF Development Research Foundation', India. It will be based on BAIF, India's efforts on ground to build resilience of vulnerable farming communities against climate change effects by introducing on ground, the multisectorial program interventions for resilient farming system.

    So, please participate for enriching knowledge!  See you there! 


  6. Anonymous

    Such a comprehensive display demonstrates how regenerative agriculture has been promoted in Hong Kong. Thanks for your great work!

  7. It's a pity that not many international friends joined the on-line presentation.  Would like to have more interaction with regenerative peers.