Promoting Regenerative Farming in Hong Kong, China Details of the Presentation 2019 Land Utilization in Hong Kong Source: HK Planning Department 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. 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 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. 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 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 We then began our journey to promote regenerative farming in Hong Kong in 2015 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 4 : Visit Farms – We visit local conscientious farmers to understand the potential obstacles for them to transition into more regenerative way of farming 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 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 Strategy 13 : Reach out to international like-minded counterparts – We join memberships of international organizations with coherent missions as HomelandGreen Thank you. area Urban area 24.9% Agricultural land 4.5% Fish Ponds 1.4% Others 69.2% Who are we?
What we intend to share
Our story
How did it all start?
What are our strategies?
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 5 : Build up HLG credibility – We invite our overseas professional partner to offer free training on regenerative farming to experienced local farmers What next?