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Farm-to-home rising as direct food channel
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WITH ever-rising concerns about the food safety in China, an increasing number of Shanghai locals are commissioning farmers to not only grow vegetables and fruit but also to breed poultry and livestock for them.
Chen Yanhua has been running her Tian’ai Organic Farm on Chongming Island for more than four years, and last year many of her clients started asking her to raise goats, chickens and ducks. Other farms around the region are doing the same.
“Winter is a peak time when the clients come to order goat meat,” Chen says.
On her 40,000-square-meter farm, Chen breeds about 20 goats and over 4,000 chickens for safety-conscious diners. A client must place an order at least half a year in advance. When products are ready, the farm will do the processing work, including butchering, packaging, cold chain logistics and home delivery.
Normally the goat meat costs about 65-80 yuan (US$10.50-12.90) per 500 grams, while a chicken is priced from 128 to 318 yuan. Chickens range in age from six to 36 months.
“We raise spring chickens and also old hens for different clients,” Chen says. “As you know, time cost for agriculture is very high.”
All the poultry and livestock on the farm are free range, feeding on fallen leaves, corn and rice instead of artificial feedstuff. “So the loss rate (animals dying or not up to standard) is quite high also,” she says.
It’s an urban tradition to eat goat meat in winter; it’s said to dispel inner coldness and help boost circulation. A Shanghai native identified only by his surname Lin picked up his goat last month from a farmer based in the suburban Jinshan District who raises free-range chickens, ducks and goats.
“I’ve been buying his poultry for many years, but this is my first time to order a goat,” he told Shanghai Morning Post.
The farmer tied a necklace on the goat to distinguish it from the others. Lin said if he stopped by in Jinshan, he would go and check on his goat. Every month or two, he called the farmer to ask if the goat was healthy.
By last month the goat, having grown to more than 35 kilograms, was butchered and delivered to Lin, who froze the package and planned to enjoy the meat during the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year in mid-February.
In Chongming, there are farms to raise goats specially for restaurants and hotels. In addition to the meat cost, restaurants are charged a 10-yuan “surrogate raising fee” for each goat. The service is not open to individuals because the number of goats to be raised must be at least 300 at a time.
Raising goats is quite popular in Shanghai’s countryside, such as Jinshan and Fengxian districts, where goat meat festivals are held every winter. Zhangqiao, a small village hidden in Jinshan’s west, has earned its fame as “the village of goat meat.”
Local farmer Shan Shimin, 59, has been a goat and pig butcher for more than 30 years. He tells Shanghai Daily that almost every household in the village is raising one or two goats.
“It’s not difficult to raise goats because they can go out to forage for grass and tree leaves by themselves instead of being fed by man,” Shan says. “But you have to herd them every day, which is quite a labor. In addition, you should build a warm, cozy shed for them.”
Hou Xueying’s Yangguang Ecological Farm on Chongming Island also provides such service for its members. Hou plants rice and also breeds free-range chickens, ducks and goats, who feed on the organic rice, corn, grass and tree leaves, forming a mini ecological environment on the farm.
A chicken costs 120 to 150 yuan, while a goat is 60 yuan per 500 grams. Clients can check their animal on the farm anytime, and Hou posts information online about the growth of organic rice and the animals.
“If the animal is sick, I will also post how we handle the illness for our clients,” Hou tells Shanghai Daily.
Her farm, covering eight hectares, has about 40 long-term clients. “As we never use any artificial feeds or fertilizers, it’s the maximum capacity we can manage,” she says.
The 39-year-old woman shifted to organic farming five years ago, hoping only to offer safe food for her family and friends.
“But then I found food safety is a matter that everyone is concerned about,” Hou says.
However, experts remind that goat or other livestock and poultry are vulnerable to certain diseases and some will be contagious to people if they come into contact with them before butchering.
Meat and poultry inspection and quarantine expert Lin Quanrong says Shanghai’s goat meat comes mainly from the city’s suburbs as well as from big breeding bases in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
“Goat get sick easily and some diseases can be spread to man,” Lin points out. “Citizens should ask for the inspection and quarantine certificates first to avoid the risk.”
The organic farm runner Chen says all of her livestock and poultry are butchered in a licensed slaughterhouse.
“Every town has a veterinary station that has regular inspections and carries out tests to control and prevent diseases,” she said.
An official from the Jinshan Animal Sanitation and Health Supervision Bureau points out that all livestock must pass the quarantine inspection before being butchered.
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