PNEC uses ecologically friendly farming methods, with the main growing area located at Chuk Tau Ha (竹頭下) in Nam Chung. Chuk Tau Ha, a name we gave to the land, is the flattest, most intact and sunlight-reachable area in Nam Chung, and in 2020, we raised funds to build a farm fence to keep out wild pigs and facilitate production. Currently, the farmers mainly recycle community food waste and soybean pomace for composting, and use exotic water hyacinth from abandoned fish ponds for mulch and compost. We also purchase small amounts of black soldier fly (hermetia illucens) larvae frass fertilizer, microbial biological control agents (MBCAs), mature compost, peanut hull, and woodshed mushroom soil as supplements. In the long run, we will implement agroforestry practices to expand the planting area of perennial crops such as fruits and flowers, so as to minimize the dependence on monoculture farming and thus increase the crop and ecological diversity of the farm. At the same time, we have minimized the reliance on external agricultural resources while enhancing the self-sufficiency and circulation of local food and resources, where we also share the surplus with the community.
In the Chuk Tau Ha farming area, five different groups of members are participating together with us in the community’s ‘Cooperative Farming’, and we constantly share and exchange farming experiences and knowledge with one another. Besides PNEC, in the community of Nam Chung, there are two other neighboring independent ‘Cooperative Farming’ units called ‘Asame (阿仨)’ and ‘Be with Gaia Farm and Workshop (蓋亞共榮圈–農園暨工作室)’. We also have a group to take care of the fruit trees (abbreviated as the ‘Group of Fruit Trees (果樹組)’). Here, while different units operate independently, we communicate closely with each other and organize co-learning activities from time to time.
Overseeing the more extensive scope of Nam Chung, there are several other farms: Kit Tsing’s (結青) ’Farm Wild (種野山珠)’ (growing mainly fruit and rice), Mr. and Mrs. Lee’s ‘Healing Hermitage (療愈靜舍)’ (growing mainly herbs and other medicinal plants), and Tsing Ning’s (青寧) ‘一在農田‘ (the initiator of the ‘Mud Mud House · Made in Hong Kong (土房子 • 香港製造」)’ project). They have all collaborated with PNEC.
