Back in 1973, Ernst Friedrich ‘Fritz’ Schumacher, the author of Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered, wrote that the modern economy was unsustainable Schumacher accurately surmised that “the illusion of unlimited power, nourished by astonishing scientific and technological achievements, has produced the concurrent illusion of having solved the problem of production”. Advocates of the open global market economy and a second Green Revolution argue that free trade and higher yields will feed the world, and that localising food supplies is detrimental to food security. The smallholder farmers of the world provide evidence that the reverse is true. With low external inputs, high recycling rates and crop-livestock integration smallholder setups demonstrate high efficiency and productivity in comparison to the conventionally farmed monocultures that dominate the industrial, export-driven, food system. Further, small-scale farmers contribute to local economies and provide stewardship of agricultural biodiversity, natural resources and cultural heritage.

At KFBG, we set up a range of farming demonstrations to inspire integration of food growing to balcony, rooftop, balcony, courtyard, community garden as well as farmland in Hong Kong.  For examples, our Eco-garden is beautified solely with edible plants to illustrate how a multi-functional and productive edible landscape out-performs the typical urban parks when it comes to pleasing the eye.  Farming ideas like herb spirals, square-foot gardens, vertical farming and pot-gardening are demonstrated to showcase growing food in city is possible even with only little space; the  one-dou farm, named with the local measurement unit equivalent to 674 square meters, demonstrates permaculture farm design that make best use of environmental elements to cultivate a diverse range of crops for continuous harvest with minimal external input.

Please click here to view the different productive models we set up at KFBG.