2023 Annual Report

Established in 2013 on the World Day to Combat Desertification (17 June) and incorporated in Hong Kong under the Companies Ordinance on 5 August 2013, HomelandGreen has experienced a remarkable decade of development. As a Hong Kong based non-profitmaking association of volunteers, HomelandGreen pursues the objective of enhancing public awareness of the threat posed by desertification and land degradation to the world’s sustainable development. Since HomelandGreen’s inception, our motto “Be just to the earth; for the good of all beings”『善待土地．惠澤眾生』has been put into practice through collaborating with local and overseas institutions and organisations with similar missions; working with local farmers on regenerative soil improvement projects; supporting civilian tree planting projects in Mainland China to combat desertification; organising talks and workshops to disseminate the relevant knowledge and skills to the public; and sharing our studies and research findings with professional partners and the public through our website and other social media. These activities are provided to the public mainly in the form of free services.

HomelandGreen, being a charitable institution of a public character, has been exempt from tax under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance since November 2018. Recognising the need for concerted efforts of the global community to address global ecological issues by working from the soil up, HomelandGreen became a forum partner of the international “4 per 1000 Initiative” (the “4p1000”) launched by France and a partner of Regeneration International in October 2019 and September 2020 respectively.

For the year ended March 2023, HomelandGreen continued to engage in activities of (1) liaison and professional partnerships; (2) promoting regenerative farming; (3) educational services; and (4) research projects, as in previous years. Having brought to a complete halt in early 2022 by the fifth wave of COVID pandemic in Hong Kong, local activities is resuming gradually in 2023. Voluntary tree planting projects in the Mainland have not yet resumed.

  1. Liaison work and professional partnerships
  2. Promoting Regenerative Farming
  3. Educational Services
  4. Experimental Farming and Research Projects
  5. HomelandGreen Website and Social Media
  6. Acknowledgement

1. Liaison work and professional partnerships

Liaison with our tree planting partner in Mainland China

  1. Despite the suspension of physical voluntary tree planting trips to Mainland China, HomelandGreen continued to receive updates from NPO-GreenLife (綠色生命) and was invited to the 20th anniversary of NPO-GreenLife originally scheduled for October 2022. Owing to the then lockdown, HomelandGreen members and friends recorded a video to commemorate the anniversary. The event was subsequently postponed to August 2023. Noting the great interest gained by the new plantation site in Dunhuang, Gansu (甘肅敦煌) since its launching, we have been in close liaison with a tree planting trip collaborative partner in promoting tree planting-cum-study tours to this valuable historical site to the local education sector. The tentative theme for our future trips will take the form of “Study tour for the development of ecological civilisation” (生態文明建設探討之旅). In addition to voluntary tree planning, we are exploring the collaboration with NPO-GreenLife in promoting regenerative agriculture.

Liaison with international counterparts

  1. HomelandGreen had continual dialogues on the promotion of regenerative farming with the Soil Foodweb Institute (Australia) (“SFI Aus”). Free subscription with Farming Secrets, Australia, was also maintained, and useful information on regenerative farming thus received was constantly shared with local practitioners.
  2. Following the strong development in 2021, the partnership with the 4p1000 has been maintained. The two virtual displays, namely “Promoting regenerative farming in Hong Kong, China” and “Turning the Ulan Buh Desert into a high yield zero pollution eco-agricultural zone”,  built for the EU Green Week 2021 are still featured in the 4p1000 online platform where over 730 partner organizations and countries meet, share, and collaborate. To showcase HomelandGreen’s work on regenerative farming, a new display “Our journey as advocates for regenerative farming in Hong Kong, China” was featured in the 2023 Virtual Display launched on the “4 per 1000” Soil Innovation Day on 9 June 2023.
  3. HomelandGreen maintained a professional relation with Zero Foodprint (“ZFP”) through its extension in Hong Kong Zero Foodprint Asia (“ZFPA”).

Local professional partnerships

  1. Locally, HomelandGreen maintained professional liaison with ZFPA ( 零碳足食指(亞洲)), the Federation of Vegetable Marketing Co-operative Societies ( 菜聯社), the Mushroom Initiatives (菇菌圓), So Organic Biotech Enterprise Ltd. (“SOBE”), Hong Miu Organic Farm (康苗有機農場), Eva Farm (新鳳農莊), Hong Kong Farmers Pride Association Ltd (香港農友心協會有限公司) (dissolved in August 2023) and Rooftop Republic (雲耕一族). Relationship established with these local groups helps HomelandGreen disseminate information about training courses as well as recruiting volunteers to take part in the experimental project on regenerative farming.
  2. The collaboration with ZFPA had a remarkably fruitful year despite the pandemic. The ZFPA Restore Fund (復元基金資助計劃) was successfully launched in April 2022. ZFPA received 16 applications with 13 Hong Kong applicants and three applicants in the Mainland, varying in experience and years of farming. Eight recipients were awarded.
    The Chairman has provided free consultancy services to the five 2022 ZEPA Restore Fund awardees in Hong Kong as well as training services to the newly recruited Technical Advice Providers (“TAPs”) who are responsible for monitoring and auditing the progress of the projects to ensure that genuine regenerative farming practices are properly implemented. ZEPA Restore Fund has employed a range of equipment to collect data from the five local awardees.
  3. The Chairman, being a guest speaker at QESOSA Tong Kwok Wah Secondary School in early 2023, met Prof Lam Hon Ming of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who is a director of the school board. Prof Lam is a world-renowned scientist in soybean research with research interests in climate-smart and sustainable agriculture, plant and agricultural biotechnology, and genomic studies on crop-environment interaction. The Chairman had a meeting with Prof Lam and his colleagues to explore possible collaboration in measuring the benefits of regenerative farming on soil. Dr Yap, a PhD in biochemistry and a friend of HomelandGreen, provides technical advice in preparing a proposal.
  4. Being a local charitable organisation, HomelandGreen received an invitation in July 2022 from the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (“HKCSS”) (香港社會服務聯會) to join the Hong Kong Social Service Expo 2023 in February 2023. Noting the Expo’s theme was “United for an Inclusive Society” with a view to building a platform with different stakeholders and professionals including educational profession and Hong Kong was still amidst of COVID lockdown, HomelandGreen was of the view that the event would be a good chance for reaching out to the public and other professionals. With further information received from HKCSS in November 2022, it was revealed that the event was only geared towards their target audience. Having assessed the limited human resources, the target audience and the tight timeframe, it was decided to withdraw from the event.
  5. As for our compost production, the new management of the Society for Indigenous Learning (“SoIL”) has continued to support us by housing our compost site in their farm. Owing to the development of the Northern Metropolis, the compost site will be discontinued subject to future notification. HealthWorks (健康工房) remains the major suppliers of wet organic wastes for our compost production whereas dry plant materials are collected on a continuous basis from the Management Office of Woodland Crest, a private residence. The five farms funded under the ZFPA Restore Fund takes turn to make use of these wastes to prepare bacterial-based liquid fertilizers which have produced impressive results.
  6. Recyclegreen Project (綠惜再生計劃), the charity arm of Sum Kee Construction Limited (森記建築有限公司) and Hong Kong Tree Care (香港樹護) have continued to provide brown wastes which would be delivered to any collaborating farms of HomelandGreen accessible by vehicles. The brown material supply is instrumental to our promotion of composting in Hong Kong as lack of brown materials is one of the critical constraints for most local farms to start compost work.
  7. The Chairman was invited to visit E Farm Biotech, a Black Soldier Fly farm on Friday, 19 August 2022. The Chairman and members visited the Island East farm of Rooftop Republic on Thursday, 16 February 2023. The Chairman exchanged with Rooftop Republic’s CEO HomelandGreen’s vision in regenerative farming and sustainability on Friday, 31 March 2023.
  8. Community service in promoting green products: the service has resumed gradually in 2023 with apples from Aksu, Xinjiang and navel oranges from Hunan.

2. Promoting Regenerative Farming

  1. HomelandGreen works with farms and farming practitioners in Hong Kong to experiment and showcase the benefit of regenerative farming. Regenerative farming does not deplete the soil. Rather it makes the soil healthier and encourages biodiversity.
  2. As food, ecological and resource are three of the major fields in national security, it is imperative to popularise the latest scientific knowledges in regenerative farming in Mainland China, as well as in Hong Kong. HomelandGreen is developing structural course materials in Chinese for streaming by Mainland key opinion leaders (“KOLs”) in this regard.

3. Educational Services

  1. One of HomelandGreen’s target groups has been farmers and TAPs of the ZFPA Restore Fund. On launching of the programme in September 2022, a series of farm visits and training was conducted. Since November 2022, the Chairman has held biweekly online meetings for monitoring progress of the participating farms and providing training to the TAPs.
  2. The Chairman was invited by Fair Trade Hong Kong (香港公平貿易聯盟) for an interview regarding “Fairness and Sustainability” at Eva Farm on Monday, 8 August 2022.
  3. The Chairman was interviewed by NOW TV at Cham Shan Farm on Thursday, 13 October 2022. The interview was broadcasted on ViuTV in December 2022.
  4. A workshop on fish hydrolysate preparation for FlowerHut Farm’s volunteers was conducted at Hong Miu Organic Farm on Saturday, 10 December 2022. The Chairman was interviewed by a school TV team on regenerative farming in the afternoon.
  5. The Chairman gave a talk on composting for the Federation of Vegetable Marketing Co‑operative Societies on Thursday, 15 December 2022. The turnout was much greater than similar talks a few years ago.
  6. The Chairman conducted a workshop on regenerative farming at Eva Farm for a group of farming amateurs on Friday, 17 February 2023. Subsequently, a WhatsApp group was created in early March 2023 with weekly online session on Saturday evening.
  7. HomelandGreen arranged a half-day soil learning activity on the fields for about 30 Grade 4 children and teachers from Harbour School, an international school at Ap Lei Chau  on Monday, 27 February 2023. The children had a close encounter with the living soil and came to understand that soil is far from lifeless dirt. HomelandGreen would like to give big thanks to Eva, the farmer, for providing the venue and facilities, and to the volunteering friends who made the event possible.
  8. A workshop on fish hydrolysate preparation was conducted at Organic Farmula (住家菜有機農場) on 3 March 2023. The farm will be a promising site for experimental farming and research projects.
  9. The Chairman gave hands-on sessions on regenerative farming and advice to a group of QESOSA Secondary School students of Mr Pat Chan together with several young environmentalists. Their report《化廢為肥》prepared by the  group was awarded Secondary Section Champion of the 15th Hong Kong Budding Scientists Award (香港科學青苗獎) in 2022. Their another project《化廢為糧》was awarded Champion in the Greater Bay Area Science Project Competition 2022 (大灣區學生科技大賽2022). The team was the only Hong Kong candidate among the awarded teams. Their investigation project on “Salt Tolerance” also won the Junior Division First Runner-up in the Hong Kong Student Science Project Competition 2023 (香港學生科學比賽2023).
  10. In 2022-23, HomelandGreen continues to produce educational resource materials in the form of videos and Chinese translation of works from overseas professional bodies on soil restoration and regenerative farming and have them shared with the public through social media such as Facebook, Weibo and the HomelandGreen website. Responses to our postings have all along been very positive and encouraging.

4. Experimental Farming and Research Projects

  1. The third project at Cham Shan Farm is still underway. Various foliar sprays and seed inoculations have been tried out. The owner of the farm was very much impressed on the results in controlling pathogens and improving yields.
  2. Other collaborative projects with farmers under exploration:
    Ming Fai Garden (明輝農莊) and Noah’s Forest (諾亞之森農莊) in Cham Shan (杉山) and Organic Farmula.

5. HomelandGreen Website and Social Media

  1. After the launch of the revamped bilingual website, occasional enquires have been received from website visitors. Harbour School, among others, reached out to HomelandGreen via the website.
  2. In 2022-23 the HomelandGreen Facebook had gradual increase in page likes reaching over 14,000 with some 16,800 followers. This platform mainly addresses the Chinese speaking communities in South-east Asia, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia, and continues to serve the purpose to promote basic science and practice of regenerative farming as well as general global ecological issues. With a view to reaching out to youths, HomelandGreen launched the Instagram in February 2023.
  3. Various WhatsApp groups were created with ZFPA Restore Fund farms and TAPs, and farming amateurs to share information on regenerative farming. Regular online sessions commenced in March 2023 to respond to issues raised in the WhatsApp groups. Internal training materials are placed on YouTube as unlisted videos. It is envisaged that more videos will be published on the YouTube channel.
  4. The HomelandGreen Weibo, which was designed to reach out to counterparts in Mainland China, has been suspended as other more effective platforms are now available. HomelandGreen is collaborating with some Mainland KOLs with aspirations in regeneration agriculture and environmental awareness to disseminate learning materials through their social media channels.

6. Acknowledgement

  • 2023 marks the tenth year of HomelandGreen. We have made some progress towards the mission since the inception after the meeting with Madam Yi in November 2011. The Chairman would like to extend gratitude to all members, friends and members of the public sharing our aspirations, for their contribution towards making HomelandGreen a meaningful presence in the global effort to make our world a better place from the soil up as well as from the plants down.