‘To make high-quality food accessible’: how urban farmer in Hong Kong found her mission growing micro greens for top restaurants
Jessica Fong, founder of Common Farms in Hong Kong, tells Kate Whitehead about her childhood split between Canada, Hong Kong and ‘Wild Wild West’ Shanghai
By Kate Whitehead
SCMP
Dec 4 2022
Excerpt
Having travelled in Europe, I knew what real food quality and flavour was and in Hong Kong we were getting a fraction of it at a premium price. I knew the problems – the cost of fresh produce, the fluctuation of prices, the lead time and the wastage.
In 2017, I rented a small space in Cheung Chau for HK$7,000 a month to trial indoor farming and paid two childhood friends to help. I registered the company, Common Farms, but I didn’t know what kind of business it would be.
I worked on it at night and weekends while still doing some of the manufacturing work. I taught myself how to grow things by watching a lot of YouTube videos. After a year, it wasn’t viable, and I ended the lease and for the next 18 months I borrowed spaces – on the rooftop of a restaurant and a friend’s place – to grow things.
I would buy the seeds, hiring labour to do the maintenance and the harvesting. I was running all over the place to get the produce to the restaurants before dinner service.
