Apples, Matsutake and Yaks: How they can benefit the environment, farmers and consumers alike | Food Talk Vol. 48

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This episode welcomes the social enterprise Muyunpo to Food Talk. We’ll hear how they have partnered with villagers to explore fairer and more sustainable production methods—one that protects the natural environment while bringing the village’s finest produce to wider markets, ultimately securing better returns for farmers.

Xiaojin County in Aba Prefecture, Sichuan, sits within the Jiarong Tibetan region, a five- to six-hour drive from Chengdu. The area’s dramatic shifts in elevation and diverse topography have fostered a wealth of high-quality agricultural produce. More than a decade ago, the non-profit organisation Chengdu Shuguang Community Development Capacity Building Centre came to the region. Like many others, after years of running poverty alleviation and community development initiatives, Shuguang embarked on helping mountain farmers bring their goods to market. Yet they ultimately carved out a distinctly different path.

Established in 2017 to oversee the sale of agricultural produce, Muyunpo operates as a social enterprise. It was founded not for profit, but to serve the community’s interests. By organising villagers to forage, cultivate, and graze livestock together, the local economy has been revitalised. Profits from sales are distributed back to village groups at the end of each year, ensuring that funds cycle back into the community. Rather than the traditional farmer-to-middleman dynamic—marked by haggling and mistrust, with farmers left at the mercy of market forces—Muyunpo prioritises trust and collaboration. Village groups retain autonomy over decision-making and standard-setting, with the social enterprise providing steady support from behind the scenes.

Years of dedicated work have yielded a range of higher-quality, healthier, and more environmentally sustainable products: sustainably foraged matsutake and morels, organically cultivated apples and cherries, Sichuan peppercorns and oil, heritage grain varieties, and free-range yak meat. In this episode, Yunhui and Xixi from Muyunpo will walk us through the vivid, real-life stories behind these products.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing:

  • How difficult is it to boost profits from matsutake and morels by bypassing middlemen?
  • How have a group of Tibetan mothers managed to forage mushrooms while simultaneously protecting the environment?
  • What efforts are required from villagers to maintain the traditional free-grazing system for yaks?
  • How can community strength be harnessed to build trust in producer-retailer relationships and uphold production standards?
  • Once sales profits return to the community, how do villagers put them to use?

Episode Guests

Episode Hosts

Episode Timestamps

00:52 What is a social enterprise? The founding and mission of ‘Muyunpo’: Non-profits enter rural areas only to find farmers growing excellent crops yet struggling to make ends meet. How do we break this cycle?

07:00 Matsutake grading turns out to be a trade secret? How the Muyunpo team went from complete novices to seasoned market experts.

15:51 Even prized morels risk being stripped bare. How to overcome the ‘tragedy of the commons‘ and persuade villagers to prevent resource depletion?

28:37 Why sustainable morel harvesting has given village mothers a stronger voice.

31:58 Free-range versus intensive rearing: How shifting yak farming practices are eroding local traditions in the Xiaojin Tibetan region.

38:39 Sichuan peppercorns, apples, mixed grains and beyond: The other produce Muyunpo brings to market.

41:08 In an era of fading trust, why are locals willing to adopt Muyunpo’s new farming methods?

42:46 The enduring value of heirloom apples: Villagers picking from their own orchards to send to children living far away.

48:18 Want to support sustainable agriculture? Here’s how you can help.

The women of the morel foraging group.
The sustainable harvesting group sorts and weighs the day’s matsutake.
What constitutes sustainable foraging? The morel group operates by a shared agreement: do not pick morels measuring less than 3 cm, leave the soil around the roots undisturbed, and take back any waste collected during the forage.
The soil-caked base of a morel is of little culinary value and rarely eaten. Yet when villagers sell to traders, they often pull up the base alongside the cap to increase weight and earnings, an unspoken convention in the trade. The result is that the fungus is unable to fruit again.
Using funds set aside from their collective earnings, the morel cooperative provides every villager over 65 with a carton of milk.
Muyunpo’s fruit-growing group organises training on pruning techniques.
Villager Mr Yang provides supplemental winter feed to the yaks. Due to time constraints, this edition cannot delve into every aspect of yak husbandry. Readers interested in learning more can explore further on the Muyunpo WeChat Official Account.
Xixi and Yunhui at the 2024 Guangzhou Harvest Festival. Their products were highly sought after at the market.

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Unless otherwise stated

All images are provided by Muyunpo

Music: Banong

Production: Xiaojing

Editing: Wang Hao

Contact email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn

Published by Foodthink