Farming in Canada: From Peking University Biology to Smallholding | Food Talk Vol. 22
In this episode of *Food Talk*, we welcome back an old friend, Sun Shan. She previously worked with several charitable organisations, including the Shanshui Conservation Centre. These days, she runs her own farm in Canada.
Far from the idyllic notion of spending every waking moment in nature, ecological conservation work also has its gruelling and disheartening aspects, which left her utterly drained. So, what should an ideal life actually look like?
While visiting farmers across Japan, Taiwan, and elsewhere, Sun Shan gradually encountered the concept of “half-farmer, half-X” – the idea that you can cultivate the land while pursuing another vocation. To start, she and her family rented a small plot in Beijing and spent a few years farming in their spare time. After moving to Canada, she ultimately made agriculture the central focus of both her life and her work.
Starting a farm from scratch at the age of forty, Sun Shan was fortunate to connect with Fair Food Farms, a Canadian incubator programme for small-scale ecological agriculture. With their support, she put her hands in the soil alongside community members, sharing both the labour and the harvest.
As a smallholder in Canada, growing vegetables is rarely a lucrative business, but fermentation, workshops, consultancy, writing, and translation make up the “X” in her half-farmer, half-X life. Cultivating crops brought her the joy of growing and a sense of wonder at nature’s rhythms, helping her leave behind the feelings of powerlessness and despair she once carried from conservation work. This episode also explores how younger people, weighed down by intense life pressures, can connect with the natural world to navigate the frequent setbacks they face.
Meanwhile, for her parents back in China, watching their daughter move to Canada to grow vegetables was a shift that took time to come to terms with. Sun Shan discovered that sharing the unvarnished reality of her farming life actually forged a unique emotional bond with them.
After listening to this episode of *Food Talk*, you may find that nature is not so distant after all. Each of us can discover a personal moment of connection with it: planting a seed, feeling the earth beneath your feet, letting your skin register the atmosphere, and reclaiming that innate capacity for healing we all carry.
EPISODE GUEST
Sun Shan
Currently manages Chi Garden, an ecological farm and fermentation kitchen garden in Ottawa. Sun Shan graduated from Peking University majoring in Ecology. She founded Peking University’s first nature and environmental club, the Green Life Association. She later obtained a Master’s degree in Environment and Public Policy from George Mason University in the United States. After spending several years working in research institutes, environmental organisations, sustainable development, and non-profit sectors, she currently serves as Chair of the Shanshui Conservation Centre.
Articles published by Sun Shan on Foodthink ▼
EPISODE HOSTS
Tianle
Editor at Foodthink. Suffers from nature deficit disorder. Has worked in the food and farming sector for over a decade; though still far from a diligent labourer, he has at least learned to tell his grains apart. He admires everyone who both tills the soil and farms with their head.
Xiaochao
Project officer at Foodthink preparing to leave the team, and a keen balcony gardener. This year, she upgraded to renting a courtyard in the suburbs with friends, clearing the land to grow crops and prepare meals.
TIMELINE
00:42 How did Sun Shan, an Ecology graduate from Peking University’s Department of Biological Sciences and former staff member of several charitable organisations, make a complete career pivot to start a farm in Canada?
03:15” As a quintessential city dweller, Sun Shan experiences the same physical and mental burnout familiar to many female professionals, despite her role in ecological conservation for an NGO. She begins to wonder: could she one day do more than just think and talk? Could she get her hands dirty, engage her heart, and work directly with the land?
05:24 After visiting farmers in Japan, Taiwan, and beyond, Sun Shan discovers the ‘half-farmer, half-X’ concept. This lifestyle, rooted in the countryside, involves growing your own food while dedicating time to other passions—shifting from a mere consumer to an active member of the producing community.
06:58 Buying a plot in Canada: where owning land kindles a dream. Over two or three months, Sun Shan and her family tour farms of all shapes and sizes across Canada, meet a wide range of growers, and gradually prepare themselves for the work ahead.
14:20 Starting a farm from scratch at forty, she is fortunate to find the Canadian small-scale agroecology incubator programme, Fair Food Farm. As they put it: ‘We won’t make the road to farming any easier, but at least we can walk it together.’
17:44 Unhealthy land means an unhealthy society: the case for agricultural diversity and small-scale farming
22:23 Farm life from sunrise to sunset: a family tending 10 mu (around 1.6 acres), growing salad greens, experimenting with fermentation, and teaching tractor driving within the project community.
33:09 The origins of her connection with nature: in 1996, Sun Shan founded China’s first university environmental society, the Peking University Green Life Association, setting her on a path of ecological exploration.
46:31 Feeling the land’s welcome and forgiveness through growing vegetables: ‘Even if you’re no expert, a little effort can coax so much from the soil. You can then bring your harvest to the market and share it with others.’
48:32 Farming on its own isn’t profitable, so the ‘half-farmer, half-X’ model is essential: selling fermented foods, running courses, offering consultancy, writing, and translating. Once she embraced the half-farming life, the paralyzing sense of helplessness vanished, replaced by busyness and simple joys.
56:43 How do urban parents react to their Peking University graduate taking up farming? It turns out that owning land and doing honest work brings its own peace of mind. Sharing the realities of farm life has, in fact, strengthened her bond with family.
63:23 Even her son, who has no head for farming but a passion for car engines, found his own way to connect with nature and calm his mind during the pandemic: hatching chicks on the farm.
69:54 How can young people, weighed down by the pressures of modern life, use a connection with nature to navigate the frequent setbacks they face?
73:00 There are countless ways to reconnect with the natural world. Each of us may find our own moment: planting a seed, or simply sinking our feet into the soil. As the skin feels the earth, our gut flora begin to reconnect, unlocking an innate capacity for healing long dormant in the concrete jungle.
76:48 Why say, “Nature holds the answer”?
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All images in this article are courtesy of Sun Shan
Production Team for this Episode
Co-ordination & Production: Xiao Jing
Cover Art: Wan Lin
Music: Ba Nong
Editor: Wang Hao
Contact email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn