Towering skyscrapers, bustling shopping-malls, mouth-watering dining and long stretches of spectacular harbor, these are only parts of Hong Kong.

Behind the city's glittering facade, a group of hard-working farmers take great efforts to offer the wonderful experience of organic farming tourism to the public. With the pursuit of health and sustainability, they try to promote public understanding of organic farm products and create an opportunity for the development of organic farming in Hong Kong through this new activity.

Tree Top Cottage, located in the Taipo District, is a typical organic farm in Hong Kong. This stunning countryside is filled with an amazing variety of natural scenery, varied organic farm products and environmental protection facilities- all of which provides you a memorable experience to appreciate the natural environment and know the organic farming in Hong Kong.

"In Hong Kong, the market of organic farming is still developing. Through organic farming tourism, we hope we can develop communication among consumers and farmers and bring the concept of organic farming to them," said Mark Lam, the founder of Tree Top Cottage.

In order to realize their objective, they design different kinds of activities in the farm. Happy Farming is the most popular organic farming tourism activity.

On the other hand, with the increasing income, the accelerated pace of daily life and the tremendous pressure of office work, people would like to relax and take it easy for a while during holidays. Organic farming tourism, as a new type of leisure travel, complies with their request.

Mr. Lau, who is a postgraduate student, has just taken part in the Happy Farming activity. He said he was a fan of cultivation. “I am surprised that I can grow organic vegetables on my own,” said Mr. Lau when he was loosing the soil up with a fork. Mr. Lau said he would plant a row of tomatoes and a row of sweet pepper next week and he was really looking forward to the harvest.

In recent years, a lot of farms in Hong Kong are active in promoting organi farming tourism. Garden Farms in Sai Kung, Organic Garden in Sheung Shui and O-farm in Fanling are all representative farms.

Betty Chan, who has eaten the organic food for five years, is now renting a piece of land in a small farm in Fanling. She said the organic farming tourism made her and her husband know more about organic faming method and the environment of the farm.

“The tutor told us that organic faming not only could produce foods but also could improve the ecological environment and provide recreation activities,” said Betty.

Tourism, indeed, develops public understanding of organic farming. More importantly, it provides a great economic support for most organic farms in Hong Kong. Please have a look at the next page.