Going 'green' proves lucrative for farmers (3)

Another specialized cooperative, Jianlu (which literally means "healthy and green"), also based in Chongming, produces 15,000 tons of high-quality "green" cauliflowers and 1,000 tons of asparagus annually, said its manager Zhao Shuyuan. It makes an annual profit of 10 million yuan by selling the products to the domestic market and exporting to South Korea and Southeast Asia.

Compared with farmers' cooperatives such as Qimao and Jianlu, organic farms such as Tony's Farm run an even more lucrative business.

It charges 9,980 yuan for an annual membership card, which is worth half a week's allocation of fresh, organic vegetables.

The company has rented a plot of 108 hectares in Chongming since late 2011 and began cultivating the soil and improving the water quality for a total investment of 250 million yuan.

Zhang Tonggui, founder of Tony's Farm, said revenue in Shanghai is expected to exceed 100 million yuan. His target is to bring the revenue up to 1 billion within five years.

Investors have been increasing input into the agriculture sector in recent years, especially in the high-end organic food production and deep-processing industries.

A report released by ChinaVenture Group showed the agriculture industry has become increasingly popular among investment institutions since 2010. A total of $887 million flooded into 22 venture capital and private equity funds in the last quarter of that year.

During the first three quarters of 2012, a total investment of $214 million poured into the agriculture sector from 37 PE/VC funds.