Sustainable futures at Beijing expo

One business keeping up with this demand is TooToo Organic Farm. The company delivers freshly grown organic produce from their farm in Beijing's Pinggu district straight to the doors of customers.

Company manager Li Jun says the farm receives up to 2000 orders each day from all over China.

“The demand of healthy organic food is growing and growing...it's a business with a social desire to help,” says Jun.

Beyond organic: Kevin Chen, from Phoenix Hills Commune, holds a pumpkin which was grown on his mother's biodynamic farm - the first of its kind in China.

While for others, organic is not enough -- Kevin Chen volunteers on a farm that goes one step further.

Chen was at the event talking to people about biodynamic farming. His mother runs the Phoenix Hills Commune 15km outside of Beijing.

Chen says it takes a lot of work to reach biodynamic standards. There is a very close connection between the compost, the animals and the workers in order to create a "full cycle", he explains.

“Once you get to a certain level everything on the farm can be recycled.

"Certain times are the best times to plant a product and we have to wake up at one or two in the morning because that's the best time for the seeds to plant into the soil."

Chen says the commune is set up to educate people on biodynamic farming and they run conferences during the year which last around 10 days. He believes there is a growing demand in the Chinese community for such farms.

“It's not like we're trying to make a lot of money from our product, it's more about giving people the ideas,” he says.

Friedman says it was great to have most of the exhibitors return for the second event and numbers grew.

He says the “initiative” behind organizing the event was fuelled by the growing demand throughout China for environmental and sustainable solutions.

Meanwhile, Tansey is confident China will find sustainable solutions for the future – having a close relationship with nature already runs deep for Chinese people, it's “just asleep” in this developing age, she says.

"The Chinese way is to think about balance...that thinking is very important.”