100 reasons the city drives young people away: which one is yours?

Foodthink’s Agroecology Internship Programme was originally conceived to connect young people aspiring to return to their roots in agroecology with seasoned mentors who possess a wealth of practical experience. The aim was to foster a relationship of mutual learning and collaboration, helping a new generation of farmers minimise the cost of trial and error when starting out.

Surprisingly, among the nearly hundred applications received, the majority of applicants had backgrounds entirely unrelated to agriculture. Many were already well on the path to becoming ‘urban elites’—some had earned master’s degrees from prestigious universities abroad, others had spent years working for major corporations, and some brought intriguing entrepreneurial experience. Of course, there were also ordinary city workers and students struggling through their academic journeys.

● The farm mentors for this term’s ecological farming internship programme have shared photos of themselves from ten, or even thirty, years ago. In their early twenties, full of ambition, they studied and worked in the city, but eventually, their paths converged, and they all became ecological small-scale farmers. Can regular Foodthink readers recognise them?

● Yan Ping from Guigang, Guangxi, is one of this year’s farm mentors. In the 1990s, after finishing high school, she moved to Guangdong and worked there for over 20 years. She returned to her hometown in 2017 to pursue ecological farming. In July 2022, while Foodthink was conducting research on climate change in Guangxi, the team spent a night in the small bamboo cottage on her farm.

● Guo Rui from Guangzhou’s Yinlin Farm graduated from South China Agricultural University, where he was among the first students to move into the new halls of residence. Guo Rong, an applicant for this term’s internship programme, recognised the dormitory immediately; nearly 20 years later, he had stayed in the exact same type of room as his senior. He is also a farm mentor for these two iterations of the internship programme.

Why do they want to leave the city, step off their established career and academic paths, move to the countryside, and learn to be a farmer?

When asked why they left their previous jobs, this is what they had to say.

Chaoyan

Female, 34, Degree in Automation, resigned

I worked in IT testing for years, and the workload was grueling. I often had to pull all-nighters to meet project deadlines, which took a severe toll on my health; the stress left me unable to sleep for entire nights. I felt I had reached my breaking point, so I eventually resigned and returned to my hometown from Beijing over a year ago.

Lisa

Female, 28, BA in Finance, MA in Taxation. Worked in accounting and auditing for two years after graduating, resigned

While working at an accounting firm, I had to produce audit reports and guide companies through their IPOs. I was away on business trips for long stretches, and life was essentially the 996 grind. I had no personal time to focus on my life or health; I developed a few niggles with my spine and eyes. The pressure was immense, and I felt trapped. I wanted to take advantage of my youth and try a different way of living.

Guojing

Female, 26. After graduating with an undergraduate degree in Sociology in Europe, she was accepted into a Master’s programme in Sociology/Anthropology at a prestigious US university and is currently taking a gap year.

I realised that I neither enjoyed nor was suited to research and academia. During my first semester of postgraduate study at a top-tier university, I was told that the first step in writing and thinking was to enter into a dialogue with the three most influential figures in the field—to identify gaps and find new perspectives in a short amount of time, all while adhering to strict formatting and professional terminology.

This superficial and rushed approach to writing and thinking felt as though it were suffocating my desires. Just as I tried to break free from authority, I found myself once again under its judgement. With my body and mind in a state of constant resistance, I had no choice but to stop.

Liudazhuo

Female, 27. With a diploma in Western Culinary Arts, she previously worked in the pastry sections of five-star hotels and international cruise ships. In 2019, she started her own business, dedicated to nature and environmental education in her hometown.

Although the pandemic hit shortly after I started my business, I’m fortunate that I love the work I do; I have plenty of freedom and creative space, and I can support myself. Yet, I often feel a sense of powerlessness, as if I lack the strength to push the company into its next phase, and there are still many areas where I need to learn and improve.

At the same time, I feel I haven’t found my life’s mission yet and lack a certain sense of conviction. That’s why I want to experiment more, hoping for new discoveries.

A Yue

Male, 25. After graduating from a vocational college in marketing, he worked as an insurance agent and a pharmaceutical representative. He has since left his job.

An unsuitable work environment and frequent business trips. Doing sales and after-sales service for hospitals meant that, in my hometown, it was all about giving gifts, drinking, and navigating social obligations. After 2022, the company began expanding into county-level hospitals, where nepotism is even more prevalent and travel more frequent. I want to study and practise ecological farming techniques and, if possible, return to my hometown to live and start a business.

Yan Cha

Female, 26. After graduating from university in the UK with a degree in Environment and Sustainability, she returned to China and worked at two non-profit organisations related to the environment and agriculture. She is about to leave her current role.

I categorise my considerations regarding work into three main areas: basic needs (salary, benefits, and leave), growth needs (the potential to broaden my horizons, enhance my skills, and accumulate knowledge), and value-realisation needs (the amount of value I can create for the role and the organisation itself).

I want these three elements to be fundamentally balanced. However, from what I have observed over the past few months, my current job (the one I am about to leave) does not achieve this balance.

June

Female, 32. BA and MA in History. Worked in HR after graduation; her department is due to be disbanded.

I believe that work should be a means to a better life. I want to spend my limited time doing things I love that also benefit others, and I have found a great sense of fulfilment in my years as an HR professional.

But due to historical factors, such as shifts in the corporate structure, I have been gradually marginalised over the last two years, and it has become difficult for the company to recognise my competence and contributions. When my department was disbanded at the end of 2023, it coincided with my own FIRE plan (Financial Independence, Retire Early); I decided to treat this ‘optimisation’ as an opportunity to enter a new phase of my life.

Mubai

Female, 26. BSc and MSc in Chemistry from the UK. Now left her role.

After graduating, I spent my first few roles exploring various avenues within the environmental sector. This included working for an environmental NGO and serving as a chemistry teacher at an innovative school, where I helped students grasp the concepts and practical application of sustainable development.

I realised that I was better suited to a hands-on approach—experimenting and discovering solutions for myself—than to teaching. This led me to join a startup that operated a global platform for bulk waste recycling. While the company’s mission was to find the best matches for waste materials, it didn’t address the root causes: the sheer volume of waste produced and the culture of consumerism. I found that my ideals couldn’t be fulfilled there; I wasn’t content with simply improving international trade. I wanted a more fundamental solution, one that tackled the problem at its source.

Looking back, although my previous roles were all within the environmental sector, they all focused on “end-of-pipe” solutions. It wasn’t until I rediscovered the principles of Permaculture—which had been sown in my mind years prior—that I found a new direction. I wanted to create a self-sustaining cycle that could eliminate waste and wastewater at the source; a system where “waste” simply doesn’t exist because every material is cycled back into nature.

On a personal level, after more than a decade spent glued to a computer screen, studying and working relentlessly, I felt that life shouldn’t be lived this way. After taking courses in natural building and permaculture design here in China, I became certain that I am happiest in nature—even if that means getting my hands dirty in the soil. The pandemic heightened my sense of urgency regarding the fragility of our society, the environment, and my own life. I believe we need to build our resilience to crises and learn how to produce healthy, safe food for ourselves.

Xinyi

Female, 31. Degree in German. Formerly a chef in high-end restaurants in Beijing and Canada; returned to her hometown to rest after leaving her job.

The management and operations of the restaurant suffered from several long-standing issues, such as ineffective waste sorting, food waste, and staffing shortages. Amidst this high-pressure environment, I began to question things:

Why should fresh ingredients sourced from small farms become a burden that the kitchen cannot absorb?

Why are talented colleagues unable to utilise their strengths in their work?

Why is the immense passion I once had for food and cooking seemingly fading day by day?

In the restaurant, it felt as though we were nothing more than machines—prone to sudden breakdowns from mental or physical exhaustion, yet forced to keep grinding on. Although I had anticipated this and prepared myself mentally, the doubts only deepened despite my efforts to adjust and make whatever changes I could. Eventually, my body sent its own signal: perhaps it was time to take a break.

So, I decided to leave my job and return home for a while to be with my family, and to pursue the things I wanted to experience while I was still young—such as volunteering for environmental and children’s projects, and this internship at an eco-farm.

Beyond these reflective life stories, this year’s applicants highlighted many of the challenges common to young professionals today, such as:

Physical and mental struggles with high-intensity, repetitive, and low-paid work;

A desire for a change of scenery;

Their heart simply wasn’t in it;

Having a vague goal and currently using a process of elimination to find their way;

Clashes of opinion with management;

A desire to gain knowledge through practical experience in other roles;

An inability to achieve a healthy work-life balance;

Finding commercial logic uninspiring—particularly within FMCG brands—and feeling there was little left to learn, leading them to resign and pursue further studies;

Having been quite unwell for a few days, which was a miserable experience. During that time, I realised that although I was generally satisfied with my life, there was nothing more for me there; I felt it was time to start exploring something new.

Limited room for personal growth, and a growing realisation through work of what they didn’t want to do.

My previous job was in a field I loved and excelled in, and it had always been remote. However, when they required me to work from the office—a 1.5-hour commute each way—it felt like such a waste of time that I decided to quit immediately.

Finally, I’d like to share the story of a partner who is truly “Zen”.

Xiuxiu

Female, 30, Master’s in Clinical Medicine. She spent a year volunteering at a temple.

I originally left the temple with plans to pivot my academic focus and pursue a PhD through a joint programme in religious studies, but my application was unsuccessful. In any case, pursuing a PhD for its own sake wasn’t what I truly wanted. Moreover, I found that the academic study of religion is quite far removed from religion itself, and I lacked the drive to continue. Consequently, I decided to abandon my PhD ambitions in the summer of 2022.

Over the past two years, as I’ve started cooking for myself and shopping for groceries more often, I’ve become acutely aware of food safety issues. I felt that rather than spending my time on meaningless work for a paycheck, only to leave my health and safety in the hands of others, it would be better to create things with my own hands.

This week, applicants who passed the initial stage of the internship programme will undergo a mutual selection process with the host farms. Once matched, 15 of these participants will head to the farms to begin their journey in agricultural learning. Foodthink will continue to share updates on their internship experiences.

If the experiences of these young people resonate with you, we invite you to leave a comment and share your thoughts.

And why exactly did they decide to spend three months, or even a whole year, interning as farmers on small-scale ecological farms? More on that in the next instalment.

Ecological Farm Internship Programme Series ▼

Programme Coordinator: Ma Xiaochao

Editor: Tianle

Exit series images: Zhang Xiaoshu

Published by Foodthink