南涌位於新界東北部沙頭角沿海地區。楊、鄭、羅、李、張等五姓客籍鄉民，大概於三百年前遷徙到昔日新安縣（今日香港全境及深圳大部分地區）落戶，自耕自足。

戰後新界農村社會凋零，大部分鄉民移居海外謀生。新一代的南涌人，多為南來逃難的移民。他們養殖水產、鴨子，開設豬場，將稻田開挖為塘，形成今日南涌的獨特景觀。

兩千年初，本地永續農業先驅到此開墾荒田，栽種蓮花和蔬果，實踐永續農耕。

2010年，香港永續農業關注協會成立，以南涌為試驗場，示範農業與生態保育的結合。過百名公眾人士共同籌措資金，向村民購買及承租土地共110斗（約80萬平方呎），目的為保存南涌整體生態環境，推動本土農業生產，此為養地運動階段。

2013年4月，原來的養地人重組為活耕建養地協會，以保育鄉村土地及文化、實踐永續農耕為目標，致力營造生態社區，回應全球化及極端氣候變化的世界危機。

History and Background

Nam Chung is located in the inner sea of Sha Tau Kok in NE New Territories. It is home to Hakka clusters of five family names: Yeung, Cheng, Law, Lee & Cheung. They had been settled in Xin’an District (present-day Hong Kong & most of Shenzhen) and lived mostly self-sufficiently for around 300 years.

Most villages in post-war New Territories became empty as village folks migrated overseas to work as hired labor. The newcomers to Nam Chung were those who fled China to avoid political and economic turmoil. They engaged in fisheries and aquaculture, raised ducks and pigs, and turned paddy fields into ponds. Hence the current landscape of Nam Chung was formed.

Hong Kong Sustainable Agricultural Association was subsequently formed in 2010. Using Nam Chung as the fieldsite, their practice aimed at showcasing how agriculture and conservation could collaborate. More than a hundred people from the public sector pooled in their money to acquire altogether 110 dou (around 800 thousand sq ft) of farmland. The purpose is to conserve the overall landscape of Nam Chung and to boost local agricultural production. This is the Land-Nurture phase.

In April 2013, the Land Nurturers were reformed into Partnership for Eco-Agriculture and Conservation of Earth (PEACE). Our visions are conserving rural land and culture, practising sustainable agriculture, and building local ecological communities to respond to the world maladies of rampant globalization and extreme climate conditions.