Young Farmers in a “Cucumber Village”: A Different Story of Family Farming in Agricultural Specialization from Hebei Province

This village came to our attention by accident. Given the rural labour migration situation in China, especially in the mid-west, it was difficult to find a village with many young farmers. We came across this village, which is well-known in its adjacent areas for its specialization in cucumber cultivation and marketing. When reviewing the site’s agricultural development, the groups of young farmers gradually came to stand out. Huang village, which is a pseudonym, is located in Hebei province, about 430 kilometres south to Beijing and 10 kilometres from the county seat. The research team conducted fieldwork in the village in December 2017. We lodged in rural households during our fieldwork. We used both qualitative data, conducting semi-structured interviews as well as quantitative data collected via a survey. We also engaged in supplementary work in June 2018.