Jesse Long, a 62-year-old American farmer who has been growing vegetable in Shanghai's Pudong for 13 years, refuses almost all interview requests from journalists and turns down most requests for visits or appraisals of his farm.

The agricultural authority in Pudong where his farm is located has offered to grant his farm the title "modern agricultural demonstration base," but he declined gently.

Long said he considers his farming techniques a business secret - a concept many other farmers in the area find strange.

Long's business has proven successful, as most of the vegetables he grows are sold to hotels around the country.

"My dream of running a farm in China has come true," he said, adding that he "enjoys a peaceful life and enjoys working" in Shanghai.

Since setting up his farm in 1992, Long has been forced to move it three times due to rapid development in the city.

Since 1992, Pudong has shifted from an area of vast farmland to a business center better known for its skyscrapers than its rice paddies.

Nevertheless, the municipal government has pledged to boost modern agriculture, and ruled that the area around Long's farm can be developed for agricultural purposes.

Lou Youqin, an official in charge of vegetable cultivation with Shanghai's agriculture authorities, said there is great potential for vegetable growing in Shanghai. "It's good that foreign farmers grow vegetable catering to foreigners in Shanghai," said Lou.

Chinese farmers don't really understand foreign foods, he said. Of the hundreds of vegetables Long grows, lettuce is the one that most perplexes Chinese farmers.

"Westerners are fond of lettuce, but Chinese will never truly understand it," said Long's wife, Tang Biyun. "In the eyes of Chinese, lettuce is just one type of vegetable, yet in the eyes of Westerners, it is a big variety," Tang said. "Though I have lived with an American for so many years, I still don't have a thorough understanding of lettuce."

Long harvests 300 to 400 tons of lettuce each year, all of which is sold to high-end hotels around the country.

After 13 years of building up his farm, which now employs about 40 people, Long is no longer considered strange by his neighbors, and agricultural officials have learned from some of his techniques.

(Eastday.com November 14, 2005)