Portrait of the Chai Family

They are Singapore’s last soil-based farming family. For the past 25 years, the Chai family has dedicated their lives to nurturing the land and growing vegetables without using chemical fertilisers and pesticides. 

The ultimate dream is to make organic produce accessible to all by selling them from their farm, and through their thundertea food stalls. But with their land lease coming to an end, that dream seems to be fading. There’s Papa Chai, the farming trailblazer and Mama Chai, the pillar of support who stands by her husband’s decisions no matter what. Then there are the three siblings: the eldest son Nian Kun who’s spent all his adult life tending to the farm, to bubbly and vocal second daughter Xiaoxi, and entrepreneurial youngest son You Zhao. This is the story of the Chai family’s tenacity and fight to keep their dream alive.