1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 252 Zhongjiao No. 5

As evening falls, the yellow sunset and the green vegetable patches complement each other, creating a picturesque scene.

Xu Wenxiang witnessed the last refrigerated truck loaded with bok choy at Jiangxin Vegetable Market disappear at the end of the road.

In 12 days, 206 million yuan was spent.

Although there was a rift between the two sides—Chen Jiazhi tried to explore sales channels, and she also tried to win over someone, but both attempts failed, so they were even.

Moreover, Chen Jiazhi also provided a production and planting plan for the next batch.

Although it was another risk, Xu Wenxiang found it hard to refuse Chen Jiazhi's plan and profit-sharing terms, just thinking about the 260 million from the last time, the 206 million from this time, and the continued income from the Dutch beans.

Although they were scheming against each other, she always acknowledged Chen Jiazhi's abilities.

Xu Wenxiang said, "Director Chen, the vegetables have all been harvested. How about we take your men to the city to celebrate tonight?"

"Forget it, let's find another opportunity before the New Year." Chen Jiazhi stood with her by the roadside. "We have a meeting tonight to arrange the land preparation work."

Xu Wenxiang put her hands in her pockets and teased, "So you're going to sell vegetables again tonight? Do you earn as much at your little market as you do at the Jiangxin market?"

"No," Chen Jiazhi readily admitted, then pulled out his cigarette case. "Boss Xu's treatment is twice as good."

Xu Wenxiang asked in confusion, "Then why don't you focus on making Jiangxin Vegetable Market a success? Your income is already high enough. You can live a comfortable life with your family. Running back and forth between the two places must be tiring."

Chen Jiazhi lit a cigarette, took a puff, and laughed, "What's the difference between a person without dreams and a salted fish?"

Xu Wenxiang choked with emotion.

Chen Jiazhi added, "Moreover, I'm used to being free and undisciplined, I don't like being managed by others, and I don't like the feeling of working for someone else."

“You’re a shareholder!” Xu Wenxiang turned and walked towards the car parked by the roadside.

Chen Jiazhi shouted from behind, "Remember to pay the workers' wages before the Spring Festival holiday."

Xu Wenxiang didn't even turn her head. "Go find Xu Yao yourself. That's within the scope of the farm manager's responsibilities."

The black sedan quickly drove away. Chen Jiazhi finished smoking by the roadside before returning to his office, where he took out draft paper and a pen to start working on a financial plan.

The supplies were mainly purchased in a one-time transaction, and the workers' wages were supported by income from Dutch beans later on.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Jiazhi began to write down his thoughts.

First, we need to apply base fertilizer. We just applied organic fertilizer once before, but the soil was already in poor condition. More than two months have passed, so we need to continue applying it this time. Soil improvement is a continuous process.

First of all, lime is indispensable when preparing the land.

Secondly, two more tons of farmyard manure can be added per acre. At the same time, the seedling time is relatively long, and the holiday period for the Chinese New Year is tentatively set at 20 days, so there is enough time for fermentation. Buying semi-finished products and mixing them with phosphate fertilizer and cake fertilizer for composting will result in lower costs and better effects. Then, urea and compound fertilizer can be added.

Another essential step is to use a black film to prevent weeding. This is indispensable, as it's not cost-effective to manually remove the weeds later.

Seedbeds also need to be prepared. He wants to use seedling trays to shorten the recovery period and make the seedlings stronger. He needs to prepare the nutrient soil himself, and it would be best to prepare some coconut coir as well. The soil also needs to be disinfected.

In total, the cost of supplies is estimated at 30 yuan.

After finalizing the funding, the next step is to schedule the dates. There is plenty of time, as the seedling stage requires 50 days in the current season.

Excluding the 20-day holiday for the Spring Festival, there are still 30 days left, which should be enough.

Funding, materials, procedures, and time.
Having already considered this matter, Chen Jiazhi quickly came up with a plan.

When he finished, Yi Dinggan, the leader of the sixth group, and office staff were all waiting near the office building for a meeting.

Chen Jiazhi got up and stretched, made himself a cup of tea, and then left the office with the prepared documents.

The employees were chatting upstairs and downstairs when Chen Jiazhi unexpectedly saw Li Cai and Yi Dinggan chatting in the corridor, while Xu Yao was chatting with Tong Gang not far away. He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"The meeting is in session. Everyone's here for the meeting."

After everyone arrived, Chen Jiazhi then broke down the production tasks and made arrangements.

First, the 300 mu of land that was vacated was cleared of vegetable stumps and weeds before the New Year, and then the land was divided into groups and piled up to compost manure.

Secondly, the preparation of seedbeds and seedlings was assigned to Qi Yongfeng, who stayed on duty during the Spring Festival, while Chen Jiazhi followed up on the work himself.

Finally, the harvest of snow peas continues. Before the end of the year, a mid-season cultivation and fertilization should be completed to ensure yield.

The calculation of wages and commissions was left to Xu Yao.

There's also the matter of procuring supplies. We had experience with fertilizer before, so it wasn't too difficult. The main challenge was getting the seeds, and this time we planned to plant sweet peppers.

"Huang Chuan, what kinds of seeds did you prepare?"

Huang Chuan had already screened some seeds available on the market and took out a bag of samples from the ground.

"Eggplant, Shuangfeng, Sweet Mixed Vegetables No. 1, Treasure Island Chimei, Medium Pepper No. 2..."

Chen Jiazhi glanced at it and was not satisfied: "Is that all?"

Huang Chuan nodded: "I've checked out all the agricultural supply stores around here. There are few farmers growing chili peppers in Huacheng, so the selection of seeds is not very high."

Moreover, the seed seller said that these are currently the mainstream seeds on the market.

Chen Jiazhi didn't blame him; "These seeds are a bit outdated."

Qiemen is a variety from the 60s, and Shuangfeng is a variety from the early 80s; in his opinion, they are both very old.

Chen Jiazhi picked up another packet of Zhongjiao No. 2 seeds, "But I haven't seen any Zhongjiao No. 5 for sale?"

Huang Chuan thought for a moment, then said, "No."

Chen Jiazhi squinted and recalled for a moment. He was sure that Zhongjiao No. 5 should be being promoted. He had seen Zhongjiao No. 5 when he was reading a book before!
Moreover, he already had a strong impression of Zhongjiao No. 5. It became a hit across the country at the turn of the century and was widely promoted in more than ten provinces, to the point that counterfeit seeds also sprang up everywhere.

In his previous life, his father-in-law had fallen victim to this scam. The fake seeds he bought only produced flowers but few fruits, and many seedlings died.

"Try looking for Zhongjiao No. 5. You can call the Vegetable Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences to ask. They should be promoting it in Guangdong."

Huang Chuan was taken aback. "I don't have a phone."

"I have a magazine on my desk in my office, it's in there. Never mind, I'll print it out." Chen Jiazhi packed his things: "That's all for today, time to go home."

Back in his office, Chen Jiazhi found several issues of the "Chinese Vegetables" magazine and started flipping through them.

"Chinese Vegetables" is a magazine sponsored by the Institute of Vegetables, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Chen Jiazhi's desk already has more than a dozen books, in addition to industry journals such as "Yangtze River Vegetables".

He started flipping through them one by one. The phone numbers weren't hard to find; he was looking for Zhongjiao No. 5.

About half an hour later, Chen Jiazhi found an article titled "Breeding of the Early-Maturing Sweet Pepper Zhongjiao No. 5".

It describes the breeding process and the results of production trials across the country.

Suitable for early-maturing open-field cultivation, it can also be cultivated in protected environments and can be used for summer cultivation.
According to records, by 1992, a total of 25,000 mu (approximately 1,000 hectares) had been planted using this method.

Meanwhile, it performed particularly well after being planted in the Guangdong South Pepper North Transport Base in the previous two years. In Suixi, Zhanjiang, the yield per mu of open field cultivation reached 4996.5 kg in 1991.

The yield was almost over 10,000 jin per mu!
Wuchuan, which performed the worst, had a yield of 3373.3 kg per mu in 1992.

However, the wholesale price of chili peppers in 1992 was about 0.65 yuan per kilogram, which was twice that of 1991, and the output value was actually higher than that of 1991.

This is somewhat similar to the situation this year, where prices have risen due to factors such as weather.

Production demonstrations differ from conventional cultivation; ordinary farmers cannot produce the high yields seen in regional trials.

Under normal circumstances, a yield of 1500 kg or more per mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres) is considered high yield for vegetable farmers.

Even excluding the impact of production demonstrations, the yield increase of Zhongjiao No. 5 is still significant.

In addition, its maturity, disease resistance, adaptability, high yield, quality... it leads other varieties in almost every aspect.

It has only been promoted for two or three years, and many farmers are still skeptical because there are many seeds that are falsely advertised.

However, Chen Jiazhi knew that Zhongjiao No. 5 was indeed good.

Three parts depend on the seed, seven parts on management.

Although summer planting mainly relies on management and luck, having better seeds can increase the chances of success.

To be on the safe side, the only option is to build greenhouses for rain-sheltered cultivation, which will still be useful later. However, if prices are low, the losses will be significant.

In addition, Chen Jiazhi wanted to receive a larger share of the profits before the new year.

Therefore, he ruled out greenhouses.

After reading the article, Chen Jiazhi confirmed that Zhongjiao No. 5 was currently on sale, noted down the phone number, and planned to call again tomorrow.

Off work, off work~
It was already dark when Chen Jiazhi walked out of his office and saw Li Xiu waiting for him in the corridor.

Why don't you come in and sit for a while?

Li Xiu smiled, walked up and took his arm, "I saw you were engrossed in your book and didn't want to disturb you, so I didn't come in."

The two walked downstairs hand in hand.

“Next time you want to wait for me, come to my office and sit down. You’ve been waiting for at least an hour.”

"It didn't take that long. I went back to feed my son before coming over." Li Xiu smiled. "Hurry up and let's go. We're just waiting for you to eat."

When they arrived at the bike shed, Chen Jiazhi pushed out a bicycle, patted the seat, and said, "Get on, I'll teach you how to ride when I have time."

Li Xiu rolled her eyes at him. "Boss Chen is making empty promises again. He's made promises to the workers that have come true, but mine is still hanging in the air."

"Uh…"

That seemed a bit much. Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment, "How about we go to the market tonight and I'll let you have a piece of cake first?"

Li Xiu said, "That's acceptable."

As they leisurely rode their bicycles along the road, Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu chatted about work development.

We actually chat every day.

We've discussed everything from new bases and market sales to sorting and distribution, and even renting shops and registering companies in the city.

Li Xiu didn't understand, and always said she would listen to him. Chen Jiazhi was happy to chat with her, and in the process, he could fill in any gaps in her knowledge.

Upon arriving home, Yi Dinggan, Chen Zhengxu, Li Cai, Chen Shaochang, and several others waited outside the door, some squatting and some standing.

We were really waiting for the two of them.

Dinner was also plentiful, with chicken giblets, rabbit, sausages, and vegetables.
With the Chinese New Year approaching, Peng Guozhen and Chen Shaochang spent all their free time preparing for the holiday.

Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure. After the two elders came to visit, their diet became much richer, and they had time to cook many of their hometown dishes.

After having a meal and resting at home for a while, Chen Jiazhi took Li Xiu and set off.

The Dongxiang vegetable market has also recently reaped considerable profits.

(End of this chapter)