1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 264 Channels
That's how it is with growing vegetables: you feel great every time you win, and you feel great if you keep winning.

Hailstones fell on someone else's field, and banknotes flew into my pocket.

To some extent, Chen Jiazhi did abandon reverence and rationality, but he was also very clear-headed. He knew very well that part of his success was due to favorable timing and circumstances, and to the uncontrollable storms.

But that's how professional vegetable farmers should be—battling with nature and the elements, searching for fleeting opportunities.

"If all else fails, go to the rain shelter!"

Standing beside the makeshift bamboo frame where the snow peas had not yet been dismantled, Chen Jiazhi muttered to himself.

"Director Chen, what are you muttering to yourself here all by yourself?" Yi Dinggan rode over on his bicycle.

Chen Jiazhi turned to the side and said, "I want to keep this simple greenhouse and make the most of it. During the rainy season, it can be used to shelter from the rain and grow a crop or two of vegetables. It should fetch a good price."

The greenhouse is rather simple, with a bamboo frame structure and a height of about 2 meters.

The film has now been removed, leaving only the frame, which is still intact because it is made of new bamboo and is currently quite sturdy.

In the middle of the shelf are neat rows of snow peas.

Yi Dinggan stopped the car, looked it over for a moment, and then pondered, "It's inconvenient to keep it for work."

Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment and said, "The pea trellises definitely need to be completely dismantled. For the remaining greenhouse frames, we can use a mini tiller to till the soil in the middle section and manually rake the soil in the corners and edges. That should be enough."

Yi Dinggan added, "It's very hot inside the shed in the summer."

Chen Jiazhi: "We can cover the shed with shade netting while we work in the morning and evening. I think that's feasible."

"Being a big boss really changes things, huh?" Yi Dinggan teased. "You don't have to do the work yourself, so you don't care about the workers' lives or deaths."

"You're quite good at being sarcastic," Chen Jiazhi said, raising an eyebrow. "I never said we wouldn't demolish it. Do you remember last year's plum rains?"

Yi Dinggan asked in disbelief, "Even if the plum rain season is coming early this year, are you saying it will arrive early?!"

"..." Chen Jiazhi said irritably, "You're kidding me."

Yi Ding chuckled dryly, "Do you know what your second sister said about you? She said the Chen family has produced a fortune teller named Chen, who can predict torrential rain and it will rain, predict typhoons and it will typhoons, predict droughts and it will quell cold waves..."

"Alright, alright," Chen Jiazhi interrupted, "The plum rains may not come early this year, but I estimate that the snow peas can be harvested until after the Qingming Festival. The greenhouses can be left until June before being dismantled. During this period, at least one crop of bok choy can be planted, and if things go smoothly, even one crop of Chinese cabbage or water spinach can be planted."

Even in July and August, they don't remove the plastic film or cover it; they just use shade netting to protect it from heavy rain.

Yi Dinggan was surprised, "Huh...it seems to actually work. This saves on the cost of dismantling the greenhouse and building the small arched shed. No wonder he's the boss, he really knows how to reduce costs and increase efficiency."

After a moment of reflection, Yi Dinggan turned to Chen Jiazhi and asked, "Do you have any cigarettes? Give me one."

Chen Jiazhi gave him a stick and then walked into the bean field.

Yi Dinggan shouted, "Hey, give me another spark!"

Chen Jiazhi shook his head behind his back, "Even if I had a fire, I wouldn't give it to you."

The vegetable pickers were harvesting bean pods. Chen Jiazhi picked a bean ridge in the middle and walked in. The highest part of the vines was a head taller than him, making it feel like playing in a maze.

Even excluding the factor of raised ridges, the vines are still very tall.

However, even at such a height, the vines are still producing new pods near the ground.

Chen Jiazhi squatted on the ground, observing the number of pods at the bottom, then looked up at the sky like a frog in a well, where the sun was setting and the vines and pods at the bottom could also bask in the sunlight.

The east-west orientation of the field ridges played a significant role, which was one of the key factors contributing to the high yield of Qizhen 76.

Snow peas are long-day crops and need ample sunlight to promote flowering and pod formation.

Qizhen 76 is a vigorous vine, with a plant height generally exceeding 1.5 to 2 meters.

The taller the plant, the weaker the sunlight at the base of the vine, which makes the east-west oriented ridges very important.

Of course, this is only one of the reasons.

Other factors include base fertilizer, water, top dressing, and pests and diseases.

That afternoon, he wandered through the vegetable fields, watching the farmers harvest the bean pods, and silently reflecting on his experiences.

He also had several production managers summarize their findings. After finishing their work in the fields in the evening, he organized a group of people to exchange and verify their findings, and finally, he himself summarized the key technical points.

Small gains, accumulated over time, can eventually lead to even greater gains.

"The snow peas have been harvested for about 60 days now, and the yield per mu is generally around 2000 jin, which is the level of ordinary vegetable farmers. But like a long-distance race, it gets more and more difficult as you go on."

My goal is to harvest for another 30 days and strive to achieve a yield of over 3000 jin per mu.

If you can harvest for another 60 days, you'll be incredibly successful! You won't find a farmer in the whole country who can produce 4000 jin of snow peas per mu!

"Director Chen, do you think we can do it?" Zheng Zhong shouted.

"Yes! Of course you can!"

Looking at the group of team leaders sitting on the steps and the vegetable workers who came to listen in, Chen Jiazhi had a strange feeling that he was Li Yunlong.

He laughed and said, "As long as you follow my technical requirements for fertilizing, watering, spraying pesticides, harvesting, and clearing away dead branches and leaves, a yield of 4000 jin per mu is not an exaggeration!"

"If you can achieve a yield of 4000 jin per mu, you'll be number one in the country!"

"All those so-called experts and professors are no match for you!"

"Hahahaha..." The vegetable workers burst into laughter, and someone shouted, "Manager, if we achieve a yield of 4000 jin per mu, will there be a reward?"

"Yes!" Chen Jiazhi said loudly, "If you can achieve a yield of 4000 jin per mu, then I will be the most awesome vegetable market manager in the country!"

"I'll give everyone an extra 50... Damn, 50 yuan doesn't sound impressive, so I'll give 100 yuan, an extra 100 yuan bonus for everyone!"

"Hahaha~" "Okay!"

More and more people gathered in the office building courtyard, and the atmosphere became even more enthusiastic. The halfway summary of the snow pea planting was even better than Chen Jiazhi had expected.

If the goal of 4000 jin per mu can be achieved, the gains will be much more than just increased output and value.

There is also an increase in cohesion.

An individual or a team, once they experience the joy of success, will feel an overwhelming sense of excitement, which will boost their self-confidence and drive them to pursue even higher levels of success.

This eventually creates a virtuous cycle.

The summary meeting concluded when the last refrigerated truck arrived, and the crowd dispersed reluctantly after the truck left.

Xu Yao walked over with Li Cai, holding the list. "Manager, today we have a total of 1.11 jin of snow peas. The price has dropped again to 1.7 yuan per jin."

Chen Jiazhi took the order and looked at it. It was still settled in RMB. "Okay, let's proceed according to the procedure."

He only learned after the handover that Jiangxin Vegetable Market did not have the qualifications to export vegetables and had been supplying Hong Kong through affiliation and agency.

The ability to maintain such strong sales momentum is partly due to his ability to accurately predict market trends for two consecutive harvests.

Another reason is that the company cooperating with Jiangxin Vegetable Market is Xu Wenxiang's husband's company. Customs declaration is carried out in the name of this company, and then it is taken over by the Hong Kong buyer.

It's quite troublesome.

The costs in the intermediate sales process are also quite high.

Even with the profits from customs brokers and vegetable vendors, the retail price of snow peas to Hong Kong residents can still be around seven or eight dollars per kilogram.

The price difference is five or six yuan.

It's no wonder so many people take the risk of selling vegetables in the water.

Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but think of Hong Zhong and Hong Biao; he wondered how those two brothers were doing.

He actually hoped that Hongzhong would put more effort into agricultural supplies. From the perspective of cost reduction, Chen Jiazhi also needed more affordable procurement channels.

The lower the cost spread, the higher the market's ability to withstand risks.

The agricultural input industry is now slowly opening up, and if given the opportunity, Chen Jiazhi would like to make some industry-related investments.

After reviewing the sales order and signing it, Chen Jiazhi, Yi Dinggan, and Li Cai went home together after get off work.

"Deputy Director Yi, I'm going to the wholesale market tonight, so I'll leave the vegetable market to you."

“Actually, there’s no need to emphasize the word ‘deputy’ now,” Yi Dinggan said.

"You want to be the field manager?" Chen Jiazhi chuckled. "You're still a bit lacking. You need to practice more."

Yi Dinggan said, "Now that you're the boss, why are you still occupying the position of farm manager?"

“It’s not that I insist on taking this position,” Chen Jiazhi pondered. “It’s that your technical skills are lacking. If I make you the site manager, would I have to specifically recruit a technically competent deputy site manager for you?”

"You should learn more theory now. Once you can write a production order that satisfies me, I'll make you the site manager!"

Yi Dinggan nodded: "That's settled then. You can't go back on your word. If I need to write your production notice, you have to remove the word 'deputy' from it."

Chen Jiazhi quickly added, "The premise is that it can't be written just for the sake of writing."

"What do you mean?"

The right to interpret this rests with me.

"What a stingy woman!"

"You said it yourself, even brothers should keep clear accounts."

After bickering for a while, they arrived home. The food was ready, and while washing his hands, Chen Jiazhi told Chen Zhengxu that he was going to the market that evening and to remember to wake him up when he got up.

His Yuejin pickup truck is now parked at the Dongxiang vegetable market, where Xue Jun hauls vegetables to the market every day.

Chen Zhengxu drives a van every day to help sell vegetables and handle deliveries, and brings the money back every day, which has been around three or four thousand dollars recently.

In addition to the two of them, the market also hired temporary workers to move goods.

This is the current sales model of Dongxiang vegetable market.

Chen Jiazhi plans to replicate the business at Jiangxin Market, as the current sales channels are too limited and the intermediate links are easily manipulated.

For example, the price of snow peas supplied to Hong Kong has dropped to 1.7 yuan per jin, while the wholesale price in Huacheng is still 1.5 yuan per jin.

The price difference between the two is only two cents.

After the change of ownership, some people began to test his bottom line.

If it weren't for the shortage of Dutch beans in the domestic market, preventing prices from falling further, he estimated that the price supplied to Hong Kong would have been even lower.

If the domestic vegetable supply is sufficient, the cost line may be completely manipulated. For example, the reason why domestic vegetable markets are forced to use cheap but highly toxic pesticides is because Hong Kong businessmen have many choices and are therefore fearless.

This is not what Chen Jiazhi wanted.

Xu Wenxiang has already arranged meetings for him with buyers and middlemen in Hong Kong, but there has been no news yet.

For large vegetable markets, distribution channels are king. Rather than passively waiting, Chen Jiazhi prefers to take the initiative.

Supplying Hong Kong is only one of the channels; I'll sell to you if the price is right, otherwise you can buy wherever you want.

This requires establishing your own small-scale delivery system, with reliable channels to ensure you don't panic when prices fluctuate.

(End of this chapter)