1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 321 Pilot Project for Pollution-Free Vegetables

In agriculture, a field most dependent on the weather, excessive self-confidence often becomes a veil of self-deception.

Chen Jiazhi's confidence stems from the facilities and technology, so he often shouts "going against the grain" to his colleagues.

But when extreme weather strikes, such as continuous torrential rains flooding farmland, rare high temperatures scorching rice seedlings, and hail mercilessly smashing down vegetable sheds... even the most perfect facilities must bow down.

Therefore, he has always held God in awe; it is a complex game.

Chen Jiazhi was simply ahead of most people in this era, which allowed him to always have vegetables available when the market was in a shortage, and the prices naturally rose accordingly.

This seemingly lucky stroke of luck was, in fact, the result of meticulous planning.

Just like now, the vegetables produced by Jiangxin Market in response to market trends have once again become scarce gold nuggets.

When Chen Jiazhi returned to the stall, there were no more vegetables left, so Li Cai could finally stare at him blankly.

"Mr. Chen, you can go to Yunnan sooner, and maybe you can send back two truckloads of vegetables."

When the market is good, selling vegetables is always a never-ending experience. Chen Jiazhi can understand Li Cai's feelings, but he can't go against reality. The current situation in Yunnan is unpredictable.

"Don't even think about it this time. It won't be that quick. It's not easy to get leafy vegetables from Yunnan."

"Sending some fruits and vegetables that can be stored for a long time would also be fine."

Li Cai has also been going out to look for goods recently. He even recruited a henchman last time, so it's possible he's trying to organize a supply of goods.

Recently, not only are leafy greens expensive locally, but the market for melons, beans, and eggplants is also good.

"From now on, we'll focus on leafy greens. We'll try to avoid selling gourds, beans, and eggplants at markets and stalls as much as possible." Chen Jiazhi intends to make his stall specialize in one type of vegetable.

"I estimate that vegetable prices should start to fall in about ten days."

Li Cai asked in surprise, "It can't be that fast, can it?"

Chen Jiazhi said, "You should keep an eye on the market; the market will change faster and faster in the future."

Based on his recollections and analysis during this period, 1995 was probably a watershed moment and a peak for China's vegetable industry.

In the following years, the field purchase price and wholesale price of most vegetables declined year by year, reaching a low point around 2002, and then began to rise again until 2006, when they returned to the level of 1995.

However, leafy greens are the only exception in this process.

Due to urban expansion and the reduction in vegetable acreage in suburban areas, leafy vegetable prices will continue to rise.

Chen Jiazhi remembers clearly that the wholesale price of Chinese cabbage in Huacheng broke the record set in 1994 in the summer of 2006, reaching 6-7 yuan per jin.

Therefore, Chen Jiazhi will eventually return to his loyal Ye Cai.

Moreover, we should focus on doing well in one or two product categories.

In the future, there will be fewer opportunities to gamble on market trends, and it will be even less likely that I will bet everything like I did these two times.

Chen Jiazhi specifically organized a production meeting to emphasize this point to Yi Dinggan and several group leaders.

While he can still gamble on market trends, he prefers to expand the planting area of ​​a particular vegetable if he is optimistic about its future prospects, in order to ensure a stable supply of core vegetable categories to the market.

In the future, consistently high-quality leafy vegetables will become a core competitive advantage in the market.

“Stability is easier said than done!” Yi Dinggan said. “A severe natural disaster can completely disrupt production and planting plans, making it difficult to maintain stability throughout the year.”

Chen Jiazhi tapped the table. "That's why I went to other cities to investigate and improve the stable vegetable supply through the complementarity between production areas."

"But this is a long-term process that will take several years to complete. During this period, Jiangxin Vegetable Market needs to ensure continuous production."

"It's already July, and the temperature is high with lots of rain, making it difficult to grow leafy vegetables. Vegetables like this one that are following market trends have very low yields. Take romaine lettuce for example; under ideal conditions, the yield per mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres) can reach 3 to 5 tons, but now it's only 1.2 tons, a huge difference in yield."

Fortunately, I caught up with the market trend; otherwise, the loss would have been much greater.

Therefore, we need to slow down the pace going forward, ensuring that every step, such as sun-drying the land, applying base fertilizer, tilling, and covering with shade netting, is done properly. The market environment in the next few years will be quite challenging, so we need to be prepared to overcome these difficulties together.

The meeting essentially became a platform for Chen Jiazhi to express his own judgments and emphasize the importance of crisis awareness.

Jiangxin Market is different from other markets; its labor costs far exceed those of other markets.

Therefore, we need to research better planting models, more efficient water and fertilizer management, and more affordable agricultural input procurement...

At the same time, there must be channels to provide a safety net.

"I always tell you to go against the grain. The secret to wealth in vegetable farming is hidden in natural disasters. Jiangxin Vegetable Market has also repeatedly gained excess profits by fighting against natural disasters."

But if you walk by the river often, you're bound to get your shoes wet. We should be even more mindful of the unpredictability of nature after a storm. When torrential rain and hail choose your vegetable garden, all your facilities, knowledge, and funds will become nothing but drifting catkins in the wind.

And let’s not forget the hardships and perseverance along the way; let’s remember those mountains of vegetables that collapsed.

The land does not deceive; only by remaining constantly vigilant can one forge a rich and fulfilling life amidst the rolling green hills and flowing rivers.

Chen Jiazhi spent two days, multiple meetings, and numerous banquets to correct the 'disaster economics' he had personally established for these people.

The people under him all had a gambling mentality, some more so than others.

Those who are heavy-handed, like Yi Dinggan and Qi Yongfeng, like to go all in, which was the case in May and June.

Even those as steady as Ao Deliang and Li Mingkun can't resist following the trend when everyone else is optimistic about it.

Those in the middle, like Ao Dehai and Guo Mancang, are also addicted to the phenomenon of prices skyrocketing. They're truly all gamblers.

Especially with the previous round of cold storage stockpiling, coupled with this round of chasing the market, they hit the mark twice in a row.

The market has been operating smoothly these past two days, with daily sales of around 70 tons and 35 yuan, which is quite exciting.

He worried that this "unhealthy trend" would become even stronger, and since he was the one who started it, only he could try to correct the trend.

We cannot completely dismiss it.

Because life is about taking risks, sometimes you have to be a little bold when it comes to growing vegetables.

This kind of stability is very difficult to maintain.

Two days later, Chen Jiazhi had two plane tickets purchased for a direct flight from Huacheng to Kunming.

A single bill costs over a thousand yuan, equivalent to one or two months' salary for an average person.

Before setting off, Li Xiu was packing Chen Jiazhi's luggage.

"Be careful when you're out and about, avoid getting into conflicts with people, and remember to call back to let them know you're safe when you arrive."

Chen Jiazhi held Dou Dou in his arms, watching her bustling around, and said, "I know, pack me two more thicker shirts."

Li Xiu turned to look at him: "It's so hot now, why are you wearing thick clothes?"

“Kunming is a plateau, so the temperature is lower there,” Chen Jiazhi said with a smile. “I’ll take you there for a trip sometime.”

"I don't know when I'll be able to go yet."

"There's a chance."

"Beep beep beep beep..." The classic ringtone of the old-fashioned mobile phone rang urgently.

Chen Jiazhi held the baby in one arm and used the other hand to answer the phone.

Tong Gang's voice came through, "President Chen, Fang Zhen is coming to the market soon. He says he has something to discuss with you. Do you think you could spare some time to meet him?"

Chen Jiazhi checked the time and said, "Okay, I'll come over."

The town was very close to the market, so Chen Jiazhi didn't have time to waste. He put Dou Dou on the bed and hurried off to the market, where Fang Jian arrived just then.

"Mr. Chen, I have some good news for you. The city wants to build a pollution-free vegetable production base, and now they are asking the grassroots to make recommendations. Our Lingshan Town is preparing to submit Jiangxin Vegetable Market."

Fang Jian got straight to the point, "So, Mr. Chen, are you interested?"

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "This is a good thing, of course I'm interested, but what is the selection process?"

Fang Jian said, "It mainly depends on the scale of the base, production standards, pesticide residues, and so on."

Chen Jiazhi led Fang Jian to his office, made him some tea, and then they began to talk in detail.

A month ago, Huacheng City established a coordination group for the production and sales of pollution-free vegetables, headed by an executive vice mayor.

The goal of building the first pollution-free vegetable city in the country has been proposed.

On the production side, each district, city, and county should have pilot demonstration bases.

On the sales side, there will also be corresponding requirements. The initial idea is to start by launching packaged, pre-cleaned vegetables.
Chen Jiazhi and Fang Jian went through several selection criteria.

Jiangxin Vegetable Market meets the pilot requirements in terms of scale, standards, pesticide residues, operation, number of employees, and other aspects.

There are also bonus points: Jiangxin Vegetable Market has consistently received excellent ratings in its Hong Kong supply quota tasks.

After understanding the situation, Fang Jian's confidence increased. "President Chen, I'll report it to you. I'll need your cooperation for any follow-up work."

Chen Jiazhi said, "It's a bit of a pity. I'm going to Yunnan soon. My luggage is all packed. I can only ask Director Yi and Tong Gang to cooperate with the relevant work."

Fang Jian was surprised for a moment: "No problem, it's not complicated. With such an excellent base like yours, the probability of being selected is very high, so I won't hold you back any longer."

Chen Jiazhi dropped Fang Jian off at the roadside before asking why they suddenly wanted to develop a pollution-free vegetable city.

"It's not sudden; the higher-ups have been planning this for a long time," Fang Jian whispered. "The problem of pesticide residues has been too prominent in recent years; the number of people infected in the first half of this year has reached the total number for the entire previous year."

I'm hesitant to buy vegetables outside these days. Some small-scale farmers grow their own vegetables separately from those they sell. Speaking of which, Tong Gang is a sensible kid; whenever he needs something from someone in town, he always gives them a bag or two of vegetables as a gift.

Chen Jiazhi smiled wryly. In the past two years, the topic of pesticide residues has indeed created a sense of panic.

He knew about the situation last year, which involved more than 80 incidents, with the large canteen accounting for more than half of them.

Even with stricter regulations, the situation is actually more severe this year.

After seeing Fang Jian off, Chen Jiazhi then approached Tong Gang and Yi Dinggan to explain the application process for a pilot demonstration base for pollution-free vegetables.

They also went into detail about their market's advantages in pesticide residue testing, so that the inspectors would have something to say during the inspection.

After settling all that, he asked Yan Hao to drive him home to get his luggage.

As I entered the main room, a TV program was broadcasting the instructions for eating vegetables: "wash, soak, blanch, and stir-fry."

(End of this chapter)