1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 335 Yunling Agriculture
To speed up the process, Chen Jiazhi hired construction machinery and dozens of people from the village to prepare the land.

The wages here are low; you can hire a worker for just three to five yuan a day.

however,
The plan was wonderful, but reality was cruel.

It was raining in Huacheng, and Yuanmou was not to be outdone. While preparations were in full swing at the seedling nursery's office building and seedling greenhouses, a rainstorm dampened everyone's enthusiasm.

August is also the rainy season in Yuanmou. The fields are soaked and have to be dried before we can continue preparing the land.

To make their daily lives more convenient, Chen Jiazhi and his friends rented a house in the county.

But everyone was busy. Chen Jiazhi stayed in the city, coordinating the procurement and delivery of various supplies.

The seedling nursery needs to be built in a greenhouse, and inside the greenhouse, there needs to be seedling racks and seedling beds.

For convenience, Chen Jiazhi adopted a multi-span, edge-to-edge greenhouse, which is now widely used and the materials are easy to purchase.

However, seedling racks and seedling beds are relatively rare.

However, the design was simple. After Chen Jiazhi communicated with the manufacturer by phone, he determined the general style and ordered a set of parts in advance.

Everything was done to create a sample and catch the last train for winter and early vegetable seedling cultivation this year.

In Chen Jiazhi's plan, the 50-mu seedling nursery would all be steel-framed greenhouses; however, it was not to be built all at once.

Based on an area of ​​50 mu (approximately 3.3 hectares), the annual seedling production should reach around 50 million seedlings, which Yuanmou cannot currently handle.

Therefore, the construction should be carried out in several phases.

The rest can be used for breeding and seed production, as well as vegetable planting demonstration bases.

"Okay, Mr. Hong, please sort, pack, and mail all the seeds you've acquired to Yuanmou."

At the guesthouse, after confirming the delivery of the greenhouse materials, Chen Jiazhi contacted Hong Zhong to discuss the preparation of seeds.

After a period of searching, Hongzhong has accumulated many different varieties of seeds for eggplant, tomato, cucumber, and leafy vegetables.

Hong Zhong even managed to obtain the seeds from Sakata Company through special channels.

It's a pity that they're not breeding materials, but rather regular commercial seeds, but they're sufficient for testing purposes.

There are few industrial enterprises in Yuanmou, and the environment after the rain is quite comfortable.

Chen Jiazhi read books on breeding in his room for a while, then started cooking dinner for everyone.

When you're traveling, you can endure any hardship, but you can't let your stomach suffer.

When the meal was ready, Li Mingkun, Peng Qian, and Ji Song returned one after another.

"Wow, the meal is quite lavish today!"

"Not bad, not bad, there's also steamed grass carp. It's impressive that Mr. Chen can cook such light dishes."

"They also have Sichuan cuisine!"

The three praised it highly. Chen Jiazhi gestured for them to sit down and asked, "Didn't you invite Wang Yongxiang to come and eat with us?"

Li Mingkun said, "He's in a hurry to go home and do farm work. His family has so much land to cultivate, and his wife and children can't keep up. But he said that once he finishes this season, he will plant less crops next season and focus on working at the seedling nursery."

"We could also let him grow some vegetables, to set an example for others."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and poured wine for Peng Qian and Ji Song, and gave Li Mingkun a drink.

"These are the conditions we have right now. Please bear with it for now. The environment will be much better once the office building is built."

Peng Qian smelled the aroma of the wine and laughed, "Having food, lodging, and wine to drink, these conditions are already quite good."

In their eyes, Chen Jiazhi was not only generous, but also very down-to-earth.

After a few bites of food and drinks, the group started discussing their work from the day.

Ji Song has been visiting agricultural bureaus, agricultural research institutes, and other organizations these days, mainly to contact seed resources.

Ma Ming had previously promised to provide assistance in this regard.

"Yuanmou winter tomatoes mainly promote the Walter, Chunfeng, and Zhongfeng varieties; winter cucumbers mainly promote the Jinza and Jinyan system varieties; winter peppers mainly use Xichang Niujiao pepper and Sujiao No. 2; green beans mainly use Yixuan No. 1..."

Besides cucumbers, Chen Jiazhi knew nothing about tomatoes, peppers, or any other varieties of vegetables.

However, judging from the cucumbers selected, it's clear that the varieties used in Yuanmou are somewhat outdated.

Both Jinza and Jinyan are varieties of the Tianjin Cucumber Research Institute, but Jinza was introduced in the early 1980s, while Jinyan is even older. The Tianjin Cucumber Research Institute only introduced the Jinchun cucumber this year.

Chen Jiazhi said, "This year, we can try planting cucumbers in Jinchun. Both seedlings and grafted seedlings can be promoted and demonstrated. Lao Li, Lao Peng, do you know about the diseases occurring in Yuanmou cucumbers?"

Li Mingkun and Peng Qian, led by Wang Yongxiang, spent the last two days conducting research on local vegetable cultivation.

Li Mingkun spoke first: "These past two days we have mainly visited Yuanma and Nengyu towns. Many farmers have already started tomato seedling cultivation. Cucumbers are a little slower, but they are also preparing to cultivate seedlings. If we want to promote this, we need to speed things up."

“It’s almost September, and it’s raining, so I guess it’s too late.” Peng Qian took a sip of wine and smiled. “But I’m still optimistic about the prospects of seedling cultivation. There are quite a few diseases affecting the early winter vegetables in Yuanmou.”

Peng Qian slowly and methodically recounted the findings of his research.

With Wang Yongxiang leading the way and the group going to conduct supporting research based on their findings, they headed straight to a nearby village known for its large winter and early spring vegetable cultivation.

元谋的冬早蔬菜一般是8~9月育苗，9月露地栽培，11月下旬~翌年2月采收的茄果、葱蒜、瓜类及豆类蔬菜。

Time is indeed a bit tight.

However, Peng Qian mainly talked about the occurrence of vegetable diseases in the local area.

Because the seedlings are transplanted during the rainy season, and their growth, flowering, and fruiting coincide with the end of the rainy season and the continuous rain, the later stages of growth are characterized by a dry and warm environment. As a result, the occurrence of pests and diseases in Yuanmou is very local and there are many types of diseases.

In terms of damage and losses, late blight of tomatoes is the most serious, followed by downy mildew of cucumbers.
As Chen Jiazhi once read in the newspaper, in 1983, due to a major outbreak of late blight, 3400 mu of tomatoes in Yuanmou County were diseased and lost their entire harvest, accounting for 85% of the county's total planting area.

Downy mildew in cucumbers can cause losses of 20% to 30% or more every year, in addition to the impact of cucumber wilt.

All of this corroborates Chen Jiazhi's judgment that there is a potential market demand for seedlings in Yuanmou.

Peng Qian said with a hint of regret, "It's just a little late, so we might miss the last train that President Chen wanted."

Chen Jiazhi raised his glass and clinked it with the others, saying, "If we can't catch up, so be it. We can set up our own demonstration base and grow it ourselves."

“I’m afraid the profits won’t be that good,” Peng Qian said. “On the way here, I talked with Wang Yongxiang. The nighttime temperature in Yuanmou is also low from December to January of the following year. Tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables are warm-loving vegetables, and they often have difficulty surviving the winter. Cucumber production usually decreases after December, and other vegetables also decline significantly after February.”

As I understand it, the most advantageous period for off-season vegetable prices should be from the Spring Festival to April of the following year, right?

Chen Jiazhi paused for a moment, then mentally calculated the harvest period, which seemed to be only about two or three months.

The harvest period for tomatoes and cucumbers is too short, and the supply period should also be deliberately brought forward, which is why seedlings are started in August and September.

This calculation seems to indeed significantly impact the yield and profitability of vegetables per acre.

Chen Jiazhi said, "It does have an impact. The peak season for vegetable prices in the north is around the Spring Festival."

Peng Qian said, "Therefore, forcing the planting of cucumbers now will affect both yield and efficiency, and demonstration planting may have the opposite effect."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "If the demonstration planting base also uses greenhouses, wouldn't this problem be solved?"

Peng Qian exclaimed in surprise, "This spreads the costs way too high!"

Li Mingkun also said, "Yuanmou's advantage lies in its off-season vegetables, so building greenhouses would be redundant."

“As long as there is market demand, we can definitely use greenhouses.” Chen Jiazhi pondered, “If the results are not good, these greenhouses can be converted into seedling nurseries in the future, so that the seedling nurseries will not need to be built in phases.”

Once people have made up their minds, it's hard to change them. Who said that winter vegetables from Yuanmou can't be grown in greenhouses?

If all else fails, besides converting it into a seedling nursery, it can even be used to grow grapes or watermelons.

The more Chen Jiazhi thought about it, the more he felt that this was something worth trying.

The planned total investment of 200 million yuan is more than enough to do all this.

"Come on, let's drink. It's settled then about building the greenhouse."

Plans never keep up with changes, but this is the norm in farm construction.

...

The seedling nursery is under construction in an orderly manner.

With the arrival of the first batch of greenhouse materials and the site being leveled, the next step was to construct the greenhouses.

In addition to the seedling nursery, the demonstration base will also be built into a series of interconnected greenhouses.

This type of greenhouse has a large space and overcomes the disadvantage of arched greenhouses having low sides, which makes it impossible to grow tall vegetables.

September 2nd, the sun was shining brightly.

Construction has officially begun on the first connected greenhouse, which covers approximately five acres.

Outside the site, Ji Song was organizing workers to prepare substrate for cultivating plug seedlings, while the foundation for the office building was being laid.

Peng Qian is also making his own research plans and preparations.

Actually, once the decision was made to build greenhouses for the demonstration base, there was no need to rush the schedule.

But they've all been busy.

Chen Jiazhi is also perfecting the structure of the seedling farm, starting by hiring people to complete the company registration.

After much deliberation, he consulted the experiences of later generations and named it Yunling Agriculture.

The core departments are the seedling nursery and demonstration base, which are managed by Li Mingkun, but he tends to focus more on production management, administration, and finance.

Peng Qian serves as the company's vice president, primarily responsible for technology and research, with Ji Song assisting him.

At the same time, Chen Jiazhi requested that the research department continue to recruit people and continue to invest in scientific research.

After some hands-on work, Yunling Agriculture has become quite well-equipped.

During the process of perfecting the structure, Chen Jiazhi also took Li Mingkun with him throughout. Li Mingkun was steady and reliable, but slightly lacking in courage.

There's no one else available right now, so we have to let him fill in for now.

After nearly a year of experience at Jiangxin Vegetable Market, there shouldn't be any major problems with daily production management. In the future, a group of skilled workers will be transferred from Huacheng.

There is no dedicated sales department yet for publicity and promotion, but Chen Jiazhi already has a candidate in mind.

Wang Yongxiang and several others who came from township science and technology assistant backgrounds were very suitable. They had been conducting publicity and training in local rural areas for many years. They not only knew the technology and were eloquent, but were also well-known among farmers.

This is the most suitable promoter.

However, with the arrival of September, the early winter vegetables in Yuanmou have entered the large-scale transplanting period.

By the time the seedling nursery started production, it was too late to catch the last train.

Therefore, the seedling farm has no seedling sales target this winter; its task is to complete the construction of greenhouse facilities and carry out vegetable cultivation on its own.

Simultaneously, we are carrying out technical research work such as grafting combination screening, grafting worker training, breeding material collection, and greenhouse planting experience summarization.

The construction of the first connected greenhouse is progressing rapidly.

The greenhouse frame was completed in just a few days, and Ma Ming from the Agricultural Bureau paid close attention to the project.

On the day it was completed, he also came to the seedling nursery, where Chen Jiazhi showed him around.

Ma Ming was surprised by the efficiency of the seedling farm and amazed by the structure of the greenhouse.

"Mr. Chen, this greenhouse must have cost a lot to build, right?"

Chen Jiazhi said, "On average, it costs about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per mu."

Ma Ming clicked his tongue in surprise, actually feeling somewhat confused.

“Then this 50-mu seedling farm will require an investment of at least 100 million yuan. It will be very difficult to recoup the investment and operate the business by relying on seedlings. Yuanmou has never had the habit of buying commercial seedlings.”

Chen Jiazhi smiled and asked, "That's why I also wanted to ask if the county has any relevant facility subsidies."

“I’ll have to go back and ask about that,” Ma Ming said. “Building seedling sheds and vegetable greenhouses is a first for Yuanmou; there’s never been anything like this before.”

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "I've felt it too. Recently, a lot of people have come to watch the spectacle, and many people look down on us."

“I didn’t expect Mr. Chen to be so optimistic.” Ma Ming pondered for a moment and said, “Actually, it’s not just the farmers who don’t understand, but many people at the higher-ups don’t understand either. Mr. Chen, don’t be too optimistic about the subsidies.”

"Ah."

Chen Jiazhi nodded silently. He knew that setting up seedling farms and vegetable greenhouses in Yuanmou was a bit ahead of its time.

But as Li Xiu said, his optimism was enough.

Soon, Ma Ming gave feedback on the subsidy.

The county doesn't have such an award this year, so we'll have to try again next year.

“It’s alright, Jiazhi. If there’s no subsidy, it’s alright. We’ll invest our own money.”

That afternoon, Chen Jiazhi, as usual, communicated with Li Xiu about the situation on both sides.

After learning that Yunling Agriculture would not receive project subsidies, Li Xiu showed considerable confidence.

They then informed Chen Jiazhi that the market's sales in August were over 340 million yuan, with a profit of 210 million yuan.

The profits in one month were equal to the investment amount of Yunling Agriculture.

Chen Jiazhi was also surprised by such performance.

Li Xiu said, "Vegetable prices soared in the last few days of August. Just then, Ao Dehai's 300 mu of land also started to produce vegetables. With plenty of vegetables and good prices, the daily sales were even higher than during the same period in July!"

Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment, "Is it those plots of land where vegetables are piled up like mountains?"

“Yes!” Li Xiu laughed, “Those plots of land are very fertile, and the vegetables they produce are very beautiful. They are very popular at stalls and markets in Hong Kong. Tong Hing Tai is offering them at HK$3.5 per catty!”

It's not easy to come up with a good batch of dishes in Huacheng during July and August.

Listening to Li Xiu describe the situation at the market, Chen Jiazhi felt much more at ease; having money in his pocket gave him confidence.

Yunling Agriculture doesn't need to rush to make money; it even has the capacity to open up other battlefields.

"Xiu, I'm planning to go to Shanghai in a few days to finalize the details of the vegetable market there as soon as possible."

"Okay, is there anything I can do for you?"

P.S.: No more today.

(End of this chapter)