1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 341 Set sail
The person who notified Chen Jiazhi was the village cadre from a few days ago, named Kang Xingyi, who was actually just a village clerk.

Upon receiving the news, Chen Jiazhi did not delay and went to Fanrong Village to meet with Kang Xingyi.

He tossed him a pack of cigarettes and asked, "Brother Kang, what department is the Vegetable Section?"

"You're too kind. Let me take you there first, and we can talk as we walk."

He was indebted to Kang Xingyi, who had received a lot of cigarettes from him in recent days and had also provided him with a great deal of information.

"The Vegetable Department is one of the four departments under Luonan Agricultural Company. The company is responsible for agricultural production and services throughout the town. Agricultural machinery management station, irrigation and drainage station, traffic management station, seeds, fertilizer, etc. are all its subordinate units."

The Vegetable Department is in charge of vegetable production throughout the town. Since the area you're trying to contract is too large, the Party Secretary told me to report it to the Vegetable Department.

By the time Chen Jiazhi arrived at Luonan Agricultural Company, he had a fairly good understanding of the relevant management structure.

In addition to the Vegetable Department, the agricultural company also has three other departments: the Agricultural Department, the Enterprise Department, and the Finance Department. The leadership positions consist of one deputy director, two directors, and three managers.

Chen Jiazhi asked, "Brother Kang, what are the thoughts of the Fanrong Village Committee?"

Kang Xingyi shook his head. "The Party Secretary and the Director have been quite busy lately. They asked me to take you to the Vegetable Department and ask them to arrange suitable land for you. There is still plenty of land in Luonan Town."

That's true. Chen Jiazhi has been running around the area these past few days. It's harvest season, and golden rice paddies cover the fields, while the area planted with vegetables is relatively smaller.

He didn't quite believe that the secretary and director were very busy.

"Luonan Town used to mainly grow grains, cotton, and oilseeds. It only started growing vegetables a few years ago, but now fewer people are willing to grow vegetables; they all want to work in factories."

Just like our Fanrong Village, there are shoe factories, garment factories, asphalt plants, precast concrete plants, and construction teams. Isn't any of these better than farming?

"Now the land is mostly contracted out to large-scale professional farmers, but there aren't any like you who have contracted hundreds of acres."

It wasn't far from Fanrong Village to Luonan Agricultural Company; we arrived in no time after chatting for a while.

Chen Jiazhi also learned something from Kang Xingyi: the village committee of Fanrong Village was not very willing to rent the land to him.

However, just like its name suggests, Fanrong Village is indeed quite wealthy, with several village-run enterprises.

Kang Xingyi took Chen Jiazhi to the vegetable department first, and then the department head took him to the manager Zhou Jingen's office.

Zhou Jingen was quite polite, and after exchanging pleasantries, they got straight to the point.

Due to the needs of urban development, Shanghai's demand for vegetables has been increasing, leading to the implementation of the second "vegetable basket project" in 1994.

At the same time, the idea of ​​"moving southern vegetables to the north" was proposed, which means that horticultural farms in southern towns should be moved to the north.

Luonan Town has also received the task of reducing the area of ​​grain fields and increasing the area of ​​vegetable fields, and Zhou Jingen is currently worried about this matter.

Locals are increasingly less willing to farm, while there are many outside vegetable farmers, but they are not making a significant impact.

Chen Jiazhi's visit was like someone immediately handing over a pillow when someone was about to fall asleep.

He asked in great detail about the land rental requirements, the main vegetables to be grown, and so on. Then he brought out a map of Luonan Town and introduced the situation of some villages.

Luonan Town only started shifting from grain, cotton, and oil crops to vegetable cultivation in 1987, so its development period is relatively short.

At present, food is still the main staple.

However, the returns on grains are low, and even for vegetables and fruits, the returns are not very high.

Chen Jiazhi's communication with him was relatively pleasant, and he also had the idea of ​​staying to build a site, so he asked Zhou Jingen to recommend a specific location.

Zhou Jingen then turned his gaze to Kang Xingyi, who was practically invisible, and asked, "Old Kang, why would your Fanrong Village look down on such a big client?"

Kang Xingyi glanced around awkwardly. "The Party Secretary and the Director have been busy these past few days."

"Is he genuinely busy, or is he just pretending?"

"So busy, so busy."

Zhou Jingen looked suspicious, but didn't pursue the matter further. "Boss Chen, if you want to rent the land, you might have to wait a bit longer. Give us some time to do some persuasion."

"Of course." He assumed it was another attempt to extort money or favors, so he invited him to dinner and drinks.

"Let's get the work done first, then we can have a drink." Zhou Jingen waved his hand. "To be honest, Luo Nan's land contracting has been developing for many years, and we've also discovered a lot of problems."

One of the problems is that, in specialized household contracting, the land contracted by outsiders is becoming increasingly barren year by year.

In order to reduce costs and increase income, newcomers often only seek immediate benefits and are unwilling to plan for the long term. They only use chemical fertilizers and are unwilling to use more organic fertilizers and human excrement, which affects long-term effectiveness and subsequent production increases.

Over time, many villages have come to favor local farmers when contracting land, while also encouraging them to protect soil fertility from a long-term perspective.

But Ronan doesn't have that many large-scale, professional farmers willing to cultivate the land.

Moreover, Mr. Chen, you're asking for a lot of land, and you want it to be contiguous. During the land leasing process, you might encounter difficult "interspersed households" (those occupying only small plots), which is why some villages aren't very enthusiastic.

Kang Xingyi's eyes were fixed on the map on the wall, completely absorbed.

Chen Jiazhi smiled, finally understanding why the village secretary and director of Fanrong Village were unwilling to show their faces.

That must be the case.

He initially thought it was due to policy reasons.

Actually, this situation will be much easier to resolve in a few years, as locals are even less willing to farm and prefer to rent out their land.

But judging from Ronan Company's attitude, Chen Jiazhi knew that now was a good time.

"Manager Zhou, my vegetable market is different from others. I use chemical fertilizers very sparingly, but I use more organic fertilizers."

Zhou Jingen said, "People have made similar promises before, but things have remained the same."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and then mentioned the vegetable market in Guangdong, which is both a supplier to Hong Kong and a certified pollution-free vegetable base.

“If you come to Luonan, the vegetable market will also go through the certification of pollution-free vegetable base, and even supply Hong Kong and export. So there is no need to worry about over-exploiting the soil fertility.”

Zhou Jingen's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Chen Jiazhi smiled confidently and said, "Talk is cheap. I can provide information on the vegetable bases that supply Hong Kong and are pollution-free, and you can even visit my vegetable market in Huacheng."

Seeing this, Zhou Jingen was about 80% convinced and felt even more confident.

At this moment, Kang Xingyi said, "Well, Mr. Chen, could you also consider our Fanrong Village? I'll call the Party Secretary to report this right away."

After saying that, he went to make a phone call without hesitation.

Zhou Jingen cursed, "The villagers of Fanrong Village are a bunch of bastards who will take a bite as soon as they see meat."

Chen Jiazhi smiled without saying a word, knowing that the problem should be solved.

Then Zhou Jingen recommended two other villages to him: Wangjia Village and Zhujiadian Village.

Chen Jiazhi had visited both villages. They were relatively close to Yangxing Town, and were located on both sides of a main road with several Baosteel factories, making it convenient to enter the city.

But now he's not in a hurry anymore.

Instead, they are more concerned about infrastructure conditions or whether there are relevant policies.

Since the newly built base brings the prospect of export and supply to Hong Kong, and also has the element of a pollution-free vegetable base, it should be considered a political achievement for local departments.

Therefore, the situation has reversed.

Besides Luonan Agricultural Company, which needs to address the task of expanding its vegetable fields, village committees should also be motivated to mobilize villagers.

Naturally, we go wherever the land is fertile and contiguous, the infrastructure is well-developed, and the land acquisition time is fast.

After sitting in Zhou Jingen's office for a while, a man knocked on the office door and went straight to Chen Jiazhi. "Hello, Mr. Chen, I am Zhou Baolong, the village secretary of Fanrong Village. I have been busy with various matters these past few days and have not been able to entertain you properly. Please forgive me."

The man looked quite young, and Chen Jiazhi extended his hand, "Hello, Secretary Zhou."

Zhou Baolong greeted Zhou Jingen again, and then started chatting with Chen Jiazhi.

Zhou Baolong had known about the people coming to the village to lease land for vegetable cultivation, with each lease covering at least several hundred acres, for two or three days.

There are also large contractors in Fanrong Village, but they only have a few dozen acres of land at most, and they grow grain.

The sudden arrival of a large-scale farmer who wanted to plant hundreds of acres of vegetables left the village committee feeling uncertain, and the locals were indeed dissatisfied with the farming methods of some outsiders.

It's one thing to neglect the soil and overdraw its fertility, but the application of pesticides is also unreasonable.

Some villagers strongly resisted leasing their land to outsiders, claiming that exploiting the land was cutting off their very foundation!
This kind of behavior occurred during the construction of the Luonan Horticulture Farm in Fanrong Village, which resulted in the site selection being adjusted twice.

In short, land is easy to rent, but once the scale becomes large, it becomes very labor-intensive to maintain a continuous area without any interspersed vendors. It's not worth it for an ordinary vegetable market.

However, Kang Xingyi just called and said that the vegetable market involves supplying Hong Kong and exporting vegetables, and it is also a pollution-free vegetable base, which makes the nature of the situation completely different.

First, having political achievements means there's a chance of gaining favor with leaders in the future.

Moreover, the planting method is beneficial to the soil, reduces the difficulty of the work, and can also help the villagers do some practical things.

Such good things don't come often.

As for those who grow vegetables for personal gain, most of them are struggling financially and don't earn much money, far less than the factories in the village.

It would be better to use this to benefit the villagers.

Zhou Baolong tried his best to explain the advantages of Fanrong Village: it is close to the town, life is convenient, and the land, soil and water are good.

"Mr. Chen, you've been to Fanrong Village. Apart from the vegetable fields, the rest of the land is currently being harvested for rice. If you're willing to come to Fanrong, I can give you 500 mu of land in early October!"

Chen Jiazhi is also very familiar with Fanrong Village. The village is relatively wealthy, the villagers don't have a strong desire to farm, and the Luonan Horticulture Farm has just been built, so it has experience in organization.

But based on his current interactions with Zhou Baolong, he's a little unsure whether the man wants to do something meaningful or just thinks there's something to gain.

He didn't agree immediately, but said he would think about it some more.

He did indeed conduct on-site investigations for two more days, visiting Wangjia Village and Zhujiadian Village, which were recommended by Zhou Jingen.

Zhujia Village is right next to Fanrong Village, while Wangjia Village is further south and its conditions are not bad either.

Chen Jiazhi did not deliberately try to contact people from the two villages, but the village officials took the initiative to contact him.

However, I never felt any attraction to her.

In particular, as Fanrong Village continued to increase its support, it first promised that the village's sprinkler pumping station could be used for free as long as the electricity fee was paid, and it would also assist in applying for subsidies for infrastructure such as cement ditches.

This sense of disparity is even more intense.

Ao Dehai and Xue Jun have been with him these past few days, and they've been in contact with him in every way.

"Boss, Zhou Baolong has a pretty good reputation in Fanrong Village, and most people respect him."

"Hmm~ I've inquired about it too." Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "Then let's go to Fanrong Village."

Land rent in Fanrong Village is also very cheap, around 200 yuan per mu per year.

In addition, the government provides substantial subsidies and construction support for infrastructure. For collective horticultural farms, the municipal and district-level finances provide a direct subsidy of 80 yuan per farm, along with an infrastructure subsidy of 1000 yuan per mu.

There is no precedent for subsidies for private land construction, but there is policy support for surrounding ditches, roads, sprinkler pumping stations, and other facilities.

Meanwhile, Baoshan District was formerly a traditional grain, cotton and oil production base with a high degree of mechanization and agricultural machinery socialized services that reached deep into each village group.

Tractors can be used directly on tilled land, which is more efficient, but the installation of drainage ditches needs to be considered.

Overall, the total investment cost is lower than that of Huacheng, and the construction efficiency is not slow either.

If we secure the land early, we can also harvest our first batch of vegetables as early as autumn.

After Chen Jiazhi informed Zhou Baolong that he had decided to acquire the land, the Fanrong Village Committee demonstrated its strong organizational capabilities.

Fanrong Village has 19 villagers' groups, about 1050 households, and about 3495 mu of arable land, with an average of about 3.3 mu of land per household. In other words, 500 mu of land would need to support at least 150 households.

However, Fanrong Village previously had a large-scale contracting base, and the village collective also had several factories. It was also located in the suburbs of the largest city in the country.

Locals are not very enthusiastic about farming.

After the location was selected, the village committee led by Zhou Baolong and the relevant villagers' groups held a meeting.

Despite some setbacks, a contiguous plot of land of approximately 580 acres was eventually designated.

The reason it went beyond the plan was that some villagers were too enthusiastic. Rather than renting the land to unstable small vegetable farmers, the large vegetable market seemed to offer more security, and the rent would be slightly higher.

Chen Jiazhi also brought up the matter of working to earn wages, which resulted in a chorus of boos.

It's a harsh reality; few locals are willing to do farm work. They'd rather stay home and play mahjong.

Holding a large meeting and playing mahjong;

Measuring the land, playing mahjong;

Signing contracts, pressing fingerprints, playing mahjong...

After completing the land acquisition process, Chen Jiazhi also learned how to play Shanghai Mahjong.

By this time, the rice harvest in the village was basically complete.

After getting familiar with the environment, Ao Dehai got into the swing of things. He first recruited people from Huacheng to form a management team, including three couples, Qi Yongfeng, Zhang Weidong, and Huang Shan, as well as several skilled workers who came to Shanghai.

A working group was then established.

By recruiting a local labor team and signing a contract with a local agricultural machinery service organization, land preparation and ditching work can be carried out.

Winters in Shanghai are cold, and Ao Dehai wanted to harvest a batch of autumn vegetables as soon as possible, so he organized a working meeting for this purpose.

"It's already October, and there's little rain. The first batch of vegetable fields to be planted don't need to be dug too deep. The priority is to plant as early as possible and try to plant more than 100 mu of land before winter."

"The program includes three varieties of bok choy with 60-day, 80-day, and 120-day growing times, as well as local varieties such as Shanghai bok choy, spinach, kale, mustard greens, large-leaf garland chrysanthemum, and broad-leaf shepherd's purse."

"We also need to urge the headquarters to send the seeder. Having a seeder can reduce the need for thinning seedlings later."

……

All arrangements were carried out in an orderly manner.

Chen Jiazhi only made some appropriate additions at the end, such as changing to cold-resistant varieties in winter.

The cold winters in Shanghai can give many people the misconception that it's impossible to grow bok choy in winter.

Actually, you can still make dishes this way.

Because of the longer growing season and different varieties, the yield per acre can actually be higher.

Indeed, many vegetables are affected by frost damage, but small arched greenhouses can be used in Shanghai to protect them from the cold.

When it was time to set up facilities, Chen Jiazhi didn't hesitate, and the Shanghai Vegetable Market was launched.

(End of this chapter)