1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 343 The Difficult Promotion

Although the security situation isn't great right now, there were many of them, and they stayed in Beijing for a day after the trade fair ended. They visited Tiananmen Square and ate Peking duck before finally concluding their trip.

The biggest harvest was bags of seeds, and those that were selected all had some unique characteristics.

Qi Yongfeng also packed some sample seeds in a plastic bag to take back to Shanghai for trial planting. "Brother Zhi, I'll go catch the bus now."

"Okay, I'll call the market when I get there."

After seeing off Qi Yongfeng, Ji Song, Peng Qian and others one by one, Chen Jiazhi, Xue Jun and Fang Xuelin embarked on their journey back to Guangdong.

While dozing on the plane, Chen Jiazhi was also reminiscing about his trip to Beijing.

Beijing has extremely strong seed research and development capabilities, particularly in the breeding of vegetables such as eggplant, melons, and beans.

Although the variety of products doesn't quite match the main focus of the vegetable market, for a seedling nursery, the more varieties the better.

He looked at Fang Xuelin, "Old Fang, how are the seedlings at the vegetable market doing?"

Since early September, the seedling nursery at Jiangxin Vegetable Market has been cultivating and grafting seedlings. Now it is late October, and the seedlings that were planted early have entered the harvest season.

Fang Xuelin said, "From the current point of view, several grafting combinations of seedlings are performing very well, and some straight seedlings are also performing quite well."

Cucumbers grafted with Yunnan black-seeded pumpkins, tomatoes grafted with eggplants...

After learning about the situation of several combinations, Chen Jiazhi inquired about the promotion of grafted seedlings.

Fang Xuelin was speechless.

Chen Jiazhi understood perfectly. "To be honest, I know what I'm doing."

Fang Xuelin lowered his eyebrows. "Promotion is not very good. Winter vegetables grown in Guangzhou and even the Pearl River Delta are mainly bok choy, lettuce, romaine lettuce, and kale. Winter cultivation of eggplant and melons is mainly in Zhanjiang, Maoming and Yangjiang in western Guangdong. So it is difficult to promote eggplant seedlings in Guangzhou."

To put it bluntly, farmers don't have the habit of planting.

Chen Jiazhi then asked, "And the price?"

Fang Xuelin thought for a moment and said, "Farmers have reported that the price of grafted seedlings is too high and they are unwilling to buy them. In addition, farmers are used to cultivating their own seedlings for their own use and are not very interested in commercial plug seedlings that cost money. I think that seedling nurseries may have a better future in areas such as Zhanjiang and Maoming."

Chen Jiazhi agrees with this view.

However, we won't start building seedbeds in western Guangdong right now. At present, we should focus on research and use promotion as a supplement. Farmers' consumption habits also need to be cultivated.

"Let's continue to try planting them in the market. Some grafted combinations are more disease-resistant, and their advantages may be more obvious in the summer."

Fang Xuelin asked, "What if the promotion doesn't yield results and the seedling nursery doesn't produce any output?"

“If the seedlings are really good, someone will benefit from them,” Chen Jiazhi pondered. “If all else fails, we can use them ourselves.”

He thought of the cooperative base that Li Cai had agreed upon in Lianzhou, where the seedling farm could provide seedlings for free and then purchase the finished vegetables.

This way, it can also be valuable.

"The current priority is to focus on basic research, technology reserves, and the cultivation of talents such as grafting workers."

It would be much more reasonable to regard Jiangxin Vegetable Market as a research and talent training base.

If we're talking about the city that first started factory-style seedling cultivation in China, then Beijing is the one. This technology was first introduced in Beijing and is currently more advanced.

However, its popularity is still not high, mainly because people don't have the habit of consuming it.

However, Chen Jiazhi can also grow them himself or provide seedlings to others for free.

After arriving in Huacheng, Chen Jiazhi also visited Kaopu Fresh and the stalls to check out the market before returning home.

Barring natural disasters, the vegetable supply in the Pearl River Delta in October is more than sufficient.

It would be quite remarkable if half of the winter-grown vegetables produced in Guangdong could be consumed within the province; the majority of the vegetables still need to be sold to the north.

This has also led to a sluggish local market.

Jiangxin Market can only focus on high-quality products and maintain a certain profit by supplying the Hong Kong market.

Chen Jiazhi did not focus on the management of the vegetable market; after returning to the market, he devoted himself entirely to the seedling nursery.

After being planted, the seedlings grafted with bitter gourd and loofah as rootstock have already borne fruit. Walking under the vines, you can see the bitter gourds hanging densely.

Because it was a trial planting and the quantity was small, there was no plan to sell it; it was mainly supplied to vegetable markets and canteens.

Compared to loofah, grafted bitter gourd received high praise from most vegetable workers.

The bitter melon has a milder bitterness and a slightly more refreshing taste, similar to that of a loofah.

This indicates that the current grafting combinations are valuable, and if they also show improvement in yield or resistance, their potential for widespread adoption is quite high.

Both of these seeds were saved by Chen Jiazhi from the Dongxiang vegetable market and had gone through many hardships.

This autumn, seed selection will also be carried out.

However, Chen Jiazhi came to the bitter gourd field this time to pick bitter gourds with Li Xiu.

Li Xiu was going to make him stuffed bitter melon that evening, and she said it would taste quite good, with less bitterness than usual.

Click~
Click~
Having not harvested fruits and vegetables for a long time, Chen Jiazhi suddenly decided to give it a try. He felt very relieved and liked this feeling.

"Hey, Jiazhi, that's enough. Picking a few is enough. We can't eat any more."

"It's alright, we're already here, let's pick them all together, and send the extras to the cafeteria." Chen Jiazhi held a very nice bitter melon in his hand and said with a smile, "Picking bitter melons is just a side thing, I mainly came to observe how good the melons look and check the results."

Li Xiu rolled her eyes. If she hadn't seen how engrossed you were in cutting the bitter melon, she would have actually believed it.

"Alright, alright, there are loofahs, eggplants and tomatoes over there. If you want to observe them, then observe them together."

Li Xiu also crawled into the vines, along with two rather large dogs, one black and one white. After the Dongxiang vegetable market closed, the two dogs followed her to the Jiangxin vegetable market.

However, it's not as free as it used to be at the Dongxiang market. Now there are many children in the market, and dogs have to be leashed.

The happiest days were when I followed Li Xiu on his field patrols.

Chen Jiazhi was still happily cutting bitter melons, and the plastic bucket he brought was soon full, weighing about twenty or thirty pounds.

"Let's leave the tomatoes and eggplants for today, the basket is too full, we'll come back to them in a few days."

Li Xiu said, "Aren't you going to Yuanmou again in a few days?"

"Yeah," Chen Jiazhi laughed, "I can come pick tomatoes tomorrow, eggplants the day after, and loofahs the day after that."

"And you still say you didn't come here to pick melons?"

"I'm observing as well."

"So what did you observe?"

Chen Jiazhi cut a bitter melon, tossed it in the air to show it off, and exclaimed, "This melon is just like me, in one word, beautiful!"

Li Xiuyu choked up.

Chen Jiazhi added, "To be honest, this bitter gourd is indeed beautiful in appearance. It was worth the careful selection and seed saving."

"That's right. The price was so good back then, and we even saved the best melons for seeds. If the seeds we saved weren't good, it would have been a real waste."

At this moment, Li Xiu looked at the bitter melon with satisfaction and said, "Beautiful melon." She still remembered the scene when she was selecting it for seed.

“It won’t be a waste.” Chen Jiazhi smiled. “Besides bitter melon and loofah, the eggplant and bell peppers will be just as good.” “And there’s also water spinach.” Li Xiu said, “The water spinach seeds should be ready to be harvested in a while.”

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot."

Chen Jiazhi filled a bucket with bitter melons and handed it to Li Xiu to put into the vegetable basket on the edge of the field.

Li Xiu snorted in dissatisfaction, "That's a Big Bone Green! Back then, you insisted on keeping the Big Bone Green for your offspring despite Brother Yi and Second Sister's advice. It hasn't been long, and you're already impatient? You're fickle and tired of the old, aren't you?"

"Uh, no."

Last year, the price of water spinach was not low; it could sell for at least several thousand yuan per mu.

Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment and said, "You're right. I really haven't been paying much attention to Da Gu Qing this year. I shouldn't have done that. Breeding requires perseverance. Well, it's not quite breeding yet, but we should still keep doing purification and rejuvenation."

Seeing how focused he was on his work and the seeds, Li Xiu felt that she had worried for nothing.

"The water spinach is growing very well this year."

After cutting the bitter melon, Chen Jiazhi went to check on the growth of the cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, bell peppers, and loofahs.

Every vegetable is growing very well.

Then Li Xiu heard a series of comments such as "This eggplant is like me" and "This pepper is like me".

Although there's an element of humor in it, it's also Chen Jiazhi's genuine assessment: the seedlings from live-streamed seedlings, seedlings grown from seed, and grafted seedlings are all in very good condition.

He felt it was a good omen.

That evening, Chen Jiazhi finally got to eat stuffed bitter melon. The bitterness was indeed much milder, and the taste of the bitter melon grafted with loofah rootstock had been improved.

Judging from its growth on-site, its resistance has definitely improved.

This confirms that the direction of grafting is correct, but there are indeed difficulties in current market promotion.

The following day, Chen Jiazhi checked the seedling farm's recent sales figures in his office and found that the number of seedlings sold abroad had dropped significantly.

Even Dongsheng Farm cancelled its orders for bok choy seedlings due to the cooler weather, maintaining only a small number of orders for lettuce and romaine lettuce.

Sowing seeds is more convenient in autumn and winter.

Yi Dinggan said, "We also recommended tomato and eggplant grafted seedlings to Dongsheng Farm. They not only did not approve of us on the surface, but also secretly led the way in belittling us."

Chen Jiazhi frowned and asked, "How is it belittling?"

Yi Dinggan pouted and said, "They're saying we're crazy for making money. Selling a seedling for 15 cents is not as good as growing our own seedlings."

Can seedlings grown by oneself compare to grafted seedlings from a nursery?
But this is the current situation, and changing mindsets is a very difficult thing.

Yi Dinggan continued, "There's a group of local vegetable farmers in the market, and they also have land. The market provides seedlings for free, but they've still been met with resistance from many people. It's a bit difficult, Jiazhi..."

When talking about how his own vegetable growers disliked his seedlings, Yi Dinggan was filled with bitterness.

It's free, it doesn't cost any money, and yet it still gets criticized. Why is promotion so difficult?

"Xu Wenxiang and Huang Jianyuan also came to the vegetable market to inquire about the seedling farm, as well as the seedling farm in Yuanmou. Judging from the current situation, the seedling farm is bound to lose money, and the vegetable market's profits have also decreased. What they mean is, is it still necessary for the seedling farm to continue?"

He paused, then added with a smile, "They said they didn't mean anything by it, they were just afraid you'd get carried away."

Chen Jiazhi countered with, "What do you think?"

"How would I know? You're the boss, and you're in charge of the seedling nursery. My job is to run the vegetable market well." Yi Ding took a sip of tea. "But then again, the fruits and vegetables grown from these grafted seedlings are pretty good."

Chen Jiazhi shrugged. "If it's valuable, why stop? Even if the seedling farm isn't making money, we can still make money by growing or selling vegetables."

As long as the entire process is profitable, it's necessary to continue operating grafted seedlings or seedling nurseries.

Yi Dinggan muttered, "I didn't object. You should talk to Xu Wenxiang and Huang Jianyuan about this."

Chen Jiazhi gave an OK sign, "Leave it to me."

Recently, Xu and Huang have indeed provided the company with a lot of help in terms of resources, and Chen Jiazhi is also willing to strengthen communication with them.

After spending a few days at home and the market, Chen Jiazhi met with Xu and Huang again before heading to Yuanmou.

The two were easy to talk to, and they didn't bring up anything significant in front of him, only asking when the dividends would be distributed.

Upon learning that there would be no dividends in the short term, the two had no choice but to say they would continue to provide resources.

Chen Jiazhi speculated that if they didn't have their own businesses, both of them would love to work for the company.

...

Early November.

While temperatures are dropping in most areas, Yuanmou still experiences daytime temperatures of 26 or 27 degrees Celsius.

The sky was a clear, deep blue, with rolling hills in the distance and the air filled with the fragrance of flowers and fruits.

Chen Jiazhi and Ma Ming from the Agriculture Bureau walked across the vast, flat fields of Nengyu Town, where most of the winter and early-season vegetables had entered the harvest season.

Unfortunately, not many farmers use seedlings from Yunling Agricultural Seedling Farm.

"Director Ma, Yuanmou has unique climatic conditions, which are very suitable for breeding and propagating seeds. We can bring in more seed companies from home and abroad to produce and propagate seeds."

This visit made Chen Jiazhi realize once again how difficult it is to promote plug seedlings and grafted seedlings.

It's one thing for farmers not to understand, but there are also disagreements within the relevant departments themselves.

"Especially for vegetable seed production, it can be said that there are few places in the country more suitable for winter seed production than Yuanmou."

“Yuanmou County is not as good as Mr. Chen makes it out to be.” Ma Ming smiled, taking it as a polite remark. “I’ve heard that Mr. Chen’s seedling farm is planning to produce and propagate seedlings.”

Chen Jiazhi shook his head. Although he had indeed set his sights on the vegetable seedling production business, it would benefit the county's overall industry.

"I'm not just being polite. I went to Beijing a while ago to attend a seed trade fair and even promoted Yuanmou. You must be aware of your own advantages, but for various reasons, you haven't been able to fully utilize them."

"Oh~" Ma Ming stopped and smiled, "How does President Chen promote Yuanmou?"

"What else can I say? It has the climatic advantage of a dry and hot valley; it also has a good environment for vegetable growth and development, and a good isolation environment for seed production."

Land and labor are cheap;

The agricultural production conditions are good, with excellent irrigation facilities;

The farmers who grow vegetables have good production and planting techniques;
The local government and cooperative organizations attach great importance to the vegetable seed production industry…

Chen Jiazhi chuckled and said, "You'd better remember to pay me for the publicity!"

Ma Ming laughed heartily, "President Chen, if you can really bring investment from seed companies to Yuanmou County, I'll ask for the publicity fee for you!"

Currently, the production and distribution of seeds are mainly controlled by local seed companies, so attracting investment is not easy, and Ma Ming did not take it to heart.

After this exchange, Chen Jiazhi also felt that relying on relevant departments to attract investment in the short term was unreliable.

I still have to do it myself.

Compared to Guangzhou, the promotion of seedlings in Yuanmou is much more difficult.

(End of this chapter)