1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 351 A Good Start

Open-field vegetables have a longer growing season.

Greenhouse vegetables may fill the gap in winter and early spring vegetables during the January to March period that is usually missed.

Even though there are still various problems such as high costs, this may be a viable path!
Ma Ming is attending a meeting organized by the county government.

During a break in the meeting, Pang Hong, a county leader who had previously inspected Yunling Farm, met Ma Ming and recalled some information he had recently overheard.

"Ma Ming, the grafted seedlings and greenhouse vegetables at Yunling Farm should be bearing fruit by now. How are the results?"

There were other people in the conference room who hadn't gone to smoke or use the restroom, and they were all listening intently.

"Not bad," Ma Ming replied, marveling at how quickly the news had spread, and considering how to elaborate further.

"Currently, grafted seedlings can extend the growth period to a certain extent, while reducing the occurrence of diseases and pests, and the yield increase effect is quite obvious."

While the advantages of greenhouse vegetables are not yet obvious, they can indeed significantly fill the gaps in vegetable production during the cooling-off period as temperatures drop further. However, the economic benefits still need further verification.

January and February are the coldest months in Yuanmou. Daytime highs can reach 30-something degrees Celsius, but nighttime lows can sometimes drop to 2-5 degrees Celsius.

The main export vegetables for winter and early spring, such as open-field tomatoes and cucumbers, have been completely wiped out.

However, the investment cost of greenhouse vegetables is too high, and few farmers in Yuanmou can afford it. To promote the development of related industries, the government can only provide substantial subsidies.

The risks involved led the usually radical Ma Ming to give a conservative answer.

Pang Hong nodded. "Focus on this and have someone write a report by hand."

"No problem, the departments in the bureau have been paying close attention to the situation at Yunling Farm."

Winter and early spring vegetables are one of the pillar industries of Yuanmou, with an output value of over 100 million yuan. They are involved in the poverty alleviation and development of many rural areas and have always been one of the key work directions of the county government. It is no exaggeration to attach great importance to them.

If high-quality seedlings and greenhouses can truly drive the further development of the industry, then the introduction of supportive policies is inevitable.

Ma Ming also sensed the change in attitude.

Although it is still insignificant compared to the overall situation, those who are not optimistic remain so, and the implementation of the policy will take a considerable amount of time.

But as long as the wheels keep turning, there is hope of reaching the next stop.

...

"The vegetables are sold out. Come back next year."

"While the newbies are still searching for ingredients, the veterans have already gone home and are sleeping soundly with their wives~"

The Nengyu Vegetable Wholesale Market is still bustling as always, but now there are only people and no vegetables.

Many procurement efforts ended in vain.

Even the Yuanmou Station on the Chengdu-Kunming Railway, not far away, has lost its usual bustling freight traffic.

At this time, there are enough freight cars for transporting vegetables out of the country.

But we're struggling because we don't have any vegetables!

However, some of the buyers remembered seeing greenhouse vegetables once before.

There must be vegetables in the greenhouse.

So, several people went to Yunling Farm one after another, and others who knew a little about it also came after hearing the news.

This has made Yunling Farm quite exciting lately, with a good show happening every now and then.

"Mr. Chen, stop hiding. I know you're in your room. Open the door, and let's sit down and talk again."

"The price is negotiable. Since we're from the same hometown, could you sell me some vegetables?"

"Open the door, bang bang bang~"

Chen Jiazhi opened the door with an annoyed look on his face. "Stop knocking, it's so annoying!"

Outside the door was another buyer, Li Lei, also from Sichuan. Since he was a guest and a fellow townsman, Chen Jiazhi treated him politely.

Then, the outgoing Li Lei started pestering him, with only one purpose: to buy groceries!

“I told you long ago, I already signed a contract with someone to sell the vegetables to them first. They didn’t break their contract and raised their prices. How could I possibly sell to you?”

"Hey bro, just give me a little bit, it won't hurt," Li Lei said with a laugh, offering me a cigarette and lighting it for me.

Aside from the fact that this person was knocking on the door and disturbing the peace, he was very polite in every other way, which made Chen Jiazhi really lose his temper.

"Alright, those two guys are coming today too. You two can decide for yourselves. I won't get involved."

"Okay, I'll take care of them."

With New Year's Day approaching, the winter and early vegetable harvest in Yuanmou is coming to an end, with only a few vegetable fields remaining due to their unique terrain advantages.

Yunling Farm was not large in scale, but at that time it was a highly sought-after young man in the surrounding area.

The vegetable farmers were envious and jealous when they saw it, and the buyers all wanted to take a bite.

Chen Jiazhi had previously promised Jiang Hui and Xiang Bin that he would prioritize selling the vegetables to them, based on market prices.

Now, it's time for him to fulfill his promise.

Chen Jiazhi planned for long-term development and wanted to do business for the long term, so he wouldn't be short-sighted. After Jiang Hui and Xiang Bin shrewdly raised the price, the cooperation continued.

The 50-mu greenhouse can only produce 7,000 to 8,000 jin of vegetables a day. With the tomatoes and cucumbers grown in the open field and the remaining vegetables, the daily output can barely be maintained at around 10,000 jin.

Jiang Hui and Xiang Bin could easily finish this amount; bringing in another person would only cause more trouble.

So, assuming the price is not an issue, he doesn't want to bring in a third party.

Li Lei was an accident.

But it's still uncertain whether we can convince the other two.

However, he actually managed to win over the other two people, who then shared some of the food with him.

Chen Jiazhi guessed that the price difference of vegetables in different regions provided a basis for cooperation, and that they could exchange goods in the future.

That's none of his business; he only needs to earn his share of the profit. Another day passed.

Chen Jiazhi practices vegetable grafting with the workers in a vegetable greenhouse.

The vegetable seedlings were also specially cultivated by Ji Song for workers to practice grafting.

The labor required for grafting, as well as the complex grafting and maintenance techniques, are the main limiting factors for seedling nurseries at present.

This is also a major factor limiting the expansion of domestic vegetable grafting utilization.

Training a skilled grafting worker is not easy, especially in Yuanmou.

The education level in this rural area is worse than in Shandong and other regions, making it more difficult for them to learn and master grafting techniques.

What else can be done?

Let's practice!
As the season for open-field vegetables came to an end, the seedling farm selected a group of young, educated, skillful, and meticulous workers to practice grafting techniques. The goal was to improve their proficiency and increase the survival rate of their grafts, and the training was paid.

When Chen Jiazhi has free time, he also practices grafting with the management staff. Now he can graft seventy or eighty seedlings per hour, so he can be considered a semi-skilled worker.

After practicing attentively for a while, some of the women started to lose focus.

"Mr. Chen, is it possible for us to have a real opportunity to fly abroad to graft vegetables in the future?"

"Qin, you actually believe what Boss Chen said? It's just grafting vegetable seedlings, surely foreigners can do that themselves?"

"Mr. Chen is probably just joking with us. I don't have high expectations. I don't even think about earning over a thousand a month. I'd be happy with six or seven hundred."

To increase the enthusiasm of grafting workers for learning, Chen Jiazhi came up with many methods.

One of them is making empty promises.

Mastering grafting techniques can not only earn you thousands of yuan a month, but also give you the opportunity to travel by train or plane to all parts of the country, and even abroad, to perform grafting for others.

Although it's still a long way off, if he doesn't even dare to make grand promises, what kind of boss is he?

The results were positive; the workers were also willing to settle down and practice grafting techniques and learn post-grafting maintenance skills.

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "Don't keep saying I'm lying to you. In just these few words we've been chatting, I've already grafted several seedlings. The difference between these few seedlings might mean that you won't be able to fly or travel abroad in the future..."

"Boss Chen, you're not here to practice your skills, you're clearly here to supervise us."

"Just like our homeroom teacher, we'll have to start calling you Teacher Chen from now on."

Several women were chattering.

Right now, we're not paid by piecework, but once we start rolling it out, we'll be racing against time even to drink a sip of water.

But there are also those who practice quietly; for skilled workers, these are all high-quality workers.

After practicing grafting for two and a half hours, Chen Jiazhi came out of the greenhouse and stretched his body.

"This grafting is hard work."

Ji Song, who was with him, laughed and said, "As long as you can earn money to support your family, China has no shortage of hardworking and excellent workers."

Chen Jiazhi wholeheartedly agreed; their generation—well, let's not even talk about it.

"Once you have a group of skilled grafting workers, you should still focus on the selection and utilization of rootstock resources."

"OK, boss, you can come over if you have time. I feel like we'll have better luck with you around."

"Haha, okay, I'm quite interested too."

Ji Song felt quite accomplished with his work this year. Research is a very tedious job, and it's normal not to produce results for a long time.

Although there have been studies on grafting cucumbers onto black-seeded pumpkins, the successful application of this technique in Yuanmou is still a significant achievement for him.

Besides, there are tomatoes and eggplants.

In fact, he believes that combinations such as tomatoes and eggplants, as well as eggplants and eggplants, also have considerable potential.

However, this year's schedule was a bit rushed, and we were unable to fully demonstrate our advantages.

If we keep pushing, maybe it will happen next year.

Moreover, there are still plenty of rootstock resources in China waiting to be explored, which is a long-term endeavor.

The young boss in front of me is very ambitious.

He proposed that the rootstock resources introduced from both domestic and foreign sources should be systematically identified, screened, and utilized over a long period of time.

From these, rootstocks that can be used directly or used as raw materials for breeding superior rootstocks are selected.

As long as the company develops smoothly and continues to be profitable, his salary will rise accordingly, and he can live off this job for a very long time.

After standing outside the shed for a while, the setting sun felt warm on my body. The workers returned home one after another along the ridges of the fields, and the mountain peaks on both sides of the plain were faintly visible in the light and shadow.

I've stayed in Yuanmou for two months, and it's about time to go back.

"Jiazhi, come on, it's time to go home after get off work, what are you spacing out for?" Li Mingkun also walked over from the vegetable field.

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "I'll be going back in a couple of days. Is there anything I want to bring you?"

"No, Bai Yan has already come over, who else would I bring things for?" Li Mingkun took out a cigarette. "It's good to go back. Look at you, you're working in the fields in Yuanmou every day, you've gotten even darker from the sun."

Chen Jiazhi raised his hand and looked at his arm. "So what if it's tanned? It doesn't affect my handsomeness."

“When it comes to thick skin, you and Lao Yi are the best.” Li Mingkun thought for a moment and then said, “There’s still time. Go to the office and sit for a while. You can also take another look at the recent accounts. You’ve made some progress.”

"It's already quite impressive that you've achieved this in just a few months."

45 jin of cucumbers, 33 jin of tomatoes, 3 jin of eggplants, and 3 jin of green peppers, totaling 84 jin of vegetables, with sales of approximately 66 yuan.

Compared to the investment, this income is far from breaking even.

But it's a good start.

(End of this chapter)