1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 358 Setting Sail Again

Thinking you can solve your financial problems with just a planting plan is simply wishful thinking.

However, Xu Wenxiang and Huang Jianyuan believe that if Chen Jiazhi had come up with the plan, then it would be a different story.

Over the past year, under his guidance, Jiangxin Vegetable Market has made numerous successful predictions about market trends.

Moreover, this plan is very detailed.

It's more than just a plan.

It also includes factors such as the investigation process, data collection, market analysis, natural disasters, and psychological games.

This was also the first time Xu Wenxiang had seen such a detailed market analysis.

At this point, she had no more doubts and expressed her support for the plans for the new year.

“Mr. Chen, if you are willing to put all your energy into the management of the market, I believe that the market’s profits can also reach tens of millions of yuan this year.”

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "I'm quite confident that under Director Yi's leadership, Jiangxin Vegetable Market's profits this year will easily exceed ten million yuan."

Yi Dinggan straightened his back.

The answers are all given; he just needs to copy the homework, follow the steps to grow the vegetables, and achieving this year's goal will not be difficult.

He also raised an eyebrow and glanced at Xu Wenxiang. This woman dared to look down on him!

"Just kidding," Chen Jiazhi said again. "The plan is all set, the next step is to assign tasks."

"Huang Chuan will continue to work with Li Cai to oversee the Lianzhou base, providing seedlings and other supplies in a timely manner, and supervising the planting according to our requirements."

“Zengcheng late-season cabbage will not be planted until September, so the site selection and construction of the base can be slightly delayed.”

“With the help of shade nets and other facilities, Shuidong mustard can be planted multiple times a year except during the hottest days of summer. The market feedback is good. I personally oversee the process. Farm manager Ao Deliang.”

"I also went to the seedling nursery in western Guangdong, with Fang Xuelin and Zheng Zhong accompanying me."

Neither of the projects were very large, so Chen Jiazhi didn't bother the two shareholders.

But considering the plans for the Shanghai base, he also prepared tasks for the two of them.

"Mr. Xu, Mr. Huang, I would like to trouble you two to continue recommending high-quality customers to the market. The customers from Malaysia and Singapore last time were quite good."

Especially in the coming months, we can focus on increasing orders for broccoli and kale.

Although Chen Jiazhi did not reveal the complete planting plan, Xu Wenxiang knew that Chinese kale and broccoli would be the focus of Jiangxin Vegetable Market and Shanghai Base, respectively.

Without hesitation, she said, "Leave it to me. Even if I can't get the order in advance, I can still get the information out."

Chen Jiazhi nodded and said, "We can look into the Japanese market more for broccoli."

Broccoli is a crop planned for the Shanghai base, and it will be more convenient to go to the Japanese market.

"it is good."

The task assignment went smoothly, with everyone from top to bottom cooperating with him, largely due to a planting plan.

This put Chen Jiazhi under slight pressure. This time, he also lacked the advantage of memory and relied entirely on his experience and market sense.

He then organized a production meeting to plan for the near future and decided to take a gamble.

He started by asking, "Does anyone remember the market conditions before last year's Spring Festival?"

"Snow beans!"

"The price of bok choy is also acceptable."

"There was a cold wave on New Year's Day last year, and vegetable prices were good from New Year's Day to the Spring Festival. The best-selling vegetable was still the snow pea!"

"Absolutely! It was so much fun selling them!"

Many people still have a deep impression of it, especially the snow peas, which are an almost indelible memory.

That month, everyone at the market, from top to bottom, saw their income reach a new high.

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "It's probably accurate, but there's also a margin of error. The price of snow peas has been soaring since New Year's Day, and bok choy is also doing quite well."

But as the Spring Festival approached, vegetable prices began to decline, and after the Spring Festival, they plummeted.

Considering this year's market conditions, what insights do you have?

The production team leaders hold daily meetings, which often include discussions about the market.

Yi Dinggan said, "Vegetable prices were high after New Year's Day last year, but many vegetable farmers missed out on that opportunity and probably regret it now. So they planted more this year."

According to the marketing department, the market for snow peas is not doing well and sales are slow.

The same applies to vegetables like bok choy; the recent drop in temperature has suppressed prices, preventing a rebound.

But not as extreme as the Dutch pea.

Therefore, I believe that the successful experiences of the previous year can only be used as a reference, not copied verbatim.

Guo Mancang, Ao Deliang, Huang Rixin, Zheng Zhong, and several others who experienced last year's market conditions deeply agreed, and some even felt a sense of lingering fear.

Having achieved success last year, they had considered planting snow peas this year as well.

It was simply rejected.

Fortunately, it was rejected.

Many growers were too reckless. They didn't plant snow peas last year and didn't experience the pain of the cold wave. They only knew that the price was high, so they went all out this year and ended up in a mess.

Chen Jiazhi praised, "The analyses are all quite good."

Guo Mancang asked, puzzled, "The market for Cantonese cuisine is generally not very good right now, so why did you ultimately choose kale?"

Ding Hong from the marketing department also said, "The market for Chinese kale has been quite good recently, so there should be quite a few people growing it."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "We are just focusing on Chinese kale. The market has been hovering for so long, it will rebound sooner or later. I think the rebound will be the strongest for Chinese kale, especially the medium and thick sizes."

"As for the reason, in my opinion, the current market price of Chinese kale is mainly being dragged down."

"According to our investigation, the supply of Chinese kale in the market is actually decreasing, but the price of Chinese kale is suppressed because other alternative vegetables are too saturated."

However, as temperatures drop, the supply of Chinese kale will only decrease, not increase, in the next month or two. And due to climate and other factors, Chinese kale growers in Guangdong have a habit of planting Chinese kale in mid-to-late February.

"This creates a gap in the planting of Chinese kale from mid-January to mid-February, which presents an opportunity."

The optimal growing temperature for Chinese kale is 15-25℃. Below 10℃, growth slows down or even stops.

However, most cities in Guangdong do not reach this temperature condition around early February, which has led to the established practice of cultivating Chinese kale.

Similarly, Jiangxin vegetable market will also face this difficulty when planting Chinese kale during this period.

However, the market has seedling greenhouses.

Both the germination and seedling stages of Chinese kale can be completed in greenhouses using plug trays.

Once the temperature rises slightly, transplant the seedlings and cover them with small arched greenhouses for insulation until the final harvest.

Of course, there were other factors that led to the decision to focus on Chinese kale, but this is the core element.

After a complete explanation of the logic, everyone had no more doubts and reached a consensus.

While ensuring the basic supply of Chinese cabbage, the remaining land should be used to vigorously cultivate Chinese kale between January 1.15th and February 2.15th.

The few people who were initially disappointed by not being elected as the new market manager now felt a long-lost surge of enthusiasm!

This is the kind of fun way to grow vegetables!
Discussions broke out in the conference room.

Chen Jiazhi waved his hand to stop it, and then said, "There are some technical and management points to pay attention to during the planting process, and Director Yi will introduce them to you."

Fertilization, seedling raising, transplanting, temperature management, topdressing...

Yi Dinggan explained in great detail, and the others listened attentively.

Because of the transplanting method, specific requirements were made for the spacing of the cuttings to provide enough growing space for the Chinese kale, allowing it to grow larger and thicker, like a **.

Chen Jiazhi, who had been lost in thought about Shui Dongjie, was brought back to his senses by the loud and rough laughter.

Yi Ding chuckled dryly and said, "What's so funny about that? Thick-striped kale does look a bit like that stuff."

Chen Jiazhi said with dissatisfaction, "Watch your image. Your description is too vulgar. You are the manager, after all."

The others couldn't help but laugh too.

Yi Dinggan added, "Hey, I can't find the right adjectives to describe it, but basically, I just want to make the kale look beautiful."

Chen Jiazhi thought of a phrase, "chicken leg kale, if you grow large kale into the shape of a chicken leg, the quality will be perfect."

Chicken leg and kale?

Everyone fell into thought, feeling that it didn't quite seem like it!

Chen Jiazhi wasn't quite sure how chicken leg kale was grown; perhaps it was more due to the variety?

After the meeting, Chen Jiazhi returned to his office and called the Shanghai base again.

After waiting for a while, Ao Dehai finally answered the phone.

Winters in Shanghai are very cold, and the perceived temperature is even colder, making it very difficult to grow vegetables.

This is also why the Shanghai base has been relatively quiet lately.

Apart from the initial rush to plant a crop of vegetables, subsequent efforts were mainly focused on the construction of the base.

Level the land, dig ditches, apply semi-decomposed livestock and poultry manure, and plant cold-resistant vegetables.

After chatting with Ao Dehai for a while, Chen Jiazhi mentioned broccoli, which also needs to be planted in small greenhouses in early to mid-February.

February in Shanghai is much colder than February in Guangzhou. Normally, broccoli in Guangdong is still being harvested in January.

However, broccoli is also a cool-climate crop and is more cold-resistant than kale.

Even so, managing broccoli planted in Shanghai in early February is still quite challenging.

But this is also a strategy.

Chen Jiazhi had grown broccoli in Shanghai in his previous life, so he knew very well how sought-after broccoli was when it was brought to market early.

As long as you can grow it, there's absolutely no need to worry about the price.

However, Ao Dehai became uneasy after hearing this, "Boss, I've never grown broccoli before!"

"It's okay, I'm here." Chen Jiazhi reassured him, "Just follow my instructions, and you'll definitely be able to grow it. I've already prepared the seeds."

"We won't plant too much the first time; we'll start with 200 mu (approximately 33 acres) to test the waters."

"..."

As expected of the boss, calling 200 acres a trial run.

Ao Dehai: "How about we be on the safe side and plant 100 mu first?"

Chen Jiazhi: "I was already being conservative by not telling you to plant all 580 acres of land with broccoli."

"Okay, 200 mu it is."

Then, Chen Jiazhi explained the seedling cultivation matters to him.

Broccoli has technical requirements starting from the seedling stage, such as substrate preparation and disinfection.

Fortunately, Chen Jiazhi had cultivated seedlings once at the Dongxiang vegetable market, and Ao Dehai witnessed the whole process.

Although it ultimately failed, that was due to Guangzhou's hot and humid summer climate.

In low temperatures, the success rate is much higher when small arched sheds or seedling sheds are used for insulation.

After seedling cultivation comes land preparation, and communication is maintained throughout the subsequent stages.

After finishing all that, Chen Jiazhi wondered if Lianzhou should also plant some spring broccoli.
However, farmers in Lianzhou probably have no experience in growing broccoli, so it's a bit uncertain whether they can grow it well.

Before he could come up with a solution, Chen Zhengxu sent word that there was a minor problem with the procurement of Shuidong mustard greens.

(End of this chapter)