1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 377 Making Money Requires Building a Base

As soon as Xia Youche's wife, Sun Tong, entered the house, she heard noises coming from the kitchen.

She went inside and asked in surprise, "Old Xia, what's gotten into you today? Why did you suddenly decide to cook?"

"I'll give it a try."

Stir-fried mustard greens are very simple to make; they're ready in less than two minutes. Xia Youche took a bite first and was immediately amazed by their deliciousness.

It is crisp and delicious, tender and without any residue, sweet and delicious, and without the bitterness of ordinary mustard greens.

It was indeed rare; he actually seemed to enjoy it.

Sun Tong asked in confusion, "Old Xia, is there only one dish for lunch?"

"Cook whatever you want to eat."

"That's really strange." After Xia Youche brought the water mustard to the table, Sun Tong also came over.

"I specially cooked a dish, and it was mustard greens. What's so good about mustard greens?"

"you try."

"Alright, it's rare for you to cook, let's try your cooking."

Xia Youche put a piece on her plate, and Sun Tong didn't think much of it at first, but soon she began to savor it.

"Old Xia, is this really mustard greens? It's not bitter at all."

Xia Youche nodded. "Besides not being bitter, how does it taste?"

"It's delicious. This is the first time I've ever had such delicious mustard greens." Sun Tong gave a simple review, and then said, "But even if it's delicious, one dish isn't enough. I'll go cook another dish."

Although his wife Sun Tong's words were simple, they proved that Xia Youche's judgment was correct; this dish was indeed quite extraordinary.

Moreover, Huang Jianyuan and the Spruce Hotel also endorsed it, and Chen Jiazhi went to great lengths for this kind of mustard greens.

I suppose it's all for this taste.

"Ugh!"

This is going to be tough!

Xia Youche was caught in a dilemma.

If we get some watercress from Chen Jiazhi, our plan to reduce the presence of Jiangxin vegetable market at Tongxingtai will fail.

Tongxingtai's reliance on Jiangxin vegetable market for supplies has reached a point where he has to be wary.

Don't take it~
Such high-quality vegetables are sure to open up the Hong Kong market; not getting them could mean missing out on another money-making opportunity.

He pondered for a long time, but finally decided to persevere despite the pain, since there would be plenty of opportunities to make money in the future.

If Tongxingtai becomes too reliant on Chen Jiazhi's supply, it may gradually lose its pricing power.

Not only would you lose your voice and be limited in making money, but you'd also be incredibly shameful.

Therefore, in his view, reducing reliance on Jiangxin vegetable market as a source of goods is a step that Tongxingtai must take.

At the same time, he still harbored a glimmer of hope.

Shuidong Mustard is a new product after all. Even though it tastes excellent, it will take time to promote it on a large scale.

This timeframe could be six months or a month.

By then, Tongxingtai may have already completed the substitution of goods.

Therefore, even though the taste of the water mustard had won over Xia Youche, he still decided to pretend he knew nothing about it.

At least we have to wait until the replacement of the source of goods is completed before Tongxingtai can introduce water mustard for sale.

A month is enough time.

...

After a long and tiring journey, Chen Jiazhi returned to his beloved vegetable market.

Compared to the polluted air in the city, living in the countryside is indeed more pleasant and relaxing.

For three consecutive days, Chen Jiazhi spent his time near the market, inspecting his fields, spending time with his wife and children, and refining his recent plans. He was enjoying a leisurely and comfortable life.

The vibrant month of March has passed, which also means that another quarter of the year has gone by.

At that moment, Chen Jiazhi was listing various matters in his office.

Seedling substrate factory, Zengcheng late-season cabbage, Lianzhou cooperative base, Shanghai broccoli, Yuanmou investment promotion, improve the facilities of Pengcun base, expand the base;

And a more ambitious goal: to invest in and build an intensive vegetable seedling factory.

There's still a lot to do.

Chen Jiazhi has been breaking it down one by one over the past few days, and now he has distinguished the order and importance of each step.

First, we can rule out seedling factories, as they take a long time, require a large investment, and have a slow return on investment, so they are not considered in the short term.

The seedling substrate factory should keep things simple for now; there's no need to make them too complicated or advanced. At this stage, the main purpose is for our own use.

The main purpose of attracting investment to Yuanmou is to meet and talk with local leaders in Yuanmou, which requires setting aside time.

Apart from these three, the rest are all of great importance to Chen Jiazhi and belong to the category of base construction.

Because he discovered that as long as he operated it diligently, the base could make money incredibly fast!
A single crop of Chinese kale in March brought in 362.2 million yuan in revenue.

Including other dishes served at the same time, the total cost was 550 million yuan.

The total sales in March were only over 6 million yuan, with the latter half of the month accounting for more than 80%.

Previously, the market's accounts had deducted various expenses, leaving more than 100 million yuan, which is equivalent to having more than 600 million yuan in cash in the accounts now!

Moreover, the market trend continues, and water mustard has gradually supported recent sales.

Before long, he will have another 1000 million in cash flow.

Overall, the vegetable industry has entered a period of stability and saturation, but leafy vegetables alone still have a very strong earning potential!

Therefore, the base should be built where it needs to be built, expanded where it needs to be expanded, and resources should be invested where they are needed.

Zengcheng late-season cabbage, Lianzhou base, Pengcun mustard greens, and even the newly established leafy vegetable base~
Not a single one can be spared.

Moreover, it's time to seize the opportunity and accelerate progress.

For example, Zengcheng late-season cabbage was sown and cultivated in October, which is only 6 months ago. Similarly, Pengcun mustard greens have seen steady increases in distribution to the Guangzhou-Foshan area and in wholesale markets in Shenzhen and Zhongshan over the past three days.

The yield started at 2.3 jin, then increased to 2.86 jin, and now it has risen to around 3 jin.

We have basically reached the upper limit of shipments from the Pengcun base, and production and sales are basically in balance, which is a very comfortable pace.

As a result, the promotion of water mustard slowed down, and the free distribution was completely stopped.

Even if we promote and develop more customers for free, there won't be enough water to supply the market.

Currently, we are relying on the existing channels and waiting for word-of-mouth about the quality to gradually build up.

Once word-of-mouth spreads and influence expands, market demand will naturally increase, and prices can be raised further.

But reputation can develop over time; the construction of the base cannot stop.

In addition to rapidly expanding the production area of ​​the base, supporting facilities such as cold storage should also be built as soon as possible.

Expand the production capacity of Shui Dong mustard as soon as possible.

He now has strong sales capabilities through distribution channels, and his No. 63 channel is currently operating at full capacity.

The amount of bok choy, Chinese cabbage, romaine lettuce, Chinese kale, and common mustard greens that are delivered each day can be sold on the same day.

The sales of Pengcun mustard greens have become increasingly stable, with repeat customers appearing in just three or four days.

In contrast, Tongxingtai's purchase volume has been sluggish.

dong dong dong~
"Please come in."

"Mr. Chen, Tongxingtai's orders for today have decreased by 40 pieces of bok choy."

If you really say Cao Cao, Cao Cao will arrive.

Chen Jiazhi took the order and, sure enough, found that several dozen more bok choy were missing.

However, there are also some amazing aspects.

Chen Jiazhi asked, "Why is there still lettuce?"

Tan Wangji shook his head and joked, "Maybe Boss Xia likes to eat lettuce?"

"Whatever, who cares?"

Chen Jiazhi was unconcerned about Xia Youche's continued order cancellations. Apart from its price weakness, the No. 63 car dealership was now as energetic as a young man in his twenties or thirties.

Selling vegetables is not a problem at all.

On the other hand, if Tongxingtai continues like this, it may not be able to withstand the pressure of customer backlash.

And this lettuce~
Chen Jiazhi felt that the lettuce should be ready.

I wonder if they can withstand the hot and humid summer climate of Guangzhou?
We should give it a try.

As the plan gradually became clearer, Chen Jiazhi began to think about how to arrange and coordinate it.

Some bases are too scattered.

He can't exactly call Ao Deliang back for a meeting, can he?

Ultimately, he decided to give the base manager more autonomy, and he first called Ao Deliang.

He was put in charge of the base expansion, while the headquarters found a construction company to build the supporting cold storage.

Ao Deliang asked, "Boss, how many acres will the base be expanded to this time?"

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "Let's first rent another 200 mu of land to expand to 500 mu. If the base can be expanded to 1000 mu before planting begins in the second half of the year, that would be perfect."

"By the way, does Peng Village still have this much land?"

He remembered that Pengcun was very close to the city, and the risk of its land being expropriated in the future was very high.

He also discussed this with Ao Delian.

"If you want to expand, it's best to develop in other villages. This 1000 mu doesn't have to be all contiguous; it can be divided into two or three sections."

"that is it."

The reason why Pengcun mustard greens will be more often called Shuidong mustard greens in the future is because the local government will also vigorously promote and develop Pengcun mustard greens in other villages in Shuidong Town, and promote them under the unified brand of 'Shuidong mustard greens'.

Chen Jiazhi speculated that the reason was related to the fact that Pengcun had not much land left.

Ao Deliang added, "There's another situation: many local villagers are currently observing the situation, and it's possible that some villagers will follow suit and plant in the second half of the year."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "Let them plant it. What's wrong with Peng Village being planted with mustard greens by the end of the year?"
The company can absorb it all!

That's a pretty domineering statement.

But Chen Jiazhi and Ao Deliang both felt there was nothing wrong with it.

Pengcun doesn't have much land, and it's impossible for the entire village to follow suit. Besides, the company's terminal sales are also booming.

By the end of the year, the influence of water mustard is incomparable to what it was before.

After speaking with Ao Deliang, Chen Jiazhi then approached Huang Chuan and asked him to assist in building a cold storage facility at the Pengcun base.

After making the arrangements, he started thinking about Zengcheng late-season cabbage. He had previously roughly selected Xiaolou Town as the location, but he had been too busy recently and no one had paid attention to it for some time.

We need to find someone else to continue searching for land.

After much deliberation, he assigned the task to Xue Jun and roughly outlined the procedures.

First find the land, then negotiate, and once it's leased, appoint a factory manager who understands production. Six months should be enough.

Then came the broccoli from the Lianzhou cooperative base and Shanghai. He called to check if everything was normal, emphasized a few key points, and then didn't concern himself with it anymore.

Then there's the seedling substrate factory, and a trip to Yuanmou~
The meeting was arranged by local leaders in Yuanmou, and it was difficult to refuse. It had already been delayed for so long, so Chen Jiazhi called Ma Ming back and set the date for April 6, which was four days later.

At that time, preliminary results on the survival rate of grafted seedlings will be available, and preparations for substrate production can begin.

Considering transportation issues, three locations need to be set up: one each in Huacheng, Yuanmou, and Shanghai. Since the requirements for self-use are not high, we can start with something simple and focus on the formula.

Finally, there's talent recruitment~
After arranging everything, Chen Jiazhi leaned back on the sofa, gently rubbing his temples with his fingers. Thinking for so long had taken a toll on his mind.

Before he knew it, a pair of soft hands touched his forehead. Chen Jiazhi glanced up and then closed his eyes to rest.

(End of this chapter)