1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 424 Preparations
People always grow as they move forward.

In his previous life, Chen Jiazhi paid little attention to the economy and national affairs, focusing only on his small plot of land where he grew and sold vegetables.

However, the vegetable industry is also closely related to the country's economic development.

Now that he's in his current position, combined with some industry changes from his previous life, he has a clearer understanding of the industry's development trajectory and can even get a glimpse of the international economic situation.

Large vegetable markets nowadays are obsessed with exports. For example, Tung Sing Farm only supplies Hong Kong and exports, and does not conduct sales in mainland China.

He thought of his boss from his previous life, who might have also left Dongsheng after the economic crisis.

Dong Sheng likely started focusing on the mainland market after its exports suffered during the economic crisis.

In this process, heavy losses were inevitable, and many vegetable markets went bankrupt and closed down during this period.

Now, Chen Jiazhi has recognized this crisis and is proactively cultivating the mainland market.

Exports will not be abandoned, but the focus will definitely shift in the short term.

This process will be difficult, as at least 160 tons of vegetables per day are not easy to digest, and the profits are not as high as those from exports, but the future is bright.

Li Xiu and Chen Jiafang brought Dou Dou to the courtyard, where the moonlight was bright.

"The moon is so round tonight."

Chen Jiazhi: "It is quite round, so it can be considered an early moon viewing."

Li Xiu said, "Jiazhi, aren't you going to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival at home?"

She knew that the market pressure was not as easy as Jiazhi had made it out to be at the dinner table.

Chen Jiazhi did not deny it, saying that he would go back to the city after lunch tomorrow, and he would also be busy with the market in the city during the National Day holiday.

"I will go with you."

“Okay.” Chen Jiazhi agreed readily, saying, “The three-day National Day holiday will be very busy, and having you with me will give me a powerful helper.”

Li Xiu said, "No problem, I can help out in the sorting workshop."

Peng Guozhen and Chen Shaochang brought over stools, and the family continued chatting in the yard. Chen Jiazhi felt that setting up a barbecue stall would make it perfect.

The next day, the rooster crowed at dawn.

Chen Jiazhi gently removed Li Xiu's hand from his embrace; it was very smooth, which startled Li Xiu.

"Jiazhi, are you up yet?"

Li Xiu groggily opened her eyes. It was still dark, she had stayed up late the night before.

"You should sleep a little longer. It seems like Second Sister and Brother Yi have gone out. I'll go check on them."

"Hmm~ I'll come back for breakfast later."

Vegetable farmers are probably one of the groups that sleep in the least. It was still barely dawn when Chen Jiazhi stood on the edge of the village and could vaguely see farmers working in the vegetable fields in the distance.

As you get closer, you can see the workers digging up the seedlings, while another group of people are planting seedlings further away.

"Planting in the morning when there is dew will increase the survival rate, and it won't be as hot as at noon."

Chen Jiafang wore dew-proof sleeves, and her face showed no signs of early morning fatigue. As she walked back and forth, she gave Chen Jiazhi an explanation.

Chen Jiazhi asked again, "Where did Brother Yi go?"

"It's over there in the cold storage," Chen Jiafang said. "We need to harvest the vegetables; we've prepared quite a bit today."

Compared to Jiangxin Market, the Zengcheng base has more complete infrastructure.

Moreover, foam box factories, cold storage facilities, roads and ditches, water and electricity have also received policy subsidies.

In addition, there is a subsidy of 400 yuan per mu for building the base, which is roughly the same level as the Congyu Vegetable Market invested in Conghua.

However, Heli Agriculture received significantly more support in terms of infrastructure, which allowed the base to start at a higher level.

However, there is still a lot of room for improvement.

The vegetable market still hasn't achieved fully automated micro-sprinkler irrigation; it's just that some flexibility was left in the design of the vegetable fields.

Once the manufacturer that Hongzhong contacted comes up with the cheapest solution, it can be used directly.

There is still room for improvement in areas such as the "interspersed households" within the base and the paving of roads.

However, these things will have to be gradually improved after Heli Farm becomes profitable.

"It's a bit messy, it will take some time to sort it out."

When they arrived at the cold storage, Yi Dinggan was arranging for people to clean up and take inventory of the supplies; the scene was chaotic.

Chen Jiazhi handed Yi Dinggan a cigarette, saying, "It doesn't matter if it's chaotic. As long as the market can produce vegetables quickly, everything can be improved gradually."

"As long as you understand."

Yi Dinggan breathed a sigh of relief; he had been under considerable pressure.

It only took him a little over two years to go from a small vegetable farmer to managing a 3000-mu (approximately 200 hectares) large-scale base.

Moreover, they started building the base from scratch, only bringing in a few key personnel before getting right to work.

If you want to sort everything out before planting vegetables, the time and financial pressure will be enormous.

Yi Dinggan's idea was simple: focus on the main task, get the vegetables grown first, and then solve problems as they arise.

With income coming in, all problems can be gradually solved.

Chen Jiazhi is very familiar with this routine.

When he first started working independently in his previous life, he learned this trick from Yi Dinggan.

Not having enough money in his pocket, but wanting to go it alone, he and Li Xiu rented an orchard and planted vegetables between the rows of orchards. The rent was only a little over one hundred yuan per mu.

The orchard was overgrown with weeds that were half a person tall, but Chen Jiazhi only took a month from renting the land to harvesting the vegetables.

When the vegetables were harvested, the land hadn't been fully cleared yet, but once the vegetables were sold, the funds gradually became more abundant.

He rented that land for nine months, bought his first minivan, and saved his first 100,000 yuan. Subsequently, he developed a habit of quick and efficient operations every time he opened a new base.

The Zengcheng base has only expanded in size and laid a more solid foundation, but it is still essentially a project built on a shortcut.

From acquiring the land in mid-to-late July to harvesting vegetables at the end of September, it only took two months, which is quite remarkable for a large vegetable market of 3000 mu.

Chen Jiazhi was very glad that he had put Yi Dinggan in charge of the Zengcheng base. Besides Yi Dinggan, only he himself could do it.

As dawn broke, the fiery red sun gradually climbed up from behind the mountains, and it was another sunny day.

"Jiazhi, dinner's ready!"

After hearing Li Xiu's shout, Chen Jiazhi and Yi Dinggan went home to have breakfast.

As soon as I entered, I saw Yi Long and Yi Hu eating mooncakes.

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "You two are really something, eating mooncakes this morning!"

Yi Long said, "Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, Uncle. You're leaving this afternoon. What's the difference between eating mooncakes in the morning and in the afternoon?"

"Jiazhi, don't argue with him. Let them eat whatever they want. I cooked noodles for you, come and eat." Peng Guozhen brought out a bowl of noodles with minced meat sauce.

Chen Jiazhi felt that a bowl of steaming hot noodles with minced meat sauce was more to his liking for breakfast.

He didn't go out again in the morning, but stayed at home with his mother to prepare a Mid-Autumn Festival lunch, cooking a sumptuous meal.

The whole family had a lively lunch together, which was like celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Even now, Chen Shaochang and Peng Guozhen know that their son's business is growing bigger and bigger, and there are some things that the family should help out with, and they are not old yet.

"Jiazhi, remember to eat on time when you're away from home. You always forget to eat when you're busy."

"Okay, Mom. Li Xiu is coming with me this time. She'll remind me to eat. You should also drink less alcohol at home."

Chen Jiazhi bid farewell to his family. With him, his second sister, and Yi Dinggan watching over him, the two elders drank quite quietly.

Although their health is currently good, Chen Jiazhi plans to have the two elders undergo a thorough medical check-up.

"Second Sister, Brother Yi, I'm leaving the family to you."

"Don't worry about leaving it to me, brother." Yi Dinggan hadn't drunk any alcohol at noon, but he still sounded like he was talking drunk.

"Jiazhi, Lixiu, be careful while you're out."

Chen Jiazhi gave Yi Long and Yi Hu some more instructions on their studies, and then left Lapu Village under Dou Dou's tearful gaze.

After receiving Yi Dinggan's message, Chen Zhengxu and Li Cai began preparations early on.

Chicken heart mustard started with only 30 tons, but has been slowly increasing. According to data provided by Ao Deliang, it may need to reach 60 tons per day at its peak, since a single crop of 1000 mu is estimated to yield 1750 tons.

The second crop, which is the best quality chicken heart mustard, has an even higher yield.

Jiangxin vegetable market guarantees a minimum of 25-30 tons per day.

Now, the Zengcheng base has arrived, and once it enters a stable period, the daily output will be 70-100 tons in autumn and winter.

Combined, the conservative daily output is 125 tons, and the maximum daily output is nearly 200 tons.

This is just leafy greens; there will be an increase in supply once the winter-grown vegetables from Lianzhou are on the market.

Chen Jiazhi listened to Chen Zhengxu and Li Cai's plan in his office.

Chen Zhengxu said, "I have spoken with wholesalers I have worked with before, including those from Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, and Shenzhen, who are willing to cooperate with us."

In addition, the distribution center in Shenzhen has continued its strategy of providing free services at the beginning of the year, and has recently been delivering goods to major restaurants and hotels for free.

In addition, other major cities will also establish distribution centers to further penetrate the catering market.

Chen Zhengxu did a lot of work this year; he has a long list of clients and maintains regular contact with them.

The proposed solution is also quite reliable.

The cities of Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Foshan, and Macau together have a population of over 1800 million.

Establishing partnerships with wholesalers in these cities can solve a large part of the sales volume.

In addition, there's stall number 63 in Huacheng and Tongxingtai in Xiangjiang, which basically covers the entire Pearl River Delta.

Meanwhile, the distribution center is gradually penetrating into the catering industry.

With a two-pronged approach, if Kaopu Fresh can cultivate the market for two or three years, it will be able to dominate the largest leafy vegetable market in China.

When that time comes, it will be extremely difficult for large vegetable markets that currently focus on exports to shift their focus to the domestic market.

"Let's proceed with this plan, although some details still need to be refined."

Chen Jiazhi nodded and said, "For example, the customer segmentation of each vegetable market can be further refined to shorten the transportation distance."

"In addition, you can communicate with the market manager about planting plans and adjust the varieties and acreage according to the market."

Jiangxin Market is only 30 kilometers away from ZS City in a straight line. Further south are Zhuhai and Macau. Alternatively, it can be transported by ship to Shenzhen.

Chen Zhengxu had already made some preliminary plans, and upon hearing that the planting plan could be adjusted, he seemed to be deep in thought.

Each city does have different preferences for different types of vegetables; some people like bok choy, while others prefer Chinese kale.

This is indeed a question worth studying in depth, Chen Zhengxu silently made a note in his notebook.

Chen Jiazhi then looked at Li Cai, "God of Wealth, the stall can be expanded now. Let's open another stall in Shenzhen."

Li Cai took a deep breath and said, "I've been prepared for a long time, and I've already chosen the stalls."

Chen Jiazhi had to admire his own judgment; with Chen Zhengxu and Li Cai working together, things were going very smoothly.

Delivery and stalls are all ready.

Chen Jiazhi contacted Xia Youche again, "Mr. Xia, Heli Farm will be producing vegetables for the National Day holiday, 70 tons a day. How much can you help us with?"

Xia Youche didn't realize for a moment that the vegetables were ready to be served in just two months.

(End of this chapter)