1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 431 The Hasty Journey to Yuanmou
"Old Chen, Huacheng is still the best. You can find any private enterprise here that can take on a great responsibility."

"Hey, you old fox, I'm trying to have a good chat with you, but you're being sarcastic."

Chen Guanye expressed his dissatisfaction, saying that the idea of ​​private enterprises taking the lead in poverty alleviation was simply a sarcastic remark.
"Just kidding, don't be angry."

It hadn't been two years since the market was fully opened up, and Jiang Yiren knew that the other party was still a bit sensitive.

Chen Guanye added, "You can check how well Kaopu Fresh is doing in Shanghai when you get back."

"It's natural."

After having dinner and resting, Jiang Yiren had someone investigate the Fanrong Vegetable Market.

He was surprised by the booming export earnings; a 580-acre vegetable market earned more than $220 million in foreign exchange this year.

The secretary told him that this single statistic alone surpassed all the vegetable and horticultural farms in Shanghai.

In response to the "vegetable basket project," Shanghai has invested in and built many state-owned and collective horticultural farms in recent years.

However, the average output value per mu is only around 5000 yuan, which is vastly different from the output value per mu of the prosperous vegetable market.

Jiang Yiren couldn't help but ask, "How can the difference be so great!"

The secretary replied, "It should be due to different business objectives. The main task of state-owned and collective horticultural farms is to ensure supply and stabilize vegetable prices in the city, while the prosperity vegetable market is for profit, with exports accounting for more than 95%."

“But the difference shouldn’t be this great. Local vegetable companies also export.” Jiang Yiren sighed, “It really is a dragon crossing the river. No, not quite a dragon crossing the river. They hardly do anything in the local market.”

Thinking about this, Jiang Yiren was still unsure what role the prosperous vegetable market could play in the Shanghai-Yunnan cooperation.

Helping Yunnan export vegetables is a bit difficult, but it also gave him ideas on how to sell Yunnan's agricultural products, including vegetables, to Shanghai.

However, in the vegetable sector, Shanghai clearly has a much better selection than the bustling vegetable market.

Shanghai Vegetable Company, established in 1956, operates several vegetable wholesale markets and more than 300 state-owned vegetable stores. Its annual vegetable sales volume consistently accounts for more than 7% of the city's total.

In comparison, the Prosperity Vegetable Market only boasts an impressive per-acre output value, but its scale and impact are far smaller than those of the Shanghai Vegetable Company.

Jiang Yiren murmured, "Old Chen, Old Chen, your vision is still too narrow."

However, the secretary soon brought him more bad news: the Shanghai Vegetable Company's business was not performing well.

Let alone making money, it would be good enough if he could just break even. If you asked him to invest in poverty alleviation in the four prefectures of Yunnan, the business might fail before the base even starts production.

Jiang Yiren blushed, thinking about the current state of most state-owned enterprises, and felt that poverty alleviation work was really impossible to carry out.

However, the bustling market still caught his eye, and he planned to observe it for a while before making a decision.

Woo~
The green train weaves through high mountains and deep valleys, passing bridges and tunnels, and then bridges again, with the Longchuan River appearing and disappearing intermittently.

Upon arriving at Yuanmou Station, Li Xiu looked down from the platform and saw the Longchuan River nestled in a deep red soil canyon, surprisingly slender.

Occasionally a breeze blows, but instead of feeling cold on the face, it feels somewhat hot.

This wasn't Li Xiu's first visit to Yuanmou, but this time he felt more deeply that Yuanmou was different.

"Jiazhi, it's still like summer, it's a bit hot."

The Shanghai market was a bit cool in mid-to-late October, as was Kunming, but Yuanmou was still as hot as summer.

Chen Jiazhi said, "What's the big deal? Let's go, the older generation is probably still waiting."

Not far away, Chen Jiazhi saw Li Mingkun by the roadside, leaning against a van, his skin even darker.

The van was only provided this year, and Li Mingkun also got his driver's license and learned to drive.

Li Mingkun also saw the two of them and was about to offer them cigarettes when Chen Jiazhi said, "Take mine."

Li Mingkun didn't refuse, took the cigarette, and said, "Yi Dinggan just called and said that a leader from Huacheng is looking for you and wants you to call back as soon as you arrive."

Li Mingkun handed the car keys to Chen Jiazhi, saying, "You drive it, I'm not very good at driving."

Chen Jiazhi said, "It's alright, you drive slowly, there's no rush. Let me see how well you drive. A man can't say he can't do it, or Bai Yan might dump you."

"Alright, let me show you my skills."

In fact, Li Mingkun drove very steadily, just like his style of doing things. He was extremely steady, and he would drive at 30 km/h if he could drive at 40 km/h. Even motorcycles could drive faster than him.

Upon arriving at Nanfan Village in Yuanma Town, Chen Jiazhi first called Yi Dinggan back and soon learned that Kang Ming had officially informed him that he and Chen Guanye would be going to Baise in November.

In addition, the recent achievements of Heli Farm were praised.

Furthermore, Kang Ming also said that if the subsequent driving effect is significant, he would not rule out providing Heli Agriculture with a municipal or even provincial-level modern agricultural park project.

These will all have direct financial support, as well as supporting infrastructure.

For Heli Agriculture, this is naturally a good thing; icing on the cake is always better than nothing.

After hanging up the phone, Li Xiu and Li Mingkun, who were waiting outside the office, followed him in.

Li Xiu asked, "Jiazhi, what's the matter that's causing such a rush?"

“That’s good,” Chen Jiazhi said. “Heli Agriculture’s work has been praised by the leaders of Huacheng. It may be supported by a large provincial project with direct funding in the future.”

Li Xiu smiled and said, "No wonder Brother Yi was in such a hurry; he's rushing to share the good news."

Hearing about the provincial-level project support, Li Mingkun was somewhat moved, but also dissatisfied. He had thought something serious had happened, which was why he rushed to find his boss, almost speeding along the way, only to find out it was all for nothing. "Hey, Yi Dinggan, why is he keeping this a secret? He could have just asked me to pass it on!"

Chen Jiazhi added, "There are some other things. My boss asked me to go to Baise with him next month and told me to go back to Huacheng as soon as possible to prepare."

Li Mingkun said, "You're already being urged to go back as soon as you arrive. That's not right. Yuanmou also needs the boss's guidance. I heard that under the boss's guidance, Fanrong Vegetable Market has undergone a complete transformation this year."

Chen Jiazhi was somewhat surprised, "You also know about the prosperity?"

Li Mingkun nodded and said, "We learn from each other. I sometimes contact other bases. Among all the bases, Yuanmou is in the worst situation right now."

"I think you're being modest again."

It was still early, so Chen Jiazhi got up and said, "Let's go, let's inspect the fields first. We'll finish checking the Yuanma today, then go to Huangguayuan Town tomorrow, and then head back to Huacheng."

"No, stay a couple more days," Li Mingkun said urgently. "The broccoli at the Fanrong Market is doing so well; Yuanmou needs the same example to inspire them."

When it came to broccoli, Chen Jiazhi got even more excited. Yuanmou is suitable for the breeding and propagation of cruciferous vegetables, and he had even mentioned broccoli seed production to Peng Qian.

Li Mingkun followed behind, constantly complaining to Li Xiu. Li Xiu could tell that he genuinely wanted Jia Zhi to give him advice.

After all, Jiazhi has proven his magic many times over.

Yunling Agriculture's 150-mu base in Yuanma Town remains unchanged, consisting of 50 mu of seedling greenhouses and 100 mu of open-air base.

However, the details have changed significantly.

The 100-mu open-air base is no longer used for growing vegetables; instead, it has been transformed into a seed production base.

This batch was planted entirely with bok choy; as far as the eye could see, there were golden cauliflower flowers, while the green leaves became mere embellishments.

Peng Qian quickly came over and said, "This year, the vegetable markets have basically achieved self-sufficiency in the seeds of Chinese cabbage and Chinese kale, and the germination rate and growth performance reported from the front lines are also quite good."

Chen Jiazhi nodded and said, "I often inspect the fields, and the seeds are of high purity with few hybrids."

Yuanmou has a real advantage in producing vegetable seeds. In addition to producing seeds of Chinese cabbage and kale, Peng Qian has also carried out a lot of breeding experiments.

However, breeding is a long process, and although Chen Jiazhi is interested, it is difficult for him to devote much more energy to breeding.

All we could do was suggest some breeding directions and let Peng Qian and his team try them out.

Chen Jiazhi also saw that broccoli breeding is currently still at the stage of screening and collecting resources.

Some people use Japanese broccoli seeds for seed production, and then screen and purify them, but the offspring do not show good genetic performance.

Chen Jiazhi wasn't in a hurry; it was good that someone was doing it.

After learning about the seed work, Chen Jiazhi went to the nursery.

By this time, the planting of seedlings for winter vegetables in Yuanmou has been basically completed.

The nursery sold a total of 10 million seedlings this year, generating nearly 1 million yuan in sales revenue.

More than half of the seedlings were grafted, a significant improvement over last year.

In the screening and utilization of rootstock resources, some grafting combinations that are better suited to certain situations have also been found.

After finishing his work, it was already evening, so Li Mingkun asked the canteen to prepare a sumptuous meal.

Chen Jiazhi also took this opportunity to briefly discuss work.

He really didn't have any good advice. Planting seeds and seedlings is not like growing vegetables; it requires more patience.

It's practically impossible for him to turn lead into gold.

The next morning, Chen Jiazhi had Li Mingkun drive the van to Huangguayuan Town.

After the car had only been driving for a short while, Chen Jiazhi replaced Li Mingkun, who was driving, and took the driver's seat himself.

Li Mingkun was driving too slowly and too steadily.

Working on seeds and seedlings requires slowing down and stabilizing, but growing vegetables, in addition to stabilizing, also requires a strong will.

Among all the managers of the vegetable market, Li Mingkun is probably the only one who hasn't yet had the mentality of gambling on the market and taking a chance.

Heading north along the national highway, we soon arrived at the base in Huangguayuan Town.

The plastic greenhouses stretch out in a continuous line, a unique feature on the flat dam area. Inside the greenhouses, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, and other vegetables representative of Yunnan agriculture are grown.

Chen Jiazhi looked around and saw that it was already harvest season.

The cucumber vines climb the fastest and most wildly; the tomato seedlings are crowded together, like a green wall; the eggplant leaves are the largest and heaviest, and the grafting point between the scion and the rootstock is the most obvious and very thick, which may also be one of the proofs of its strong potential.

After finishing the last eggplant, Chen Jiazhi stood on the banks of the Longchuan River, with Li Mingkun, Wang Yongxiang, Qi Xinghuai, and others standing beside him.

Baskets of vegetables were being continuously transported out of the greenhouse, and Li Xiu followed them with her camera, snapping photos incessantly.

Chen Jiazhi offered cigarettes to Li Mingkun and the others, saying, "Old Li, you're too modest. This is no worse than the broccoli from Fanrong."

Li Mingkun asked, "Are you planning to go back this afternoon?"

Chen Jiazhi took a puff of his cigarette and said, "Look, you can judge this matter so accurately, so formulating a planting plan is a piece of cake for you too."

(End of this chapter)