1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 446 Sharp Knife and Blade
Bang bang bang~
The calculator kept clicking, and although Chen Jiazhi had already figured out the answer in his mind, he just couldn't help pressing the keys.

Hearing the familiar button sound, Xia Youche smiled and said, "The price increase process was relatively easy overall. Apart from asking us to stabilize the quality and supply, they didn't raise any other objections."

Chen Jiazhi hummed in agreement and then asked, "How about expanding the menu for other dishes?"

Xia Youche pondered for a moment and said, "We have a high penetration rate on that list of high-quality customers. After all, our other dishes are also of high quality, so securing the orders shouldn't be a problem."

However, in the mass market, apart from late-season bok choy and mustard greens, the sales volume of other vegetables has not changed significantly.

After a pause, Xia Youche said, "Hexing and Yonglong have too much control over their intermediaries and retailers, which makes the intermediaries and retailers very hesitant."

Both Hop Hing and Wing Lung have strong triad characteristics and have always used less-than-honorable methods. At the same time, they occupy the largest market share in the Hong Kong Vegetable Wholesale Market.

Tung Hing Tai also has intermediary and retail clients, but these are mainly concentrated in Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po, and they are not exclusive to any of them; Hop Hing and Wing Lung can also get involved.

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "It's not advisable to confront Hexing and Yonglong head-on right now. It would be good if we could push out the late-season cabbage and chicken heart mustard. By the way, do Hexing and Yonglong have any lettuce?"

"Yes," Xia Youche said. "Some are imported from the United States, and some are from Taiwan. The quality is no worse than ours. To compete, we may have to rely on price advantage."

"Well, I see."

Chen Jiazhi did not mention the price reduction of lettuce, even though there is currently a lot of room for price reduction in Italian lettuce.

Overall, Tongxingtai is doing quite well, gradually encroaching on Taiji's business in Yuhe District.

But after winning over the business, it's also necessary to solidify the partnership, which often means ensuring a stable supply, stable quality, stable quantity, and stable service...

It will take time to fully absorb this part of the market.

During this process, Tongxingtai not only expands its sales volume, but also adjusts its customer structure, with a significant increase in high-quality customers.

As for whether to challenge the positions of Hop Hing and Wing Lung, we can only wait and see.

Perhaps Hexing and Yonglong are also keeping an eye on Tongxingtai.

After ending the call, Chen Jiazhi picked up his pen, ready to continue thinking about what had just happened, when the phone rang again.

"Hello, who is it?"

"I am Xu Wenxiang. Mr. Chen, are you free right now? I need your help."

Chen Jiazhi was slightly surprised. Although he had been staying at the Spruce Hotel in the city recently, he rarely met Xu Wenxiang because he was out early and back late.

He put down his pen, thinking that Xu Wenxiang had encountered something serious.

"Mr. Xu, just say so. If you can help me, you definitely will."

“You can definitely help with this,” Xu Wenxiang said slowly. “Also, prepare some late-season cabbage for Yunshan every day.”

"That's it?" Chen Jiazhi was taken aback.

Xu Wenxiang hummed and said, "Isn't that enough? Why don't you try to invite Cai Lan to Yunshan again, Mr. Chen?"
I spoke with Mr. Huang on the phone yesterday, and he went on and on about how successful Huang's Restaurant is. It's truly enviable. We're both shareholders, and we've both put in the effort; Boss Chen can't afford to favor one over the other.

A strong sense of jealousy seemed to waft over him, but Chen Jiazhi said calmly, "I didn't invite Cai Lan; Tong Xingtai did."

"I know, Xia Youche's son Xia Yang, the one who ate raw late-season cabbage hearts."

Xu Wenxiang changed the subject and said, "But I bet you were the one who planned this too. Why not just plan it again?"

Chen Jiazhi: "I didn't force him to eat late-season cabbage. He probably just really likes to eat it raw. It's Cai Lan's skill to get him to eat it, but I can't do that."

After a pause, Chen Jiazhi quickly added, "Alright, I've arranged things for Chi Caixin. If there's nothing else, I'll hang up. I have a lot of things to do."

"Tsk... Boss Chen still thinks he hasn't made enough money..." Hearing the busy tone of the phone, Xu Wenxiang felt that the person on the other end of the line was like a money-making machine, with the momentum getting stronger and stronger and the business growing bigger and bigger.

In contrast, Spruce Hotel has been on a downward trend.

Meanwhile, Chen Jiazhi called Chen Zhengxu and asked him to deliver late-season cabbage to Yunshan.

"Xu He already told me!"

"You didn't agree?"

“Yunshan is a shareholder, after all, and President Xu introduced me to so many people. How could I possibly disagree? The orders are all written, and the delivery people have already set off.”

Chen Jiazhi raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Xu Wenxiang is calling me for no reason~"

Chen Zhengxu smiled and said, "Maybe she just wants to have a chat with the major shareholder, after all, the company's performance has been outstanding recently."

"That's possible. Oh well, let's leave it at that."

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment, then quickly put the matter out of his mind and continued writing in his notebook about alternative sources of goods for summer and cost reduction.

He currently has two ideas for alternative sources of goods in the summer: one is to go to Yunnan, and the other is to choose a nearby location. It is currently a matter of choosing between them.

He made a note of the matter and then called Hong Zhong. After the call connected, the two discussed the issue of agricultural supplies in detail, advocating for saving where possible, producing what could be produced domestically, and avoiding large-scale purchases of agricultural supplies in the near future.

This is also part of cost reduction.

At the same time, Chen Jiazhi learned about the current price trend of seeds. With market-oriented reforms, commercial seeds have gained attention and their prices have increased.

Then Chen Jiazhi called Yuanmou, asking Li Mingkun and Peng Qian to organize the expansion of the breeding scale.

Reliable Fresh Produce ensures that the main seeds for its products, such as bok choy, Chinese kale, lettuce, and mustard greens, are self-propagated and used, which can save costs and even generate profits.

After doing all this, Chen Jiazhi prepared to go to the market to find the designers of Green Vine.

However, just as he reached the door, Ao Dehai called the office again.

"Boss, the broccoli sowing and seedling cultivation for this year has been completed."

"Okay, good." Chen Jiazhi asked, "How many acres of broccoli do you plan to plant this year?"

Ao Dehai hesitated for a moment before saying, "Maybe... probably... I estimated it to be around 700 mu."

Chen Jiazhi fell silent.

After speaking out, Ao Dehai felt much better and added, "Besides these 700 mu, there are another 300 to 400 mu that can be used to grow leafy vegetables, so it won't delay the delivery of the leafy vegetables."

Ao Dehai cautiously probed again, "Boss, did I do something wrong?"

"It's a bit radical, but it's fine."

Chen Jiazhi recalled that Ao Dehai had asked him a few days ago, but he was busy with the Chi Cai Xin matter at the time, so he told Ao Dehai to handle it himself.

"That's good." Ao Dehai breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I think the broccoli has a good chance this year. Qingguo Co., Ltd. is currently negotiating an order contract with Fanrong in advance. They can take on a contract for 700 acres."

Last year, Qingguo lost to Taihang Co., Ltd. in the competition, so this year they are very proactive, starting to contact Fanrong Vegetable Market from the very beginning of planting.

Although Taihang has not yet responded, Qingguo's headquarters are in Tokyo's Ota Market, and in terms of sales alone, it is no worse than Taihang.

As Ao Dehai recounted his story, Chen Jiazhi came to understand Ao Dehai's motives.

Broccoli has a market and is profitable, so this decision is indeed sound.

Adjusting planting plans flexibly according to the situation is also something a farm manager should do.

Chen Jiazhi just felt that the Shanghai base was a bit too small.
In particular, Ao Dehai demonstrated the potential of a decision-maker.

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "Dehai, would you like to take on more responsibilities?"

Ao Dehai paused for a moment, then quickly said, "Yes, I think about it every day. I want to build the broccoli quick-freezing factory as soon as possible."

"Boss, I think frozen broccoli has great export potential, especially since the Japanese and South Korean markets have a huge demand for off-season broccoli."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "Okay, if this batch of broccoli is successful, we'll import the equipment and build a factory, but we'll have to find a separate location to build a broccoli base."

Broccoli is different from leafy greens, so there's no need to build a base in the suburbs of big cities. Leafy greens should still be the main focus in the suburbs.

You should also take some time to research the location for the broccoli farm.

"Okay, boss."

Ao Dehai felt valued by his boss and took another step closer to his goal.

Thinking about the current situation of Pengcun Base that he learned from Ao Deliang, Ao Dehai felt that time was of the essence. Everyone was rushing forward, and he couldn't fall behind.

Chen Jiazhi waited in the office for a while, making sure there were no more phone calls, before heading to the vegetable field.

The temperature was still low in the morning, and a thin mist shrouded the vegetable fields, making it difficult to see people's faces from a distance.

While inspecting the fields, Chen Jiazhi inquired about the situation. After learning that the people from Green Vine Company were at the second field, he drove to Paitan, where Yi Dinggan was also present.

A meeting was then organized to discuss the micro-sprinkler irrigation design scheme.

Chen Jiazhi reviewed the design draft.

"Cut it off."

"This one should be cut too."

"Why use such a high-end nozzle?" "Won't it get clogged after a while? I don't plan to use it that long. I'm fine with replacing the nozzle every year, or even every few months..."

Even though he already knew that the boss of Kaopu Fresh was stingy, Cao Yu, the technical director of Green Vine, realized that he had underestimated him after meeting him in person.

"Mr. Chen, we could actually loosen the budget a bit, so that the later maintenance wouldn't be so troublesome."

Chen Jiazhi looked up and said, "Why should I defend him? Can't I just replace such cheap stuff every year?"

“I can even replace the cheap nozzles every three months. If the volume increases, won’t your manufacturers also make money?”

Cao Yu had something to say but couldn't. He had been staying at Heli Agriculture recently, participating in surveys and pipeline design, and had visited the three vegetable markets in Xiaolou, Paitan, and Zhengguo.

He inevitably compared Heli to Congyu. He suffered a setback with Congyu and felt resentful, so he wanted to switch gears and target foreign irrigation equipment manufacturers.

I initially thought that Reliable Fresh, which only uses cheap products, must be terrible. However, the reality is quite the opposite.

Heli's vegetable market is just as good as Congyu's.

In the past few days, he observed that the amount of vegetables produced far exceeded that of Congyu. In his casual conversations with the management staff, he also learned that Heli Farm was very profitable.

They have even gained a dominant advantage in the clash between Hong Kong and Congyu.

Ironically, even such a profitable company is still trying to save money, especially after the big boss intervened; the other party is still trying to cut costs.
Even if you cut it down any further, it'll be gone.

However, he didn't feel comfortable offering any objections, and occasionally even thought that Boss Chen was the true orthodox heretic cultivator.
After numerous revisions, a draft that was not simple but very cost-effective was finally placed on the table.

Chen Jiazhi squinted and said, "President Cao, can Green Vine make it according to these standards?"

"can!"

Cao Yu spoke with absolute certainty, saying that now they have no choice but to go down this path to the bitter end, prioritizing customer service and cost-effectiveness above all else.

Chen Jiazhi nodded and said, "Then let's draft a contract and get started as soon as possible. If you're worrying so much about something that's only worth three or four hundred yuan, how are you going to make any money? I'm worried about you."

To say that Chen Jiazhi knows a lot about irrigation would be an exaggeration.

But he has a wealth of experience in how to save money and to what extent to meet usage needs.

What is the primary purpose of installing micro-sprinkler irrigation systems?
One advantage is saving labor and improving efficiency, but considering the investment of 6000 yuan per mu, no matter how much you save, you can't recoup that money.

Therefore, micro-sprinkler irrigation has another more important function: better control and regulation of water and fertilizer management, resulting in higher yields and better quality of vegetables.

After all, the skill levels of workers vary greatly, and irresponsible watering can kill the vegetables.

Micro-sprinkler irrigation, on the other hand, has the advantages of uniformity, stability, and convenience, which will greatly help improve the planting technology level of vegetable markets.

However, to achieve these goals, it is not necessary to simply pursue expensive or imported products.

Netafim's irrigation equipment is indeed good, world-class, but in terms of cost-effectiveness, it is not cost-effective at all.

In Chen Jiazhi's view, Congyu was definitely being taken advantage of, or perhaps had ulterior motives, since Yang Jianzun was not the only shareholder of Congyu.

His plan was indeed a bit shabby, but its cost-effectiveness was off the charts.

It can save labor and improve efficiency to a certain extent, and can also achieve the purpose of unified control of water and fertilizer and assist in management.

Most importantly, it's really cheap, only three or four hundred yuan per mu. What more could you ask for?

After finalizing the plan, Chen Jiazhi added, "President Cao, we also need to provide unified training on micro-sprinkler irrigation and fertilizer management to the technical plant protection workers in the vegetable market, and it would be best to develop a set of usage guidelines."

This part can be paid for separately by the company, but it must be done well. Find experienced people or invite experts and professors in this field.

At the same time, General Manager Yi should also organize employees to regularly summarize experiences, analyze results, and improve usage methods.

Cao Yu and Yi Dinggan agreed one after the other.

That settled the matter.

The next step is to carry out comprehensive micro-sprinkler irrigation retrofits and installations at all bases.

Chen Jiazhi also took the time to review his own experience in using water and fertilizer, and incorporated it into the technical guidelines for Cao Yu.

After reading Chen Jiazhi's reflections, Cao Yu was slightly taken aback. You could say that Boss Chen was stingy, but you couldn't say that he was unprofessional.

He even listed out which vegetables needed water spraying, what time of day to spray them, and how long to spray them.

The level of detail made Cao Yu wonder if it was fabricated by Boss Chen.

However, the vegetable growing techniques he used to grow from a small vegetable farmer into a large vegetable market and company cannot be faked.

During the process of formulating and revising the technical charter, Cao Yu also communicated with Mr. Chen many times, and each time he gained a brand new understanding.

Even at midday, it was chilly outdoors due to the continuous rain.

Cao Yu led Chen Jiazhi to a lettuce patch and said, "Mr. Chen, it seems that controlling the water in lettuce is also difficult; the heart of the lettuce is prone to twisting and rotting."

"Have you spoken to Director Guo and General Manager Yi?"

"I told them, and they said it's always been like this, and it's even more difficult to control the temperature and water in the summer."

Chen Jiazhi squatted down, touched the lettuce with both hands, and gently broke it open to look at the heart leaves. They were icy cold, and there was indeed some rot inside the leaves.

“The recent continuous rainy weather is one reason,” Chen Jiazhi recalled, then added, “The lettuce itself may also be a factor.”

He summoned Guo Mancang and inquired about various aspects such as production volume and management milestones.

Guo Mancang also stayed at the scene and asked, "Boss, is there a problem with the lettuce?"

Dali lettuce sells very well in the market and is one of Heli Farm's signature products.

Chen Jiazhi was half-squatting as he observed each lettuce plant. The shape, size, appearance, and color of the plants seemed to be fine; they were very beautiful and had a clear advantage over ordinary varieties of lettuce.

In the past, the management of vegetable markets also paid great attention to temperature and water control.

If Cao Yu hadn't mentioned the rotting heart leaf, Chen Jiazhi might not have noticed anything amiss.

In his previous life, he wasn't a professional lettuce grower and didn't know many management details.

But I also noticed some differences.

Chen Jiazhi pointed to a head of lettuce and said, "Don't you think its heart leaves are too tightly clustered?"

Guo Mancang and Cao Yu both frowned in thought.

Guo Mancang pondered and said, "We have been trying to grow lettuce for a year now, and its heart leaves have always curled inwards slightly."

Chen Jiazhi nodded and said, "The heart leaves of ordinary head lettuce on the market are more tightly packed."

"Our lettuce is a semi-heading, upright type, with the inner leaves only slightly turned inwards. This allows the leaves to receive more sunlight, resulting in a more complete, upright, and vibrant green appearance. This is why it sells so well."

Guo Mancang and Cao Yu nodded involuntarily, "I see."
Chen Jiazhi added, "But lettuce also has its drawbacks; the slightly folded heart leaves can also affect the amount of light reaching the leaves."

For example, during periods of continuous rain and poor sunlight, the central leaves are easily twisted and split together.

Guo Mancang chimed in, "The high temperature and humidity in summer make it difficult to grow crops, which is probably due to this reason."

Cao Yu roughly understood what was going on, thought for a moment, and asked, "Does Boss Chen want to solve this problem?"

Chen Jiazhi affirmed, "Yes."

He also mentioned that the lower-than-expected production was likely due to this reason.

Chen Jiazhi had previously discovered that the yield of Italian lettuce was not as high as in later generations, and he always thought it was due to reasons such as seeds.

Looking back now, it seems that later generations must have solved this problem.

The first solution Chen Jiazhi thought of was plant growth regulators, foliar fertilizers, cytokinins, and other technological products.

But let's not even talk about whether we can buy it right now; even if we could, we wouldn't dare use it.

Chen Jiazhi walked for a while and came to a much smaller lettuce patch. He found a lettuce growing straight upwards, flipped it over with both hands, and gently pressed the new leaves outwards and downwards.

"Look, hasn't the area receiving light increased?"

Guo Mancang and Cao Yu were dumbfounded. "It's that simple?"

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "Sometimes the technology isn't difficult, and the principle is very simple; it's just a matter of lacking a little inspiration."

A larger leaf surface area exposed to light not only increases photosynthetic products and indirectly improves yield, but also makes lettuce more upright and spread out, forming clumps that are open, not twisted or twisted, with white stems free of disease spots, and leaves that are bright green and glossy.

This is the complete form of Italian lettuce.

Chen Jiazhi quickly realized that the Chinese version of Italian lettuce could compete head-on with lettuce from Taiwan and the United States.

It could also be a sharp weapon to weaken the influence of Hop Hing and Wing Lung in Hong Kong.

(End of this chapter)