1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 473 How should we sell the vegetables, or should we sell the farm?
In the evening, the sunlight was no longer glaring. Chen Jiazhi, dressed in short sleeves and shorts and wearing slippers, rode his bicycle alone around the Jiangxin vegetable market, looking like a social idler.

"There are many new faces; so many skilled workers have emerged from Jiangxin Market!"

As he passed a field, Chen Jiazhi stopped, planted one foot on the ground, and looked at the vegetable harvesters ahead who were picking up the bok choy.

They moved swiftly, their 'iron fingernails' on their thumbs harvesting the heart of each vegetable.

He also noticed that some female workers were using yellow rubber bands to help with arranging the vegetables, which helped with shaping, made it easier for newcomers to get started, and made it easier for experienced workers to arrange the vegetables more aesthetically pleasing.

Although it has only been two or three years, Jiangxin Market is already a market with a rich history.

After riding past vegetable plots, we arrived at the seedling sheds. Instead of plastic film, each shed was covered with insect-proof netting.

Unlike the imported products initially sold at the Dongxiang vegetable market, these are domestically produced, and the market has maintained contact with the manufacturer throughout their use.

How to improve, how to better prevent insects, what mesh size to choose... all these are aimed at reducing the use of pesticides.

After passing the seedling shed and riding a distance further, Chen Jiazhi saw Dongsheng Farm. Standing on the edge, he saw a slightly dazzling array of vegetable fields in front of him.

For a professional vegetable market, describing it as having a dazzling array of goods is not a compliment.

In short, it's too cluttered.

Leafy greens, eggplants, melons, and beans—Dongsheng Farm has been learning from others for so long, and this is all they've learned?
Although Dong Sheng bought the seedlings from Jiangxin Vegetable Market, Chen Jiazhi still said that Dong Sheng's management level was not very good!

At the dividing line, Chen Jiazhi chose to ride south again, returning to the vegetable market office area along the river.

There are more buildings here.

The expanded foam box factory, cold storage, pesticide residue testing center, workers' canteen, dormitory and office building—one building after another—have left too many traces of Kaopu Fresh here.

Thinking about the three-year contract still remaining, Chen Jiazhi muttered to himself, "Maybe I shouldn't move at all, otherwise I don't know who I'm benefiting from."

Soil, water source, facilities... a lot of thought was put into everything, which also trained many managers and skilled workers for the company.

Thinking about it, it's really hard to give up.

As darkness fell, the workers were still finishing up, putting things into the warehouse and taking things out at the same time. Chen Jiazhi helped with the moving, just like any other worker.

After the large truck in front of the cold storage was loaded and set off, he sat on the steps in front of the dormitory, just like the team leader and other managers. They listened to each other talk about their work for the day and their plans for tomorrow. A technician also gave them a briefing on some theoretical knowledge, and there were vegetable workers who came to observe and learn...

These late-night talks are an old tradition, and Jiangxin Market has been persisting in and improving them. Day by day, year by year, it has cultivated more and more talents. The strength output from here has become the engine for the construction of the new market of Reliable Fresh, and even the steps have become more and more shiny.

On the second and third days... the orders allocated to Jiangxin Market stabilized, and the market became increasingly busy, from before dawn to the end of the night with headlamps on.

However, no matter how busy we were, the evening summaries and exchanges of technical experience never stopped.

After spending three days at Jiangxin Market, Chen Jiazhi made his decision: to stay there.

This place is not only a vegetable market, but also a training ground for reliable fresh produce.

...

Jiangxin Vegetable Market is very busy, and Heli Farm is also very busy. Every day, just harvesting vegetables and sowing seeds takes up a lot of energy, not to mention the other processes such as watering, plant protection, weeding, transplanting, thinning, tilling, and harrowing.

This is not an easy process, and production is never easy.

In Chen Jiazhi's view, the market in later generations was relatively stable. Cantonese dishes such as choy sum and kale only had one main market in Guangdong, and the rest were minor details.

In a relatively stable market, the key to success lies in production management. With a stable supply and consistent quality of produce, you can control the market, and buyers will not easily switch sources.

Now, competitors are gradually realizing this, but their understanding is still superficial.

Vegetable companies like Congyu, Qutaiji, Hexing, and Yonglong all operate in this way. Perhaps they believe that as long as the planting area is large enough, they can produce a lot of vegetables, and a lot of vegetables means they will have vegetables for a long time.

The reality is not so simple. Area is important, but production management is even more important. What ultimately determines the management level of a vegetable market is its people.

This is Chen Jiazhi's advantage.

Under his influence and guidance, the talents of Yi Dinggan, Guo Mancang, and Li Mingkun were stimulated ahead of time. At the same time, he also discovered production management talents such as Ao Dehai, Ao Deliang, Qi Yongfeng, Wu Yong, Wei Liangcai, Hu Chunmei, and Huang Shan.

Now, after more than half a year of trials and tribulations, market opportunities have arrived once again.

This time, Kaopu Fresh also unleashed unprecedented power on the production side.

Starting in early October, truckloads of vegetables were shipped from the market to the port, and seeds were sown acre after acre.

Chen Jiazhi moved from Jiangxin vegetable market to Pengcun base, and after two or three months of fallow, the chicken heart mustard was back on the market.

While there is no market for exporting mustard greens, they sell very well in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macau, Zhuhai, and other places, injecting vitality into stalls and distribution.

Chen Jiazhi's journey did not stop. After leaving Pengcun, he returned to Huacheng, then went to Shanghai, stayed for two days, and then went to Shenzhen. On his way back to Huacheng, he visited Heli Farm.

All the vegetable markets had only one rhythm: harvesting vegetables, sowing seeds, harvesting vegetables, sowing seeds...

They didn't know how long this opportunity would last, so they just went all out to produce.

The crop rotation periods of the three major bases—Fanrong, Heli, and Jiangxin—are exceptionally close, with no acre of land left uncultivated and no day wasted.

In addition, Xuanqiao Farmers Market in Pudong New Area and Pujiang Farmers Market in MH District are also rushing to build their markets.

Exports of leafy greens to Japan have also grown rapidly, given that Japan is a small island nation with a population of over 100 million, a developed economy, and a vast market.

Reliable Fresh doesn't even need much advertising; a steady stream of customers will come to buy leafy greens.

Fang Shaohua was selective and politely declined many clients, but his client list continued to grow.

These clients include import companies, large wholesalers, and chain department stores.
There are even companies from South Korea.

The trip was rushed and circuitous. Chen Jiazhi returned to Huacheng around noon that day. Sitting in the car, looking at the two-story office building of Kaopu Fresh, he felt it was stingy the more he looked at it.

"I wonder if I'll have a chance to get a different one this time~"

After the car stopped at the entrance, several heads popped out from upstairs.

"The boss is back."

"Thank you for your hard work, boss."

"Boss, when are we having a get-together?"

"We want to have a seafood feast."

As noon approached and the work was almost done, everyone, excited by the company's business growth, started to cheer.

After getting out of the car, Chen Jiazhi waved to the upstairs, "I'll treat you to a big meal when I'm done with this."

"Oh, how long will this busy period last? I wish the company would stay busy forever!"

"It's not impossible, it doesn't feel like it's been that long."

Actually, it's been more than ten days since exports to Japan started to increase, but time flies when you get busy.

Just as I was about to go upstairs, I saw Li Xiu coming down from upstairs.

Chen Jiazhi smiled and asked, "Xiu, are you alright?"

Li Xiu smiled in response, "You should have heard the voices of the people."

Chen Jiazhi added, "Thank you for your hard work."

"No one can compare to how hard you work. Everyone in the company says you work hard. You personally inspect every stall, every shop, and every acre of land."

Li Xiu took the thermos from Chen Jiazhi and then tried to pick up her backpack, but Chen Jiazhi refused and walked upstairs with her.

"For the past ten days or so, people in the office have been talking about where you are every day."

"Really?" Chen Jiazhi joked, "You have so much free time, it seems you're not quite done with work yet."

"No, they're all exhausted."

"Hmm~"

Chen Jiazhi still didn't have a separate office. He habitually sat at Chen Zhengxu's workstation, with a box of Zhuyeqing tea leaves pressing down on the documents on the desk.

"Knowing I was coming back today, they must have given it to me. Xiu, remember to remind me to take it back later."

“I still have some at home!” Li Xiu said. “If you want some, I’ll make you a cup now.” “Okay, put in more tea leaves, make it strong.”

Chen Jiazhi moved the documents on the table to the center, placing the one on top which was about foreign trade. He muttered, "Zhengxu would be a good secretary too."

Li Xiu asked, "Jiazhi, what did you say?"

"I said Zhengxu is meticulous in his work."

Chen Jiazhi waved the document in his hand, then buried his head in reading it.

The bustling activity at the vegetable market gave him an idea of ​​what the recent export business would look like, but he was still amazed when he saw the growth curve.

The daily export volume of the prosperous vegetable market has been at full capacity for more than ten days, averaging 40 tons per day, with daily revenue of more than 6 US dollars.

Jiangxin vegetable market is a few days later. Recently, its daily output has been about 35 tons, and it can also ship one container to the port every day, earning about US$3 in foreign exchange per day. Yesterday, the total daily income was about RMB19.5.

Heli Farm will also start exporting a few days later. It has increased from 50 to 60 tons a day at the beginning to 100 tons a day now, earning more than US$15 in foreign exchange per day. In addition, more than 70 tons are sold in the Pearl River Delta. Yesterday's daily revenue was RMB 132.6 million.

A cup of strong tea had been placed on the table at some point. Chen Jiazhi took a big gulp, and his mind cleared up again.

The Pengcun base produces approximately 30 tons of chicken heart mustard per day, generating about 7.2 yuan in revenue daily…

Stalls, delivery services, vegetable shops... Chen Jiazhi quickly flipped through the documents, put them down, and was still savoring the charm of the export business.

"Is this what it feels like to make money off the Japanese?"

"handy!"

In an attempt to target spinach exports from China, Japan temporarily raised the testing standards for pesticide residues of cypermethrin, inadvertently harming most domestic leafy vegetable export bases.

But this has brought tremendous opportunities to Kaopu Fresh, especially since it came just a few months after the implementation of the quality standard system.

Besides making money, this experience will make Kaopu Fresh more proactive in addressing the issue of pesticide residues.

After all, this can indeed bring benefits, and there will be similar opportunities in the future.

"The Japanese market alone generates over $24 in foreign exchange every day, tsk tsk... that feels great."

Chen Jiazhi took another sip of tea, then closed his eyes to try and rest, but his mind was filled with images of baskets of US dollars.

The brain is too active.

It has only been a little over ten days since Japan raised its standards for detecting cypermethrin pesticide residues, and he feels there is still a lot of room for improvement, so he can't help but imagine what will happen next.

The Xuanqiao Farmers Market in Pudong New Area and the Pujiang Farmers Market in MH District are both under construction. Is there any chance to catch this wave of opportunities?

Heli Farm had already set out a plan to expand its base, but the fact that many farmers were growing medium and late-season rice affected the land acquisition, but construction is now underway.

We also need to transplant late-maturing Chinese cabbage.
The next second, Chen Jiazhi's thoughts switched to lettuce, which is also one of the main varieties exported to Japan recently.

However, this was actually prepared for Tong Hsing Tai to deal with American lettuce.

Chen Jiazhi shook his head. "Things have gotten a bit chaotic. I don't know how Tongxingtai is doing now."

Thinking of this, he proactively dialed Tongxingtai's number, but no one answered, and he realized that the person was probably still sleeping.

"Jiazhi, it's time to eat."

Li Xiu brought in a lunchbox and placed it on the table. "Mom knew you wouldn't be home for lunch today, so she got up early this morning to make you chicken soup and asked me to bring it over."

"Okay, I suddenly have a craving for this."

...

At the Xiangjiang branch of Au Tai Kee, it's already noon and they're still not closed. Boxes of leftover vegetables are still sitting in the market.

By this time, there were very few people in the market, but no one dared to leave early; they were just waiting around without any other options.

Looking at the listless employees, Qu Jingtai waved his hand helplessly, "Go home, come back tonight."

Only then did the employees dare to leave.

Qu Jingtai also got up and went to the styrofoam box containing the vegetables, and sighed.

One of the employees who hadn't left yet said, "Manager Qu, why don't we try shipping to Japan again? I heard from a customer recently that they also urgently need leafy greens."

"We can just handle it like this for now. If we ship it to Japan and are lucky enough to get it approved, we'll make a profit."

Au Tai Kee recently shipped goods to Japan twice more, intermittently.

However, the result remained unchanged; both times the goods were returned without warning, and now the situation is almost the same as being returned.

Do you think I haven't thought about it?

Qu Jingtai shook his head and sighed, "It's just that no Japanese clients have contacted me in the last few days. Maybe they've given up hope. Oh well, I'll try again."

After much effort, Qu Jingtai sent faxes to several clients with whom he had cooperative relationships.

It wasn't until the afternoon that someone replied. It was a chain department store client, a client that Qu Jingtai had signed a contract with in Japan a few months ago.

The other party's attitude was cold, or rather, heartless, which made Qu Jingtai feel desperate.

"Mr. Qu, I'm sorry, but we have already established cooperative relationships with other vegetable companies in your country. Please don't contact us again, or I'm afraid they'll misunderstand."

Qu Jingtai couldn't sleep.

He pondered the words in the document repeatedly. The phrase "other vegetable companies in your country" indicated that some domestic enterprises were still engaged in export business to Japan.

Who is it?
Qu Jingtai had a terrifying idea.

He called Dongsheng Farm and asked Li Jiyong to answer the phone.

The waiting time seemed very long. In fact, Li Jiyong had come here with great enthusiasm, and he was sweating and panting heavily.

"Hello, Manager Qu."

Is Jiangxin vegetable market operating normally lately?

“That’s normal.” Li Jiyong thought for a moment and said, “Their vegetables have been quite good lately, and they’re producing a lot of them, several truckloads every day.”

Where do they sell them?

"The market, what else could it be..."

"Go and find out the details, now, immediately!"

Qu Jingtai's voice grew louder with each sentence, and Li Jiyong dared not delay for a moment. He rushed to the vegetable market next door and then rushed back. His clothes were soaked with sweat, and he began to speak haltingly.

"Jiangxin Market...they...every day...every day they have a whole cabinet of vegetables...sent to...sent to Japan!"

"Damn it!"

This was the answer Qu Jingtai had guessed, but it was also the answer he didn't want to face.

How did Jiangxin Vegetable Market pass Japan's quarantine inspection?

He couldn't help but recall the unusual situation at Jiangxin Market a few months ago, when overturning occurred every few days.

When Dongsheng Farm was flooded, Jiangxin Vegetable Market was also flooded; while Dongsheng Farm was successfully harvesting vegetables, Jiangxin Vegetable Market may have been affected by pests and diseases, and hundreds of acres of vegetables were destroyed overnight.

It's nothing like Jiangxin Market.

It feels like a completely different person.

He had mocked Jiangxin vegetable market and tried to find many reasons for its problems, but he never considered the possibility of pesticide residues.

Now, the fog has been lifted.

Jiangxin Market is still the same Jiangxin Market, but it has become even more formidable, terrifying, and unfathomable!

What upset him even more was that once his Japanese clients cut off contact, it would be extremely difficult to retain them in the future.

An atmosphere of despair enveloped him.

How should we sell the vegetables, or should we sell the farm itself?
(End of this chapter)