What to do when broccoli is hard to sell? Farmer brokers step up

Affected by consecutive rainy days, the quality of broccoli this autumn and winter is not high, prices have fallen, and sales difficulties have appeared in many places. Recently, reporters came to the fields of some large growers in Rudong High-tech Zone and found that broccoli sales here are nearing the end. They said that local farmer brokers stepped up and helped everyone solve the sales problem.

Liu Xiaohong is a villager of Group 3, Sanhe Village, Rudong High-tech Zone. His family grows 100 mu of autumn and winter broccoli. With the help of farmer broker Zhang Yong, since mid-October he has continuously sold more than 40 tons. Liu Xiaohong told reporters that because the quality of the broccoli is poor, it can only sell for one yuan per jin. Without Zhang Yong, the vegetables they grow would not sell.

Zhang Yong is a farmer broker in Zhoudian Village, Rudong High-tech Zone. He has been engaged in vegetable marketing for more than ten years and maintains regular contact with many out-of-town sellers. However, he has also encountered difficulties selling autumn and winter broccoli. Zhang Yong said helplessly: At present, although more people are coming to haul vegetables than last year, the customers are basically not fixed. They haul one truckload and rest for several days without coming to haul more. The main reason is that they are not very satisfied with the quality of the broccoli, and the market is also sluggish.

In previous years, autumn and winter broccoli was very sought after in the market. Especially in winter, the price of broccoli always kept rising. Zhang Yong only needed to supply a few major customers to ensure the sales of more than 2,000 mu of broccoli nearby. Poor quality affected the market sales situation, and Zhang Yong was very worried about this. In order to help growers sell broccoli and stimulate the enthusiasm of nearby farmers to grow it, he strengthened communication with out-of-town customers in Shandong, Zhejiang, Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou and other places, and lowered prices to give profits to customers. Not only did the number of customers increase from more than ten in the past to more than twenty sales customers at once, but through small-batch, multi-batch shipments, sales reached 1,000 tons, ensuring sales for growers. Now, all the broccoli grown in more than 2,000 mu around Zhang Yong's purchasing point has been sold.

Similarly, in Tianxing Village, Rudong High-tech Zone, farmer broker Ji Qinshan is also very busy. Over two consecutive months, he has sold 800 tons of broccoli.

This year, Ji Qinshan implemented contract planting with nearby farmers, with a contract planting area of 600 mu, which gave these farmers reassurance. However, this brought more pressure to Ji Qinshan. Fortunately, he has a cold storage that can hold 30,000 kg of vegetables, which gave him room to cope with market sales while doing everything possible to organize out-of-town sales.