How can new farmers avoid being fooled by concepts?
Nowadays, when agriculture is mentioned, it's called hot, and not to mention Lenovo and Evergrande bursting onto the scene, marching into agriculture, paving the way with public opinion, stunning the industry, and doing it with great momentum. Let's just talk about the various models of doing new agriculture that flood Weibo and WeChat circles every day, O this, O that, B this, B that, spreading out in circles like ripples on water, especially with Alibaba Taobao stirring the waters of rural e-commerce so much that it seems e-commerce is a basket that can hold everything rural, making Internet thinking bewilder those doing new agriculture, and Chu Cheng, Liu Tao, and Pan Apple have stirred countless people doing new agriculture into a fever, feeling that the products they make are about to be ignited by the Internet, racking their brains to find a model, as if finding a model would make them a leader in the industry.
Little do they know, in the thousands of years of agricultural development history, concepts can never replace the natural laws of spring sowing and summer harvest in agriculture, even though today's technology makes the natural attributes of agricultural products serve commercial attributes, and fresh vegetables and fruits seem to be available for market at any time throughout the year. But no matter how rich Xu Jiayin, Liu Chuanzhi, Pan Shiyi, and Chu Shijian are, they cannot change the natural growth laws of agricultural products. In their stories, agriculture is no longer the protagonist; in essence, it is a showground where capital, marketing, and management take all, and agriculture may just be a supporting role. They can go a year without making money, two years without making money, and even propose ten years without making money, but ordinary new farmers cannot.
⟦NL> People doing new agriculture are inspired every day by the chicken soup for the soul performed from such "agriculture" stories, yet rarely calm down to look at the reality they face and the resources they have. In fact, when these big shots march into agriculture and announce how many tens of thousands of mu of bases they have in a certain place, saying they want to raise pigs, plant cherries, or plant kiwis, they have already left ordinary agricultural operators far behind in many aspects such as the stock market, channels, and brands. In addition, because they are recruited by local governments with preferential conditions and invest locally, they invisibly accumulate a large amount of land. The big shots, investors, and the government all get what they want.
As for the rural e-commerce that major e-commerce companies are keen to enter, there is no doubt that it can play an important role in promoting agricultural upgrading and increasing farmers' income, but it should also be seen that these enterprises that have grown big in other fields and then extended their hands into agriculture pursue agricultural benefits first. These enterprises and their subordinate provincial pavilions, logistics centers, local specialty pavilions, etc. have become benchmarks that many new farmers take as their goals. But a cruel fact is that most new farmers have obvious gaps with major e-commerce companies in brands, channels, and profit points.
There are over 30,000 agriculture-related e-commerce platforms, and 3,000 agricultural product e-commerce platforms, but most agricultural product sales platforms have not achieved profitability, all hyping their names there and corralling so-called users. The extensibility and complexity of the agricultural industry chain leave various e-commerce companies struggling to cope, singing glamorous songs while shedding tears.
Therefore, new farmers cannot be fooled by so-called concepts and not know where their profit points are, spending all their thoughts every day on packaging, brands, and stories, losing the foundation of doing agriculture, losing their own characteristics, only knowing how they came but not how they lost it, and only they themselves know the taste of it. At present, if those doing agriculture do not receive government subsidies, many are operating at a loss, almost the same whether they are big shots or farms of a few dozen mu. The difference is that when Chu Shijian's oranges could not be sold at first, various big shots collectively purchased them to give to their employees, sweeping them clean; when improving varieties lacked funds, big shots specially went up the mountain to deliver money, and funds could be used freely, while most new farmers do not have such resources.
It is also necessary to remind all new farmers that when entering agriculture with a new posture, thinking of changing traditional agriculture and committed to solving food safety, what surrounds you are brand planners, sales planners, and platform sellers, especially when you receive invitations from various forums, each with bigger names, more celebrities, and broader resources. But when you spend time, energy, travel expenses, and conference fees to participate one by one in these activities that serve you, interacting joyfully, excitedly taking photos and uploading them, after returning to your farm you find you are still you, you don't know to whom your vegetables will be sold once grown, you don't know to whom your pigs will be sold once raised, while those brand planners, sales planners, platform sellers, and forum organizers have long made a fortune. The people in the various circles you joined will not rush to buy when you can't sell your products, nor send you money when your capital chain is about to break, nor will many people truly recognize you or help you!
And if you want to be recognized, the first step is still to do your original line of work well. Only by farming your land well and raising your pigs well can you win more market and more help. Compared with concepts such as channels and brands, quality is always the more core competitiveness of agriculture. It's fine to watch idly in WeChat and Weibo circles, but don't lose yourself; doing yourself well is very important.
Doing agriculture requires a persistent heart and a quiet heart. Do complex things simply, and you are an expert in your field; do simple things repeatedly, and you are a specialist in your field; do repeated things with your heart, and you are a winner in your field.