In the Internet era, what new models exist for agricultural input transactions?
On March 19, just after a drizzling spring rain in Jiaxiang County, Jining City, Shandong Province, the green wheat fields of Caopu Town, Liangbaosi, stretched as far as the eye could see, rippling ceaselessly in the breeze like a green ocean. At the entrance of the village, villager Cao Liude runs a distinctive agricultural input store - a Cloud Farm village-level service station, which was the first online vertical trading platform for agricultural inputs in the country, created by Beijing Tianchen Cloud Farm Technology Co., Ltd.
"I originally sold agricultural inputs in the village, and I joined Cloud Farm in April last year," Cao Liude told the reporter. "I help the villagers order agricultural inputs online, and deliver them to their homes. Each bag of seeds is at least 5 yuan cheaper. Last year alone, I sold more than 800 tons of fertilizer!" In the past, when villagers bought agricultural inputs, they had to go to an agricultural input dealership in the village or county. Village-level dealers took goods from county-level dealers, and county-level dealers took goods from provincial-level dealers. After distribution through each layer, agricultural inputs became much more expensive. Through the Cloud Farm platform, villagers place orders online, and agricultural input manufacturers ship directly, making agricultural input prices much cheaper.
The amount of seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural input products purchased by a single villager is not large. If farmers contact manufacturers directly, manufacturers generally will not ship because of transportation costs and other reasons. At this point, the Cloud Farm village-level service station run by Old Cao comes in handy. "One farmer buys little, but the farmers of a whole village buy quite a lot!" Old Cao told the reporter. "Because the price is cheap, ordinary people all come to Cloud Farm to buy seeds and fertilizers, so manufacturers are willing to ship. I can also place online orders for those villagers who do not know how to use the Internet."
At present, the seed varieties listed on Cloud Farm have more than 300 SKUs, and fertilizer varieties have more than 650 SKUs. These goods all entered farmers' view only after strict vetting by Cloud Farm. "Besides price, quality and quantity guarantees are the most important!" Old Cao told the reporter. "When buying agricultural inputs on Cloud Farm, there is no need to worry about quality at all, let alone counterfeit-brand seeds or fake fertilizers!"
When asked about his income, Old Cao said shyly, "I definitely earn more than before." In the past, although the profit on each bag of fertilizer was around 30 yuan, sales were small, around one to two hundred tons a year. "Now the volume is larger, and small profits but quick turnover, plus agricultural inputs no longer need to be sold on credit!" Cash on delivery also reduced many risks for Old Cao.
From April last year to now, Old Cao's Cloud Farm village-level service station has developed more than 2,900 members and reached 90% of the farmers in the surrounding 4 villages. At present, Cloud Farm has more than 200 county-level service centers nationwide, and more than 16,000 village-level service stations like Old Cao's, with the market covering more than a dozen provinces including Shandong, Jiangsu and Henan. Since Cloud Farm officially began online operations on February 8, 2014, the number of registered users has exceeded one million, and it has developed into a highly influential online agricultural input mall.