Family farm owner once visited by the Premier looks forward to a bumper year

Pictured: Li Keqiang visited Lingxian County, Dezhou, Shandong on July 24, 2014, for a “whole-process” inspection of Deqiang Modern Family Farm. Photo by Liu Zhen, China News Service

Deqiang Modern Family Farm in Lingxian County, Dezhou, Shandong, stands out not only because of its exploration of a modern agricultural development model, but also because Chinese Premier Li Keqiang paid a personal visit in July 2014.

“As soon as Premier Li Keqiang arrived at Deqiang Farm, he walked straight into the fields, crouched down in this plot to check the growth of the seedlings, and even grabbed a handful of soil himself to check the soil moisture. Then he went to the agricultural machinery station, the seed station and the fertilizer blending station to inspect the farm through the ‘whole process.’” said farm owner Feng Shuqiang. “I could hardly believe that the premier of a major country would spend nearly an hour inspecting a family farm through the ‘whole process.’”

Feng Shuqiang, owner of Deqiang Farm in Dezhou, talks with the person in charge of the greenhouse about the harvest and sales of greenhouse tomatoes. Photo by Liang Ben

Feng Shuqiang went out to make his way in Beijing at the age of 16, running businesses in IT, catering and other industries. In 2013, moved by “the country’s policies and determination to develop modern agriculture,” he invested in and established Dezhou Deqiang Farm in his hometown of Lingxian County, Shandong. Through land transfer, leasing and shareholding and other methods, he gathered more than 10,000 mu of land, specializing in the cultivation of crops, fruit trees, nursery stock and vegetables. This was also the first family farm registered and established locally.

A year later, this family farm welcomed a visit from Premier Li Keqiang. At the time, Li Keqiang crouched at the edge of the field with Feng Shuqiang to carefully check the growth of the crops, and calculated the returns item by item with the farm owner and farmers. After learning that farmers had greatly reduced costs and increased their incomes year by year through large-scale intensive management, the Premier said that modern agriculture not only safeguards national food security, but also allows farm owners to profit and farmers to increase their incomes.

He said: “Agricultural modernization is about letting farmers live good lives. I hope you will join hands to prosper together!”

Li Keqiang emphasized the importance of agricultural modernization from beginning to end. On his first grassroots inspection after becoming Premier, he visited Tianniang Farm in Changshu, Jiangsu, and highly praised its new cooperative development model of “company + several family farms.” He told the person in charge of the farm there: “Gold can also be produced from the land, but this requires conditions. A small plot of one mu and three fen will not do; it still needs to be large-scale and achieve economies of scale.”

In last year’s “Government Work Report,” Li Keqiang clearly emphasized adhering to making solving the issues of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” a top priority, taking safeguarding national food security and promoting farmers’ income growth as the core, and advancing agricultural modernization. At a recent meeting, he asked the heads of participating provinces, municipalities and departments to proceed from reality, innovate various forms of scale management, and fully unleash farmers’ creativity.

He said: “Thirty years ago, when the household contract responsibility system was piloted and promoted, practices differed from place to place, and the central government’s attitude at the time was ‘it can be done, it can be done, and it can also be done.’ Today we must also give all localities and farmers enough autonomy. Toward rural reform, our attitude is ‘explore, explore, and explore again.’”

Feng Shuqiang, owner of Deqiang Farm in Dezhou, inspects the growth of greenhouse tomatoes. Photo by Liang Ben

As one of the “explorers” of family farms, Feng Shuqiang believes that the core of modern agriculture is agriculture with high yields, safety and high technological content. He told reporters that his experience in running Deqiang is to introduce internet thinking and modern corporate management methods into the farm. At present, Deqiang Farm is strengthening the construction of agricultural IoT, recording a whole series of operations such as seeds, soil, irrigation, fertilizer and workers’ work all through the internet. Through big data analysis, it obtains the optimal ratio data for modern agriculture on the North China Plain, and strives to formulate this set of data into a modern agriculture standardization for the North China Plain, so that Deqiang’s planting and management experience can be replicated. “By then Deqiang Farm will become a brand, a model that can be replicated.”

Recalling the scene of Li Keqiang’s inspection of Deqiang Farm, what left the deepest impression on Feng Shuqiang to this day is the Premier’s requirements for modern farm management: “moderate-scale management, on the basis of respecting farmers’ wishes, in accordance with the requirements of modern agricultural technology, and at the same time advancing in a standardized way according to law.”

He remembers that the Premier specifically took a “Rural Land Contractual Management Right Transfer Contract” and studied it carefully, confirming one by one the clauses protecting farmers’ rights and interests, and repeatedly confirmed with farmers who came to inquire about joining the farm: “What benefits will there be after joining the cooperative? Have you made up your mind? Is it voluntary?”

He emphasized that agricultural cooperation must be open, fair and equitable, and must fully respect farmers’ own wishes.

Feng Shuqiang said that because of the Premier’s requirements, he has always been very “careful” in running the farm: “I want to build Deqiang Farm into a farm with strong resilience, so that the farm can develop healthily and sustainably. Only then can the farm, according to the contract, pay the farmers’ land transfer fees on schedule every year.”

On the eve of the 2015 Spring Festival, a China News Service reporter came to Deqiang Farm. The off-season spinach and chives in the cold greenhouses had already been rushed to market for the Spring Festival, and the tomatoes in the warm greenhouses were also being picked. Old Wang, who looks after the tomato greenhouse, told the reporter that merchants from Liaoning had already ordered these tomatoes, and would come in the next couple of days to transport them, settling the payment on the spot in cash.

“Running agriculture is different from other industries. There can be no half mistake, because the crop growth cycle determines the specific rule that one wrong step means a wrong year.” Feng Shuqiang, who “turned” from the IT industry to farm owner, said rather professionally.

Feng Shuqiang, owner of Deqiang Farm in Dezhou, is interviewed by a China News Service reporter. Photo by Liang Ben

He told the reporter that his wish for the new year is: he hopes the country can increase supporting subsidies for large agricultural machinery and equipment, increase the types of agricultural insurance, and ensure the implementation of subsidy policies for large-field growers……

However, after the local winter-spring continuous drought, his most urgent wish became “a spring rain as precious as oil.”

“Last July the Premier asked me whether we could have a bumper harvest, and I answered yes. This year I want to tell the Premier that we are working hard to win the next season’s bumper harvest.” Feng Shuqiang said, gazing at his 10,000 mu of land.