Giving up a million-yuan salary, Wang Xiaotie grows organic kiwifruit in five years

“This is an assignment I completed over 5 years; I ask the teachers of my alma mater to grade it.” On January 21, alumnus Wang Xiaotie presented a box of organic kiwifruit with both hands to Xu Yangfu, deputy secretary of the university Party Committee. Behind them, 5,000 boxes of the same kiwifruit filled 7 trucks, and soon one box per person would be distributed free of charge to all the university's in-service staff.

Wang Xiaotie is a 1994 graduate of our university's College of Agronomy. He worked successively at the Seed Management Station of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Agriculture, Qinfeng Agricultural Company and other units. In 2002 he began to get involved in organic agriculture, and served as general manager in charge of agriculture at several large enterprises in Beijing. In 2012 he gave up a job with a million-yuan salary, left Beijing for Yangling, and founded Shaanxi Baiheng Organic Orchard Co., Ltd., transferring more than 500 mu of land in Shangwan Village and Maoling Village of Wuquan Town to explore the production of organic kiwifruit.

The Baiheng kiwifruit orchard is different from others: cypress trees are planted around the orchard to isolate it from the surrounding farmland; each mu of orchard is fertilized with 4 to 5 tons of sheep manure from the Inner Mongolia grasslands, while natural grass growing in the orchard and artificially planted rapeseed, hairy vetch and the like are used as green manure; microorganisms and extracts from natural sources are used to prevent pests and diseases; flower and fruit thinning is strictly carried out to promote the growth of individual fruits, with at most 5 single fruits kept on one branch and at most 40 fruits per tree.

China's national standard for "Organic Products" stipulates that organic products refer to products for human consumption and animal feed, and that chemically synthesized pesticides, chemical fertilizers, growth regulators, and genetically engineered organisms and their products must not be used in the production process. The Baiheng orchard implements even stricter organic standards. In October 2016, it became the first orchard in China to simultaneously obtain the four major organic certifications of China's GB/T19630, the EU's EOS, the US's NOP, and Japan's JAS. In October 2017, the Baiheng kiwifruit trademark was named a “Shaanxi Province Excellent Kiwifruit Brand”.

Wang Xiaotie explained that starting a business in Yangling was a process of moving from theory to practice and of innovative learning at the "university of the fields", "all just to grow the best kiwifruit". One vow, five years of hardship. "Now I can say that I have grown the organic fruit I wanted, and the production model of the Baiheng organic kiwifruit orchard is replicable and promotable." Wang Xiaotie said that during this period, from land transfer to orchard establishment to production management and coping with many difficulties, many teachers at his alma mater gave him tremendous help and encouragement. He said that this time he brought the Xuxiang kiwifruit, which is in its fifth year of growth and has just entered full fruit-bearing stage, first to express his gratitude, and second to sincerely let the teachers of his alma mater taste the organic fruit and offer opinions and suggestions.

Researcher Yu Junyi, a fruit tree expert at our university's College of Horticulture and an expert at the Kiwifruit Experimental Demonstration Station, participated in and guided the construction of the Baiheng orchard throughout the whole process. He said that the kiwifruit production process here is safe and the quality is good, making it a truly reassuring good fruit. Wang Min, a professor in the Department of Food Safety and Nutrition of the College of Food Science, commented that Baiheng organic kiwifruit has a suitably sweet-and-sour taste and a long finish, and that "organic and original ecological agriculture are part of the national strategy for developing major health, and Wang Xiaotie's entrepreneurial spirit is commendable."

"It tastes good in the mouth and sweet in the heart." Many faculty and staff praised it endlessly after tasting it. Holding Wang Xiaotie's hand, Xu Yangfu said that the university is proud of a student like him who pursues his dream unswervingly, and wished the Baiheng orchard's "organic" undertaking ever greater success, making greater contributions to the sustainable development of the kiwifruit industry and to raising the level of quality and safety of China's agricultural products.