Why does specialty farming call for a modern business model?
In recent years, with the rapid development of our country's economy and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the demand for high-protein, low-fat quality agricultural products such as various wild game and birds and animals has been growing day by day. The prices of various specialty farming products such as pheasants, peacocks, wild rabbits, and green-shell laying hens have risen steadily, giving rise to many specialty farms with annual returns of several million to over ten million yuan.
Specialty farming projects include: pheasants, peacocks, partridges, silkie chickens, green-shell laying hens, wild ducks, wild geese, wild boars, wild rabbits, bamboo rats, and so on. These are the most common and most highly commercialized varieties, and the farming techniques for them are relatively mature across the country, with large market consumption and very stable prices that do not fluctuate wildly, making them the first choice for young people'sstartup projectsover the past 10 years. However, with the promotion and popularization of these projects, the profits of most farms have seen no breakthrough for 5 to 6 consecutive years, and some have even seen profits decline, with development severely constrained and enterprises left bewildered with no countermeasures. After visiting several hundred specialty farms, the author found that the fundamental reason lies in differences in business models.
Single business model in specialty farming
The author conducted extensive surveys of specialty farms across the country and found that the vast majority of specialty farms have business models that are too outdated, having always been a simple farming-to-sales model. At present, whether farming households or farming enterprises, regardless of scale, all breed and raise on their own and sell once the animals are grown, which means great waste of resources, low added value of products, no initiative over farming products, and control by distributors. At the same time, products are limited to just 1 to 2 varieties, while market demand is diverse, making it hard to fully meet the needs of various hotels and distributors, and the supply-sales relationship is very fragile, easily leading to the loss of customer resources. In addition, there is another most important channel of economic income, namely applying for government support funds. If relying only on such a single business model, the project funds one can receive from government support are very limited. Take Fujian Zhaobao Ecological Farm as an example: the company receives various project funds from government subsidies and support ranging from 5 million to 6 million yuan at the low end and more than 20 million yuan at the high end each year. Yet the subsidies or support funds actually obtained for farming projects amount to only one tenth of that. Also in specialty farming, because investors differ in quality and mindset, different business models can produce profits that differ by more than 10 times. For the specialty farming industry, a highly efficient business model with multiple income streams should be formed: a self-producing and self-selling model of specialty farming - planting - dining and leisure - rural tourism.
Rational and effective use of resources
The manure produced in specialty farming is used to make biogas. This not only saves 60,000 to 80,000 yuan in electricity costs each year, but the manure, after sealed high-pressure fermentation in a biogas digester, can kill almost all harmful pathogens, ensuring the safety of the animals on the farm. For this reason, the biogas digester is also called by Zhaobao Farm the first safety system of a specialty farming enterprise. The resulting biogas slurry is absorbed and decomposed by planting large numbers of precious tree species (Chinese yew, osmanthus, Buddhist pine) and intercropped forage grass, achieving zero pollution and zero emissions on the farm. Because fertilizer is abundant, the forage grass grows rapidly and endlessly, continuing through all four seasons, providing the farm with large amounts of high-quality green feed and saving about 150,000 to 200,000 yuan in feed each year, while the animals are healthier, the meat quality is better, and the prices are higher. This circular-economy farming model achieves efficient, safe, and sustainable development, and can also be used to apply for numerous government funds.
Plant various precious tree species. The trees can absorb and decompose the biogas slurry produced by the farm from the ground, and also absorb harmful gases such as ammonia, CO2, and H2S produced by the farm from the air, while releasing large amounts of oxygen, ensuring that the farming environment and air are not polluted, creating a good ecological environment for the farm and helping the animals achieve the highest production performance. This is also an important indicator for evaluating the product quality of a farm.
The industry chain needs to be extended
Because the biogas slurry from farming is abundant, the various trees planted grow rapidly; even barren hills can be transformed within a few years into a beautiful, fresh-aired, comfortable and pleasant leisure venue. A beautiful environment is one of the most important factors in attracting visitors; it can be said that the environment is wealth. At the same time, according to the terrain and topography, wooden villas, reception centers, and leisure clubs are built, and the various wild game produced on the farm is consumed and sold on site in the farm's restaurant. Moreover, the various birds, animals, and wild game raised are also what create the farm restaurant's unique "wild game" style, which is fundamentally different from the identical menus of other rural leisure farms that source ingredients from the same market, giving it greater competitiveness, so business is always booming and profits are very good. We found that even for a generally very small operation, it typically hosts more than 6 tables for lunch and dinner combined each day; even calculating at 500 yuan per table, annual income is more than 1 million yuan. At the same time, it further drives the sales of various farming products. After tasting the deliciousness of the wild game, many guests also buy pheasants, wild rabbits, and other wild game to take home and share with their families, which for an ordinary farming household is a very stable and considerable income. If combined with a club, accommodation, or cooperation with travel companies, then there are even more customers, and profits can grow several times over.