How a Young Man from Liaoning Masters Agricultural E-commerce

Compared with most farmers who quietly toil in the fields, 29-year-old Wang Feng's "life experience" can be considered quite rich. He once spent seven years striving away from home, and just as his career was flourishing, he set out on the journey back to his hometown; more than a year ago, he switched mid-career into agriculture, and although his "crossover" has not been long, he has already achieved remarkable results.

Wang Feng comes from Songshan Town, Kaiyuan City, Liaoning Province. "Our area has continuous mountain ranges and abundant products. Hazelnuts, hemp, pears, fruits, mountain vegetables, and wild vegetables grow all over the hills and fields. It is the hometown of mountain fruits, wild vegetables, and grain in Kaiyuan." When talking about his hometown, Wang Feng's face was full of pride. "I want to rediscover the meaning and value of my life on this land."

Wang Feng

Wang Feng's family apple orchard

Wang Feng organizing the loading of goods

From Unsellable to 500,000 jin of Apples Presold

The year 2008 was extraordinary for Wang Feng, who was only 20 at the time. That year, when most of his peers chose to continue their studies at university, he instead left his hometown to work at a shipyard in Yantai, using his thin shoulders to carry the hopes of his family's livelihood. "My family was too poor. Although I also wanted to continue studying, under the pressure of life, I still decided to choose to help ease the family burden as early as possible."

Time flew by, and Wang Feng stayed in Yantai for seven years. Seven years of braving wind and rain brought him abundant career gains. However, Wang Feng still decided to return home and start a business again. "My parents are getting older. I want to go back to my hometown to manage the family orchard with them and make it easier to take care of them. Since returning home in 2015, I have systematically studied the key points of orchard management and planting techniques. Perhaps because I had some educational foundation, I learned relatively quickly."

Wang Feng's efforts paid off. Through his and his family's joint efforts, in 2015 the 40-mu orchard he managed had a bumper harvest. Both the nanguo pears and apples had very good yields. However, before he could enjoy the joy of the harvest, new problems arose.

That very year, the fruit from Wang Feng's hometown became seriously unsellable, and a layer of gloom hung over the fruit farmers' faces. Facing the bleak situation at the time, Wang Feng had to shift the focus of his work to fruit sales. He racked his brains and thought of many methods to expand sales channels, but the results were not ideal. "I did not expect that in 2016 the unsold fruit situation in my hometown would be even worse than in 2015, and prices showed a cliff-like drop."

Seeing his aging parents and fellow villagers all frowning because the fruit could not be sold, Wang Feng saw it with his own eyes and felt anxious in his heart. He began searching online for information related to sales channels for agricultural products, and accidentally discovered the Yimutian APP, so he decided to download and use it.

With a try-it-and-see attitude, he posted some supply and demand information on the Yimutian APP. Unexpectedly, within a short time he received calls from some buyers. Although some buyers only called to ask about prices or learn about product information, Wang Feng very conscientiously answered all their questions. Gradually, Wang Feng's patience and enthusiasm helped him win the attention and trust of some buyers.

According to Wang Feng, in 2016 through the Yimutian APP he sold a total of 600,000 jin of nanguo pears, and even presold all of his hometown's 2017 apples. "Buyers booked 500,000 jin of apples and 400 tons of nanguo pears from me through the Yimutian platform, and paid me a 30 percent deposit one month before picking. This greatly eased the sales pressure on the villagers," Wang Feng's joy was evident in his words. "To be able to make my hometown's fruit sell so well, I should first thank Yimutian, thank Yimutian for creating such a good display and sales platform for us fruit farmers."

Shining on the Stage of Commission Agent

With the continuous development of the agricultural industry, as a key link in the circulation process from "agricultural products to consumer market," the role of agricultural product commission agents/brokers as a bridge and bond has become increasingly prominent. They have developed from the small traders of the past who "carried goods on shoulder poles and on their backs" into an active group in today's agricultural product circulation market.

The categories Wang Feng deals in are mainly nanguo pears, k9 apples, and 123 apples. Compared with other commission agents, Wang Feng believes his greatest advantage is being able to use the Yimutian APP to promptly understand market conditions and effectively publish his product information. "In the process of using Yimutian, I pay relatively close attention to changes in the market conditions of the products I publish. I continuously update my product information according to specific market conditions and price trends, while also ensuring the authenticity and validity of the information I publish."

At the same time, Wang Feng believes that to do a good job as an agricultural product commission agent/broker, professional ethics are very important. "Personal sales ability is certainly important, but professional ethics should not be abandoned even more. A small number of commission agents ignore commercial credit and professional ethics, and some incidents have occurred that harm farmers, cheat farmers, and damage farmers' interests. This will gradually lose customers' trust and ultimately lead to being abandoned by the market. The trust won in the hearts of ordinary people and customers is actually our greatest wealth."

During the interview, Wang Feng also mentioned something that left a deep impression on him. There was once a buyer who purchased nanguo pears from him and overloaded by 3,000 jin. Later, Wang Feng helped the buyer sell all the overloaded pears locally and truthfully transferred the money to the other party's bank card. This buyer later established a good cooperative relationship with Wang Feng and even presold 400 tons of nanguo pears in advance. "Every transaction I adhere to the principle of integrity. Precisely because of this, I have won the trust and recognition of more and more customers. Many customers even introduced their friends to me, which brought me more attention on the Yimutian platform."