The Wood Ear Mushroom King leads the villagers together onto the road to prosperity

Born in 1976 in Lantian Town, Zhangzhou City, Lin Yuyi is an open-hearted man in the prime of life. More than 20 years ago, like his fellow villagers, he began growing wood ear mushrooms in Dongyu Village. Although Dongyu Village has a long history of cultivating wood ear mushrooms, the growers were all individual households with no brand, and quality varied greatly, leaving them with no market competitiveness at all. In years when the market was poor, losing money was commonplace. Unable to figure out the ropes of the business, the young Lin Yuyi failed in his investment and was forced to go to Shenzhen to work. While working there, a heavy rain changed Lin Yuyi's fate. One day, Lin Yuyi noticed that many wood ear mushrooms had been laid out to dry on the vacant lot next to his rented lodging. After asking around, Lin Yuyi learned that the wood ear mushrooms in the warehouse next door had been soaked by the rain. The shrewd Lin Yuyi immediately spotted a business opportunity. He went to great lengths to find the owner of the warehouse next door, seized this big buyer, and went into the wood ear mushroom business with him.

Practice team members and Lin Yuyi pose for a group photo beneath the wall of honors

In 2005, having earned his first pot of gold, Lin Yuyi decided to return to his hometown to start a business. Warm-hearted as he was, he made no secret of his entrepreneurial ideas and led the villagers to build the business together. That same year, with the help and support of the relevant local government departments, the Zhangzhou City Longwen District Yulyu Edible Fungi Professional Cooperative, jointly funded and established by Lin Yuyi and eight large growers, processors and distributors of white-backed wood ear mushrooms from the same village, was formally set up, and Lin Yuyi established his own wood ear mushroom processing factory. The establishment of the cooperative organized formerly scattered farming households, brought them into the market as a whole to compete, changed the previous disadvantaged position of small individual households in market competition, and became an effective organizational form for farmers to enter the market, withstand market risks and improve the market competitiveness of agricultural products.

The cooperative played a good exemplary and leading role in building a high-quality edible fungi production, supply and marketing service system, establishing high-quality edible fungi bases and an integrated processing and sales service model, implementing scientific and rational management, risk adjustment and interest-driven mechanisms, and guiding members in edible fungi cultivation and production. Starting with variety renewal, the cooperative introduced high-quality new heat-tolerant strains from agricultural research institutions and universities such as the Edible Fungi Research Center of Fujian Province and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. After successful trial planting by members, these were rolled out and quickly widely adopted by growers throughout the village.

Lin Yuyi leads team members on an inspection of a cherry blossom cultivation base

The factory gradually got on track, but a sudden rainstorm flooded the factory he had worked so hard to build. "I still clearly remember that it was June 14, 2007, when a rainstorm washed away more than 2 million yuan. It was truly a fatal blow!" Speaking of this, there was regret in Lin Yuyi's tone. Yet Lin Yuyi's loyalty in leading the villagers to start a business together moved them, and love gathered because of this rain. "When I was at my most difficult, the villagers all reached out to help. Even knowing I had no money, they still 'sold' me wood ear mushrooms and helped me get through the hard times," Lin Yuyi said. The villagers' help, given regardless of cost, made Lin Yuyi even more determined in his decision to seek prosperity together. He said: "You see, if I had only cared about making money for myself back then and hadn't led the villagers to develop together, would the villagers have been able to help me through the crisis?"

With this drive to advance shoulder to shoulder, the Yulyu Edible Fungi Professional Cooperative in Dongyu Village, Lantian Town, developed very well. Lin Yuyi's wood ear mushroom business also flourished, and he became a widely known "Wood Ear Mushroom King." Since 2008, the cooperative has successively carried out the provincial agricultural science and education project "Cultivation of Superior Strains of Taiwan White-backed Wood Ear Mushroom" and the provincial farmers' professional cooperative organization project "Taiwan White-backed Wood Ear Mushroom Green Production Base." At present, it has 1500 mu of green food production and processing base for white-backed wood ear mushrooms, 5 million standardized production fungus packs of white-backed wood ear mushrooms, an annual output of 300 tons of processed white-backed wood ear mushroom series products, an output value of 15 million yuan, and tax payments of 450,000 yuan.

It can help more than 300 specialized white-backed wood ear mushroom growers become prosperous, transfer 2000 rural laborers, and create more than 100 new jobs for university graduates, with remarkable economic, social and ecological benefits. Leveraging its own advanced technology, equipment, management experience and marketing network, and in accordance with the requirements of green food production technical regulations, the cooperative starts with variety renewal and introduces superior Taiwan white-backed wood ear mushroom varieties and advanced cultivation techniques from agricultural research institutions and universities such as the Edible Fungi Research Center of Fujian Province and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University for demonstration and promotion. By adopting a business model of self-made fungus packs, specialized household management of mushroom production, and cooperative processing and sales, it implements factory-style, standardized and intensive production of white-backed wood ear mushrooms, ensuring safe, high-quality, high-yield and efficient products.

It also learns from and draws on the management philosophy of farmers' professional cooperatives in Taiwan, China, and around all stages of white-backed wood ear mushroom production, pre-production, mid-production and post-production, adopts the "seven unifications," namely unified information distribution, unified education and training, unified production standards, unified product ordering, unified grading and packaging, unified market sales, and unified settlement and distribution, an integrated production, processing and sales business model, to reduce product production costs and form a market competitive advantage. At present, the cooperative has developed 187 member households, annually cultivates and distributes more than 10 million bags of white-backed wood ear mushrooms, with an output value of more than 20 million yuan, and is a provincial-level farmers' professional cooperative demonstration enterprise.

Lin Yuyi himself was awarded the 11th Fujian Youth May Fourth Medal and named an outstanding rural practical talent of Fujian Province. At this point, the wood ear mushroom growers of Dongyu Village had their own "Yulyu" wood ear mushroom series brand, unified supply of agricultural production materials, guidance on crop production technology, and sales channels for agricultural products, and further developed the deep-processing segment, and also began doing business with compatriots in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, China. The villagers' wallets grew fatter and fatter, and their ability to withstand risks grew stronger and stronger. Lin Yuyi, chairman of the cooperative, was rated in 2012 by the Organization Department of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee and the Rural Work Office of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee as one of the "First Fujian Rural Practical Talents"; in 2013 the cooperative was rated by the Fujian Provincial Department of Agriculture as a "Provincial-Level Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration Cooperative."