How did "Vegetable King" Yang Jun make his fortune?

"Professionals do professional work. Right now I just want to do this one thing well, and that is to work in agriculture with my feet on the ground." Yang Jun, chairman of the Jiatian Vegetable Farmers' Professional Cooperative in Shangyi County, talked with the reporter about his vegetable business. Since the cooperative was founded in 2008, it now has 200 vegetable greenhouses and 108 farming households, operating on a base model with unified sales.

"The seeds we use now are all purchased from the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, so the quality is fully guaranteed," Yang Jun said.

"Going against the grain" is the right path

After graduating from university in 1992, Yang Jun worked away from home until 1998, when he returned to Qili Township and became a vegetable broker. Through frequent contact with vegetables and his understanding of the vegetable market, Yang Jun accumulated a great deal of experience and came up with the idea of setting up a cooperative.

Most of the 108 households joined the cooperative through land transfers, while some joined with technical expertise as their equity contribution.

"The founding of the cooperative can lead more farmers out of poverty and toward prosperity. Farmers now can earn rent by leasing out land, wages by working, and dividends by holding shares," Yang Jun said. The cooperative's main vegetables now include lettuce, radish, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and so on.

When it comes to growing vegetables, Yang Jun has his own approach. "Last year growing vegetables was the least profitable, and this year it is the most profitable. Others say I go against the grain, but I think this is exactly the right path." This is the experience Yang Jun summed up after many years of growing.

Yang Jun believes that growing vegetables requires understanding market conditions, and one must absolutely not blindly follow the crowd. Before planting vegetables, you must figure out the market conditions. Through research, he found that most farmers blindly follow market prices: whatever vegetable sold well last year, more of it is planted this year, causing an imbalance between market supply and demand. It is precisely by understanding this supply-and-demand relationship that Yang Jun can spot market opportunities.

It is understood that last year the vegetable market was very good, so Yang Jun predicted the market would decline this year. Facing the current situation, Yang Jun decided to adopt a conservative strategy and chose to plant 700 mu of sunflowers and green corn.

Good quality still needs plenty of "promotion"

"Relying only on accumulated experience is not enough. Growing vegetables must also produce benefits, and we must know how to sell," Yang Jun said.

"Product quality is the key to vegetables selling well. With good quality, whatever you grow can make money," Yang Jun said. The cooperative's vegetables are grown without chemical fertilizers, using only biological bacterial fertilizer, and without pesticides, relying entirely on physical pest and disease control. The use of sticky insect traps and insect-attracting lamps mainly kills adult insects while reducing eggs, ensuring the vegetables produced meet pollution-free standards, so that ordinary people can eat with confidence and eat safely.

Fear not not knowing the goods, but fear comparing goods. To broaden sales channels, Yang Jun developed contract farming, and his first thought was "farmer-supermarket direct supply." The cooperative has now signed contracts with Beijing Wumart, Huaguan Supermarket, Shouhang Supermarket, Huapu Supermarket and Xinfadi Vegetable Wholesale Market. Last year it supplied 4.5 thousand tons of vegetables to supermarkets and malls, and this year it added cooperation with a Beijing catering company. At the same time, the vegetables are also exported to South Korea and Russia. This year 200 mu of lettuce and 200 mu of radish will be grown for export to South Korea.

"The standards for farmer-supermarket direct supply are very strict, so our vegetables are all green, safe vegetables that meet national standards and vegetable uniformity requirements. In other words, every vegetable is under supervision," Yang Jun said.

"Honors" show the people's support

"Since the cooperative was founded, the vegetables it has produced can be said to have added luster to agriculture in Qijia Township, Shangyi County," Yang Jun said. In recent years, their cooperative has won titles such as "2010 National Top Ten Cooperative" and "2014 National-Level Demonstration Cooperative." Yang Jun personally has also received many honors, having been named "2015 Hebei Province Advanced Worker in Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers," "2013 Hebei Province Model Worker," "Hebei Province Returning-Home Entrepreneurship Pace-setter," and more.

Yang Jun's efforts have brought not only numerous honorary titles, but also the recognition and support of farmers.

Villager Old Yan told the reporter that under Yang Jun's leadership, he earned 70,000 yuan from April to October last year. "My wife and I transferred more than 10 mu of land to the cooperative back in 2009, and we still work at the cooperative now. After joining the cooperative, we can save 50 yuan per mu on seed. For farmers, good quality at a low price and genuine goods at a fair price are the real benefits. Yang Jun is now the Vegetable King of our Qili Township, and with his help, many of us farmers are living good lives," a farmer surnamed Liu said with joy all over his face.

For 3 years, Yang Jun taught at Shangyi County Vocational Middle School. During this period, Yang Jun not only "recharged" himself, but also let more people learn agricultural knowledge.