Heilongjiang mini pumpkins sell well in the Taiwan market
Li Changlong's mini pumpkins
Li Changlong, known as "Mr. Pumpkin," lives in Renyi Village, Longquan Town, Baiquan County. He has been growing and trading pumpkins (called "wogua" in the north) for more than ten years, and his business has grown more and more prosperous. This year, nearly 6,000 tons of pumpkins were sold through him, of which more than 1,000 tons were also exported to Taiwan, China.
In the building of the Baiquan County E-commerce Entrepreneurship Park outside the east gate of Baiquan County, in an office hung with two plaques, "Mr. Melon Black Soil Ecological Studio" and "Baiquan County Longxing Crop Planting Professional Cooperative," the surrounding walls and glass cabinets are filled with introductions to pumpkins and pumpkin samples. Li Changlong gave the reporter a "richly illustrated" account of his development history.
There was a time when he "grew crops but got no grain, ran a vehicle but made no money, raised pigs but they were worthless, and raised cattle but lost money instead"
20 years ago, the clever and capable Li Changlong was elected a "village cadre" and successively served as the village bookkeeper and cashier. Unwilling to be mediocre, he worked for less than two years before resigning his "cadre" post and starting his own business.
He ran transport with an agricultural vehicle for several years. Because there were many vehicles and little work, among other reasons, he switched to raising pigs. After failing to make money, he saw others getting rich raising dairy cattle, so in 2001 he raised more than 100,000 yuan himself and also borrowed 100,000 yuan in loans to buy 10 dairy cows. Unexpectedly, at that time the price of dairy cattle was at its peak, while the price of milk was gradually declining, and he did not understand dairy cattle raising techniques either, so the result was a total loss.
Facing a debt of more than 100,000 yuan, Li Changlong and his wife felt as if the sky was about to fall. Speaking of this, his wife Zhang Ping told the reporter: "People all say our family 'grew crops but got no grain, ran a vehicle but made no money, raised pigs but they were worthless, and raised cattle but lost money instead.'"
Facing one failure after another, Li Changlong analyzed the subjective and objective causes, and after careful thought he persuaded his wife Zhang Ping, saying: "No matter how big the storm, we have to hold on. We lacked experience, acted a bit rashly, and violated a major taboo in business. Just treat it as paying tuition. At worst, we beat the drum again and open a new shop. We will find another way and still have to keep going. I really don't believe in that kind of bad luck!"
At first, large pumpkins plus the "Rural Newspaper" earned him his first pot of gold
It happened that at that time, Li Changlong saw a news item on television saying that a certain county had a bumper harvest growing "seed pumpkins" and made a lot of money selling pumpkin seeds, so he was tempted. By coincidence, one of his classmates introduced him to an excellent variety, brought him more than 10 pumpkin seeds, and explained that this variety could grow to more than 100 jin. Li Changlong thought, as the saying goes, a big mother makes fat children; with such a big melon, how many seeds would it produce? Li Changlong then bought science and technology books on growing pumpkins, and while growing them he studied seed breeding. Every melon grew to 40 or 50 jin.
Between 2004 and 2005, he went twice to the Green Expo in Qiqihar to exhibit his large pumpkins and promote pumpkin seeds. Li Changlong, who had always kept reading the "Rural Newspaper," thought of using the newspaper to expand his influence. He placed an advertisement in the paper to sell seeds, which attracted quite a few seed buyers. Over several years, he earned more than 100,000 yuan.
With his first pot of gold, Li Changlong became firm in his confidence to make the pumpkin business bigger.
Later, contract farming made his pumpkins grow bigger and bigger
Li Changlong was kind and honest, and made many friends in business. In 2008, a friend came to him to discuss expanding pumpkin cultivation through signed orders.
Having become familiar with the pumpkin business, Li Changlong made calculations and believed this "order" could be accepted. That year, Li Changlong himself planted 200 mu, and signed contracts with cooperative members and other growers for 800 mu, for a total of 1,000 mu of pumpkins. That year, all the harvested pumpkins were sold at 0.4 yuan per jin. Growing pumpkins let the growers earn a very good sum of money. From then on, Li Changlong's pumpkin business grew bigger and bigger.
In order to ensure the growers' returns and reduce their cultivation risks, the price in the purchase orders Li Changlong signed with growers each year had never been lower than 0.35 yuan per jin. If the market price was low, it followed this price; if the market price was high, it followed the market price.
This year, the area Li Changlong signed contracts for with growers reached 8,000 mu, distributed across Yian, Keshan, Kedong, Heihe, and other places, and also expanded to Jilin, Inner Mongolia, and other places outside the province.
A chance encounter: a Taiwan, China businessman "fell in love at first sight," and the mini pumpkins crossed the ocean
Last year, while waiting for a flight at Hailar Airport in Inner Mongolia, Li Changlong happened to meet a businessman from Taiwan, China. At the time, both of them heard the content of each other's phone calls with their respective clients, and both became interested in the other. Through conversation, they immediately discovered in each other the business opportunities they needed. The two hit it off at once, determined that each would take what the other excelled at, and established a cooperative relationship.
It turned out that this Taiwan, China businessman dealt in high-end fruits and vegetables abundantly produced in Taiwan, China, in Sichuan, Yunnan, and other places, while also seeking agricultural and sideline products in the mainland that suited Taiwanese tastes and shipping them to Taiwan, China. Pumpkins were exactly one of the varieties he was looking for. After many rounds of negotiation, the two quickly reached an agreement to export pumpkins to Taiwan, China. Subsequently, this Taiwan, China businessman and his mother came together to Li Changlong's planting base for an inspection. During the visit, his elderly father called from Taiwan, China to ask about the inspection, and his mother excitedly replied: "The pumpkins here are so delicious. I've lived this long and have never eaten such delicious pumpkins!"
Li Changlong told the reporter: "People in Taiwan, China are willing to eat pumpkins, mainly because they are rich in nutrients and have a sweet, glutinous texture. The fertile black soil of northern China, especially the Northeast, and the large temperature difference between day and night unique to summer provide the prerequisites for growing high-quality pumpkins. At the same time, I treated him with sincerity, and we became very good friends. This is also an important reason why the Taiwan, China businessman is willing to cooperate with me and export northern pumpkins to Taiwan, China."