Li Baoshu uses the Internet Plus to sell vegetables and helps more than 800 farming households get rich
Pollution-free vegetables in Li Baoshu's greenhouse.
On the morning of September 12, in Beiqinggong Village, Xushui District, 42-year-old villager Ma Baosuo accompanied Li Baoshu to inspect the growth of scallion seedlings in a cold shed. Having begun growing pollution-free vegetables with Li Baoshu last year, Ma Baosuo, who planted 10 mu of vegetables, had a net income of nearly 200,000 yuan that year.
Li Baoshu's model of Internet Plus + membership system + delivery system made Ma Baosuo realize that selling vegetables via the Internet is more profitable.
Innovation cures "gambling": traditional vegetable growing and selling "ruins" vegetable farmers, Li Baoshu launches membership-based vegetable sales
"Take cucumbers as an example. This vegetable is famously a 'crazy vegetable.' Today the wholesale market price is two yuan fifty per jin, tomorrow it might be one yuan fifty, and the day after tomorrow fifty cents." Ma Baosuo told reporters that market conditions are unpredictable, and grassroots vegetable farmers can only rely on "gambling."
Ding Wenxi, a villager from Chengbeizhuang Village, Suicheng Town, Xushui, also felt this deeply: "In 2014, Ren Wenxue from our village contracted 40 mu of land to grow cabbage, but unexpectedly that year it was only two cents per jin... In the end, nearly a million jin of Chinese cabbage was fed to sheep."
Ren Wenxue's experience is a microcosm of many grassroots vegetable farmers. Li Baoshu's method for curing "vegetable gambling" is the membership system.
"If you want to eat trustworthy vegetables, pay a fee to become my member, and the ordering price is always the average price. For example, right now if you order cabbage, tomatoes and hot peppers totaling 15 jin, the average price is three yuan twenty per jin, and the cost is deducted from the membership fee." Li Baoshu said that under the membership system, vegetable farmers will not experience a price "roller coaster," and urban residents will no longer sigh over "sky-high vegetables."
Delivery ensures "freshness": from picking to the member's home takes at most 7 hours, while the traditional market is unpredictable
At around 10 a.m. on the 12th, at the vegetable planting base in Zhengcun, the reporter happened to see staff from Chaomali Logistics busy loading boxes of vegetables labeled with customers' names onto trucks.
"A total of 177 boxes, and they can be delivered before 12 noon today." Chaomali staff said that from the time Li Baoshu's vegetables are picked to being loaded onto trucks and then reaching members' homes, it takes about 7 hours. Li Baoshu said that if they went through the traditional market, from picking in the afternoon or evening, passing through two or three middlemen at the wholesale market, and then reaching the morning market, it would take at least 12 hours. To ensure freshness, Li Baoshu chose to cooperate with several logistics companies such as Chaomali, Zhengshida, Linghang and Guangsu.
Relying on fresh, conscientious vegetables, since starting to develop members in 2012, her conscientious vegetables now have nearly 10,000 members: "Nearly 5,000 people have paid membership fees, initially 1,000 yuan per year, and now 1,500 yuan per year. Another 5,000 people have not been asked to pay, because I'm afraid the vegetables can't be supplied."
The Internet improves "efficiency": "Internet Plus" expands social impact, and the WeChat mall changes operating efficiency
In 2013, Li Baoshu established the website of the Xushui Baoshu Vegetable Professional Cooperative and promoted the online vegetable ordering model.
"At that time there were more than 30 cameras in the planting area, and I also livestreamed the planting and growing conditions online." Li Baoshu said that the Internet increased her visibility and made her conscientious vegetables recognized by more and more people. As the supply volume increased greatly, Li Baoshu's method of once relying on hand-copying information to deliver vegetables to members began to seem outdated: "I often copied until one or two in the morning. Copying information incorrectly was common, and vegetables were often delivered to the wrong place. Later I really couldn't keep copying, so I started using computer software to solve it."
In March 2016, Li Baoshu began using a WeChat mall to sell vegetables: "My son, who is in university, asked a classmate to design a set of software that allows orders for vegetables to be placed in the WeChat shop, and then the vegetable cost is automatically deducted from the membership fee. It's so convenient."
Cooperation brings "wealth": from doubt to recognition, Li Baoshu leads more than 800 vegetable farmers onto the road to prosperity
When she first started the membership system in 2012, Li Baoshu had only 8 greenhouses, less than 20 mu of land, and only 4 vegetable farmers cooperating with her. In just 4 years, Li Baoshu's vegetable professional cooperative already had 8 planting bases of about 2,000 mu, involving 4 townships and 15 villages, with more than 800 vegetable farming households joining.
Being able to make money is the greatest motivation for vegetable farmers' recognition.
This year is Ding Wenxi's first year cooperating with Li Baoshu, and he still felt a little uneasy: "Only after seeing others make money following her did I dare to do it too. These two greenhouses of tomatoes were all grown according to her method. I estimate the yield is around 7,000 jin per mu, half lower than the yield of greenhouse tomatoes where others spray pesticides. But currently the market wholesale price is more than one yuan per jin, while Baoshu's price is close to three yuan per jin. Calculating it all together, this is still more profitable." Besides the more than 800 vegetable farming households, Li Baoshu's planting park also has more than 200 women working odd jobs: "The lowest daily wage is 60 yuan. An old farmer in charge of planting earns more than 4,000 yuan a month. There is work almost all year round, and even so it still earns quite a lot."
"This National Day, the average price of my vegetables will rise to five yuan fifty per jin." When saying this, Li Baoshu looked full of confidence.