Yang Yuming: Finally Found the Taste of Childhood

“I'm a farmer, and I grew up playing in the vegetable plots. When I was hungry, I'd pull a tomato and eat it, grab a cabbage and munch on it, and it tasted so good! Nowadays, it's rare to eat vegetables like that. I just wanted to grow my own vegetables and find that taste of childhood.” On August 20, Yang Yuming, owner of Jinyuan Family Ecological Farm in Wenfeng District, was pruning grape branches in a greenhouse, sweat streaming down his cheeks.

This simple, modest dream brought Yang Yuming, who had been in business for many years, back to the land. In 2013, he transferred more than 100 mu of farmland from over 20 farming households in Dongfeng Village, Baolian Temple Town, Wenfeng District, to build Jinyuan Family Ecological Farm and began his dream-chasing journey of developing natural agriculture.

“In the first year or two, I planted grass first and invested more than 1 million yuan.” Yang Yuming laughed heartily. Because the transferred land had long been treated with chemical fertilizers and the soil was compacted, Yang Yuming decided to nourish the land first, applying biological organic fertilizer to the fields so that it would naturally break down harmful substances in the soil and improve it; at the same time, he let the wild grass in the fields grow freely, since the wild grass itself could absorb and break down harmful substances and also serve as excellent organic fertilizer; then he repeatedly deep-plowed and rotary-tilled the land to make it fertile.

Although he suffered considerable financial losses, the ecological environment recovered well. Two years later, Yang Yuming's more than 100 mu of land had fertile soil and was lush with greenery; seven-spotted ladybugs could be seen everywhere, birds flocked in groups, and even wild animals made their nests in the fields, creating a scene full of vitality. Next, Yang Yuming planted more than 40 mu of vegetables and more than 50 mu of fruit trees, put up pig pens and cattle and sheep sheds, and built a 300-cubic-meter biogas digester. He did not use pesticides for weeding and relied entirely on manual labor. At the same time, he dried the pulled wild grass in the sun, ground it into grass powder to feed sheep and pigs, and then collected the manure of sheep, pigs, and other livestock and poultry as biogas raw material. The biogas entered the greenhouses through pipes and, together with mobile ozone generators, was used to kill insects and sterilize; the biogas residue and biogas slurry were used for fertilizing and enriching the soil, forming a complete ecological circular planting and breeding model.

To improve the benefits of natural ecological agriculture, Yang Yuming, who is well acquainted with the characteristics of fruits and vegetables, also worked out a new method of three-dimensional planting. In the greenhouses, eggplants and peppers were planted under the grape trellises; in the open fields, zucchini and celery were planted under apple and pear trees. Last year, he opened up 3 mu of new land to experiment with three-tier elevated planting: in winter, Chinese cabbage on top and yellow garlic sprouts below; in spring, potted vegetables on top and potatoes below. Potted vegetables in particular, although several times more expensive than ordinary vegetables, are deeply loved by city residents.

“Farming, especially natural farming, is a job of conscience! You must avoid pesticides and chemical fertilizers and guarantee quality. You have to mean what you say and do what you say!” Yang Yuming said. In April this year, Yang Yuming planted one mu of cucumbers. The market price was 3 yuan per jin, and just at the critical moment when they were selling well, the cucumbers were suddenly hit by downy mildew. Someone advised him to spray pesticide, but he unhesitatingly cleared away all the diseased cucumbers, losing 60,000 to 70,000 yuan. In his heart, a promise mattered more than money.

At present, Jinyuan Family Ecological Farm has become an urban ecological natural agriculture park integrating agricultural production, processing, sales, and leisure sightseeing, and has built facilities and functional areas including multi-span greenhouses, double-layer warm sheds, a comprehensive “three-biogas” utilization project, standardized livestock farms, and characteristic fruit cultivation orchards. Using various models such as facility-based three-dimensional soilless cultivation and free-range livestock and poultry raising under the trees, it produces more than 10 varieties of fruits and vegetables, and the scale of breeding chickens, ducks, geese, and other livestock and poultry exceeds 10,000. Among them, the environmental quality and product quality of the melon and vegetable planting park have passed testing by professional institutions. The general public can not only adopt vegetable plots and fruit trees at the farm, plant and pick fresh fruits and vegetables, and experience farming life, but also taste green fruits and vegetables and livestock and poultry products at the farm's direct sales store in the city, enjoying the gifts of nature.

“Natural agriculture has a long cycle, high standards, and slow results. It would already be very good if results could be seen in 10 years. In the several years of doing natural agriculture, some people have approved, and some have made sarcastic remarks, but no matter what others say, as long as it is beneficial to society, I must persevere. I must be worthy of my own conscience! No matter how difficult it is, I must keep going!” Yang Yuming said resolutely.