Chengdu agricultural professional manager father and son join hands to build a colorful grape kingdom
On the Grape Avenue in the ten-thousand-mu grape park of Hanchang Town, Dayi County, the Cuifeng Family Farm run by Zeng Zhengping and his son Zeng Qi enjoys considerable fame. As a Chengdu municipal demonstration family farm in 2016, the 120-mu Cuifeng grape park has more than a dozen grape varieties entering maturity one after another, and the heavy fruit on the branches and the sweet fruity fragrance filling the orchard foretell another good harvest this year.
Zeng Qi, who just turned 24 this year, has managed the family farm for 6 years. Unlike other young people who bring capital to the countryside to start businesses, Zeng Qi grew up immersed in his father Zeng Zhengping's grape planting and management. After graduating from high school, unwilling to continue his studies, Zeng Qi began to participate in the management of Cuifeng Family Farm, serving as his father's helper.
The participation of young people has injected vitality into the family farm. When talking about grape varieties, maturity periods, taste, organic product certification, soil improvement, product testing, and order-based sales methods, Zeng Qi speaks with great familiarity.
Zeng Qi said these experiences benefit from two aspects: first, his father's accumulation over nearly ten years of growing high-quality grapes, and second, the platform and corresponding training provided by Chengdu agricultural professional managers.
Since 2012, Chengdu has included agricultural professional manager training funds in its fiscal budget every year, targeting college and secondary school graduates, skilled growers with a certain level of education and agricultural production management skills, returning migrant workers interested in devoting themselves to agriculture, urban residents, demobilized and transferred military personnel, and other personnel familiar with agricultural production and operation management as the target group. Through voluntary registration, county-level agricultural administrative departments include those who meet the basic conditions and are willing to engage in agricultural production and operation management in the training plan.
Both father and son of the Zeng family participated in Chengdu agricultural professional manager training. Father Zeng Zhengping was a student in the first session in 2013, and son Zeng Qi participated in the second session.
Zeng Qi revealed that what attracted both father and son to participate in the training was its professionalism and the communication platform for grape growers built through the training. "The year before last, the Chengdu Municipal Agricultural Committee organized us to go to China Agricultural University in Beijing for training, providing concepts on fertilizer and water management and the development of agritourism. These trainings are very professional and very useful for improving our planting techniques." Zeng Qi said, "Since the beginning of this year, agricultural professional manager training has been precisely classified, arranging grape growers to train together, and the training has become normalized. Through the training, a 'circle of friends' has been created for grape growers, realizing the sharing of resources in sales channels and technical management in the grape industry."
July in Chengdu is rainy and humid, but Cuifeng grape park is dry and neat. Steel-frame greenhouses are arranged neatly on both sides of the park roads, and clusters of green, red, and purple grapes on the branches are mouthwatering. Zeng Qi said, "Now almost all the owners of grape parks in Hanchang Town, Dayi County, have joined the ranks of agricultural professional managers. Through relevant training, they have mastered professional planting techniques. Now standardized planting greenhouses account for the vast majority of the nearly ten-thousand-mu park, truly achieving scientific management and controllable harvests."
At present, seven or eight early-maturing varieties such as Summer Black, Feng Hou, Red Balado, and Black Balado in Cuifeng Family Farm have entered the best picking period. Next, mid-maturing and late-maturing varieties such as Yongyou, Shine Muscat, Kyoho, Red Globe, Purple Earth, and Autumn Black, Crimson Seedless, Wink, and Italia will also mature one after another, and can continue to be supplied until around National Day.
Zeng Qi, who was initially unwilling to attend university, has already begun studying university courses in business administration. He said, "In agriculture, technology comes first, but advanced management methods and business concepts are also indispensable, so I want to make up for the management courses and strive to apply what I learn."
Within the current family farm, Zeng Qi and his father Zeng Zhengping divide work and cooperate. The father is responsible for planting and technology in the grape park, and Zeng Qi is responsible for management and sales.
The "father-and-son team" of Chengdu agricultural professional managers is passing on the experience and hope of Chengdu's modern agriculture.
In July at Cuifeng Family Farm, a bountiful harvest is in sight.