Grape growing helps farmers increase their income, and the vines bear the fruit of prosperity
Melons and fruits are fragrant, and it is once again time for grapes to ripen.
On July 13, the reporter walked into the grape sightseeing garden at Yifengyuan Farm in Wuli Town, Pingqiao District, and saw grapevines covered with fruit, with fruit growers moving among them, skillfully cutting down clusters of glistening purple grapes and fully savoring the joy of harvest.
"The grapes are growing beautifully this year!" The garden owner Yang Guoyan's joy was beyond words. Yang Guoyan's connection with grapes dates back to 2010. That year, he decided to return to his hometown to develop his career after working elsewhere, transferred land, surveyed the market, hired experts, and with a total investment of nearly 60 million yuan built a 1,000-mu modern agricultural sightseeing garden based on ecological agriculture, while the 560-mu grape-picking area was among the sightseeing garden's first batch of "word-of-mouth" products. Over the past 6 years, Yang Guoyan has run this "sweet business" impressively.
"We introduced 16 high-quality grape varieties from home and abroad, including Shine Muscat, Summer Black Seedless, and Red Gem, and also innovatively improved the single-cross bird frame and light band according to Xinyang's high-temperature and high-humidity summer climate conditions. The grapes we grow have many flavors, good taste, and high sweetness. Last year the fruiting rate reached 98%, and income per mu reached more than 10,000 yuan," Yang Guoyan said. As the largest and most complete grape garden in Pingqiao District, the first grape-picking festival held last year was warmly welcomed by consumers. This year, the second picking festival will also open to visitors on July 28, and many tourists are already eager to try it.
Clusters of grapes have not only enriched Yang Guoyan, but also driven more than 110 local farming households to find employment in the grape garden, "stringing" together everyone's dream of increasing income and becoming prosperous. "Yifengyuan transferred my family's two mu of land at the price of 450 jin of rice per mu per year, and my wife and I also work in the grape garden. In peak season the wage is 100 yuan a day. These little grapes have now become our 'treasure bowl'!" a villager who was pruning and picking grapes told the reporter happily.