Earthworm farming brought Li Chunguang unexpected wealth

He is a company shareholder with personal annual sales of over 30 million yuan. He set his sights on earthworm farming to realize his dream of rural life. However, the tiny earthworms kept pushing him past the bottom lines he had set for himself. Through a casual experiment, even earthworm castings became a hot commodity. What business opportunity did Li Chunguang discover in earthworms?

On weekends, Li Chunguang's base becomes a paradise for children. The activities here feel novel to these young visitors from the city.

Li Chunguang: Dig out the earthworms, tie them to a string, and then we can fish.

A bamboo pole, a thin string, and a few earthworms tied to the end - what will this simple fishing rod catch?

The children wait curiously for their prey to bite.

Parent: You caught one, you caught one.

It turns out what they caught was crayfish!

Reporter: Did you know how to catch crayfish before?

Young visitor: I'd never seen anyone catch them before. I used to be in the city all the time and couldn't experience this. It's pretty fun.

Soon, all the kids were catching something.

Visitor: Got one, got one, got one.

Reporter: Which one is this?

Young visitor: The second one.

Reporter: Does it hurt when the crayfish pinches you?

Reporter: It got away? Did you catch it?

Young visitor: I caught it and then it fell back in.

Does it feel fun to catch crayfish yourself?

Young visitor: Yes.

Reporter: The more you catch, the more you want to catch? Are you tired?

Young visitor: A little.

Reporter: Let me see this one. Oh my, this one is even bigger.

Even under the blazing sun, even getting pinched by crayfish, the children still have a wonderful time.

Li Chunguang: We caught quite a few.

Reporter: Enough to stir-fry a plate?

Li Chunguang: Enough to cook tonight, enough to stir-fry a plate. These are all the kids' - the kids caught them, so we'll cook them for them tonight.

These crayfish are not farmed by Li Chunguang. So why do so many wild crayfish gather in the small ditches around his base? Li Chunguang didn't explain, and quickly took the children to taste some delicious food.

Li Chunguang: Over there, the ones with a bit of red color, the ones that have turned red, you see - the redder the better, right, the redder the better. You can eat one - pick one and if it tastes sweet, you can eat it, you can eat it directly.

Child: So sweet.

This is the large white mulberry that Li Chunguang specially planted. In this 30-mu orchard, there are also loquats, nectarines, green jujubes and kiwifruit. Catching crayfish and picking fruit - Li Chunguang says the reason there are so many fun activities is all because he has a group of good workers.

Li Chunguang: Let me show you our workers - workers that work non-stop 24 hours a day.

Reporter: Where are your workers?

Li Chunguang: These are all of them. These are my workers, and also our wealth. Not only do we have wealth, but we also help solve environmental problems. There are countless earthworms in here.

Reporter: So many.

Li Chunguang: Yes.

Reporter: What is this you're feeding them?

Li Chunguang: After processing, this is cow dung, pure cow dung.

Reporter: Pure cow dung.

Li Chunguang: Pure cow dung. And after processing, there's no smell at all.

Reporter: There's so much.

Li Chunguang: You can smell it - it just smells like soil.

Reporter: There really is no smell. How long does it take?

Li Chunguang: This takes about 20 days or so.

After processing by earthworms, the cow dung is converted into earthworm castings. The castings are used in the orchard, which benefits the fruit trees' growth, and the earthworms help loosen the soil. The wild crayfish dwelling in the ditches of the base come to prey on the earthworms.

Reporter: Before, it might have been limited to just...

Li Chunguang: People knew I farmed earthworms, but now through organizing these activities, friends all know that I don't just farm earthworms - it has also formed a chain, from the treatment of livestock and poultry manure, to children coming to pick fruit and leisure agriculture, forming an entire ecological circular chain.

Reporter: So everyone understands your operation even better now, right?

Li Chunguang: Yes.

In Li Chunguang's 120-mu base, there are countless earthworms that can process 30 tons of cow dung and 10 tons of municipal sewage sludge every day. And the earthworms themselves are also in high demand. During the interview, Li Chunguang kept receiving calls from customers.

Li Chunguang: Let me call you back in a bit, okay? I still have some things to do in the field right now. Okay, okay, sure sure sure, goodbye.

Reporter: Have you been very busy lately?

Li Chunguang: Extremely busy. Wasn't there an argument yesterday? Both parties wanted to come.

Reporter: Why were they arguing?

Li Chunguang: No earthworms. This year's market is especially good. You can't buy earthworms even with money right now. Yesterday I only called one party, and then the other party said they wanted to come too - split it half and half, but the other wouldn't agree, saying how much I have I'll take, how much you have I'll buy it all. The other said how much I have I'll also buy it all for you. That's the situation right now.

Reporter: You were originally supposed to come pick up the goods in the afternoon, right?

Li Chunguang: Yes.

Reporter: He's very anxious now, isn't he?

Li Chunguang: He came over very anxious. Let me see how I can sort this out for him.

The low temperatures in the winter of 2015 caused the death of many farmers' earthworms, so this year is the best market since 2012. The wholesale price of earthworms is 20 yuan per kilogram. To make sure he could get the goods, earthworm distributor Zhang Fei came to Li Chunguang's base starting from noon.

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: This year's market - you can't wait for the goods. This is the slackest season, not even the peak season yet.

Reporter: Demand, right?

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: Demand. Demand reaches its highest from July to November. Right now it's only just begun.

Reporter: It's already this tight and it's only just begun.

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: Yes, it's only just begun this year.

When earthworms encounter strong light, they desperately burrow downward to hide. Using this characteristic, by continuously scraping off the surface soil, you can eventually collect piles of clean earthworms.

On an overcast day, the earthworms burrow very slowly. At 5:30 in the afternoon, seeing that it was about to get dark, the distributor couldn't sit still.

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: If I'd known, I would have come earlier.

Reporter: If you'd known, you would have come earlier to get it done - why?

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: To save time.

Reporter: You can't wait any longer?

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: The customer is waiting at home.

Reporter: The customer is already waiting at your home?

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: Yes, yes, yes.

Reporter: How many jin are you taking today?

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: However much he has here, I'll take it all.

Reporter: However much there is, you'll take it all?

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: Yes.

Reporter: How long will it take you to sell all these after you take them away?

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: Tonight.

Reporter: You can sell them all tonight?

Earthworm distributor Zhang Fei: It'll be done tonight. I have another truckload over there tomorrow morning. Now it's all same-day goods sold same-day. All the (fishing tackle) stores in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai are covered. We mainly serve fishing and angling. At retail now it reaches 12 to 13 yuan per jin.

Reporter: Per jin of earthworms?

Reporter: Just for use as fishing bait?

Distributor: Yes.

The earthworm collection work continued until dark, and altogether more than 1,000 jin were collected. In 2015, Li Chunguang sold 200,000 jin of earthworms, with sales of over one million yuan.

Before 2011, Li Chunguang was a shareholder of a company, with personal annual sales of over 30 million. Yet he set his sights on earthworm farming. To realize his dream, he experienced setbacks and pain, breaking through the bottom lines he had set for himself again and again, continuously increasing his investment. So what business opportunity did he discover in earthworms?

Li Chunguang was born in Xinghua City, Jiangsu Province. In 1997, after graduating from high school, Li Chunguang went to Shanghai, wanting to make a name for himself. Before he had even gained a foothold, Li Chunguang called his girlfriend to also come to Shanghai to develop. But when his girlfriend arrived in Shanghai and took a look, Li Chunguang was actually running a street stall.