Post-80s generation returns home to start a business selling fruit, giving up a high salary to move into the internet

“Red Fuji apples 2.48 yuan, Hebei Ya pears 2.08 yuan, Australian red grapes 15.8 yuan…… Free delivery in Shijiazhuang urban area for orders over 19.9 yuan, nationwide express delivery within 24 hours……” Search for the “Liannong Orchard” WeChat official account on your phone, and a dazzling array of fruits fills the online store.

The owner of the online store is named Meng Xiandui, a resident of Ximazhuang Village, Mucun Township, Shenzhou City. He has served in the military, worked as a laborer, and later engaged in concrete production technology management in Beijing, where his annual salary once reached over 100,000 yuan.

In the eyes of the locals, this post-80s generation member is now somewhat “neglecting his proper work”: giving up a job with an annual salary of over 100,000 yuan to return to his hometown to contract orchards and sell fruit. But Meng Xiandui has his own ideas. He hopes that by developing organic ecological agriculture and seizing the new opportunities of “internet plus agriculture,” he can help his fellow villagers live a good life.

Ximazhuang Village is the original producing area of Shenzhou honey peaches. Since childhood, Meng Xiandui has had a special passion for fruit cultivation. In recent years, due to outdated local fruit cultivation models and a single sales channel, prices have been low and selling fruit has been difficult. After seeing the country propose the new agricultural development model of “internet plus agriculture,” Meng Xiandui discovered that there are many opportunities to strike gold in rural areas, and that is when he decided to return home and start a business.

Without delay, in June 2014, despite his family’s opposition, Meng Xiandui resigned from his job in Beijing, returned home, and founded a company. He initially invested 60,000 yuan to build the online platform “Liannong Orchard,” laying the foundation for a one-stop operation to achieve fruit “from branch to tongue in 24 hours.”

Selling fruit online makes quality and branding the key. Meng Xiandui contracted 10 mu of orchard in the village, hired fruit tree experts to set cultivation standards for the orchard, unified the application amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, increased the use of organic fertilizers and biological agents, and vigorously developed the cultivation of green organic fruit.

“In fruit cultivation and management, we will gradually establish a factory-style cultivation management model, statistically numbering the land area, fruit tree varieties, tree ages, yields, and so on, and storing them in an online data platform.” Regarding “internet plus fruit,” Meng Xiandui has his own plan: “We will be committed to building an O2F platform. Simply put, it is a one-stop fruit sales and delivery service platform from orchard to home. Through this platform, consumers can not only buy fruit, but also participate in interaction with the orchard and experience the joy of cultivation.”

Meng Xiandui is also considering establishing a large online platform. In this way, consumers can not only buy agricultural products, but also engage in happy planting——simulating the cultivation of agricultural products on the online platform and experiencing the joy of tilling. “For example, if I am a consumer and want to eat apples, I can buy a numbered apple tree on the platform and manage its cultivation through the online platform. When the harvest season arrives, according to the cultivation situation on the platform and the actual yield, I can choose to purchase it, give it to relatives and friends, or store it for regular delivery.” He believes that this model can not only increase orchard income, but also effectively raise consumers’ awareness of fruit quality.

Last year, Meng Xiandui set up a direct-sales fruit store in Shijiazhuang urban area and fully upgraded his “Liannong Orchard” online store. As online orders continued to increase, he sold his fruit all over the country, and his excellent quality also made his online store increasingly well known. Meng Xiandui said that although his business has just started, with the good policies of the Party and the government and the support of consumers, he believes “Liannong Orchard” will certainly be run better and better.