An earthworm farmer digs out a path to entrepreneurship
"Don't underestimate them. Darwin called them the most valuable animals on Earth; in agriculture, they are known as the 'living harrow' and the 'biological plow'; in traditional Chinese medicine, they are called 'dilong' (earth dragon)." Inside the Wali Company park in Linzi District, Shandong, Liu Fang, the person in charge, was deftly filling rows of breeding beds with manure and soil and spreading straw on top. Then she gently pushed aside the dark soil, revealing bright red earthworms one after another. "Earthworms are small, but their appetite is astonishing. The earthworms in 1 mu of land can eat 1000 tons of straw in a year. After being digested by earthworms, feed such as straw becomes earthworm castings containing more than 200 kinds of microorganisms," Liu Fang said.
In 2001, after graduating from university, Liu Fang and her boyfriend Feng Ning started a decoration company. After several years of hard work, they accumulated their "first bucket of gold." In 2009, the young couple chose to go to Ningxia to open a coal washing plant. In 2010, the two encountered an industry "winter," lost the family savings they had accumulated over many years, and returned empty-handed to their hometown in Linzi.
After experiencing the ups and downs of business, the two did not dare to make a move easily again, and spent all day at home tending flowers and plants to "heal their wounds." But not long after, the originally lush flowers and plants looked like eggplants hit by frost. Feng Ning learned that this was caused by a lack of nutrients in the potting soil, and that earthworm castings could improve the soil's nutrient structure and make the plants more "sturdy." Sure enough, after applying earthworm castings, the listless flowers quickly became full of vitality. "It's really amazing that earthworm castings have such a great effect!" The young couple could not sit still anymore and prepared to raise earthworms themselves to produce earthworm castings.
At first, the two bought more than 200 small earthworms and kept them in a box, feeding them kitchen waste. Gradually, the flowers they grew at home could not "eat" so many earthworm castings, so the two gave them to relatives and friends to grow flowers, and everyone reported after using them that the results were very good.
The young couple vaguely discovered a path to entrepreneurship in earthworms. "While we are young, why not 'burrow' out a path to entrepreneurship, just like an earthworm?" In early 2013, the two rented 1.3 mu of land on the outskirts of Linzi District and started a business again. Liu Fang and her husband, who had never farmed before, began busy farming days under the scorching sun with their feet in cow dung. "I was dirty and smelly all day long. At that time, I felt more miserable than I can say," Liu Fang recalled.
To attract customers, after raising seedlings bought at 8 yuan per jin, the couple sold them at 9.8 yuan, far below the price on the fishing bait market. As market sales gradually opened up and breeding experience kept growing, the young couple felt that the road ahead was suddenly clear and decided to expand the scale.
Huangcheng Town is a nationally famous major vegetable-growing town, with more than 70 large and small vegetable cooperatives, more than 30 leading enterprises, more than 10 large farms, and more than 60,000 vegetable greenhouses. After tomatoes, zucchini, and other vegetables are harvested, the remaining leaves and straw become a headache-inducing waste that affects the environment. Earthworms, as "guardians of the soil environment," like eating vegetable leaves, straw, and livestock and poultry manure the most. The two crushed the collected straw with a machine and mixed it with cow dung at a ratio of 7:3. In just over 20 days, a pile of livestock and poultry manure and straw could be turned into earthworm castings by the earthworms.
Liu Fang said that tiny earthworms have an astonishing appetite and can consume feed equal to their own body weight every day. This not only completely solved the vegetable waste disposal problem that had plagued Huangcheng Town for many years, but also produced high-grade organic fertilizer. After trials, agricultural expert Xu Xiaopeng told Liu Fang an inspiring piece of news: "One jin of earthworm castings is at least equivalent to 10 jin of farmyard manure."
They also learned that, in addition to producing earthworm castings, earthworms themselves have very broad prospects for use. Because they are rich in animal protein, earthworms are used as feed in poultry farming, and duck eggs from ducks fed earthworms sell for as much as 3 yuan each on the market; lumbrokinase can also be extracted from them for treating cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Seeing the broad "money" prospects, in May 2014, Liu Fang and her husband Feng Ning rented 400 mu of land and established Wali Earthworm Breeding Company. They successively undertook the Ministry of Agriculture's clean production technology demonstration project, the Shandong Provincial Department of Agriculture's farmland quality improvement and straw comprehensive utilization project, the Shandong Provincial Department of Environmental Protection's agricultural waste comprehensive utilization project, and many other national, provincial, and municipal projects, receiving more than 3 million yuan in support funds.
"Since using earthworm castings, my tomatoes have not only increased in yield, but also come to market earlier, and the taste is much better. There is almost no dead plant phenomenon in the greenhouse," said tomato grower Fu Jiancun.
Speaking of the economic benefits of earthworm castings fertilizer, Liu Fang calculated an account for the Economic Daily reporter: Huangcheng Town has no shortage of straw all year round, and there is almost no cost for it; the collection price of cow dung is about 80 yuan per cubic meter; the price of earthworm castings fertilizer is 1500 yuan per cubic meter; with annual production of 20,000 cubic meters, the output value is 30 million yuan.
"This is a green industry that benefits the country and the people. We will continue to 'burrow' out even more splendid achievements," Liu Fang said with deep feeling.