IT guy returns to his hometown to become a farmer, choosing rural roots over a high salary

He worked in animation design and software development, and was an urban "IT guy." But after earning his "first pot of gold" in life, he chose to return to his hometown to start a business and became a "farmer," growing wheat andraising geese, taking up the "agricultural classics" and singing the "rural song." He is Li Linrui, a college student entrepreneur from Zaojia Township, Changfeng County.

Li Linrui, born in 1987, lost his mother early. Under his father's careful upbringing, he was admitted to Hefei University of Technology in 2006. In 2010, after graduating, Li Linrui smoothly found a job at the Hefei Animation Industry Park and had a stable job. But he was not satisfied with all this and was bent on starting a business. In 2013, he co-founded a computer company with friends, engaged in software development, and smoothly dug his "first pot of gold."

Li Linrui, who grew up in the countryside, had always had deep feelings for rural life. When his software development business was booming, he chose to return to his hometown to start a business. In 2014, he returned to Zaojia Township, rented more than 300 mu of land, and began raising Wanxi white geese. Talking about the "goose raisingclassic," Li Linrui said: "Geese are herbivorous animals. As long as the temperature is well controlled in the early stage and disease-prevention vaccines are injected at the right time, they are relatively easy to raise. Goslings enter the pen every April and can be sold by the end of November. Finished geese can grow to 12-15 jin, and each can yield a net profit of 70-80 yuan."

Li Linrui's entrepreneurial path was not smooth sailing. "In the first year of farming, I was purely 'crossing the river by feeling the stones,' and almost suffered a 'total wipeout,'" Li Linrui said. In 2014, he bought 2,000 Wanxi large white goose chicks at 32 yuan each. Due to lack of experience, after raising them for more than a month, half of the goslings died, a loss of more than 30,000 yuan. Speaking of his experiences at the beginning of starting the business, Li Linrui still feels lingering fear.

In the autumn of 2015, the 3,000 commercial large white geese that Li Linrui successfully raised were sold as far away as Shanghai. Li Linrui said that last year he made a net profit of more than 200,000 yuan. In addition, the 500 breeding geese he raised were also very "competitive," laying more than 8,000 goose eggs, which were sent to a hatchery to produce goslings. On average, he earned 25 yuan per gosling, which brought him another 200,000 yuan in income.

In the second half of 2015, Li Linrui contracted another 1,200 mu of land and cooperated with Wannong Seed Industry, adopting "order-based" sales and planting wheat on a large scale. It is expected that this year there will be an income of nearly one million yuan.

"After this year's summer harvest, I plan to plant some miscellaneous grains such as green beans and red beans." Li Linrui said that next, he plans to build the canals and ponds well, and while developing special economic fruit forests and fine vegetable cultivation, he will try to carry out leisure fishing, taking the path of comprehensive development such as agritourism and picking tours.