A jin of pork sells for 100 yuan: pharmacist switches careers to become a pig farmer

Deng Guoyong's pigpens obtained a national patent

The average price of the pork is more than 100 yuan per jin, and even the cheapest leaf fat costs 88 yuan per jin... There is a pig farm in Qijiang District that sells "phospholipid-rich" black pork. The 48-year-old owner Deng Guoyong says that eating the black pork can improve memory. Within one year he attracted more than 400 regular customers, and sells more than 2,000 jin every month. On the 16th, Deng Guoyong held a press conference at the Yuzhou Hotel in Yuzhong District to share his way of making money.

Looking for brain-boosting medicine for his daughter led him into business

Deng Guoyong is from Nanchong, Sichuan Province. He obtained the qualification of licensed pharmacist in 1995 and once served as a senior executive at two listed companies. Now, in the mountain forest of Shangbang Village, Dongxi Town, Qijiang District, at an altitude of about 1,000 m, he has become a pig farmer. He introduced Shandong Laiwu pigs as breeding stock, then used his own patented breeding technology to raise phospholipid-rich black pigs.

Deng Guoyong said that in 2012, his daughter was in her senior year of high school at a key middle school in Chongqing, but her grades were not ideal. The teacher believed that the child was very smart, but had difficulty concentrating and had a poor memory.

As a pharmacist, Deng Guoyong found after research that the possible reason for his daughter's poor memory was a low intake of phospholipids and insufficient metabolic compensation, which led to a deficiency of phospholipids in his daughter's memory units. He learned by chance that the fat of Shandong Laiwu black pigs contains 60% to 70% phospholipids, and the pork sells for more than 100 yuan per jin.

In September of that year, Deng Guoyong spent more than 5,000 yuan to buy more than 40 jin of Laiwu black pork. After his daughter ate it, her grades steadily improved. In the college entrance examination the following year, his daughter entered a key university in Chongqing with a score more than 40 points above the first-tier cutoff. This was also confirmed by her homeroom teacher at the time, Teacher Zhang.

At this point, Deng Guoyong decided to introduce Laiwu black pigs and engage in farming in Chongqing.

Improving breeding methods to enhance pork quality

In September 2013, after inspections in many places, Deng Guoyong chose a mountain forest with fresh air and cool summers as his breeding base. After that, he successively introduced more than 300 purebred Laiwu black pigs in two batches, hired breeding experts from Shandong for guidance, and also hired two highly experienced workers from Guangdong with high pay to work on site, officially starting the breeding operation.

At the same time, Deng Guoyong modeled the original ecological environment and renovated the pig farm, building a "dining room", a "bedroom", and even a "balcony" in each pigpen. On the roof of the pig house there is also nutrient soil, which can be used to grow vegetables and also to keep the pigpens warm. This kind of insulated and environmentally friendly pigpen obtained a national utility model intellectual property patent.

In feeding, Deng Guoyong insisted on using grain feed, mixing corn, wheat bran, alfalfa grass and rice bran according to a nutritional ratio, then fermenting the mixture. For this, he also filed patent applications such as "a feeding method for increasing the phospholipid content of pork" and "a feeding method for reducing cholesterol in pork".

Students pay only if two months of trial eating proves effective

Deng Guoyong said that Laiwu black pigs grow slowly. From birth to slaughter, it takes about 18 months, and the breeding cost is equivalent to 3 times that of ordinary meat pigs. For one Laiwu black pig of about 240 jin, the breeding cost is more than 5,000 yuan, so the price of Laiwu black pork is set at about 100 yuan per jin.

In early 2015, the black pigs in Deng Guoyong's pigpens were gradually brought to market. He opened a sales store near a middle school in Longtousi, Yubei District, hoping to win over the student market based on his daughter's successful experience. However, after 3 months of opening, sales performance was dismal. The price of the black pork was too far above the price of ordinary pork, making it very hard for consumers to accept.

On the 16th, Deng Guoyong told a Chongqing Evening News reporter that in order to open up the market, he signed trial-eating agreements with some students' parents, under which he provided two months of free trial eating, and the parents would decide whether to buy the black pork based on their children's academic performance.

Now, these parents who signed the agreements have begun actively buying the black pork. Deng Guoyong already has more than 400 regular customers, and the monthly sales volume of black pork has reached more than 2,000 jin.

Expert assessment and verification by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

In order to verify the effects of the phospholipid-rich black pigs with high phospholipid content, Deng Guoyong applied to the China Development Strategy Research Society for a scientific and technological achievement evaluation.

On March 10 this year, led and organized by the China Strategic Studies Society, experts from China Agricultural University, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the Science and Technology Development Center of the Ministry of Agriculture held in the China Strategic Studies Research Center an evaluation meeting on the scientific and technological achievement "Key Breeding Technology for Functional Phospholipid-Rich Pork" of Chongqing phospholipid-rich black pigs.

On the 16th, the reporter saw this "Scientific and Technological Achievement Evaluation Report", whose assessment result was: the pork product of Chongqing Phospholipid-Rich Black Pig Co., Ltd. is "rich in phospholipids, and its function is to effectively alleviate sub-health symptoms such as memory decline, difficulty concentrating, slow thinking, slow reactions, and negative emotions caused by insufficient myelination nutrition".

At the same time, the report also specifically pointed out that "the conclusion of the scientific and technological achievement evaluation does not have administrative effect and is only a consultative opinion. The consequences of decision-making actions based on the evaluation conclusion shall be borne by the decision-maker."

"If membership develops at the current rate, by early next year the number of regular customers can reach more than 3,000, and monthly sales will exceed 1.5 million yuan." Deng Guoyong said that the current 1,500 black pigs on hand can meet market demand for at most two years. In the future, he will consider cooperating with nearby farmers, both to ensure market supply and to help farmers increase their income.