Agricultural products speak through quality, and this is how Lintong farmer Zhou Weiqiang does it
Strawberry cultivation expert Li Junjian is providing technical guidance to Zhou Weiqiang (second from left) as he tends to greenhouse strawberries.
On March 26, at the Lintong District Urban Agriculture Demonstration Zone in Xi'an, the strawberry orchard of Qinxin Planting Professional Cooperative was bustling with activity, with a constant stream of tourists coming to pick and buy. "On weekends, many Xi'an residents and out-of-town tourists visiting the Terracotta Army come to pick fresh strawberries," said cooperative head Zhou Weiqiang. "Our strawberries speak through quality, using high-quality water and organic fertilizer throughout, healthy, high-quality, and reassuring."
Zhou Weiqiang is from Jiaokou Village, Jiaokou Town, Lintong District, and his planting base is right in the village. In early 2015, through land transfer, he built the first phase of more than 110 mu of strawberry, cherry, and grape planting gardens. "I'm a genuine farmer, and after more than 20 years of farming, I've stuck to one principle: 'agricultural products' must guarantee quality, and the key is to let quality speak." To this end, he invited strawberry cultivation expert and Xi'an Plant Protection Station director Li Junjian to provide full technical guidance and quality control.
To meet the high temperature requirements for strawberry cultivation, Zhou Weiqiang built 3-layer insulated greenhouses, with each greenhouse costing nearly 30,000 yuan. To ensure the quality of the planting water source, he also invested more than 200,000 yuan to drill two wells, and expert testing confirmed the water quality met premium standards. During the cultivation process, he used only organic fertilizers such as chicken manure and oil residue, achieving green, pollution-free cultivation. To ensure the quality and taste of the strawberries, under expert guidance, Zhou Weiqiang adopted flower and fruit thinning to control the yield at 500 kg per mu, with no more than 1,500 kg per growing season. Compared with ordinary growers' yield of 2,000 kg per mu and more than 5,000 kg per growing season, Zhou Weiqiang could be said to have taken refinement and high standards "to the extreme." His "Qinxin" strawberries have been in short supply since they hit the market, with on-site picking and purchasing prices reaching sixty to seventy yuan per kg.
"Xiao Zhou is a new-type farmer. Not only does he keep up with trends and develop himself, but he also leads the villagers to get rich and build a moderately prosperous life together," said Wang Huanchao, former party secretary of Jiaokou Village. Zhou Weiqiang originally grew protected vegetables, but in recent years, as market demand became unstable, he promptly transformed and entered the fresh fruit planting industry, leading a group of farmers who had previously grown vegetables with him to plant strawberries, cherries, and grapes. In the first phase, he transferred more than 110 mu of land in the village at a "high price" of 1,300 yuan per mu, and after land leveling and greenhouse construction, he regularly employs more than 20 stay-at-home women for field management.
"Two meals a day, plus a wage of 60-80 yuan. We can earn money and take care of our families. We're all willing to work here for Weiqiang," said Sister Song happily, who was picking strawberries in the greenhouse.
Since last year, Zhou Weiqiang has visited Shandong, Henan, and other places for inspections, introducing the latest varieties such as dwarf large cherries. Speaking of his future plans, Zhou Weiqiang said with full confidence: "The goal of 'Qinxin' is to build Lintong's number one and Xi'an's well-known sightseeing agricultural park. This year we will expand the planting scale, build steel-structure greenhouses, plant dwarf large cherries, and integrate with tourism to build a leisure experience farm, leading the villagers to get rich and build a moderately prosperous life together."