Red-fleshed apples become Feng Xiangbin's path to prosperity

"Red Love" red-fleshed apple

Everyone has certainly eaten an apple, but not everyone has seen a red-fleshed apple that is red inside and out. However, this kind of apple is no stranger to Feng Xiangbin of Zaozhuang, Shandong.

Feng Xiangbin, general manager of Zaozhuang Red Love Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., has not only achieved his own path to prosperity through red-fleshed apples, but has also brought business opportunities for prosperity to more fruit growers.

According to Feng Xiangbin, the red-fleshed apple he grows is called "Red Love." It originated in Switzerland, where fruit experts used hybridization technology to develop a new apple variety with red skin and red flesh. "Red Love" has a sugar content of 16%, 2 percentage points higher than ordinary Fuji apples, and its acidity is also 0.2% higher than ordinary Fuji apples, making its taste more refreshing. In addition, another major feature of "Red Love" is its high anthocyanin content. Anthocyanins have properties such as antioxidant, anti-mutation and prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and are widely used in contemporary personal care and health care. The anthocyanins in red-fleshed apples can reach more than 325 mg, more than 15 times that of ordinary apples.

Before coming into contact with the "Red Love" red-fleshed apple, Feng Xiangbin ran a locally well-known trading company. Several years ago, during a casual chat with a friend, Feng Xiangbin heard the friend mention seeing an unusual red-fleshed apple in Europe, and years of business intuition led Feng Xiangbin to conclude that this was a rare business opportunity.

After market research and verification, Feng Xiangbin spent money to introduce red-fleshed apples. After several years of cultivation and technical accumulation, he finally enabled this red-fleshed apple to achieve high-quality and high-yield production in his experimental orchard, and it surpassed the place of origin in taste and appearance, becoming a veritable prosperity fruit.

Feng Xiangbin, general manager of Zaozhuang Red Love Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd.

Feng Xiangbin made a comparison for us: ordinary Fuji apples bloom in the third year, bear fruit in the fifth year, and only enter the full production period in the seventh to eighth year; while "Red Love" red-fleshed apples can bloom and bear fruit in the second year after planting, with a yield of about 1000 jin per mu, and enter the full production period in the fourth year, with a yield of 5000-6000 jin per mu. In terms of management and disease control, compared with ordinary Fuji apples, red-fleshed apples do not need bagging to achieve the ideal commercial fruit color, and they have resistance to scab.

Feng Xiangbin's successful introduction of "Red Love" let the friends around him see the unusual characteristics and market demand of red-fleshed apples, and his planting base also attracted more and more fruit growers who came to visit, inspect and try planting. Xue Zhaocheng, who tasted the benefits and planned to expand his planting area, was once one of them. According to Xue Zhaocheng, red-fleshed apples are in short supply and one can sell for 10 yuan. His apple orchard of more than one mu had already earned more than 30,000 yuan last year, only its third year, and he is now preparing to purchase more saplings from Feng Xiangbin.

In response to the concern of many friends from other places who came to the base to visit and inspect, that seedlings may die after the first year of planting due to geographical and environmental influences, Feng Xiangbin's answer is that as long as seedlings die, he will resend them free of charge, and he shares planting techniques with them without reservation.

Today, Feng Xiangbin has not only developed his own unique technical characteristics in red-fleshed apple cultivation techniques, but has also discovered more selling points by combining the local market environment with the characteristics of red-fleshed apples. He hopes that more friends interested in red-fleshed apple cultivation can join in, making the entire red-fleshed apple market more colorful and bringing business opportunities for prosperity to more farmer friends.