Tiny Tomatoes Lead Farmers onto the Road to Prosperity

"I built four rooms for each of my two sons, and this year I even bought a 55-inch large LCD TV!" When talking about the changes in his family over the past few years, this honest and down-to-earth farmer Wang Qinhong could not hide his joy and pride. And what brought about all these changes for him turned out to be those tiny tomatoes.

Seeking Business Opportunities for a Living

Ten years ago, Wang Qinhong, a villager from Lingnantou Village, Xuefang Town, Laiyang City, worked at a local private factory and earned 1,000 yuan a month. However, the expenses of his two sons' schooling still kept the family living a tight life. In order to improve their livelihood, Wang Qinhong resolutely decided to resign and seek another way out.

At that time, some villagers in the village had begun to engage in protected cultivation. Wang Qinhong was very interested in this form of agriculture. After carefully inspecting the greenhouses of fellow villagers and conducting market research, Wang Qinhong believed that tomatoes had broad market prospects and that the cultivation technology was not very difficult. Without further delay, Wang Qinhong set out on the path of growing greenhouse tomatoes.

A Road to Wealth, A Road to Learning

In protected cultivation, Wang Qinhong was set on one thing: for tomatoes to sell well, they had to be different from others. "The quality must be better." From the very beginning of growing tomatoes, Wang Qinhong only applied farmyard manure to the tomatoes, focused on reducing pesticide contamination, and strived to improve the quality of the tomatoes.

However, due to lack of experience, the income from selling tomatoes in the first year did not even recover the cost of more than 70,000 yuan. The reality of failure led Wang Qinhong, already at the age of knowing heaven's mandate, to learn to look up information online, constantly exchange experience with fellow villagers who grew in greenhouses, and consult experienced elders.

"The town also uniformly invited experts from the Shouguang vegetable base to enter the greenhouses and teach us on site how to grow them." Wang Qinhong went all out to cultivate his greenhouse tomatoes. One crop after another of tomatoes carried this family's heavy dream of heading toward prosperity.

The Dream of Prosperity Finally Comes True

Heaven does not disappoint the determined. Wang Qinhong's greenhouse tomatoes gradually got on track, and with government support, there was no need to worry about sales either. Wang Qinhong told reporters that his organic tomatoes had a very broad market. The organic tomatoes he grew were not sprayed with pesticides and used only organic fertilizer. The tomatoes tasted sweet and tart, and compared with some tomatoes treated with chemical fertilizers and hormones, the taste was worlds apart. Consumers could tell which was better and which was worse with just one bite. Now, after the tomatoes ripen, major customers from Inner Mongolia, Shanghai, Wuxi, and Qingdao come directly to the village to purchase them, or Wang Qinhong ships them to out-of-town customers. "In the future, through rural Taobao, e-commerce sales may be even greater," Wang Qinhong said cheerfully.