Why does this post-90s-to-be young man find strawberries so fascinating?

In early February, the Zhongba strawberries were in their ripe, market-ready season. On a morning before the Spring Festival, in Zhongba Village, Zhongba Township, a young man in tall rain boots was walking through the field, checking each plant's growth and disease control. "This strawberry variety is called 'Pink Lover.' It tastes good, with a milky aroma, and the price is fairly high too," the young man told the reporter. Because it was introduced and trial-planted for the first time, 'Pink Lover' still has relatively weak disease resistance, so it needs frequent observation.

The young man is named Pu Yuanlong, born in 1989, a post-90s-to-be. In 2011, Pu Yuanlong graduated from Panzhihua University, majoring in applied chemical engineering. Afterward, he worked at a coal tar deep-processing enterprise in Qujing, Yunnan, as a technician at the plant, earning a monthly salary of about 7,000 yuan. In October 2014, Pu Yuanlong resigned and returned to his hometown to work his family's small plot of land.

"On one hand, the enterprise's benefits were declining, and more importantly, Panzhihua is vigorously promoting the health-and-wellness tourism industry and modern specialty agriculture, which made me see the enormous wealth buried in the land cultivated by generations of my ancestors." Speaking of how to "scratch a living" from the soil, Pu Yuanlong was full of confidence: "My family has 2 mu of land and has been growing strawberries since the 1990s. Now Zhongba strawberries are becoming more and more famous. I plan to introduce more varieties for trial planting, register and establish my own agricultural company, build my own brand, and make people across the country and even around the world fall in love with our strawberries."

With a plan in place, the key lies in action. In just over a year, Pu Yuanlong's hands had already developed many calluses. "Being a technician at an enterprise and working in the field are completely different things. As a technician, most of the time was spent indoors doing experiments and tackling technical problems; now it's different. I have to go out to work in the field every day, and wind, sun, and rain have become the 'new normal,'" Pu Yuanlong said with a laugh.

After returning home, faced with strawberry cultivation and management techniques worlds apart from what he had studied, Pu Yuanlong learned by buying books, searching online, and asking others for advice. At the same time, he also tried introducing new varieties for trial planting, which both enriched his family's strawberry varieties and improved his own planting and management skills. "This 'Pink Lover' is a white strawberry variety. Grown elsewhere, it is white, but in Panzhihua, due to sunlight and other reasons, it turns pink. The market price is about 100 yuan per jin, making it a relatively high-end variety, so it is also harder to manage. Its planting density and other aspects differ from other strawberry varieties. This one is chocolate strawberry, with a market price of about 25 yuan per jin; this variety is called Crisp Sweet, with a market price of 20 yuan per jin..." In his own field, Pu Yuanlong counted off the strawberry varieties, already speaking with real expertise.

Of course, starting as an outsider, it was inevitable to encounter some difficulties and setbacks. In the more than a year of growing strawberries, Pu Yuanlong spent more than 10,000 yuan just on ordering seedlings online for trial planting, and during that time he was cheated several times, buying counterfeit and inferior seedlings. "This is not only a lesson, but also let me accumulate experience," Pu Yuanlong said. Next, he plans to introduce more seedlings for trial planting and constantly update his strawberry varieties.

Speaking of the income from growing strawberries, Pu Yuanlong was a little embarrassed. "My family has 2 mu of land, and I contracted 1 mu. The annual gross income is about 40,000 to 50,000 yuan, and the net income is probably only 10,000 to 20,000." Obviously, this is a big gap from his income as a technician at an enterprise. Regarding this, Pu Yuanlong's parents were somewhat dissatisfied: "Instead of working properly at the factory, he insisted on coming back to do farm work. How much money must he lose in a year?" But it was clear that their dissatisfaction was more out of concern: "Busy in the field all day, how hard it is."

As for his choice, Pu Yuanlong does not regret it. "The process of innovation and entrepreneurship is bound to be very long; there is no rush," Pu Yuanlong said. He is registering his own company, and the company name has been approved as "Yuanlong Agricultural Development Company." According to the plan, in addition to running strawberries and mangoes well, Pu Yuanlong will focus on using the established agricultural company to promote standardized planting and carry out deep processing of strawberries, such as drying strawberries into dried strawberries for sale. "What I need to do now is take every step steadily and firmly, focus on quality, focus on the market, and gradually build my own brand," Pu Yuanlong said. He is now promoting his family's strawberries through help from friends and cooperation with other e-commerce businesses, cultivating his own sales market and channels. "A relatively high-end variety like 'Pink Lover' is mostly sold outside, and has already been sold to Beijing, Heilongjiang, and some coastal cities. In the future, I will promote my brand by participating in agricultural exhibitions and other means, so that more people recognize and accept it."

"Life may have regrets, but it must not leave you with a sense of having missed out." Pu Yuanlong firmly believes that with his own hands and hard work, he will certainly be able to carve out a sky of his own.