He switched to potato farming mid-career and led the villagers onto the road to prosperity

Peng Liqiu's potato fields have already reached more than 120 mu.

Peng Liqiu, from Shaoyang, Hunan, spent many years working hard in Xiangang Village, Huzhen, Boluo. He switched mid-career from selling agricultural supplies to growing potatoes, succeeded in his venture by learning from a mentor and figuring things out on his own, and led the villagers to grow them together. A reporter recently went into Xiangang Village and interviewed him about his story.

A skilled grower

With his know-how in growing, he has not suffered a big loss in more than ten years

When the reporter interviewed him, Peng Liqiu was busy in the field, checking on the growth of the potatoes. In other people's fields, some potatoes had just sprouted, and some were being fertilized. But the potatoes he planted had long since grown thick stems and big leaves in a stretch of green. Digging open the shallow layer of soil at the roots, the potatoes formed underground were already the size of eggs. At this rate, they could be harvested in another 20-plus days.

Old Peng's potatoes grow fast because he plants them earlier than others. Planting early to exploit the time gap is precisely an important, repeatedly proven tactic by which Peng Liqiu successfully grabs the market. Being able to go on sale when no one else has any means he does not have to worry about not selling them, and the price is also considerably higher than during the peak production period.

"Buyers have been coming by to ask. Other people's are not that fast; only mine can go on sale before the Spring Festival, letting everyone eat the freshest potatoes. There should be no problem with this crop's harvest." Peng Liqiu carefully covered the soil he had scraped open back over firmly, his face brimming with the confidence and joy of a harvest in sight.

Planting this winter crop of potatoes early also let Peng Liqiu unexpectedly dodge a disaster. Potatoes planted later generally suffered from scorched seedlings and rotten seed potatoes because of the hot weather, and those with serious cases were forced to plow and replant, only now just sprouting. "Ah, I really regret not listening to Old Peng back then. It cost me having to plow more than 30 mu of land, and I lost more than 30,000 yuan in seed potatoes alone," said Huang Guanmin, a potato grower in the same village.

People engaged in crop farming fear two big risks most: first, being unable to produce a crop, and second, the product not fetching a price. Constrained by these two major factors, growers generally find it hard to escape the situation of making money one year and losing it the next, yet Peng Liqiu has grown potatoes in Xiangang Village for more than ten years straight, achieving a record of no big losses and more profits than losses, which makes the villagers very envious.

"Doing agricultural production means fighting both the weather and the market. It's not easy, and growing potatoes is the same," Peng Liqiu said. He had also had lessons earlier on, but later gained wisdom from each experience, and over time figured out and summed up some tricks. It was by relying on these tricks that he was able to walk fairly steadily and hardly take any falls.

In terms of production, Peng Liqiu would rather go far and pay more than settle for what is near and cheap, importing high-quality seed potatoes directly from Inner Mongolia to ensure the quality of the seed source. His fields are uniformly laid out with deep furrows and high ridges, able to withstand ordinary drought and flooding. He buys chicken manure and duck manure from livestock farms as base fertilizer and uses chemical fertilizer as little as possible, so the fertilizer effect lasts long and the potatoes are also good in quality.

On the market side, he likes to go against others: when others plant early, he plants late; when others plant more, he plants less. In addition, he does not haggle over petty gains, doing business and making friends with some major distributors at the same time, building long-term, solid cooperative relationships and a stable sales channel.

Entering the trade mid-career

He went to Huidong to learn from a mentor, started with three to five mu, and now earns over a million

Peng Liqiu is a well-known potato big grower far and near, yet growing potatoes is not his original trade. After coming from his hometown of Shaoyang, Hunan, to Huzhen, Boluo, he at first sold agricultural supplies. Later, feeling that the business was getting harder and harder, he was forced to switch careers mid-way. It happened that a friend had 50 mu of rented land with poor returns and wanted to hand it over, so he took it on.

He had the land, but what would be good to plant? After some investigation, he found that potatoes grow in winter, with a production cycle of just over two months, making full use of the land, with good growing returns, and that an industry had already formed in Huidong, making it a good project. But in Xiangang Village, the atmosphere for winter planting was not strong. After the late rice was harvested, some fields lay idle, and those that were planted were mostly planted with green vegetables; almost no one grew potatoes. Moreover, back in his hometown, Peng Liqiu had only grown rice, and he was at a loss as to how potatoes should be grown.

But Peng Liqiu still set his mind on the prospects of growing potatoes. For this, he made a special trip to Tieyong Town in Huidong, famous for potato production, asked a friend to act as a go-between, got to know the most experienced local potato growers, learned and mastered potato-growing experience from them, and inquired about the sources of seed potatoes and sales channels.

After returning, he first trial-planted three to five mu, testing while summing up. By the third year, when he was fairly confident about production techniques and had initially established market relationships, he gradually expanded the planting area. Now his potato fields have already reached more than 120 mu, and the winter potato crop alone brings in over a million yuan each year.

Leading the way to prosperity

He buys seed potatoes and fertilizer on the villagers' behalf and shares sales channels

Seeing that Peng Liqiu had made money growing potatoes, the villagers of Xiangang Village also began to be tempted. Some went to Peng Liqiu and said they also wanted to grow potatoes, hoping he could help with growing techniques and sales.

The villagers at first thought Peng Liqiu would worry that more people growing potatoes would mean his exclusive business being taken away, and would refuse them, but unexpectedly, he agreed without hesitation. To some villagers still hesitating over whether to grow them, Peng Liqiu even took the initiative to urge them to make up their minds and work together.

For villagers willing to follow him in growing potatoes, Peng Liqiu selected and purchased seed potatoes and fertilizer on their behalf for free and gave free guidance on operations. The most important thing, the sales channels, he also fully opened up and shared. When buyers familiar with him came, besides discussing his own business, he also took the initiative to introduce them to other growers. Because of this, the villagers also called Peng Liqiu the "leading big brother."

After tasting the benefits, more and more villagers followed Peng Liqiu in growing potatoes. Now, among the villagers still staying in the village farming, almost every household's first choice for winter planting is potatoes; there are already more than a dozen big growers who contract land to grow potatoes, reaching 30 to 50 mu or more. The whole village's potato planting area has expanded from the initial dozens of mu to more than 2,000 mu.

Huang Guoliang, director of the Agriculture Office of the Huzhen Town Government, introduced that winter potato growing has become a major feature and pillar of Xiangang Village's agricultural industry, and has begun to spread to surrounding villages. In November 2015, because of the rise of the potato industry, Xiangang Village was also chosen by the Boluo County agricultural department as one of the county's three major winter planting demonstration zones, receiving key support in funding and technology and other aspects.

"The idea that if others do it they will snatch your rice bowl harms others and yourself, and it is long out of date," Peng Liqiu said. Only when everyone does it together and forms a scale can bigger buyers be attracted to come, and only then can one have a voice in the market. He told the reporter confidently that they are preparing to establish a potato professional cooperative to deepen cooperation further, and intend to move toward deep processing.