Green Vegetable Source helps Zhang Shiguo realize his dream of increasing income and becoming prosperous
In the north, growing vegetables in summer is no problem at all, but growing vegetables in winter is a challenge. How can greenhouses achieve year-round production without interruption?
To solve this problem, Zhang Shiguo, a farmer from Baoshan Village, Baoshan Town, Suihua Economic and Technological Development Zone, led cooperative technicians on multiple visits to Shandong and Beijing to conduct research, and introduced new elevated strawberry production technology. In 2015, he built a strawberry picking garden focused on high-standard demonstration and sightseeing picking.
On January 3, driving along the old Hayi Road toward Baoshan Town in Suihua Economic and Technological Development Zone, upon entering the territory of Yongfa Village, on the south side of the road is the Baoshan Town Green Vegetable Source Farmers' Professional Cooperative founded by Zhang Shiguo.
The reporter walked into the greenhouse and met Zhang Shiguo, who was inspecting the growth of the strawberries.
Zhang Shiguo, 43 years old, is a farmer from Baoshan Village, Baoshan Town. Three years ago, he led the establishment of the Green Vegetable Source Farmers' Professional Cooperative and is a model of farmer entrepreneurship in the city. The cooperative currently has 73 member households and has driven more than 1,200 farmers from the local area and surrounding regions to participate in vegetable production.
"The strawberries in the six greenhouses have already set fruit and can be picked around the Spring Festival." Zhang Shiguo pointed at the strawberries and said that two greenhouses contain elevated strawberries, each greenhouse having 64 racks, and the strawberries on the racks have already been reserved by customers from Harbin at a price of 5,000 yuan per rack. The strawberries in the other greenhouses are mainly for picking, with "Hongyan" strawberries selling for 150 yuan per jin and "Snow White" strawberries selling for 300 yuan per jin.
"Snow White" is a white strawberry. Never mind eating one, it was the first time even seeing one.
When asked why the strawberries could sell for such a good price, Zhang Shiguo said it was mainly due to adhering to planting standards and striving to grow them well. After testing by the Provincial Inspection and Quarantine Technology Center, the vegetable varieties grown by the cooperative, including strawberries, all meet green food standards, which has laid a solid foundation for the vegetables to enter the high-end market.
"How is the income from strawberries?" "The net income from strawberries is expected to be around 1.2 million yuan."
After graduating from high school, Zhang Shiguo returned to Baoshan Village to farm. Through scaled operation, his income was decent. By 2013, the city development office invested in building vegetable greenhouses in Baoshan Village. Zhang Shiguo seized this opportunity and led the establishment of the Green Vegetable Source Cooperative. In addition to contracting 420 vegetable greenhouse structures and 20 greenhouses with the members, they also planted 3,000 mu of open-field vegetables.
Do what you do and talk about what you do. As chairman of the cooperative, Zhang Shiguo constantly thought about how the cooperative could develop quickly. When he learned that implementing "Internet Plus precision agriculture" would greatly benefit the cooperative, he and the members agreed to develop smart agriculture. In 2015, Zhang Shiguo secured 4.22 million yuan in investment from the city agricultural development office and the Development and Reform Commission, installed monitoring and surveillance equipment in the cooperative's vegetable greenhouses, built a small weather station, achieved full-process controllability and full-process traceability of vegetable production, and applied for designation as a provincial-level vegetable science and technology demonstration park.
To improve vegetable quality, the city agricultural committee customized a Grade A vegetable planting operating procedure for Zhang Shiguo and helped establish the Lvyuan Plant Protection Comprehensive Service Station. All vegetable greenhouses are now equipped with physical pest control devices such as insect-attracting boards and insect-killing lamps, all fertilizers used are farmyard manure, and pesticide input has been reduced.
Zhang Shiguo knows well that growing well is not enough; selling well is also essential to achieve high returns. To this end, Zhang Shiguo registered the "Xin Liu He" trademark, certified the green food label, and adopted various marketing methods to promote his green vegetables.
"The cooperative leads the members in sales, communicating and coordinating with places with high vegetable demand such as the Hada Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market and large supermarkets. We have now successfully established vegetable sales channels with the Hada Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market, Huachen Supermarket, and RT-Mart Supermarket. 40% of the vegetables from the vegetable base can enter Harbin, Daqing, and other places." Zhang Shiguo said that customized order sales are an important sales channel for them. Through Beijing Meitainuo Company, they signed an order for 360,000 jin of peppers with South Korea; through Shuangcheng Tengfei Agriculture, they signed an order for 1.1 million jin of tomatoes with Shanghai; through Beijing Xinfadi, they signed an order for 1.5 million jin of oil beans with Weihai, Shandong; they also signed an order for 700,000 jin of Chinese lantern fruit with Shenyang and Dalian; and they established a relationship with Beijing Anjiema Group, custom-ordering 2,000 sq m of greenhouse oil beans at 120 yuan per sq m and reserving 6,000 jin of elevated strawberries at 150 yuan per jin.
Order after order has let Zhang Shiguo and his members taste sweet success. In 2015, the cooperative achieved an output value of 20 million yuan and a net income of 6 million yuan; surrounding farmers earned 9 million yuan by working at the cooperative, and each member household's income reached more than 150,000 yuan.
Zhang Shiguo also said that with the help of two vegetable sales platforms, Suihua Lvdi Company and Zhongwang Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market, the cooperative's vegetables are sold to surrounding areas as well as Yichun, Heihe, and other places. Relying on the provincial agricultural products e-commerce network for online sales, and having made contact with Benlai Life Network, vegetables are sold to Beijing, Shanghai, and other places. While doing a good job in online sales, they have also connected with Harbin Deqiang Biological Company to provide vegetable ingredients for the cafeterias of Heilongjiang University of Finance and Economics and Deqiang Middle School, serving nearly 20,000 people.
Zhang Shiguo stated that in 2016, he will continue to aim at building "Internet Plus precision agriculture," introduce high-end excellent varieties and advanced precision management models from South Korea, Japan, and other places, produce more high-quality, green, and organic vegetables, and lead more farmers to realize their dream of increasing income and becoming prosperous.