Returning Farmer Entrepreneur Lan Shunming Brings Homesickness Back to Deyang to Help Locals Get Rich

Lan Shunming (left) and an employee inspecting the growth of wood ear mushrooms

A few days ago, at the conference on returning migrant workers and farmer entrepreneurs starting businesses back home held in Deyang City, Lan Shunming received the Rising Entrepreneur Award. Although the prize money was only 10,000 yuan, for Lan Shunming it was a good omen, representing the government's support in action for returning migrant workers and farmer entrepreneurs starting businesses.

Lan Shunming, who is mainly engaged in edible fungus cultivation, started his business anew after returning from Beijing in 2013. He has now developed a planting scale of more than 1,000 mu, with an annual output value reaching over 10 million, effectively driving local people to get rich.

Three ups and three downs, then off to Beijing

On the road of entrepreneurship, Lan Shunming has experienced three ups and three downs, but each failure did not dent his confidence; instead, he grew braver with each setback, and his scale grew ever larger.

In 1988, after graduating from high school, Lan Shunming did not continue his studies and began running a general merchandise business. Once he met a person from Jianyang who was selling a sack of wood ear mushrooms, and they were bought out as soon as they were set on the ground.

"It was about 35 jin, sold for more than 400 yuan." Lan Shunming said that seeing how popular wood ear mushrooms were, he felt it was a good way to get rich, so he went to Jianyang to look into the local situation.

However, Lan Shunming did not choose wood ear mushrooms. Later, through newspapers, magazines and other publications, he learned about enoki mushrooms, so he made up his mind to learn the techniques in this area. Afterwards, Lan Shunming went to agricultural colleges or research institutes in Shanghai, Fujian, Hubei and other places to study edible fungus cultivation techniques.

In 1989, Lan Shunwu returned after completing his studies, taught the edible fungus cultivation techniques to local farmers, and then distributed the seeds he had brought back to the farmers to plant. He then bought back the edible fungi the farmers grew and sold them to local canning factories to make canned goods.

"At that time, the domestic market for edible fungi was not large, so they were generally made into cans and sold abroad." Lan Shunming said. Unexpectedly, not long after, for international reasons, the cans could not be sold, the canning factory owed him more than 200,000 yuan, and he in turn owed the farmers more than 100,000 yuan.

Lan Shunming's first business venture thus failed.

Lan Shunming's edible fungus production facility

In 1992, the edible fungus market picked up. Lan Shunming rallied again and began driving farmers to grow edible fungi, with the scale reaching 400 mu. Three years later, the scale doubled again, reaching 800 mu. Unexpectedly, in 1996 the Asian financial crisis hit again, and edible fungi were affected as well.

"I lost more than 2 million yuan, still owed the farmers more than 1 million, and was left with more than 200 tons of edible fungi that could not be sold." Lan Shunming said that he had originally been a millionaire, and all at once became a penniless man in debt.

In 2000, China's catering industry began to boom, and the domestic market for edible fungi gradually improved, giving the more than 200 tons of edible fungi a way to be sold. After selling them all, he just managed to pay back the money he owed the farmers. However, this also earned him a reputation for integrity. Lan Shunming founded a company and began developing his edible fungus business. In 8 years, the planting scale reached 3,000 mu, but in 2008 it was destroyed by the earthquake.

Lan Shunming said that after the earthquake the construction industry became hot, and many people went to build houses and were unwilling to engage in edible fungus cultivation. Therefore, he took his team of more than 50 people to Beijing to develop.

Body in Beijing, heart in his hometown, ultimately returning home to start a business

In Beijing, Lan Shunming led his team in their entrepreneurial journey. In 2009, in cooperation with a local listed company in Beijing, he built a 300-mu edible fungus leisure industrial park, with an annual output value reaching more than 10 million yuan.

Beijing's market is broad, with a large and rapid flow of information, but as a native of Deyang, Lan Shunming always kept his hometown in mind and wanted to contribute to its development and help local people get rich.

"It happened that an agricultural products fair was held in Beijing, and I met Deyang leaders who had come to Beijing to attend it. They invited me to return home and start an enterprise." Lan Shunming, who had always wanted to return to his hometown, saw Deyang's leaders extend an olive branch, which made him even firmer in his resolve to return home. "The government was very enthusiastic and issued many policies supporting migrant workers and farmer entrepreneurs in starting businesses back home."

In 2013, Lan Shunming returned to Deyang, and the local government quickly processed the relevant certificates for him. In October, Lan Shunming founded Deyang Mingrun Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., engaged in the cultivation of edible fungi, asparagus, wood ear mushrooms and so on.

In Shengfeng Village, Chengbei Subdistrict, Jingyang District, dozens of greenhouses and factory buildings are arranged in a neat, staggered pattern, with various edible fungi, wood ear mushrooms and so on planted inside. This is Lan Shunming's 120-mu planting base. It is understood that the company has already invested 30 million yuan in the first phase, cultivating more than ten varieties of organic vegetables, including termite mushrooms, pig tripe mushrooms, morel mushrooms, abalone mushrooms, daylily and asparagus.

"At present, our products are mainly shipped by air to the Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou area for sale. This year's sales revenue will reach 20 million yuan, and next year it will reach 50 million yuan." Lan Shunming said that with a company plus farmers model, he will establish a 400-mu production base for rare edible fungi, with organic vegetables reaching 5,000 mu, annual agricultural product output reaching 10,000 tons, realizing sales revenue of about 300 million yuan, profit of 40 million yuan, driving 4,000 farming households to increase income, with annual income reaching 50,000 yuan, while also driving the development of related industries such as packaging and cold-chain transportation, comprehensively utilizing more than 100,000 tons of straw annually, and effectively improving the local ecological environment and soil structure.

"In fact, Henan, Shandong and other places also contacted me before, hoping I would go there to invest in projects, but I still chose our Deyang without hesitation." Lan Shunming said firmly. "Because this is my hometown, and this hot land for investment and development is worth my staying."