The "Chicken Farming King" Geng Haichao's Dream of an Ecological Homeland
When we arrived at the state-owned forest farm in Ningling County, a large standardized farming community beneath the trees caught everyone's eye.
Inside the community stood row upon row of chicken sheds. In the sheds, plump and sturdy chickens waited to be sent to market. Trucks coming to collect the chickens lined up in a queue. These broiler chickens would soon appear on dining tables across the country.
The owner of the farming community is named Geng Haichao, a young man of just 27 whose hometown is Yangyi Township, Ningling County. The Ningling County Longteng Minfa Farming Cooperative that he founded can send 3 to 4 million broiler chickens to market each year, helping more than 100 farming households onto the road to prosperity. Locally, everyone calls Geng Haichao the "Chicken Farming King."
More importantly, Geng Haichao harbors a dream of building an ecological hometown. His standardized farming community was built right inside the forest farm, which in itself is a reuse of idle resources, while the chicken manure produced by the farm will be buried in Ningling County's vast pear orchards, generating value once again...
"My greatest wish is that after leading the farmers to prosperity, we can all live in a green, ecological countryside," Geng Haichao said.
Geng Haichao talking freely with the reporter about his dream inside the farming shed
Giving Up a High Salary to Return Home and Start a Business
Geng Haichao is 27 this year. Because his family was poor, he left school in his teens and went elsewhere to make a living. Later, his older brother ran a veterinary medicine business in Zhengzhou and came into contact with the farming industry. On his brother's recommendation, he began learning chicken farming techniques from an expert at Zhengzhou College of Animal Husbandry.
"At that time I was paying my own way to learn farming techniques from my teacher, so of course I had to study hard, otherwise I'd have no way forward," Geng Haichao said. Through diligent study, he gradually mastered farming techniques.
Later, on his teacher's recommendation, he went to work for the largest farming joint venture in the country, Qingdao Zhengda Food Co., Ltd., continuing to study farming techniques under the company's authoritative experts. Gradually, the young Geng Haichao became an expert in farming. Another farming enterprise in Qingdao took notice of him and hired him as technical director with a monthly salary of 20,000 yuan.
At a young age, he had become a farming expert and was earning an enviable high salary, making Geng Haichao an envied "gold-collar" worker. Later, he even bought a house in Qingdao and lived a comfortably well-off life.
"But gradually I felt something was missing in my life, especially when I went back to my hometown and saw that farming techniques there were still not that advanced, and that farmers often lost both their effort and their money. It troubled me deeply," Geng Haichao said.
In 2009, after much careful thought, Geng Haichao made a decision: to return home and start a business.
Unexpectedly, the moment he announced his decision, he met with strong opposition from his family. His girlfriend was from Qingdao and certainly did not agree. His father opposed it even more strongly, and even said that if Geng Haichao came back, he would cut off all ties with him.
Starting a farming enterprise requires approval, and Geng Haichao's father even went to the approval officials in the relevant department, asking them to "absolutely not approve it for Geng Haichao."
But Geng Haichao's mind was made up. He returned home, rented 30 mu of land himself, and began building chicken sheds. Because his father disapproved, and because he had just returned home and didn't understand many things, even the bamboo poles for building the chicken sheds were hauled in from Qingdao, Shandong.
At that time, Geng Haichao worked busily for 3 months, lost dozens of jin of weight, and spent 300,000 yuan, finally completing Ningling County's first standardized broiler chicken farming shed.
This shed was fully automated for feeding, temperature control and manure scraping, and was very advanced.
Founding a Cooperative to Lead Villagers to Prosperity
After the farming shed was built, since Geng Haichao's farming techniques were at an advanced level nationally, his first shed of broiler chickens soon went to market, and with the market conditions good at the time, the first shed of chickens brought in 90,000 yuan in profit.
Seeing how well Geng Haichao was doing, his family finally came to understand his decision to return home and start a business. Later, through continuous development, Geng Haichao became a major farming household in the area.
Geng Haichao's investigations revealed that the Ningling County state-owned forest farm had vast stretches of woodland, and farming under the trees is a form of ecological farming that counts as resource reuse. In addition, farming under the trees allows for better temperature control, saves costs, and has no impact whatsoever on nearby residents. So Geng Haichao rented 200 mu of forest land from the state-owned forest farm and started ecological farming under the trees.
The reporter saw that inside the woodland stood a large standardized farming community. Entering the community, multiple farming sheds came into view. Thanks to the advanced farming techniques, no unpleasant odor at all could be smelled inside the farming community.
Trucks coming to collect broiler chickens streamed in endlessly. According to Geng Haichao, his standardized under-forest farming community has a total of 11 chicken sheds and sends about 600,000 broiler chickens to market each year.
It can be said that Geng Haichao has become rich, but he is not satisfied with this alone; the idea of leading the villagers to prosperity together has always remained in his mind. So Geng Haichao registered the Ningling County Longteng Minfa Farming Cooperative and began recruiting members.
"As long as you join the cooperative, we not only provide technical support but also give financial assistance. For each chicken shed, the cooperative contributes 10,000 to 20,000 yuan to help the farming household," Geng Haichao said.
After farmers join the cooperative, they can enjoy the "five unifications": unified supply of chicks, unified supply of feed, unified techniques, unified disease prevention, and unified sales.
At present, the Ningling County Longteng Minfa Farming Cooperative has more than 100 members, and each member earns more than 100,000 yuan a year.
Liang Liuqi from Chenzhuang Village, Chengjiao Township, Ningling County, is a cooperative member, and he is very grateful to Geng Haichao. A few years ago, he worked in the transport industry and never made any money. Later he joined the cooperative to do farming, built two chicken sheds, and now earns more than 100,000 yuan every year.
"Being able to help everyone get rich alongside me, to be honest, lets me sleep soundly at night," Geng Haichao said.
The "Chicken Farming King's" Dream of an Ecological Ningling
Ningling County Mayor Ma Tonghe, in an interview with a reporter from the Jingjiu Evening News, said that as an agricultural county, it must do a good job in agriculture and in the work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers. Agriculture in its original sense was mainly about growing grain, but now its share of farmers' income is growing smaller and smaller. Faced with this dilemma, some farmers need to leave the land and go out to work, becoming industrial workers to raise their income, while others need to draw profits from the fields. Under the current level of productive forces and economic conditions, only by adjusting the planting structure or farming structure of agriculture to increase farmers' income can farmers who do not leave their home region escape poverty and achieve moderate prosperity. This is the only way.
Geng Haichao's farming cooperative is undoubtedly one path for farmers to escape poverty and achieve prosperity.
Geng Haichao said that, in fact, if he chose to live elsewhere, his days would be very comfortable and he would want for nothing. But one of his great wishes is to lead everyone to prosperity.
Geng Haichao's father, many years ago, rented dozens of mu of land to grow persimmons, but unexpectedly not only did it fail, the family's savings were also lost completely.
"I understand best the mentality of farmers eager to escape poverty; they are hardworking, kind and sincere, but they suffer from a lack of techniques and avenues," Geng Haichao said. Being able to provide farmers with a path to prosperity is what he is most proud of.
Geng Haichao said he is a native-born son of Ningling with deep feelings for the place, and he will live in the countryside his whole life. However, our countryside today still lags somewhat behind developed regions. He has a dream: that the countryside will develop greatly, that its appearance will be transformed, and that it will become a truly ecological countryside.
Doing under-forest farming at the Ningling state-owned forest farm is a form of ecological farming; it not only does not pollute the environment but also achieves the reuse of resources. Every year, the farm produces large amounts of chicken manure, and this manure in turn becomes a "treasure," hauled to the vast pear orchards to make the Jinding Xiehua crisp pears grow ever more vigorously.