Ant Vegetable Garden Makes a Splash at the Agricultural Fair
At the 2011 China Anhui (Hefei) Agricultural Industrialization Fair, which opens this Friday, visitors can not only see giant watermelons weighing over 100 jin, explosive chili peppers with a capsaicin content a thousand times higher, and oddly shaped ornamental pumpkins, but also the new achievements of the "Ant Vegetable Garden" in the fresh agricultural products exhibition area.
What is the Ant Vegetable Garden? According to Li Jun, deputy director of the Planting Industry Bureau of the Municipal Agriculture Committee, the Ant Vegetable Garden is a new cooperative model developed in the first half of this year by the Li Xiangmei Science and Technology Cooperative. It currently has more than 170 members. Unlike the Happy Farm, citizens and farmers do not have to grow the vegetables themselves; they can simply order vegetables according to their needs. "For example, if I don't want pesticide-treated produce, they will deliver the grown vegetables to the member's home." In addition, if members want to grow their own, the cooperative will provide free technical guidance and seeds. "More than a dozen varieties of cabbage will be exhibited at the Ant Vegetable Garden, and the public can see them all. The main purpose is to introduce this new cooperative model to the public."
The reporter saw on the website of "Little Ant Citizen Vegetable Garden" that the concept of the Ant Vegetable Garden is to change the traditional sales model involving multiple links - farmers, middlemen, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers - into direct sales from the production base to Little Ant members. A wide variety of crops are grown, with harvest periods ranging from January to December, and members can choose for themselves.
It is understood that the fresh agricultural products exhibition area is 6 m long and 4 m wide, with exhibitions arranged on three levels. Visitors can see striped watermelons, health-beneficial vegetables, and more.
(Yang Dan, Staff Reporter Mao Chen)