Farm-to-supermarket direct supply is a win-win, so why is it hard to promote?
Farm-to-supermarket direct supply benefits everyone, yet it is hard to promote.
(Agricultural Wealth Network) Every day at 2 a.m., Yue Yueren, a villager from Sanlian Village, Yangzizhou Township, Qingshanhu District, Nanchang, gets up and delivers a cartload of freshly picked vegetables to the Hongkelong supermarket distribution center. After quality and safety testing and other procedures, these fresh vegetables are sent to the shelves of various Hongkelong supermarkets for residents to buy. On November 5, a reporter learned from interviews that this new supply model, in which agricultural production bases connect directly with supermarkets, has already started in Nanchang and has been favored by farmers, supermarkets and residents, but large-scale promotion still faces many difficulties.
"Farm-to-supermarket direct supply" is a win for all three parties.
Yangzizhou Township is Nanchang's main "vegetable basket," supplying about 40% of the leafy vegetables on the Nanchang market. Yue Guosheng's family has 3 mu of vegetable plots. In the past, at 3 a.m. every day, he had to ride a tricycle to deliver the vegetables he had picked to the Nanchang Shenzhen Agricultural Products Wholesale Market to sell to wholesalers. It was hard work, and the price was low. Now he can sell his vegetables right at his doorstep, and the price is even higher than at the wholesale market. All of this benefits from the "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" between Hongkelong supermarket and the Yangzizhou vegetable base.
Every morning at 8, the fresh food sections of many large supermarkets in Nanchang open for business, becoming the main places where residents buy vegetables, melons and fruit. The "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" supply chain model further shortens the distance from farm to table for agricultural products, preserves their freshness to the greatest extent, reduces intermediate links in the circulation of agricultural products, saves costs for merchants, and allows consumers to buy fresh and safe fresh agricultural products at more favorable prices, achieving a win for farmers, residents and merchants alike.
For Yue Guosheng, the benefits brought by "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" are not just that he can now get a good night's sleep every day. The bigger benefit is that "there is no need to worry that the vegetables cannot be sold, and the vegetables can still fetch a good price." In April last year, Sanlian Village in Yangzizhou Township signed a vegetable supply contract with Hongkelong supermarket. Every evening, the villagers responsible for delivery would go to the village vegetable plots to purchase vegetables in a centralized way, and in the early hours of the next day they would deliver them in a centralized way to the Hongkelong logistics company. After quality and safety testing and other procedures, they were sent to various supermarkets for sale.
Most supermarkets in Nanchang do not treat vegetables as a profit-making product; instead, they use specially priced vegetables to boost supermarket foot traffic, so controlling costs is most critical. A supermarket manager told the reporter that in the past, vegetable growers sold vegetables to wholesalers, and supermarkets then purchased from wholesalers, which raised the vegetable price by at least 30%. Through the "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" model, costs can be reduced by at least 15%, and a stable source of goods can also be obtained. For many residents, in the past it was really not easy to buy safe, fresh vegetables at the farmers' market. Now, with supermarkets, in addition to lower prices than before, they can also buy safety. Once a quality and safety problem occurs with vegetables, the supermarket can quickly trace which production base supplied them, making monitoring of the food source more effective.
Expanding scale, yet hard to get over the "hurdles"
It is precisely because the "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" model has many benefits that the state is currently vigorously promoting it, and more and more large supermarkets are also actively joining. However, in the process of promoting "farm-to-supermarket direct supply," there are still many "hurdles" to overcome.
Sanjiang Town is also an important vegetable base in Nanchang, with a current planting area of more than 10,000 mu. Two years ago, some supermarkets went to local planting bases to purchase directly, but now this has basically stopped. The reason is that supermarkets' purchase volume is small while the variety is large: "just a few hundred kilograms of vegetables a day, and vegetable growers still have to deliver them to the supermarket." This caused farmers to gradually lose enthusiasm. Now, one third of Sanjiang Town's vegetables are sold locally each year, and all the rest are sold through middlemen to markets outside the province.
Cai Houyang is the head of the Nanjie Vegetable Cooperative in Sanjiang Town. This cooperative has a vegetable planting area of more than 1,600 mu. Most vegetables are sold through distributors to Shanghai, Guangdong and other places. Vegetables entering the Nanchang market generally go through distributors from the Shenzhen Agricultural Products Wholesale Market and are then transferred to supermarkets and farmers' markets for sale. Cai Houyang said that the cooperative is made up of dozens or even hundreds of vegetable-growing households, and supermarkets' payment settlement cycle is relatively long. Many farmers have concerns, so so far they have not taken the initiative to connect with supermarkets.
Ouyang Jialing, purchasing department manager of Nanchang Bubugao Chain Supermarket, has visited vegetable production bases around Nanchang many times, hoping to promote "farm-to-supermarket direct supply," but this work is not easy. What Bubugao hopes to find as partners are companies or cooperatives that can organize scattered vegetable growers, making it easier to control agricultural product quality and safety and other aspects, but there are not many cooperatives that meet this requirement. Ouyang Jialing said that it is difficult for individual farmers to realize the benefits of "farm-to-supermarket direct supply." This requires local government departments to strengthen organization and guidance, and through "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" promote the transformation of local agricultural products toward branded, intensive and specialized cultivation.
"Farm-to-supermarket direct supply" is a win for all three parties.
Yangzizhou Township is Nanchang's main "vegetable basket," supplying about 40% of the leafy vegetables on the Nanchang market. Yue Guosheng's family has 3 mu of vegetable plots. In the past, at 3 a.m. every day, he had to ride a tricycle to deliver the vegetables he had picked to the Nanchang Shenzhen Agricultural Products Wholesale Market to sell to wholesalers. It was hard work, and the price was low. Now he can sell his vegetables right at his doorstep, and the price is even higher than at the wholesale market. All of this benefits from the "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" between Hongkelong supermarket and the Yangzizhou vegetable base.
Every morning at 8, the fresh food sections of many large supermarkets in Nanchang open for business, becoming the main places where residents buy vegetables, melons and fruit. The "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" supply chain model further shortens the distance from farm to table for agricultural products, preserves their freshness to the greatest extent, reduces intermediate links in the circulation of agricultural products, saves costs for merchants, and allows consumers to buy fresh and safe fresh agricultural products at more favorable prices, achieving a win for farmers, residents and merchants alike.
For Yue Guosheng, the benefits brought by "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" are not just that he can now get a good night's sleep every day. The bigger benefit is that "there is no need to worry that the vegetables cannot be sold, and the vegetables can still fetch a good price." In April last year, Sanlian Village in Yangzizhou Township signed a vegetable supply contract with Hongkelong supermarket. Every evening, the villagers responsible for delivery would go to the village vegetable plots to purchase vegetables in a centralized way, and in the early hours of the next day they would deliver them in a centralized way to the Hongkelong logistics company. After quality and safety testing and other procedures, they were sent to various supermarkets for sale.
Most supermarkets in Nanchang do not treat vegetables as a profit-making product; instead, they use specially priced vegetables to boost supermarket foot traffic, so controlling costs is most critical. A supermarket manager told the reporter that in the past, vegetable growers sold vegetables to wholesalers, and supermarkets then purchased from wholesalers, which raised the vegetable price by at least 30%. Through the "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" model, costs can be reduced by at least 15%, and a stable source of goods can also be obtained. For many residents, in the past it was really not easy to buy safe, fresh vegetables at the farmers' market. Now, with supermarkets, in addition to lower prices than before, they can also buy safety. Once a quality and safety problem occurs with vegetables, the supermarket can quickly trace which production base supplied them, making monitoring of the food source more effective.
Expanding scale, yet hard to get over the "hurdles"
It is precisely because the "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" model has many benefits that the state is currently vigorously promoting it, and more and more large supermarkets are also actively joining. However, in the process of promoting "farm-to-supermarket direct supply," there are still many "hurdles" to overcome.
Sanjiang Town is also an important vegetable base in Nanchang, with a current planting area of more than 10,000 mu. Two years ago, some supermarkets went to local planting bases to purchase directly, but now this has basically stopped. The reason is that supermarkets' purchase volume is small while the variety is large: "just a few hundred kilograms of vegetables a day, and vegetable growers still have to deliver them to the supermarket." This caused farmers to gradually lose enthusiasm. Now, one third of Sanjiang Town's vegetables are sold locally each year, and all the rest are sold through middlemen to markets outside the province.
Cai Houyang is the head of the Nanjie Vegetable Cooperative in Sanjiang Town. This cooperative has a vegetable planting area of more than 1,600 mu. Most vegetables are sold through distributors to Shanghai, Guangdong and other places. Vegetables entering the Nanchang market generally go through distributors from the Shenzhen Agricultural Products Wholesale Market and are then transferred to supermarkets and farmers' markets for sale. Cai Houyang said that the cooperative is made up of dozens or even hundreds of vegetable-growing households, and supermarkets' payment settlement cycle is relatively long. Many farmers have concerns, so so far they have not taken the initiative to connect with supermarkets.
Ouyang Jialing, purchasing department manager of Nanchang Bubugao Chain Supermarket, has visited vegetable production bases around Nanchang many times, hoping to promote "farm-to-supermarket direct supply," but this work is not easy. What Bubugao hopes to find as partners are companies or cooperatives that can organize scattered vegetable growers, making it easier to control agricultural product quality and safety and other aspects, but there are not many cooperatives that meet this requirement. Ouyang Jialing said that it is difficult for individual farmers to realize the benefits of "farm-to-supermarket direct supply." This requires local government departments to strengthen organization and guidance, and through "farm-to-supermarket direct supply" promote the transformation of local agricultural products toward branded, intensive and specialized cultivation.