The blackberry growing story of grower Lü Xiaolin

    While many classmates were still worrying about finding jobs, Lü Xiaolin, a female university graduate from Liquanzhuang Town, Laixi City who graduated this year, succeeded in growing blackberries in her hometown. As learned during an interview on July 29, in 2005, when she was still in her senior year of high school, she persuaded her father to trial-plant blackberries, and she has been in charge of technical management ever since. Under her careful management, the 80 mu of blackberries have now entered full fruit-bearing season, and this year's net income will be at least 800,000 yuan. She said she will provide fruit seedlings free of charge to promote blackberry cultivation in nearby districts and cities, so that everyone can prosper together.

At around 10 a.m. on July 29, when the reporter arrived at Lü Xiaolin's blackberry estate in Lüjiajimabu Village, Liquanzhuang Town, Laixi City, she was busy receiving customers who had come to visit and place orders. Lü Xiaolin told the reporter that in 2005, when she was in her senior year of high school, she learned from television that blackberry cultivation had broad prospects, so she persuaded her father to switch to growing blackberries. Her father took out 120,000 yuan of savings accumulated over many years, introduced 12,000 fruit seedlings from the United States, and planted 30 mu of blackberries. This year, after graduating from Shandong Radio and Television University with a major in film and television multimedia, she gave up the opportunity to work in the city and settled down contentedly as a fruit grower. Lü Xiaolin told the reporter that this orchard can now harvest 3 tons of blackberries every day, food companies come to purchase them at 6,000 yuan per ton, and the daily income is nearly 20,000 yuan.

Lü Xiaolin's father, Old Lü, told the reporter that the blackberry estate now has a total of 80 mu of land. Blackberries are very popular in the United States and Eastern Europe, but previously no one in the Jiaodong Peninsula had grown them, and sales channels were not smooth. After his daughter took over the blackberry estate this spring, she contacted through the Internet several food companies with export business. Blackberries were in short supply, and output also rose noticeably, with a yield of nearly 6,000 jin per mu and a net income of at least 800,000 yuan.

Lü Xiaolin said that in Western countries such as the United States, blackberries are called "black diamonds" and "the American life fruit." However, because few people in the northern region grow them, they are not recognized or accepted by everyone. Yet food companies that handle blackberry export business can earn several times the profit. She has always wanted to make everyone accept this fruit, broaden sales channels, and let blackberries better realize their own value.

Lü Xiaolin said that only by developing together as a group can the business be made bigger. Therefore, she decided to provide fruit seedlings free of charge and offer technical support, mobilizing more people to grow blackberries. She said that in order to dispel everyone's concerns, she is willing to sign purchase and sales contracts with growers and set a minimum protected price to guarantee growers' income. Lü Xiaolin told the reporter that in recent days, people from Rizhuang Town and Nanshu Town in Laixi and from Jimo City have come to discuss chained cultivation, and several of her classmates have also called to learn from her experience, preparing to devote themselves to making a big effort in the countryside.