Sun Jifu grows grapes: one bunch is worth a chicken

    "What kind of grapes are these, and what price do they sell for?" "These are Summer Black grapes. As soon as they hit the market, they sold for 13 yuan per jin. One bunch of grapes sells for 30 yuan, which equals raising a chicken." On a scorching summer day, the reporter walked into the vineyard of Sun Jifu, a science and technology demonstration household in Lixin Village, Xinba Town, Yangzhong City, and felt as if immersed in a cool "sea of grapes." Summer Black is a new variety he developed in recent years: large berries, seedless, with sweetness reaching 18%, and last year it won a gold award for premium agricultural products at the provincial evaluation.

    Sun Jifu has been engaged in large-scale grape cultivation for 5 years. Five years ago, on his family's "one mu and three fen" of land, the annual benefit per mu was only a few thousand yuan. Since befriending high-efficiency agriculture, his grapes have sold better year after year. In the 10-mu vineyard he contracted to plant, besides Summer Black, there are also high-quality grapes of varieties such as Kyoho, Fujiminori, and Bionic, crystal clear and richly fragrant.

    "The grapes in my vineyard are all managed in an original ecological way, without swelling agents and without ripening agents, letting the grapes ripen completely naturally." Sun Jifu told the reporter that their family's grapes basically do not need to be taken to the street to sell themselves; fruit dealers come to the door to buy them, and whatever ripeness they want, they pick themselves, making it completely a "self-service grape supermarket."

    He also revealed a business secret: to do high-efficiency agriculture, you have to race against time. "When my Summer Black grapes hit the market, the wholesale price offered by fruit dealers who came to the door was 13 yuan per jin. By the time my 4,000 jin of Summer Black were almost sold out, other people's open-field plantings had just begun to reach the market." Sun Jifu's Summer Black grapes reached the market more than half a month earlier than others', and that more than half a month time difference let him fill his pockets. When the reporter asked the trick and how he managed to be half a month earlier, he said, "That is a business secret."