Later on, the neighboring farmers were all puzzled: why did those plants and bugs seem to listen to Zhang Hongtian. Zhang Hongtian said: "Keep your mind steady, and you won't be afraid yourself. Ordinary conventional farmers don't know that I've actually already considered many natural factors."
Even when it comes to sales, Zhang Hongtian emphasizes planning ahead. Before planting crops, he always asks the wholesaler first whether there is a chance they will buy the harvest. "Most of it is agreed on verbally. This way of doing things is very common in our countryside; everyone is connected one way or another."
For the sweet potatoes planted last fall, he also agreed in advance with the wholesaler on buying the harvest. As a result, when the sweet potatoes were about to be harvested at the end of February this year, the wholesaler told Zhang Hongtian: "Sweet potatoes from Shuilin, Yunlin are about to be shipped out in large quantities, and your sweet potatoes are smaller and look worse, so I'll come buy from you a bit later."
Zhang Hongtian said helplessly that he could not blame the wholesaler; the wholesaler has many sources for buying and he is not the only household. Although sales were temporarily uncertain, he was very confident in his sweet potatoes: "Anyway, my sweet potatoes are chemical-free, proven by testing, it's just that for the moment I still can't find a sales channel."
Farmers Must Work Hard to Find Sales Channels
Zhang Hongtian said that he previously grew pesticide-free rice, with an output of several thousand jin, and through introductions from friends, there was no problem with sales. But this time with the sweet potatoes, each friend could buy only twenty or thirty jin at most, while this sweet potato harvest was fifteen thousand jin. "You can't dig them slowly either; they have to be dug all at once, and the next crop is waiting to be planted behind them, so that pressure starts to rise."
Sticking to environmentally friendly farming methods is Zhang Hongtian's commitment. He said: "The trends in society as a whole are already different; more and more attention is being paid to organic, healthy ingredients. It's just that my efforts are not enough yet, and there are not many ways to let people know, so I have to work hard to think of ways myself. Why don't people come buy such a good thing? I must keep working hard!"
Of Zhang Hongtian's fifteen thousand jin of sweet potatoes, four-fifths are medium-sized sweet potatoes (about 100 grams) and one-fifth are small sweet potatoes (under 100 grams). He decided to donate the small sweet potatoes to disadvantaged groups. As for the medium-sized sweet potatoes, about twelve thousand jin, if thirty jin are packed per box, that is about four hundred boxes.
His planned selling method is: one box of thirty jin, forty yuan per jin, free shipping.[email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chtjisan
