Yuzheng Obtains One of China's First White Broiler Production and Sales History Certifications, Breaking Through the Twilight of the Poultry Industry
According to statistics, among the eight major white-feathered broiler suppliers in the country, Dachan accounts for as much as 25%, and the second-place CP Group also holds 17%. The market has long been monopolized by large corporations, making it even harder for small farmers to promote their own brands than in other industries.
Huang Shengyu, a second-generation farmer from Lucao Township in Chiayi County, gave up a promotion opportunity at his company 7 years ago and resolutely returned home to learn how to raise white-feathered broilers from his father. He realized that the white-feathered broiler industry was monopolized by large-scale electric slaughterhouses, and that the role of chicken farmers was increasingly reduced to contract farming, while the profits earned and the risks borne were inversely proportional. This gave rise to the idea of "direct delivery by small farmers and traceability management."
Over the past two years, with his two younger sisters returning home one after another to help with operations and marketing, they focused on the Yuzheng Chick-branded chicken, and at the beginning of this year obtained the production and sales traceability certification, becoming one of the first batch of chicken farmers in Taiwan, China to obtain certification. The three siblings uphold the belief that "there is no sunset industry, only sunset management," hoping to carve out a path in the white-feathered broiler market.
Feed and slaughtering monopolized; chicken farmers become contract factories
20 years ago, Huang Shengyu's father, Huang Boying, was guided by friends into white-feathered broiler farming, introducing the American Chore-Tronics water-pad environmental control automation system and raising white-feathered broilers using negative pressure and floor raising. What left a deep impression on the three siblings was that when they were still young, under their parents' lead, they started from mixing cement and built up their father's chicken house brick by brick. Because of such childhood experience, the three siblings are very united. After Huang Shengyu voluntarily returned home to learn chicken farming, his two sisters also thought about how to use their own skills to help transform the traditional industry.
What is different from back then is that the sources of feed and the choice of slaughtering have been monopolized, causing the costs invested by white-feathered broiler farmers to rise higher and higher, while income has not increased but decreased. In particular, two years ago large electric slaughter operators implemented total volume control, and how many chickens farmers could raise and when they could raise them all had to be approved by the large corporations. This made the already disadvantaged chicken farmers even more disadvantaged, and white-feathered broiler farmers therefore described themselves as "doing contract work for the big corporations."
Huang Boying mentioned that 20 years ago, domestic white-feathered broiler farming had just started, and the unit prices of feed and chicks were both very low. One kilogram of feed cost only 8 yuan, and one chick cost 4 to 16 yuan, so farmers at least had room to choose. But corn prices soared, and now one kilogram of feed costs 18 yuan, and one chick costs at least 26 yuan. Costs have doubled, but the profit from raising white-feathered broilers is only half of what it was 20 years ago, forcing farmers to expand the number they raise and survive through "small profits but quick turnover." Later, when he heard that his son Huang Shengyu wanted to return home to help, he once questioned and tried to stop him.
Because farming costs and certification fees were high, Huang Huixin initially targeted upscale restaurants in Taipei, but ran into a wall.
When Huang Huixin promoted Yuzheng Chick to operators, restaurant buyers replied that her unit price was too high and could not compare with chicken prices in the traditional market. Some restaurant operators even said they would only follow suit once consumers began to pay attention to the quality of white-feathered broilers. This experience led Huang Huixin to decide to change strategy and start promoting with local, conscientious restaurant operators in Chiayi, and she immediately received a response from Nordic Workshop.
After this battle, Huang Huixin found that before promoting safe, drug-free white-feathered broilers to operators, food education must be put first. In addition to finding restaurant operators willing to cooperate with safe ingredients, she also started with online home delivery to begin communicating ingredient concepts to consumers.
In addition to vacuum-packed Yuzheng Chick sold through online home delivery, Huang Huixin is now also seeking opportunities to set up stalls at small farmer markets. She plans to develop specialty processed products such as braised chicken feet, and through face-to-face interaction with the public, overturn consumers' traditional impressions of white-feathered broilers. She believes that with new thinking added to a traditional industry, eliminating the exploitation of multiple large corporations between production and consumption, direct delivery by small white-feathered broiler farmers will surely open up a path.
(This article received personnel funding sponsored by the Jianzhen Environmental Education Foundation, but the foundation does not interfere at all with news topic selection or interview writing, ensuring news independence.)