The rise of an ordinary citrus variety to the international stage owes much to Jiang Shangjin
The Fengyuan and Dongshi areas of Taichung have long been major citrus-producing regions. Trainee Jiang Shangjin's family has farmed for three generations, or else worked in agriculture-related jobs, quietly cultivating and running citrus orchards for decades. Today his citrus orchards cover 32 hectares, with an annual output value of more than 1.5 million Taiwan jin, and even more than 60% is exported to Southeast Asia, making it a favourite gift for Southeast Asian people during the New Year holidays.
Seeing Shangjin's achievements today, it is hard to imagine that he once had nothing at all to do with agriculture. He studied electronics in senior high school and transportation in university, and after graduating he smoothly entered a freight company and an electronics company doing logistics planning and management. He should have kept going down this path, but at this point life took a turn.
Because of a serious illness suffered by his father, the siblings held a family meeting to discuss who would take over the orchard. Compared with his older brother, who worked at the farmers' association, and his older sister, who was a dietitian, both of whom had stable jobs, Jiang Shangjin laughed and said "because his leaving his job had the smallest impact, and he also earned the least money among the siblings," so the orchard work naturally fell into his hands.
As for the sales management of citrus, Shangjin also has his own unique insights and management methods. Shangjin, who studied transportation and electronics, integrates what he learned into citrus transport, sales and management. He observes fluctuations in market prices and adjusts shipment volumes. He knows well that in a market environment where consumers are price-oriented, if he wants to carve out a place for himself, he must differentiate. He makes good use of the characteristic that Fengyuan citrus has a high sugar-acid ratio and is suitable for storage, staggers his crop away from the peak production seasons of Tainan and Chiayi, and uses already established overseas markets to successfully break into the Southeast Asian export market.
In addition, strict quality control is also one of the keys to Shangjin's success. Before shipping, the oranges still have to undergo sugar content testing, and only those that reach a certain sweetness standard can be sold to consumers. In the final shipping and packaging process, Shangjin also does not forget to bring in his previous logistics work experience. He places different grades of citrus separately into different gift boxes to distinguish them, so that the sales end can easily identify them by appearance. When logistics management is done well, naturally the error rate will decrease and unnecessary losses will be reduced.
Now, he and the members of his production-marketing group use the "Orange Garden" brand to export Fengyuan's citrus to Southeast Asia. And through the "Find Products" and "Find Channels" functions of the Farmers' Academy website, he hopes to introduce "Orange Garden's" ponkan gift boxes into the domestic market, giving the people of Taiwan more opportunities to discover and enjoy high-grade, delicious ponkan.
As for other farming friends who are also looking for sales channels, Shangjin offers a suggestion: first find your own characteristics, walk a path different from others, and after achieving differentiation, use the "Find Products" and "Find Channels" functions of the Farmers' Academy website to look for suitable sales channels and increase product exposure. In this way, the sale of agricultural products will go more smoothly.