Xingjian Organic Village Weathers the Storm, Thanks Everyone for Their Support

Lead image/ Yahoo! Kimo Topics

After the news that Xingjian Organic Village had been defaulted on by a distributor was disclosed online on November 30, within half a month the power of netizens turned into practical support, and the cooperative received orders from all sectors one after another. At the time, after the news broke, nearly 7,000 kilograms of orders accumulated within two weeks, and yesterday (the 14th) a technology company placed a group order for 3,000 bags of rice (about six thousand kilograms), bringing this fifteen thousand kilograms of rice finally close to being sold out. Xingjian Organic Rice hopes to convey their gratitude and deep emotion to everyone through NewsMarket.

"Thank you all for supporting us, the volume of orders is scary, and we're very afraid of slighting anyone." Zhang Mei, chairwoman of the Xingjian Organic Village cooperative, thanked friends from all sides for their support. She said the cooperative's financial pressure has temporarily eased, that a quarter of the payment has already been paid to the cooperative's farmers, and that another payment is expected before the Lunar New Year.

Cooperative chairwoman: The farmers' considerate support helped everyone get through the crisis together

As cooperative chairwoman, Zhang Mei, facing everyone's support, kept her gratitude in her heart, and was also grateful for the consideration of the cooperative's farmers. "At the time everyone still didn't know it was a distributor's default; they only asked, 'Hey, why aren't we milling rice right now?' and found it very strange. Later, when everyone found out, they didn't blame us too much." She said that fortunately the farmers trusted the cooperative very much, and everyone got through the difficult time together. Next year, new farmers will even join, increasing Xingjian Organic Village's cultivated area by another two jia.

Asked about her inner journey during this period, she said: "We country folk are more simple-hearted! We don't fuss over so much!" She seemed cheerful, but behind it was hidden the worry and pressure she had endured during this period. She said this was the common view of her and the farmers; although the worries were in their hearts, in the end receiving such great attention and support from all sectors was the greatest affirmation for the Xingjian Organic Cooperative. Through this incident, Zhang Mei said the cooperative learned a very profound lesson: first, future marketing must be able to spread risk and not put all eggs in one basket; second, the cooperative must handle and face orders more actively and build good communication with customers.

Cooperative manager Wu Xinwei said this incident highlighted the cooperative's long-standing problem of cohesion. "When a group of people does things together, everyone must put in some effort, and it can't be that only one or two people are doing the work." He said he hopes that through this incident, the farmers can gradually come to understand the concepts of "marketing" and "distribution channels," and that everyone will work hard together for sales. In addition, he was also very grateful to consumers for joining in, believing that the power mobilized this time should not be underestimated, and he also hoped that through a family shareholding method, the subscribers who helped the cooperative this time could become regular buyers of Xingjian organic rice.

Lead image/ Cooperative chairwoman Zhang Mei sincerely thanks everyone for their support in helping the farmers get through the crisis  Photo/ Zhang Yaqiao

Government agencies: They came to show concern, but the practical use was limited

The Agriculture and Food Agency visited Xingjian Village the day after the news broke, and afterward issued a press release calling for people to "cherish farmers and treat them with sincerity," mentioning that after the news report there had already been a large number of group purchases, explaining that it had sponsored cold storage facilities, and stating that in the future it would continue to assist in adding related production equipment and materials. Luo Wenlong, deputy director of the Eastern Region Branch, said the Xingjian Village incident was a special case, and that if there were any future difficulties related to marketing, the Agriculture and Food Agency would certainly provide individual guidance, gain a deeper understanding, and offer necessary assistance.

Wu Xinwei disagreed with Luo Wenlong's remarks. "The feeling they gave me when they visited that day was that because the election was approaching, they came to put out the fire." Wu Xinwei said the cold storage subsidy was a plan applied for from the government before this incident happened and had nothing to do with it. "During the discussion, our farmers also directly told the officials our needs. For example, right now we don't even have grain drying facilities, and at present we ask neighboring farmers to help with drying. As a result, the official replied, 'Your area isn't large enough, so no subsidy is possible.' I immediately pressed him on exactly how much land would qualify for the application, and he only said he would have to go back and check."

"As the talk went on, the official directly said, 'Don't think about subsidies! Think about distribution channels.' And a branch director even said, 'Just hand it to the farmers' association and let them sell it, that's easier.'" Wu Xinwei believed that the Agriculture and Food Agency's on-site show of concern had limited practical use, and that when you get right down to it, they were still telling farmers to rely on themselves.

In the future, continuing to move forward together

Regarding future marketing and operations, Wu Xinwei said that at present they have already discussed contract farming with some enterprises and are moving toward cooperating with multiple stable distribution channels. In addition, Xingjian organic rice is also working hard to cooperate with local elementary and junior high schools; the nutritional lunches for teachers and students at Wanfu Elementary School, which is adjacent to the cooperative, use Xingjian organic rice. "The rice price ordered by the group meal company is 13 yuan per kilogram. We supply the rice for the school's nutritional lunch in the form of a donation, and none of the farmers are unsupportive." However, Wu Xinwei added that due to the limitations of the current nutritional lunch system, the opportunities for cooperation with schools are extremely slim.

"Our rice is really, really delicious!" Having gone through the default storm, Chairwoman Zhang Mei still did not forget to give her guarantee and once again stress that their rice is truly delicious. She said that a while ago a couple made a special trip to Yilan to find the cooperative to buy rice, saying a friend had recommended that the delicious organic rice was in Xingjian Village. For the cooperative, people who have eaten Xingjian rice introducing friends to buy rice because it is delicious is the most direct help. The Xingjian Organic Cooperative is slowly steadying its footing and moving forward step by step.

Further reading
Distributor defaults on ten thousand jin of rice, threatening to crush Xingjian Organic Village
Yilan's super grandma builds Sanxing Organic Village

Freshly milled Xingjian organic rice Photo/ Zhang Yaqiao