Young people returning home to start businesses
Figure 1: Wei Jin works in a watermelon shed.
Photo courtesy of respondents
Figure ②: Scenery of Fanshan Town, Lujiang County, Hefei City, Anhui Province.
Photo by Li Hongbing (People’s Vision)
Figure 3: Zhu Zhen shoots a short video in the blueberry garden.
Photo courtesy of respondents
Figure ④: Karry makes a tour route at Daguling Renjia Inn.
Our reporter You Yishe
After planting watermelons from Shandong, Wei Jin, 26, brought changes to the village: the watermelons in Dangshan, Anhui, became sweeter and sweeter; From dreaming of going out of the mountains to returning to the countryside now, 28-year-old Karry opened a homestay, conducted research and traveled, letting more people know about Daguling, a niche attraction; After leaving the big city where she worked hard for two years, 33-year-old Zhu Zhen plunged into the blueberry garden in her hometown and became an e-commerce expert, helping agricultural products "break the circle" … …
The vast fields contain infinite opportunities. There are local feelings and innovative dreams here, which can provide a stage for young people to shine in life, and the enthusiasm of young people has also injected new vitality into the countryside. With a hard work, these young people returned to their hometowns to start businesses, live up to their youth, take root in the fields, return to the countryside, and become "new farmers." They have also driven more and more young people who are good at learning and willing to study to return home and continue to devote themselves to the fiery practice of rural revitalization.
Pondering over "Seedling Sutra" in Watermelon Shed
The temperature in the watermelon shed is rising gradually. Wei Jin reached out and wiped the sweat on his forehead, and walked along the gap between the melons and seedlings. Rows of watermelon seedlings are green, riveted with strength and growing upward, with small yellow flowers dotted among them. Wei Jin bent down from time to time, lowered his head and carefully observed the state of leaf growth.
"The first watermelon has already been listed in advance, and this batch in the shed is still in the pollination stage. At this time, time and temperature are critical. If you don’t master it well, it is likely to affect fruit development. " Wei Jin, 26, is the head of Baisinong Fruit and Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative in Dangshan County. When talking about watermelon planting, she is like a few treasures, and she has opened her mouth.
Although she is a post-1995, her face is tender and slightly green, but she has been dealing with watermelons for 8 years, and she is a good hand in farm work. After graduating from school, Wei Jinben started a business in Ningbo. I heard that grandpa had planted watermelons for half his life and actually encountered a big problem. "In those days, I couldn’t buy seedlings or the survival rate was low. The old people were too worried to eat, and I was anxious in the field." A phone call made her feel distressed and moved the idea of returning home.
Empty enthusiasm, but no experience, Wei Jin knows in his heart that he knows nothing about watermelon seedling, and he is powerless to go back and help. After much deliberation, she decided to study in Shandong first. "The older generation of melon farmers here all buy seedlings from other places, and they don’t know the grafting method. Unexpectedly, the continuous cropping of watermelon will also lead to the wilt of melon seedlings." Wei Wei said. Since 2015, she has spent two years in a planting company in Weifang, learning advanced local seedling raising techniques and bringing them back to her hometown.
Put on the tooling, hold the knife tightly, and "shua shua" twice. Watermelon seedlings and pumpkin root have been handled. In the nursery base, Wei Jin is skillfully grafting the root seedlings together. The operation seems simple, and the technical content is not low: the cutting angle should be aligned, the contact area should be large enough, and the maintenance should be more meticulous … … Wei Jin has long been familiar with these tricks. She explained that when watermelon seedlings are grafted on pumpkins, they can absorb more nutrients and improve the ability of watermelon to resist Fusarium wilt.
After returning home in 2017, Wei Jin set up a cooperative, built a watermelon seedling greenhouse and tried to solve old problems with new technologies. "I became a monk halfway, and my major was not right. At first, I also went through detours." Wei Jin’s hands kept on, remembering while cutting seedlings with a knife. In the first year, I didn’t know how to do it, so I copied the routines from Shandong. Building a greenhouse, drilling wells and adding equipment, the seedling grafting treatment did not go wrong, but it was planted in temperature control.
After the grafting was completed, a week later, Wei Jin found that the seedlings faded at the first sight of the light. Not only did the leaves dry and yellow, but when the clip was removed, the grafted part did not heal at all. The little girl panicked and quickly called the old master in Shandong for help. "I didn’t know until I asked. The conditions are different. I don’t have any warming equipment here, so I can’t operate completely according to Shandong’s method. Suddenly cooling down, the first batch of more than 9,000 seedlings I grafted were completely annihilated. " Wei Wei recalled. Fortunately, a batch of seedlings were changed in time and covered with blankets to keep warm, so that the harvest of that year was not delayed.
Small watermelon seedlings carry big dreams. Today, in Chengzhuang Town, Dangshan County, Wei Jin has built six greenhouse seedling greenhouses, which can produce 3 million seedlings in one crop, which are not only provided to more than 600 farmers around, but also sold to Sichuan, Zhejiang and Inner Mongolia. The little girl, who was once thought by the villagers to be too bitter to do anything, has grown into an expert at growing melons, not only teaching the villagers the grafting skills she has learned, but also docking the market for local melon farmers.
During the interview, Wei Jin’s cell phone rang. On the other end of the phone, it was Wang Caihong, an old melon farmer in Wangtun Village. In his sixties, he planted watermelons for nearly 30 years and groped for seedlings by himself, but the survival rate has not been high. Under the guidance of Wei Jin, Wang Caihong mastered the new grafting method, and would ask her for advice when encountering problems in the planting process.
"No, this batch of watermelons from his family will be on the market in a few days. Tell me to go over and see when the sweetness is right." Wei Jin said with a smile, by listening to the sound, watching the color and tasting the taste, she will help contact customers as long as the harvest time is set. Last year, according to Wei Jin’s standard harvesting, Lao Wang earned 40,000 to 50,000 yuan for an acre of watermelon.
Eat a "tourist meal" in a small mountain village
For Karry, a young man from Huangshan, Anhui Province after 1995, it was his dream to walk out of the mountains. His hometown is remote, hidden in the mountains, and far from the city. Although the mountains and rivers are beautiful, he wants to see the outside world. In 2014, Karry was admitted to Beijing Union University to study tourism management.
On the road of life, you will face various choices. To Karry’s surprise, after studying in Beijing for four years, he changed his original idea. After graduation, he decided to return to his hometown in yi county, Huangshan City to start a business. "One year, my classmates followed me back to my hometown for investigation and praised the good environment, which made me feel that it was also a good choice to come back and travel." Karry recalled.
In 2018, after he returned to Miaolin Village, Meixi Township, yi county, and took over the Daguling Family Inn, the first thing he did was to rebuild the hotel. Wall painting, renovation of facilities, small courtyard planting flowers and grass, new room logs. While updating the hotel’s infrastructure, Karry also incorporated the experience learned from the study tour in Zhejiang.
"The house was rebuilt, and I ran around to see how the homestay in beautiful countryside was done. Different from the previous mode of charging by room, I found that most of them are now counted by the head, and they can also eat, saving tourists the trouble of ordering. " Karry introduced.
The 13 rooms are clean and tidy, and the hotel environment is completely new. Seeing that the foundation has been laid, how can this scenic spot, which is 37 kilometers away from the county seat, attract passengers? In Karry’s view, if you want to expand the source of tourists, you have to take the initiative.
In Nanjing, he found the "donkey friends" who used to come to Daguling to carry out outdoor activities, and sent the newly developed tourist routes to each other, asking them to help promote publicity; In Huangshan, he set up a travel agency to customize some minority travel routes and develop a small team travel experience model.
In July 2020, the village welcomed the first batch of more than 50 customized tourists from Nanjing. The night before the guests arrived, Karry tossed and turned with excitement and stayed awake all night. "This is a three-day and two-night tour route, including Daguling to enjoy the cool, Wuxishan Shuxi, Kecun Red Tour, etc., and food and shelter are all in the village. My homestay can’t stay, and I also introduced some of them to other villagers who open farmhouses. " Karry said that on that occasion, he stepped on the spot in advance, explained on the spot, made full preparations, and was bent on promoting his hometown.
Traveling with a group again and again, polishing the route a little, in this process, tourists also gave him a lot of "golden ideas": in summer, parents and children can prepare some small net bags for children to fish and play in the stream; In the quiet night, you can organize a bonfire party or watch fireflies.
Seeing that the research tour is getting hotter and hotter, the travel agencies in Karry aim at the opportunity and develop research projects. Take children to pick fungus, dig bamboo shoots and break mushrooms, so that everyone can experience rural life. "A while ago, research institutions in Hefei contacted me and wanted to come here to carry out insect research activities." Karry said as he showed the reporter the chat records in his mobile phone.
Since Karry returned home, the number of villagers running inns in Daguling Scenic Area has increased from 5 to 13. In mid-April, the villager Wang Style’s inn business license was obtained. This middle-aged man who used to collect tea and sell mountain products also opened a farmhouse under the drive of Karry. "When business is good, 10 rooms at home are fully occupied, which can make money compared with selling mushrooms and bamboo shoots in the past." Pointing to the newly built building not far away, Wang Style smiled from ear to ear.
In order to avoid bundled consumption and vicious competition, Karry took the lead in formulating the norms of Daguling Leisure Farmhouse Association to unify the standards of house prices and vegetable prices; Thinking of driving everyone to get rich together, he shared his experience in running a homestay and introduced customers to the villagers. From dry-wet separation to complete toothpaste and toothbrush, from independent installation of the room network to daily cleaning and washing, Karry always told me carefully. He said: "Only by working together can we develop tourism in the village. Since I have more experience, I should do more!"
Blueberry Orchard Round the "E-commerce Dream"
In the blueberry garden, the young man with black-rimmed glasses raised his mobile phone, aimed at the clusters of blueberry fruits behind him, and explained while shooting. Aside, the worker is busy watering and fertilizing, and he comes forward from time to time to let the master introduce his work to the camera.
Zhu Zhen, born in 1990, is a native of Hefei and a "new farmer". After graduating from graduate school, he returned to China after studying abroad. Five years ago, Zhu Zhen quit his stable job in Shanghai and returned to his hometown of Changlinhe Town, Feidong County, Anhui Province, where he had a good relationship with agriculture.
It is not easy for Zhu Zhen, who is a fledgling and cross-border entrepreneur, to have zero foundation in agricultural knowledge. As the head of Hefei Hongshun Agricultural Co., Ltd., the first thing Zhu Zhen did was to run the market, do research and learn experience. In 2018, he traveled all over Guangxi, Yunnan and Shandong. "It is also a blueberry, and I have to make some tricks to cater to the consumption habits of contemporary young people."
After attending the e-commerce training in the county, Zhu Xi found the direction of entrepreneurship. The teacher from Hangzhou gave a live lecture about the prospects and methods of e-commerce, which suddenly opened his mind. Taking advantage of the east wind of rural revitalization, can agricultural products also be inserted into "digital wings" and fly into thousands of households?
In 2020, with the idea of a trip, Zhu Xi began to try to broadcast live on a short video platform. A mobile phone, a microphone, the live broadcast room is located in the field. From how to manage and protect blueberries during their growth, to how to choose delicious blueberries, and then to the process of sorting and packaging blueberries, Zhu Zhen talked to the camera and remained calm.
Of course, there were times when he was at a loss at first. "I can repeat a sentence several times and I don’t know how to face the camera." Zhu Xi told reporters. Taking videos, learning editing and doing live broadcasts, he groped a little bit. It happened that the platform had agricultural product support policies at that time. "Slowly, not only did I grow up, but more and more online orders were received. Citizens place orders online before 10: 00, and express delivery can be delivered at 3: 00 pm. Last year, blueberry sales reached 1.8 million yuan. "
The lens is put up and the product is sold. Most of the blueberries planted by Zhu Xi are sold through e-commerce. In his view, online live broadcast and short video production are aimed at promoting agricultural products. Many Hefei citizens found blueberry gardens through videos and brought their children to pick them. There are also wholesalers who find the source of goods through live broadcast and establish long-term cooperation with him.
Valley today is one of them. He runs a fruit stall in Zhougudui Agricultural Products Wholesale Market in Hefei. When he saw the short video of blueberries shared by Zhu Zhen, he had the idea of purchasing goods. "Last year, more than 60,000 kilograms of blueberries were wholesaled with good quality and sold quickly. This year is the third cooperation. I am thinking about expanding the order volume and collecting as much goods as possible." Gu Jinzhao said.
In the Century Center of the North First Ring Road in Hefei, in conjunction with other township blueberry growers, Zhu Zhen also opened an experience hall under the Feidong agricultural special product line to drain blueberries and drive other characteristic agricultural products in the county to expand their sales. While visiting the experience, citizens can also take back a special agricultural product.
While opening the market, we must improve our technology. At present, smart agricultural machinery can be seen everywhere in Zhu Zhen’s 140-mu blueberry garden. The lawn mower gallops in the field like a go-kart, and the integrated water and fertilizer system can directly control the amount and concentration of watering and fertilization. These new farm tools are all purchased by Zhu Zhen and even assembled by himself.
"Let’s new farmers have to give full play to the role of agricultural mechanization. In the past, manual weeding took two people half a month’s work, but now it can be done in one day with agricultural machinery. " Zhu Xi, who has tasted the sweetness of e-commerce, is full of confidence in the future, from the master of returnees to farmers’ anchors, from "planting well" to "selling well".
