Dong Chuanzong and Wang Yanqiu returned to their hometowns to start a business and explore the integration of the three industries to have a good life through hard work

Dong Chuanzong and Wang Yanqiu, a native of Kedong County, Heilongjiang Province, worked in Shenyang after graduating from university in 2011 and returned to Hongsheng Village, Qianfeng Town, Kedong County in 2013 to establish the Beichen Fruit and Vegetable Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative. Over the years, they have shifted from vegetable cultivation to the integration of edible mushroom planting, processing and sales, and tried to develop rural tourism, driving more than 200 people around them to increase their per capita income by more than 5,000 yuan per capita.

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From organic vegetables to edible mushrooms, Dong Chuanzong and Wang Yanqiu, founders of Beichen Fruit and Vegetable Planting Farmers Professional Cooperative, have been unremittingly exploring for many years to open up the production chain integrating the planting, processing and sales of edible mushrooms. On this basis, they opened up three industries and embarked on an entrepreneurial road of integrated industrial development and driving the villagers to increase income.

Coming to Hongsheng Village, Qianfeng Town, Kedong County, Heilongjiang Province, not far away, rows of insulation greenhouses and color steel processing plants are particularly eye-catching, and workers are going in and out of the entrance of the processing plant, busy pushing carts to transport bacterial raw materials.

Here is the Kedong County Beichen Fruit and Vegetable Planting Farmers Professional Cooperative, the person in charge Dong Chuanzong, Wang Yanqiu and his wife are both college students who returned to their hometown to start a business. With pastoral dreams, the two returned from the city to the countryside, faced setbacks and embraced surprises. Over the years, they have become more and more determined on the road of exploring the integration of the first, second, and third industries.

From zero to one, start against resistance

The hand of time is dialed back to April 2013.

Dong Chuanzong and Wang Yanqiu, who had been living in Shenyang for two years after graduating from university, returned to their hometown without saying hello. Father Dong Yuliang thought that the two little ones were engaged in unexpected surprises, and LeZizi cooked a table of good dishes.

After a few glasses of wine, Dong Chuanzong told his father the truth, and the couple had resigned from the city and were ready to go home to grow vegetables for a living. "The state attaches great importance to the work of 'three rural areas', and there are many support policies for returning to the hometown to start a business.

"Now that the standard of living has improved, the people should not only 'eat enough', but also pay more attention to 'eating well'." Our black land has good natural conditions, and the development of green agriculture is promising..." Wang Yanqiu helped from the side, and before he could finish speaking, he was glared at by Dong Yuliang.

After thinking about it for a long time, my father sighed: "There are some greenhouses in the house, which are left to you two to take care of." In his view, young people do not have a long nature, and they naturally retreat after suffering hardships. After setting up a note and writing down the IOU of the greenhouse, Dong Chuanzong also breathed a sigh of relief and made up his mind to make a appearance.

Two months later, the Beichen Fruit and Vegetable Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative officially opened.

The old greenhouse has been used for 15 years. Dong Chuanzong and Wang Yanqiu took out more than 100,000 yuan of savings to repair and take care of it, planted tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, no pesticides and no chemical fertilizers, and pursued green and organic.

"I didn't think that when the vegetables and fruits were on the market, not only the yield was low, but also the quality was not good, and one by one, it did not grow evenly." Wang Yanqiu said that at that time, the concept of green organic was not well recognized in the local area, and the vegetables and fruits were of high quality but could not be sold at a good price, and the first two years lost 40,000 or 50,000 yuan.

"Fishing with rotten nets, busy with a blind job." Dong Yuliang said cool words, took the opportunity to take out an IOU to "put pressure", "Hurry up and pack your bags and go back to the city, and the arrears do not need to be mentioned again." ”

Unexpectedly, the son is sharper than him, and he is not willing to say anything. Dong Yuliang had no choice but to think of a way together: "Edible mushrooms are still quite small in the local area, maybe it is a good way." ”

From one to two, planting, processing, and sales are integrated

It's a door to riches.

From vegetables to edible mushrooms, Wang Yanqiu also raised her hand in support. Her hometown is in Runjin Township, Kedong County, located in the southern foothills of the Xiaoxing'an Mountains, and it is a great pleasure to go into the mountains to collect mushrooms every summer and autumn.

Growing good edible mushrooms has many problems. In order to pass the technical barrier, in the spring of 2015, Dong Chuanzong contacted many parties and found a large planter in Yitong Manchu Autonomous County, Siping City, Jilin Province, and went to his door to learn art. After returning to his hometown, he bought 70,000 mushroom sticks and took good care of them.

"Edible mushroom cultivation has high requirements for temperature and humidity, ventilation and light." In those years, the little two could rarely sleep, "set an alarm on the phone at night, and get up in a few hours to check it." ”

Entering the harvesting period, the two were even busier. "Get up at one or two o'clock in the night to pick, ride an electric car to the county town 20 kilometers away to catch the morning market." Wang Yanqiu said, "When I come back during the day, I still have to be busy with nursing, so tired that I can fall asleep standing." ”

As the scale of cultivation continued to expand, sales became a problem again. "Most edible mushrooms have a shelf life of only 3 days at most, and when they are listed in June and October, the local market is difficult to digest, and the price has fallen to a few cents a catty." Dong Chuanzong smiled bitterly.

There is no clever doorway, only hard work. Dong Chuanzong pulled the goods to the wholesale markets in Wudalianchi, Bei'an and other places, visited one stall after another, and inquired about the shops one by one.

The other party saw him set up a pair of glasses, wenwen was weak, and he could not help but mutter. To open the box, only to see that the meat of the oyster mushroom is thick, and the slippery mushroom is evenly opened; look closely, the goods are not mixed with water, and do not carry other impurities. The doubts in the merchant's mind were swept away, and the supply agreement was successfully reached.

It is difficult to open up sales channels, and the price of edible mushroom fresh products is still affected by market fluctuations. In 2018, the county invested more than 3.6 million yuan through industrial poverty alleviation, and built an 800-square-meter edible mushroom pickled products processing workshop and a 240-square-meter cold storage.

According to the agreement, the cooperative is responsible for the operation of the project, and at the same time, it has increased the income of more than 60 farmers in the village through equity dividends and migrant employment.

"The integration of planting, processing and sales can effectively avoid market fluctuations and improve the added value of products." Dong Chuanzong said that the cooperative achieved sales revenue of more than 5 million yuan and a net profit of nearly 900,000 yuan in 2020.

From two to three, drive farmers to embark on the road to prosperity

These days, dozens of workers are busy making mushroom sticks to prepare for this year's production.

In the sterilization workshop of the processing plant, sterilization, cooling, culture of bacteria, inoculation into bags, shelf fermentation, one process after another is orderly. Luo Yanzhen, a 62-year-old poverty alleviation household, is busy bagging and bagging to make mushroom sticks, "My wife has passed away for many years, and I have a lumbar disc herniation problem, and my life is tight." ”

In 2019, Wang Yanqiu recruited Luo Yanzhen to the factory. "Piece counting wages, you can have more than 100 yuan a day." At that time, Luo Yanzhen was lifted out of poverty.

The masses who increased their income were not only Luo Yanzhen. At present, the cooperative has a total of 50 fixed employees and more than 150 flexible workers, more than half of which are the original households in the township, with an annual per capita income of more than 5,000 yuan.

As the cooperative got on track, the couple had a new idea. At the end of July 2021, with the support of the county, Hongsheng Village embarked on the road of integration of agriculture and tourism. On one side of the road, dozens of greenhouses attract tourists to come and pick; on the other side, a farmhouse restaurant has opened.

Wang Yanqiu invited a chef from the county to design more than 30 new dishes, the main ingredient is edible mushrooms. "On weekends and holidays, you can book at least four or five tables every day, and earn nearly 200,000 yuan in the opening 5 months." Wang Yanqiu's face was happy.

"The road to entrepreneurship is difficult and bumpy, and there are many people who return to their hometowns to work as farmers. Husbands and wives build pastoral dreams together, and they work hard to bear fruit. In the office of the cooperative, there was a small poem hanging. Nowadays, Dong Chuanzong and Wang Yanqiu have become typical young people in Kedong County who have returned to their hometowns to start a business.

In recent years, Kedong County has issued a series of policies and documents to attract talents to return to their hometowns to start a business, coordinate infrastructure such as factories and land for entrepreneurs, and also give entrepreneurial subsidies and incentive subsidies. "Up to now, the county has attracted a total of 142 returned entrepreneurial talents, who have introduced advanced production methods and business concepts into the countryside, so that the road to rural revitalization is getting wider and wider." Li Chuanzhu, secretary of the Kedong County Party Committee, said. (Reporter Hao Yingcan)

Source: People's Daily - People's Daily