"These peaches can't be sold, no one wants them, we pick them up and feed the sheep, it's a pity to see them rot." On the side of the road in the Yellow River beach in Ruicheng, Shanxi, Brother Xu took a bucket of fresh peaches that his wife had picked up from the side of the road and poured them into a full farm tricycle. Brother Xu told the author that it is the season when the peaches in the beach are ripe for picking, and many peaches are brushed down by buyers because they do not meet the standards, and the growers also discard these defective peaches on the side of the road because they do not make money. ”
It is understood that in recent years, hundreds of thousands of acres of various varieties of peaches have been planted in the Yellow River beach in Jinnan Province, and every year from mid-June, peaches with different ripening periods have been picked and listed, and merchants from all over the country have also brought large trucks to the field for procurement. Due to the large planting area, the merchants have a large choice of space, the standard of peaches is more stringent, and all peaches that do not reach the standard size or are injured, overcooked and soft will be selected and discarded and sold for money. The picture shows several baskets of substandard fresh peaches selected by merchants.
"In the first two or three years, the price of peaches was good, and a good variety of peaches could earn about ten thousand yuan per acre, and at that time there were also substandard defective peaches, and when we came to pick them up, we had to pay the growers." Brother Xu said that at that time, the market was better, after picking up the discarded peaches and going home, after selecting again, they could also sell to the beverage factory, and they could make a little money from it, "so the growers would collect money from us at a price of one pound or two cents, and we could make money, and we were willing to pay." The picture shows Big Brother Xu crouching on the side of the road resting.
This year, affected by the market, the land price of fresh peaches has generally declined, and the average price of each variety is basically about half of last year. "The price has come down, and the merchants' picking of peaches has become more stringent, and those with slight flaws are not wanted, resulting in more defective peaches than in previous years." Let's pick up peaches, and any grower can pick up a pound or two thousand pounds of peaches at any point. Brother Xu's wife introduced herself while picking up peaches on the side of the road. The picture shows that in the process of picking peaches, the wife of Elder Brother Xu specially picked out several intact peaches and prepared to take them home to eat.
Because there are too many inferior peaches, coupled with the low price of peaches, growers can't spare energy to deal with them, and anyone who comes to pick them up can take them for free. "We can't give some money to compensate the growers as we did in previous years, because the factory that collects the defective peaches is no longer needed this year, and we can't pick them up and sell them at home." Elder Brother Xu said that he had 140 sheep at home, and these fresh peaches were all fed to the sheep after being collected and processed. The picture shows Brother Xu loading the peaches he picked into the car.
Fresh peaches because of the large moisture, sheep do not eat, in order to solve this problem, Xu Brother will pick up the peaches after pulling home, need to break the peaches to control the dry water. "My car can hold 8,000 pounds of peaches, you can feed them for 3 days in a row, and then pick them up in the beach after feeding, anyway, we are close to here, and we will come by car." Elder Brother Xu said that during the peach harvesting season, there are too many discarded peaches, which are every day, and they cannot be picked up at all.
Not far from Brother Xu's peach picking, the author met several locals who picked up defective peaches at the sales point. After chatting, it was learned that they were a family who had been picking peaches in the beach for the past few days and had picked up a large cart every day before returning home. When I asked what the peaches were used for, one of them said it was to feed the sheep, but the other said it was for takeaway. The picture shows a family picking up peaches on the side of the road.
The family also came with some plastic baskets, and the peaches that were of better quality were loaded into the baskets, and the rest were poured directly into the carriages of the agricultural vehicles. The picture shows peaches in baskets being placed on the side of the road waiting to be loaded.
Lao Chen, a 47-year-old grower, and his wife have chartered 30 acres of land in the beach, of which 10 acres are planted with yellow peaches and 10 acres are planted with red and not soft (a variety of woolly peaches). According to him, the current harvest is mainly red is not soft, the price of the land is 8 cents a catty, relatively low price, coupled with the frost in the spring, the yield declined, resulting in this year's peach planters do not earn money, an acre of land income of less than 4,000 yuan. The picture shows Lao Chen briefing the author, next to his wife.
"This year, an acre can harvest 5,000 catties, but it is basically about one-tenth of what is brushed down and thrown away." Like my family planted 10 acres, the light thrown away is the harvest of one acre of land. Lao Chen said helplessly, in fact, the peaches thrown away can be completely edible, but they are busy in the field every day, and there is no time to sell them outside, "People in the nearby villages picked up the defective peaches, which also helped us, and Quan Dang cleaned up the garbage for us." The picture shows Old Chen and his wife inspecting The situation of Elder Brother Xu picking up peaches.