At present, it is the critical period for the growth of late-maturing grapes in Zhouning Alpine, and in the Xu Wanhe Modern Grape Industry Incubation Base in Puyuan Town, Zhouning County, Gao Ling, the person in charge of the base, is inspecting the grapes for pests and diseases before bagging, just like an authentic farmer. It's hard to imagine that more than ten years ago, she was still a "Guangpiao" who was struggling outside.
From a "city worker" to a "rich man" in the cloud, how did Gao Ling, a "foreign daughter-in-law" from Jingzhou, Hubei Province, work hard in Zhouning step by step and live a sweet life?
During the softening period of the grapes, Gao Ling inspected the grapes for pests and diseases before bagging
Vineyards are cultivated in the mountains
"Coming back and starting a business doesn't happen on a whim. The grape market has a good prospect, and the temperature difference between day and night in Zhouning is very suitable for the development of the grape industry. Talking about the original intention of starting a business, Gao Ling was full of emotion.
With an average altitude of 800 meters above sea level, an average annual temperature of 15.4 °C, less severe cold in winter, no scorching heat in summer, sufficient sunshine and abundant rainfall, Zhouning County is known as the "natural air-conditioned city" and "natural oxygen bar", and is a national key ecological function area.
In 2005, Gao Ling, who worked in Guangdong, fell in love with Xu Wei, who was also doing business in Guangdong, and started a building materials business together, earning a considerable income. In 2012, seeing the climatic advantages of Zhouning, the couple returned to Xu Wei's hometown, Chunchi Town, Zhouning County, with the attitude of giving it a try, and contracted 80 acres of land through land transfer to plant Jufeng grapes, and since then they have formed an indissoluble bond with ecological agriculture.
Although they are enthusiastic, as a "layman", the couple was at a loss when faced with techniques such as pruning, fruit thinning, and pest control.
"At the beginning, I didn't have the technology or experience, so I didn't dare to invest too much money, so I could only plant while groping." Gao Ling said. Without technology, she bought professional books on planting and studied on her own; With no experience, she went to a good garden to observe and investigate...... In the past few years, she has quickly grown from an agricultural novice who doesn't even know the shape of grape trellises to a "good hand" in grape planting who is willing to endure hardships and understands technology.
The grape harvest was abundant, but the sales made the young couple worried. They took the ripe grapes to the Jiangnan Fruit Wholesale Market in Guangzhou, the largest fruit import market in Asia, and went door-to-door to sell and expand the market.
"We insist on letting the grapes ripen naturally, without ripening agents and herbicides, and using organic fertilizers to ensure that our grapes are safe and delicious." Gao Ling said with a smile. Every year, the grape ripening season is her busiest time, and customers continue to place orders, many of which are dozens of tons.
After having a stable market, Gao Ling and Xu Wei planned to expand the scale of planting, but the capital became another "roadblock" in front of them.
The couple ran around raising funds. After learning about their situation, the Chunchi Credit Cooperative of Zhouning County Rural Credit Cooperative and the Zhouning County Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China immediately handled the required loans for them, solving their urgent needs. At the same time, they also successfully applied for more than 1 million yuan of government greenhouse subsidy funds, and the expansion of the base is on the right track. Today, their bases have spread across many towns and villages in Zhouning.
"Planing" gold in the soil, one person is not rich. The surrounding people saw Gao Ling's success and "learned" from her.
"In 2016, under the influence of the couple, I began to try to plant sunshine roses, and the output value reached more than 2 million yuan in the second year." Ling Lianghua said that not only him, but also a large number of young people around him joined the grape "army". In a few years, some people built new houses and bought cars, and the once barren mountains have become a green "cornucopia".
Not only that, the couple also drove the development of more than 6,000 acres of grape planting industry in the county with the model of "leading enterprises + village collectives + cooperatives + farmers", and actively provided entrepreneurial employment opportunities for local farmers.
Crawling and rolling into a "technical flow"
Unlike her husband, who runs sales outside the home, Gao Ling is mainly responsible for technology. Which planting pattern is more suitable for high-altitude Zhouning? Which grape variety has a higher market share? She thinks about it every day.
"When I was in the Jiangnan Market in Guangzhou before, I made a joke. The grapes over there are all high-quality packaging and sold by bunches, while the Kyoho grapes we brought are baskets, and the contrast is very obvious. Gao Ling admits that since then, she knows that she is lagging behind in both planting techniques and grape varieties.
Since 2015, she has traveled to Jiangsu, Japan, Taiwan and other places to introduce new varieties such as Sunshine Rose, Romantic Hongyan, Queen Nina, and Xia Hei, and the base has gradually grown like a snowball.
Walking into the modern grape industry incubation base, thousands of grape vines are neatly arranged, all of which are new varieties of grapes planted in new experiments. Romance is one of them. Last year, the price of each string of romantic red faces was nearly 200 yuan.
From the giant peak that sells by the pound to the romantic red face that is priced by strings, the "confidence" of the price increase comes from the jump in Gao Ling's technology.
She accurately controls the ratio of water and fertilizer and temperature through intelligent temperature control greenhouses; By laying a reflective film, the reflection, refraction and scattering of sunlight are increased, so that the grapes are evenly colored; Through pruning and fruit thinning, yield control and efficiency are improved.
"Our previous goal was to increase production, but now it's not enough to have production, it's also about quality. In the past two years, we have mastered the pruning and fruit thinning technology independently, and have our own team, so we no longer need to rely on outside technicians. Gao Ling said.
With the increase of grape planting area in the country, the homogeneous competition of products has lowered the market situation, and how to seize the market has become another difficult problem in front of Gao Ling.
"The high altitude climate in Zhouning makes the grapes ripen later than in other places. In addition, we bagged grapes to regulate photosynthesis, control the growth of bacteria, scientifically and rationally fertilize and control temperature, so that 'late ripening is later', which brings a different 'value' to grapes. Gao Ling said.
At the same time, through modern technology management, the yield of high-quality bunch grapes is improved, the appearance protection during the planting process is improved, and the packaging process after purchase is improved, so that the grape quality is better, the appearance is better, the flavor is better, and the value is higher. Registered 8 brands such as "Xuanlian", "Yundian" and "Gaoshan Aoshou", and the products sell well all over the country and even South Korea, Japan and other countries.
Although I have many years of experience in growing grapes, it is not easy to develop high-quality grapes. Trial planting, improvement, and then cross breeding and cultivation, the birth of each new variety of grapes is Gao Ling's countless painstaking "tosses".
In view of the characteristics of Zhou Ning's high altitude, she crossed the romantic red face with European and American varieties and successfully planted flaming red lips; In response to the problem that Kyoho grapes are not easy to transport, she improved the management method to make the fruit hard and the bunch shape beautiful, so that the variety can also be sold by bunch......
From the introduction of varieties to planting and then to the production of high-quality grapes, the couple now has an average annual output of 650 tons of grapes, 1,500 tons of grapes from farmers, and an average annual sales of 27 million yuan. (Mindong Daily reporter Zhang Wenkui correspondent Wei Zhiqiu text/photo)