Can Fengxian Huangtao regain her "Jianghu status"?, Qingcun Town, the "nascent fruit" that took 5 years to wait for | Huangtao | Time
In the scorching summer of August, fruits and melons are fragrant. In Jiefang Village, Qingcun Town, Fengxian, over 500 acres of contiguous peach forests have entered the mature stage. If compared carefully, this peach forest is unusual - most peach trees are not tall, although they hang full fruits, their slender branches still make them look slightly immature; The planting method of wide rows and dense planting leaves the entire peach orchard without the shock of dense forest canopy. All kinds of signs indicate that this peach forest is still very young.
And "youthfulness" is precisely the most needed trait for Fengxian yellow peaches, which have a planting history of more than 40 years.
In 2018, Fengxian yellow peaches, which were difficult to increase production and sell, once again faced the "soul torture" of the "three old" problems of people, land, and trees. Faced with the pain of industrial transformation, Qingcun Town renovated the original 500 acre old orchard in the Huangtao planting area of Jiefang Village, removing decades old trees and planting new yellow peach seedlings. A new adventure of starting from scratch began.
According to the growth cycle of yellow peaches, it takes 5 years from seedlings to producing commercial fruits. Nowadays, these small saplings have grown vigorously, and the first batch of commercial fruits are hanging high on the branches. The golden flesh, fragrant softness, and juicy sweetness of the Fengxian yellow peach have revived its vitality. They are called "nascent fruits", and their names embody the strong expectations of Qingcun Town. Yuan Huan, Deputy Director of Qingcun Town's Agricultural and Rural Service Center, said that "nascent" refers to the first batch of fruits produced by the new peach forest planted five years ago, and also marks the first step of Fengxian Huangtao's brave exploration of industrial transformation, finally achieving its desired results and handing over the first answer sheet to address the "three old" problem.
A new peach tree, a new beginning
Qingcun Town is recognized as the "hometown of yellow peaches" in Shanghai. The fresh yellow peaches cultivated in the local weak alkaline sandy soil have a sweet taste and occupy natural geographical advantages. Fengxian yellow peaches have become famous at a young age. After 2000, the "Fengxian yellow peaches" brand has been approved as a "geographical indication product" and agricultural product geographical indication product by the former General Administration of Quality Inspection and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
However, the development path of Fengxian Huangtao did not go smoothly. In recent years, with the increasing aging of rural labor force, the aging of yellow peach trees, and the scarcity of land, the dilemma of uneven quality, difficulty in expanding planting scale, and difficulty in production and sales of yellow peaches has become increasingly prominent. The "three old" problem of people, land and trees was like Mount Taishan on the road of Fengxian yellow peach industry development. The pain of growth made it once "fall off the altar". A few years ago, Fengxian yellow peach did not even win a prize in the authoritative competition.
The turning point occurred in 2018. In order to prioritize addressing the issue of aging land and tree species, at the end of 2018, Jiefang Village in Qingcun Town renovated over 500 acres of old orchards. After removing fruit trees and planting rice for water washing, the soil fertility was restored, and several fresh peach varieties were introduced from the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences to gradually replace the old tree species. In the following years, the town continued to transfer the scattered land of peach farmers in the town to local leading enterprises and cooperatives for management through land transfer. The reporter learned that as of this year, the renovation project of the old orchard in the entire town has been extended to 1500 acres.
At the same time, the intervention of professional cooperatives has also solved the problem of "aging" to a certain extent. The reporter learned that originally, the yellow peaches in Qingcun were mostly planted by individual farmers themselves. The farmers were older and had fewer professional skills, so they did not pay much attention to the daily maintenance of the fruit trees. As the peach farmers grew older, the old peach trees were left unattended and could only grow freely, resulting in poor quality peaches.
Nowadays, Shanghai Daibai Agricultural Products Production and Marketing Professional Cooperative is one of the cooperatives that contract the new peach orchard. Under its management, the new peach forest has achieved an intensive, large-scale, refined, and modern production management model, which not only reduces labor costs and human factors, but also makes the peach production process easier to control. According to Chen Xian, the person in charge of Daibai Cooperative, the new tree species have eliminated the previously densely planted "happy type" tree shape. The cultivation mode of wide rows and dense planting can allow peach trees to have more ventilation and light, and the channels left are also convenient for mechanized operation. In daily care, the new orchard uses organic water and fertilizer throughout the entire process, and also promotes physical and biological control methods to reduce the use of chemical pesticides.
Explore higher quality peach varieties
The fruit of the new peach tree has allowed Fengxian Huangtao to regain its voice in the peach world. Yuan Huan told reporters that at the "2022 Shanghai Real Estate Quality Grape and Yellow Peach Tasting and Promotion" event hosted by the Shanghai Agriculture and Rural Committee last year, a small amount of yellow peaches produced by new peach trees won both gold and silver awards. The 2023 Shanghai High Quality Agricultural Products Summer Exhibition was recently held, and the first batch of early yellow peach new fruits brought by Daibai Cooperative were selling well. Within less than half a day, nearly 80 boxes of peaches have been sold out.
The economic benefits brought by the new Taolin are equally gratifying. Yuan Huan calculated that this year, the yield of commodity fruits per mu in Xintao Forest is about 2500 kilograms, with an output value of nearly 20000 yuan per mu. As the peach trees gradually mature and yield high yields, the yield per mu next year can reach 3000 kilograms, with an output value of 25000 yuan per mu. Compared to other old trees that are rich in yellow peaches, the total output value brought by the new peach forest will increase by 50%. In terms of fruit aroma, sugar content, and flesh delicacy, the fruits of new trees are significantly better than those of old trees.
This year, the "first fruits" produced by the new trees are about to be released in large quantities, but at Xianfeng Cooperative, a batch of new peach trees are about to be removed. The reason is simple: the taste of yellow peaches does not meet market expectations.
The reporter learned that currently, Qingcun Town has a total of about 5600 acres of yellow peach orchards, of which 1500 acres are the renovated new peach orchards, contracted and operated by four larger operating entities in the town. In order to cultivate better varieties during the transformation of peach orchards, cooperatives usually choose to plant multiple varieties of yellow peach seedlings at the same time, such as "Jinxiang", "Jinyuan", "Jinxiu", "Jinhua", etc. On the one hand, the fruiting period of these varieties is different, and staggered ripening can prolong the window period for selling yellow peaches; On the other hand, this also provides more exploration space for cooperatives to optimize peach varieties, while small-scale multi variety planting can minimize trial and error costs. "At present, it is still in the exploration stage of fruit production. Removing unsuitable varieties and planting new seedlings as soon as possible can ensure the stability of peach orchard production in the future." Yuan Huan said.
A 2-year-old yellow peach seedling
Old brands have new strategies
Having a good peach, how to establish a brand is the second step for Fengxian Huangtao to make a comeback. Yuan Huan told reporters that from a national perspective, the Fengxian yellow peaches produced by Qingcun Real Estate are not particularly large, and the influx of a single variety into the mass market has little effect on improving the commercial value of yellow peaches. On the contrary, establishing a strong brand and increasing its attractiveness to mid to high end consumers may be more meaningful in increasing the added value of products.
This year, Daiper Cooperative has signed cooperation agreements with high-end supermarkets such as city supermarkets and Metro AG. In order to catch up with the trend of live streaming e-commerce, Daibai Cooperative will also collaborate with several top live streaming sales influencers to increase the popularity of the Fengxian Huangtao brand. At the same time, the reporter saw in the greenhouse of Daibai Cooperative that a brand new live streaming base had been built, with a set of camping tables and chairs placed in the dense peach forest, and fresh peaches that could be picked by hand on top. The scene was arranged in a fashionable and down-to-earth manner. After the "first fruit" matures and is launched in large quantities, the anchor will live stream and sell it here.
"In addition to using live streaming to convey the brand of 'nascent fruit', we also hope to transform disposable consumers into fans with user stickiness through setting up scenes. After the brand is launched, our Taoyuan will also link with other scenic spots in Qingcun Town, attract more tourists to visit through live streaming activities, and achieve the integration of agriculture and tourism." Chen Xian said.
In Yuan Huan's view, connecting the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries and achieving the coordinated development of planting, processing, and tourism industries with yellow peaches as the core is an inevitable trend for the development of the yellow peach industry in Qingcun. Therefore, in Qingcun Town, besides the Huangtao itself, tourists can also see many derivative products of Fengxian Huangtao IP. For example, the yellow peach soda, yellow peach beer, yellow peach coffee, yellow peach lollipops and other products exhibited in Wufang Village are quite popular among tourists. According to statistics, including the third industry, the brand value of Fengxian Huangtao reached 262 million yuan last year.
All kinds of positive data indicate that the "spring" of Fengxian yellow peaches is already on the way. At Daibai Cooperative, nearly a hundred acres of old peach orchards that were newly taken over last year have been planted with new saplings, and it is expected to harvest the first batch of yellow peach commercial fruits by 2027. "We'll have to wait a long time," Chen Xian sighed, but he wasn't very worried, after all, the peach tree planted five years ago has now produced satisfactory fruit, which will continue to inspire every explorer on the path of Fengxian's yellow peach industry transformation.
