Chongming Zhuxin Town, a small technology academy, has achieved a close connection between "local professors" and "professors" in the career of raising crabs | local professors

On July 25, 2023, in the experimental field of Chongming River Crab Science and Technology Academy at Shanghai Ocean University, Professor Fang Yonghong explained to students how to distinguish the quality of crab seedlings. This authentic farmer has become an expert in raising crabs since becoming an observer for Professor Cheng Yongxu.

"Come on, there's no need for Professor Cheng to speak up. I'll teach you how to see if the crab seedlings are fat." Fang Yonghong, who came to Lixin Town to raise crabs at the age of 18, is now the largest crab farmer in Chongming. "Professor Tu" is a nickname given to him by his classmates.

In 2009, Professor Cheng Yongxu from Shanghai Ocean University led his team to establish a science and technology small courtyard in Zhuxin Town, Chongming. It was not difficult to build a courtyard, but it was important to gain the trust of farmers and ensure that his students were truly stuck in the mud on their fields, which became the most headache for Cheng Yongxu.

At this time, Fang Yonghong also encountered a headache problem. The yield of crab seedlings per mu was only 200 kilograms, and he had been struggling for more than ten years, but the yield still remained in place.

When two people with headaches met, Cheng Yongxu patted Fang Yonghong's chest and promised to increase his yield by more than 20% per mu within a year.

"Can a professor in a university be better at raising crabs than me?" Fang Yonghong recalled the first time he chatted with Cheng Yongxu. "Although he patted his chest, I couldn't believe it. The only fifty acres of land in his hand at that time were my lifeline, and he didn't dare to casually give them to others. In the end, he only dared to take out ten acres of land and follow the method taught by Professor Cheng."

It was soon time to harvest the crab seedlings. In less than a year, the yield per mu increased by 30%, which impressed Fang Yonghong. He immediately opened the door and handed over all his land to Professor Cheng. "To achieve high yields, one must believe in science. Whatever Teacher Cheng says, that's it!"

Professor Cheng Yongxu explains to his classmates how to distinguish the quality of crab seedlings.

Fang Yonghong rubbed around to listen.

Fang Yonghong received practical benefits, and Cheng Yongxu and his classmates also had field laboratories. Every time Professor Cheng takes his classmates to practice and discuss topics in the field, Fang Yonghong always leans over to listen. For over a decade, he has always been able to learn and practice while dealing with problems encountered in aquaculture. Of course, he also became a good helper for the professor and became known as the "native professor" by the students.

Fang Yonghong is sharing his experience in crab fry farming with his classmates.

"After staying here for almost half a year, I experienced for the first time that the knowledge I learned can help farmers, and I feel a great sense of achievement." During lunchtime, Fang Yonghong picked vegetables for Li Ya, a first-year graduate student, and thanked her for helping her measure soil data last time. Li Ya also smiled and tried to be polite to him because she often ate and lived together, and the students were very familiar with him.

Fang Yonghong squatted by the experimental platform, humbly seeking advice from his classmates.

"I am really happy to have a science and technology institute here. Although I am a 'local professor', the students are all my teachers. Originally, I wanted to test soil and aquatic product data and had to go outside to find someone, but they didn't necessarily want to come. Now my classmates have done it for me." After lunch, Fang Yonghong came to the science and technology institute laboratory and asked his classmates to help him measure the fat content of the newly raised bass.

After lunch, Fang Yonghong brought local watermelons for his classmates and took the opportunity to ask Professor Cheng for advice on the problems encountered in recent farming.

Now his Chongming crab breeding base has exceeded 1000 acres, with a yield of over 500 kilograms per mu. New breeding bases have also been opened in Shandong, Jiangsu and other places. Some students in the technology academy have become business partners for Fang Yonghong.

Cheng Yongxu proudly introduced his previous students to the new students at the Science and Technology Academy, saying, "Aquaculture is an applied discipline, and my students go out to be the kind that can be used if they want to bring it over. I don't lack students who can win awards in the classroom, and I hope to cultivate more applied talents that society needs."

At present, 51 graduate students have completed aquaculture practices and graduation theses at the base. There are three PhDs and more than ten Masters conducting long-term technical research on aquaculture in the Science and Technology Academy. Based on completing relevant experiments, they guide farmers on how to carry out rice crayfish farming, rice Chinese mitten crab farming, rice shrimp crab mixed farming, and actively communicate with farmers to answer their questions and solve the problems they encounter during the aquaculture process. In response to the aquaculture challenges raised by farmers, they designed targeted experiments to overcome them and evaluated the ecosystem service value of different rice fishing modes.