How to do organic farming

“The main reason for the boom in investment in organic agriculture is that food safety issues have received increasing attention in the past two years. After having a certain economic strength, many people have begun to pay attention to their own health and surrounding environmental issues.” Nanjing said He Wenlong, director of the Institute of Organic Agriculture at the Agricultural University. Zeng Zhaodong, product director of Carrefour Food Department, revealed that among the 19 Carrefour stores in Shanghai, the sales volume of organic vegetables accounts for about 5% to 7% of all vegetable sales, and each store sells an average of 600 kilograms of organic vegetables every day. Since the price of organic vegetables is relatively high, in terms of sales, they account for an average of 22% of all vegetables. In stores with more foreigners and white-collar workers, such as Gubei, Jinqiao and Lianyang, sales are better, accounting for about 30% of sales.

“In the first two years, because we started from scratch, sales increased by 30% to 40% year-on-year. Later, after sales stabilized, they increased by 15% year-on-year.” Zeng Zhaodong believes that this is mainly because There are more and more foreigners and "returnees" living in Shanghai who are very familiar with organic vegetables. At the same time, some young and high-income groups are also willing to try this healthy food. In addition, the variety of organic vegetables is becoming more and more abundant. In addition to vegetables, there are now various grains. "At the beginning, ordinary families may think that buying organic cabbage sums to make home-cooked meals is too luxurious, and the price is generally about five times that of ordinary vegetables. But if you grind sesame paste in winter, you are willing to spend a little more to buy organic ones to try. Over time, some families have developed the habit of buying one or two organic foods from time to time.”

However, Zeng Zhaodong also believes that there are not enough brands of organic vegetables at present, and some consumers will try every kind. However, it is still difficult to form brand loyalty, and consumption habits are relatively casual.

Duolu Capital focuses on organic agriculture

“Before 2005, most of the investors in organic farms were small capital and their operations were relatively cautious. At that time, the scale of Shanghai’s organic farms was relatively small. , mostly small farms of 100 acres or 200 acres.” He Wenlong said, “Now many large venture funds are beginning to focus on this field, and the investment scale has also expanded to farms of one or two thousand acres. For example, Shanghai Tongmai Food Co., Ltd. was founded by 'venture capital'."

Foreign capital and individual capital have also begun to become interested in organic agriculture. It is understood that the German Guy Wiener bought Shanghai Chongbentang Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. in Songjiang three years ago. The "Jin Cai Yuan" organic vegetables currently produced every day are sold to major supermarkets such as Carrefour and Tesco. In September 2008, "Rainbow Farm", an e-commerce platform for high-quality agricultural products in Shanghai, officially opened for business. More than 300 kinds of agricultural products produced in Shanghai suburbs such as Jiading, Qingpu, Jinshan, etc. can be purchased online. At present, "Rainbow Farm" has more than 200 corporate customers, and can sell 200,000 yuan of agricultural products in one order.

He Wenlong revealed that a real estate developer that has developed large-scale real estate has established thousands of acres of organic planting base on Chongming Island, Shanghai, and recruited technicians who have been engaged in pollution-free agricultural products and green food to start the operation. organic farm.

Zhan Jinchuan, general manager of Shanghai Agricultural Information Co., Ltd., which operates "Rainbow Farm", also revealed that she found that more and more large enterprises are beginning to enter this field, including state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, and the competition in this industry will become increasingly intense.

Developing organic agriculture requires "endurance"

Industry insiders believe that Shanghai may be the first city to develop organic agriculture. "Shanghai's government departments have given great support to organic agriculture. Whether it is in terms of production technology, the consumer market for organic agricultural products, and consumer acceptance, Shanghai is at the forefront of the country."

However, organic farming cannot be developed with large sums of money. Operating an organic farm requires a lot of careful technical reserves and the cycle is quite long. He Wenlong said: "Soil that has been treated with chemical compounds such as pesticides and fertilizers needs a conversion period of 2 to 3 years before the residual poisons in the soil are slowly eliminated and true organic agricultural products can be produced.

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Taking the establishment of quality traceability as an example, Zhan Jinchuan said that “Rainbow Farm” has been implementing an archival agricultural management information system to track the greenhouse number of the farm where each vegetable was produced and how many times it was used. Details such as when and when to harvest must be recorded in detail. Every day, the farm's 46 partners must affix tens of thousands of agricultural product identification barcodes on the vegetables, meat or dairy products they produce. Identification barcodes can ensure their uniqueness, but they are not compatible with the 13-digit commodity barcodes commonly used in the market, so each identification barcode will add less than a penny to the cost of each box of vegetables. “Don’t underestimate the cost. , over time, the increased cost for agricultural products is considerable. If you want to add real-name photos, the cost will be higher. ”

Complex certification systems, demanding certification standards, long conversion periods, a large number of professional organic agriculture technicians, and strict quality tracking systems... The many conditions and high costs of organic agriculture make Many investors think that they cannot meet the requirements and shrink back. After entering this industry with the mentality of making quick money, some investors find that they have to wait for a long time and cannot bear the psychological gap. They often give up halfway and resume conventional planting or sell the farm. Sell ??to others.