How does Happy Farm make urban and rural win-win? Citizens go to the countryside for spring ploughing

The online version of Happy Farm was once popular, but now the real version of Happy Farm is quietly rising in the suburbs of Beijing. As citizens yearn for returning to the countryside, many people in the suburbs of Beijing have identified this market and have launched leisure agricultural projects that go to the countryside to plant "one field". However, the real version of happy farm, how to let citizens find leisure work fun in the countryside, but also let operators get income satisfaction, this is a big problem encountered in the development of leisure agriculture in this city.

Citizens go to the countryside for spring ploughing

Strive to be an urban farmer

Spring is warm, April is busy spring season. However, now in the suburbs of Beijing, busy spring ploughing is not only local farmers, but also rural citizens. Because they rented a plot of land in the countryside.

Yesterday morning (16 th), Zhao Lanting, who lives in Yongdingmenwai Community, Dongcheng Area, began spring sowing for another year. She took a bus for more than 3 hours to arrive at the "Yifentian" Park in Dongxiaohetun Village, Yanqing Town, Yanqing County. "You see, in a short time, I will have finished sowing radish seeds in this ten square meters of land." A morning of ploughing, pulling ditches, sowing, watering down, she was tired sweat, but very satisfied,"last year seeds were sown early, after a 'late spring cold', seedlings were frozen damaged, this year listen to the local farmer master, must be timely sowing."

Dongxiaohetun Village is adjacent to Yanqing Longqing Gorge and other scenic spots. Since 2003, the village has used 20 mu of collective land to carry out the project of "one farmland division", dividing these lands into 200 small plots and renting them to rural citizens. "At the end of March every year, citizens come to experience farming." Zhao Tieshan, who is responsible for the management of "one field" in the village, said that due to the high cost performance of land, more and more citizens came to rent land with the continuous improvement of folk tourism supporting facilities in recent years. Now, 200 pieces of "one point field" has been rented out.

"This kind of knowledge is great! Sowing should be done according to the farming season, and the most important thing is to look at the solar terms." Zhao Lanting, who was slightly tanned, wore a straw hat and rolled up her sleeves. She spoke clearly about farming, just like a "farmer's style." Now, she knows how to select seeds, sow seeds, fertilize and remove insects.

It is not only Dongxiaohetun Village, but now, at least ten square meters, at most several hundred square meters, groups of citizens go to the countryside to cultivate rented land, striving to become urban farmers, is not new. Okenik Farm, located in Huangcun Town, Daxing District, has set out more than 20 greenhouses from 200 facilities for citizens to rent seeds in four seasons. Citizens rent more than 30 square meters of land for a year, and they can choose their favorite varieties among the hundreds of vegetables provided by the farm, or entrust them to the farm for help.

Many village collectives, cooperatives and agricultural enterprises are now interested in the business opportunities of citizens going to the countryside to rent land and rent out "one share of land" to citizens in order to gain profits from it. According to the survey, according to the size of the plot, it mainly includes three rental modes to the public, namely, farms specializing in "one field" projects, agricultural enterprises that open up a small part of land for lease, and cooperatives that centrally transfer land from villagers.

Rent land to grow vegetables in the countryside

Experience Harvest Fun

"Actually, it's just retirement. I'm busy. When I go out to exercise, my body will be much stronger." Zhao Lanting, 64, joined the team when she was young. Compared with other citizens, she has a special feeling for the land. Before retirement, she was a doctor, fond of outings, especially for health, farming in the countryside became her first choice after retirement.

Zhao Lanting has been renting a piece of land in Dongxiaohetun Village for four years. "At that time, I learned about the village's 'You'll get a share of the farmland' project from the Internet. I came here because of the fame. In the first year, I rented two plots of land. This farm work seems fun, but it's very knowledgeable." She said that she rented land to do her own work, the village provided simple means of production, rent a year only 300 yuan. Unexpectedly, she rented for four years, not only went to the countryside every week to farm, but also called friends to bring several sisters to help, together in Yanqing farming became "farmers."

For some children's parents, they rent a piece of land, looking for access to farming education for their children, and they can also use holidays to experience parent-child fun. Ms. Su, who lives in Jinsong, Chaoyang District, has a 9-year-old son Qiqi. The couple are busy at ordinary times, so they use weekends to accompany their children to rent land in Tongzhou. "Last year, since my son harvested his own vegetables, he doesn't eat leftovers anymore. He knows how to cherish food." The child's change, let Ms. Su think rent a piece of land even if a little expensive is also very worth, she does not want to let the child become "five grains, four bodies do not work" people.

For many small white-collar workers, renting a piece of land is mainly about food safety. "I haven't done any farm work since I was a child. I want to find a place to experience the fun of farming." Kong, who lives in Panjiayuan, Chaoyang District, said he settled in Beijing after graduating from college 10 years ago and belonged to the new Beijingers. Last year, he attended wedding banquets and entertained more. Once, he and his wife were poisoned by food, and they are still afraid to think about it. Earlier this year, he rented a plot of land on Okenick Farm, preparing to eat mostly his own vegetables and be a new farmer. "I planted it myself. Don't worry about eating it!" He said, now nothing to drive to "home" field around, watching their own vegetables a day, very beautiful, very reassuring.

Run Happy Farm

Not everyone is happy.

Happy farms that can provide green vegetables to the public can hardly make the operators happy. Some plots are rented out hot, but the profits are meager; some are struggling and have been closed down.

In 2012, Okenik Farm in Daxing District opened up 20 mu of land and launched the "Private Organic Pastoral" project in response to the demand of citizens to rent land in the countryside. "In the first year or two, the market was tepid. The leased land was only three or five acres, and people returned the rent from time to time." Staff Zhang Zhongrui admitted, Until the beginning of this year, Farm change management mode, In the three months before farming, Only rent out more than 10 acres of land. "These are all introduced by old customers." He said,"Large picking gardens like ours, land leasing projects, profits are basically flat, mainly rely on this to attract popularity." At present, the farm has not rented out greenhouses, have been planted vegetables for tourists to pick.

This is true of large farms with strong economic strength, while the collective management of villages with weak foundations is even more bleak. A few years ago, Duzhuangtun Village, Anding Town, Daxing District, collectively transferred 85 mu of land from villagers and established a cooperative to monopolize "a farmland self-planting paradise." They divided the land into two types of plots for rent: 40 square meters for annual payment of 888 yuan and 60 square meters for 1288 yuan. "The annual transfer fee for villagers per mu of land is 2000 yuan, and 85 mu of land is 170,000 yuan." In the first three years, at most, only seven mu of land was rented out in a year, and the annual gross income was only ten thousand yuan, which was not enough for the cost." Gao Ruihai, the village branch secretary, said that he hesitated to see whether the "one-point farmland" project should be carried out.

"Our price here is set low. It's only 300 yuan per share. The annual net income is more than 20,000 yuan after deducting the cost." Zhao Tieshan, a villager of Dongxiaohetun and director of the "Yifen Tian" project, said that it seems that 20 mu of land has basically been rented out, but in fact it is also earning a shout, even if it is to cultivate some fixed customers for folk-custom tourists, increase popularity.

provide supporting services

Business will last

Many citizens who rent land to play "Happy Farm", due to transportation, time cost and other reasons, withdraw their rent as soon as the freshness passes. "The vegetables picked from the farm are not enough for oil. I haven't been there many times in a year. Besides, the vegetables grown by others are said to be organic and green. If I don't see them, I'm still worried about eating them." Spring ploughing is approaching, and there are not a few citizens who hold this attitude.

In order to reassure the entrusted growers about the safety of vegetables, Okenick Farm has invested more than 100,000 yuan to install panoramic cameras in private gardens for public monitoring. "It's not enough to have a certificate. All members who subscribe to the vegetable garden can watch and monitor their own 'one field' 24 hours a day through their mobile phones and computers, including real-time crop growth and watering and fertilizing conditions." Zhang Zhongrui said.

Before farming this year, in order to reassure the citizens who came to rent land in the village, Ma Jianyang, the former village secretary of Anding Village, specially invited vegetable research experts from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences to carry out ploughing and data monitoring on the soil, and guided the villagers how to green prevention and control and scientifically cultivate the land in the whole process.

"In order to make 'Happy Farm' really happy for citizens and comfortable for operators, it is also necessary to provide one-stop supporting facilities such as eating, drinking and playing in addition to good ground care." ZhangZhongRui said, In the future farm will also develop special to rent members supporting software service projects, Let citizens come, Still have to see, Stay,"For example, Introduce friends to rent members, To rent land for a month every year, Winter can also ski free, Eat, Accommodation also enjoy the lowest preferential price, etc."

For the "happy farm" type leisure agriculture market prospects, There are optimistic industry insiders said,"Still have to let more operators flood into this market, Introduce more advanced business concepts to explore."

"In recent years, Happy Farm, as a form of leisure agriculture, has flourished in the suburbs of Beijing, but there have also been many bottlenecks in its development." Yu Lizhi, a professor at Agricultural University who has long studied leisure and sightseeing agriculture, said that not only should the government issue relevant policies to support the industry, but as farm operators, they should also accurately locate target customers and groups according to their own conditions, and launch characteristic brands and projects. Some farms in the suburbs of Beijing with inconvenient transportation can be properly equipped with shuttle buses to pick up customers in the Urban area, and improve the catering, rest and vegetable delivery system; in addition, different farming courses can be arranged according to different groups of people, and agricultural technicians can be provided at different levels to meet the different vegetable planting needs of urban residents.