A brief Analysis of Agricultural Super docking and Direct selling of vegetables

Agriculture is greatly affected by natural factors and climate change, and basically depends on heaven for food. Therefore, the production and prices of agricultural products fluctuate greatly. As vegetables are also affected by transportation, storage and other aspects, prices fluctuate more frequently. There is news of rising and falling prices of vegetables every year. The prices of Chinese cabbage and celery were high last year, but this year farmers will lose money because the prices are too low. Moreover, vegetables have another characteristic, that is, large output and large consumption. For example, if a family consumes 1 jin of meat a week, then the consumption of vegetables should be about 10 jin. Therefore, the fluctuation of vegetable prices has a great impact on consumers and producers.

Among the many methods to solve the fluctuation of vegetable prices, agricultural super docking is an effective method. Agricultural super docking means that vegetable growers supply the supermarket directly without going through wholesalers. It has played a positive role in alleviating the problem of unmarketable agricultural products, reducing circulation links, reducing vegetable prices and so on.

However, many problems have been encountered in the promotion of agricultural super docking. The most important problem is that the current vegetable production "small-scale, small circulation" does not meet the requirements of the supermarket. Supermarkets have relatively strict requirements for vegetables on sale: first, they generally have high requirements for the quality and appearance of the goods sold, and if they do not meet the standards, they will be screened or even rejected; second, in picking, storage and transportation, they are also required to ensure the freshness of agricultural products to achieve seamless docking from the field to the supermarket shelves. However, farmers are basically mixed on the spot without standards, and planting, harvesting and storage are also soil methods, so it is difficult to meet the requirements of the supermarket.

At present, except for some areas that can meet the requirements of supermarkets, many other areas are difficult to meet the requirements. Shouguang City, Shandong Province, for example, is a famous hometown of vegetables, with a high degree of specialization in vegetable production, high-quality vegetable associations and professional logistics parks. Products are basically order sales, in addition to the supply of this region, but also supply Beijing and other cities, the real realization of agricultural super docking.

So, under the current circumstances, what should scattered vegetable growers do? We might as well learn from the experience of the United States.

The United States is a country with highly developed agriculture. The main circulation characteristics of agricultural products are centralized production and decentralized supply. In the process of selling agricultural products in the United States, the concept of "direct selling" is very popular, and most of the vegetables and other agricultural products are sold to consumers through large supermarkets and chain food stores. Statistics for 2010 show that about 80% of agricultural products in the United States are sent directly from origin to retailers through logistics and distribution centers, while sales through wholesalers account for only about 20%.

But the same problem exists in the United States: the "threshold" for vegetables to enter the supermarket is higher. In addition to requirements similar to those in China, farmers are also required to receive food safety training, buy product liability insurance or be guaranteed by a third party, and many small farmers are turned away. Many farmers or small farmers with plenty of time simply face consumers directly and try sales methods such as "farmers' market", picking tours and community farms.

The "farmer's market" is somewhat similar to China's morning market, where small farmers sell vegetables directly to consumers in designated neighborhoods or squares at a fixed time. Managers charge farmers a small amount of management fees; picking tourism has developed rapidly in our country in recent years. The picking tour in the United States is the same as in China, where consumers go to vegetable production places on weekends or holidays to pick and buy their own; community farms are farmers who set up smaller direct sales stores in larger communities.

From the above analysis, we can see that the method of direct marketing of vegetables by small farmers in the United States can basically be applied in China. However, this requires the support of government policies. For example, the choice of "farmers' market" and the construction of community farms are inseparable from the support of the government. At the same time, various localities can also make use of the "construction of affordable supermarkets" to promote the direct sale of vegetables.