The eco-agricultural dream of the post-90s beauty "the second generation of farmers": to make agriculture "tide".

Successors.

What kind of experience is it for a post-90s returnee girl to manage more than a thousand mu of farmland? Perhaps only 26-year-old Zhang Wenwen knows the ups and downs. In 2012, Zhang Wenwen, who studied in Australia for six years, gave up her well-paid employment abroad and returned to the vegetable cooperative founded by her father in Sanshui. In the eyes of outsiders, as a commercial director with a salary of 3000 yuan a month, she began to cultivate her dream of modern ecological agriculture.

"in the future, the park will build an agricultural park, so that urban people can come here to experience the fun of growing vegetables." While helping her parents take care of the cooperative, Zhang Wenwen quickly launched an attempt on new ideas for modern agriculture: to try the water of experiential ecological agriculture O20 based on the community, and to try deep processing of agricultural products in an effort to make agriculture "fun" and "trendy."

In the future, she hopes to open up a new way for the development of cooperatives by docking the capital market.

What made her return to the land?

She gave up her annual salary of millions because she was optimistic about the prospect of agriculture.

In 2006, only 16-year-old Zhang Wenwen went to study in Australia to study accounting. "our family is quite rich, but in order to cultivate my ability to live independently, my father doesn't give me a penny for living expenses except tuition fees. He has to work on his own to earn it." Zhang Wenwen said that her father wanted to make her understand that money is not so easy to earn.

During the six years of studying abroad, I did four part-time jobs and opened a coffee shop. Zhang Wenwen said that apart from studying abroad, the biggest gain is to exercise the ability to live independently. "during this period, I worked as an odd job, worked as a retail store supervisor, and later opened a coffee shop, which gave me a clear understanding of the market, raw material procurement, cost control and other aspects, and laid the foundation for starting a business in the future."

"when I graduated, someone offered me an annual salary of one million dollars to stay." Zhang Wenwen said that after much deliberation, she still gave up her high-paying position and chose to return home to join the vegetable professional cooperative founded by her father.

Zhang Wenwen's father is also under pressure from relatives and friends around her. "I still remember the day when I returned home, my father came to pick up the airport, and when the car was parked at the gas station, my father suddenly stopped and asked me, 'Dad's company is not a technology company. Do you really not regret it?'" Zhang Wenwen said that she was not sure at that time, but with the considerable prospect of domestic agricultural development, she felt that she could also make a career by relying on her own efforts.

She wears high heels to "farm" in the fields.

To the north of Datang Town, Sanshui District, go straight along the riverside road through the Central Primary School for about two kilometers, which is where Zhang Wenwen's agricultural park is located. In thousands of acres of vast fields, different crop planting areas are distributed in an orderly manner, taro, wax gourd, grapes, dragon fruit and other varieties have gradually entered the harvest season. On the farm, workers shuttled back and forth under the shelves, watering and fertilizing the crops. Not far away, the tall river bank is covered with green grass, the quiet Xijiang River comes down the river, and the green hills in the distance are like Dai.

Zhang Wenwen walked steadily and neatly on the ridge of the park in 5cm high heels. Seeing her coming, the workers greeted her warmly as they took off their hats. Zhang Wenwen also stopped to ask about the next round of crop planting. It is hard to imagine that this white-faced and beautifully dressed post-90s generation is actually one of the heads of this cooperative.

A few years ago, in order to experiment with self-developed organic fertilizer, Zhang Wenwen's father contracted a piece of farmland nearby and began to grow organic vegetables. After several years of development, the Shunzhao vegetable professional cooperative founded by Zhang Wenwen's father, Zhang Xiangdong, has a planting area of thousands of mu. "my usual office is not in the agricultural park." Zhang Wenwen said with a smile that every time I see a simple villager, I have a feeling of going back to nature.

She founded an experiential eco-agricultural O2O model.

After returning to China, Zhang Wenwen became the commercial director of the cooperative with a monthly salary of 3000 yuan. And this salary is even lower than that of the workers growing vegetables in the park. Zhang Wenwen said that in the park, it costs 6000 yuan a month to hire a technologically skilled vegetable farmer. "I believe that first of all, you have to create value in your position and make the plate bigger before you can say anything in return." Zhang Wenwen said. "although my father runs a cooperative, I know nothing about agricultural planting technology. My advantage lies in financial and business development." Zhang Wenwen is responsible for the strategy, operation and business development plan of the cooperative.

Inspired by foreign green and pollution-free community fresh supermarkets, Zhang Wenwen hopes to extend the industrial chain and explore the experiential eco-agricultural O2O model based on the original production, logistics and sales system of cooperatives.

After returning to Foshan, Zhang Wenwen began to set up a "fresh Virgin" community fresh chain store to sell agricultural products from her vegetable garden. In just two years, the cooperative has opened five chain stores in Foshan and set up its own distribution team to connect customers and save costs.

Zhang Wenwen said: "due to the high labor costs, the current several stores can only maintain a balanced income and expenditure, but I think this is a model that can be replicated and build their own brand, and my father also agrees with it, so I have been sticking to it all the time."

What kind of "business experience" does she have?

Her idea: make a stylish chili sauce

Zhang Wenwen said that like other post-90s generation, she wants to make agriculture "fun" and "trendy" by constantly testing the waters to create some end products. "for example, recently, I ate a homemade chili sauce in a friend's store and it tasted so good that I wondered if I could also make a fashionable chili sauce in my park." She said.

"it's not a joke. Farming alone is not enough to support the co-operatives. " Zhang Wenwen, who has been in charge of the cooperative for four years, seriously said that the rent of the venue and labor costs are so high that the workers will pay 30 cents with a knife, and the wholesale price of vegetables below 1.5 yuan is not enough to recover the cost.

"the price of vegetables is also greatly affected by market fluctuations, so we need to find 'running water' to improve the added value of agricultural products through multiple channels." Zhang Wenwen said that the cooperative Zhao also plans to deeply process some vegetables in the park, such as sliced wax gourd and dehydrated organic vegetables. She said that "small accounts are always calculated." after she took over her father's co-operative, she lamented her father's difficulty and learned to live a more "economical" life.

In terms of diversification, Zhang Wenwen, who is optimistic about the prospect of leisure and sightseeing agriculture, also plans to build the park into an idyllic and romantic agricultural park. "in the future, a field of rape flowers will be planted by the Beijiang River, and a swimming pool will be built." In the blueprint drawn by Zhang Wenwen, the agricultural cooperative base should not only be a production base, but also a place to personally grow vegetables and experience the fun of farming.

Her insistence: it is not time to be a fresh e-commerce business.

As a returnee of the post-90s generation, Zhang Wenwen brought new ideas and new models for the development of agricultural management for cooperatives. "as long as I can come up with the data to convince everyone, my father is relieved to give it to me to do." Zhang Wenwen said that the first big difference between the two appeared in the view of "Internet + agriculture." According to his father, Zhang Xiangdong, with the gradual marriage of the new generation of the Internet, the purchase pattern of agricultural products such as vegetables and fruits will also change. If enterprises do not lay the groundwork in advance so that they can accept this change in consumption habits, they may lose the market in the future.

However, Zhang Wenwen believes that the e-commerce of fresh agricultural products is not mature in the current market environment. "ordinary melons, fruits and vegetables are difficult to bear the high cost of preservation and logistics, even if they can afford it, it is difficult to ensure the stability of product quality." In the end, the e-commerce distribution project that Zhang Xiangdong cooperated with his friends also ended in failure, which made Zhang Xiangdong, who eagerly embraced "Internet + agriculture", more cautious.

Her vision: to take the family business public

It is the common wish of Zhang Wenwen and her father to list the family business.

Unlike the cooperative, another agricultural technology company run by Zhang Wenwen's father specializes in the research and development and production of bio-organic fertilizers, with Zhang Wenwen as the commercial director. "at present, the new company is based on the standards of listed enterprises in terms of finance and management. our goal is to turn the company into a listed agricultural enterprise through complementarity with cooperatives."

Zhang Wenwen said: China is in a transition to a consumer society, and ordinary people need better and safer agricultural products, and with the help of the capital market, it is an effective way to make agricultural enterprises bigger and stronger and achieve large-scale production. "the most important thing in docking capital between agriculture and enterprises is that the brand can be replicated. at present, we are all working hard in this direction." Zhang Wenwen said.

The reporter learned that under the leadership of Jinnong Company and Shunzhao Cooperative, Shunfeng Vocational training School has also been established to provide farmers with agricultural production management skills and share agricultural production information and other services. At present, this professional farmer training base set up in the field has carried out all kinds of training services for more than 50 times. Both Zhang Wenwen and her father hope that through professional training, there will be more new professional farmers here, such as leaders of modern agricultural industry, agricultural professional service personnel, agricultural front-line production experts, and so on.