Field "big refrigerator" stores the umami taste of fruit and vegetable tea (new economic orientation, county economic observation)
In early summer, bayberry is decorated with green branches.
In Dongling Village, Zaoshi Town, Chaling County, Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, Qiu Shengjun runs a family farm. The 300-acre bayberry forest ushered in a bumper harvest this year, with the yield exceeding 20% last year.
"Can you earn more this year?" In the face of a reporter's question, he humbled: "I hope so." ”
Since 2009, this bayberry forest has had many harvests, but the years of profit are numbered. "When the weather is hot, the newly picked bayberry has three changes: one becomes unfragrant, the second changes with the smell of wine, and the third change is broken, and it can only be taken to the fat field."
Qiu Shengjun calculated that in the past, a large number of fresh fruits became inferior products before they could get on the truck; Losses in the field and in transit account for 1/3 of production; at least half are forced to sell at a discount due to reduced quality.
Qiu Shengjun's troubles reflect a shortcoming of the "first kilometer" of agricultural product circulation - freshness and precooling. In 2020, Chaling County began to build cold chain logistics facilities for the storage and preservation of agricultural products, and after three years, "big refrigerators" were erected in the fields under the mountain, and his problems had a solution.
Racing against time and using your home as a cold storage was once a helpless choice during the harvest season
In just over a month, it will be the yellow peach harvest season. For a long time, Duan Jianguang, head of the Lin Feng Ecological Planting Cooperative in Muxing Village, has been ready to race against time.
"At 4 a.m., the workers went up the mountain en masse, flashlights to get dark and dry. At 6 o'clock, the newly picked peaches are packed, loaded and transported away at 8 o'clock, and unloaded into the large cold storage of the agricultural market before noon. Duan Jianguang said that when harvesting, the orchard was often 40 degrees Celsius, and in the past, such a tight rhythm has been used - this is the joy of harvest, but it is also a helpless choice a few years ago.
The local sugar content of yellow peaches is as high as 16%-17%, and when there is no field cold storage, high temperature, extrusion, and closed storage environment will make the fruit rot quickly in hours. "Once due to force majeure, it was delayed for half a day. As a result, a truckload of yellow peaches was transported to Changsha and turned into a truckload of rotten peaches. Duan Jianguang said, "You can only dump it on the spot." ”
At that time, the sorting of fruits was also difficult to complete, let alone process. "Afraid of rot on the road, directly mixed sales, the buyer bid only two or three yuan per catty." Duan Jianguang said that in fact, the wholesale price of sorted primary fruits can reach 7 yuan per catty, secondary fruits can reach 5 yuan, and those with poor quality can also be processed into dried yellow peaches and yellow peach juice.
Cooperatives and enterprises that have a demand for field cold storage are not without ideas. Li Huiping of the Haitan Ecological Farming Cooperative in Lingguan Village mainly grows long beans. Every ripening season, the home is stuffed. "I bought several freezers and borrowed a neighbor's refrigerator, but I still couldn't fit them. You can only close the doors and windows, turn on the air conditioner, and adjust the temperature to the lowest, which can keep fresh day by day. Li Huiping said.
"The spoilage rate of agricultural products in Chaling County was once as high as 30%. The business entities are small and scattered, the capital, technology and awareness are insufficient, although some individual entities have built a batch of cold storage, but the coverage is also very limited. Li Jianning, secretary of the party committee and director of the Chaling County Agriculture and Rural Bureau, introduced that in 2020, China launched the construction of cold chain logistics facilities for the storage and preservation of agricultural products, and there are 6 whole counties in Hunan to promote the pilot, and Chaling County is one of them.
Under special subsidies, promote industry cooperation, and build field cold storage to make better use
In Yangtang Village, patches of tea trees loom in the mountains and mist. Halfway up the mountain, stands the special cold storage for tea storage invested and built by the Jiamu Breeding Cooperative.
"Catching up with the good policy, the state subsidizes 40% of the construction cost of refrigeration and fresh-keeping facilities." But what type to build, how much monthly electricity bill, which construction party to find, a series of questions, at the beginning of the end. Cai Jinran, head of the cooperative, said. In this regard, Chaling County has established a pool of alternative construction units. The business entity "customizes" the construction unit and cold storage type in the warehouse.
"According to the attributes and storage needs of tea, combined with the specific conditions of cold storage, we reasonably set the storage temperature, and the average monthly electricity bill is only about 800 yuan." Cai Jinran said. In order to ensure safe and efficient electricity use, in 2022, State Grid Chaling Power Co., Ltd. invested a total of 142.<> million yuan to provide special services for the construction of cold chain cold storage.
"The 'cold chain loan' of 28,78 yuan is down!" Zhou Guanbao, a member of Chaling Lianxing Ecological Farming Cooperative, received a reminder text message from the bank. According to his investment ratio in the cooperative, the construction of cold storage needs to subscribe to invest 101,1200 yuan. Under the coordination of the Chaling County Agriculture and Rural Bureau, Zhou Guanbao obtained low-interest loans such as "cold chain loans" customized by financial institutions for the construction of cold storage. According to reports, the county has accumulated <> business entities with loans of more than <> million yuan.
When the "big refrigerator" is built, it is more efficient to use. In order to efficiently coordinate cold storage resources, in May 2021, 5 business entities established the Chaling County Cold Chain Industry Association.
"Some of the members grow vegetables and some grow fruits, and the harvest period of each product is different. The association collects relevant information and builds bridges between members, who has idle facilities, who urgently needs cold storage, and matches in the middle, which can improve the utilization rate of refrigeration and fresh-keeping facilities. Chen Xianggan, president of the Chaling County Cold Chain Industry Association, said that in the next step, the association will also work cold storage maintenance, technical services, and production and marketing docking.
New models have been formed, new products have been born, and the industrial chain has gradually taken shape
Today, Duan Jianguang can face the harvest season more calmly: "As soon as the peaches are picked, they are sent to the pre-cold storage for direct sorting and packaging and other follow-up processes. His cooperative still has 50 acres of kiwifruit, and because of the improvement of the cold storage, it has achieved off-season sales, "Kiwi fruit is resistant to storage, the unit price in the peak season can only be sold for 2-3 yuan, and it can be sold for 8-9 yuan in the cold storage until the New Year." ”
According to statistics, after the county's cold chain construction and scientific adjustment, the rot rate of Chaling agricultural products has dropped from 30% to less than 10%, reducing annual economic losses by more than 4 million yuan. The industrial chain from the field to the cold chain cold storage to the processing enterprise has gradually taken shape, laying the foundation for the value-added of agricultural products.
Tan Zhengjun of Huju Town has the confidence to expand curd milk production: "Curd milk production used to be only possible in small batches during the soybean harvest season, but now it can be processed in cold storage all year round. After the output came up, it was settled on various e-commerce platforms, and his peak sales of curd milk were nearly 10,000 orders a day, "neither afraid of raw material explosion, nor afraid of order explosion." ”
Zhang Jianzhong, head of Chaling Jiajiahuan Cold Chain Distribution Center, said: "The center and the field cold storage have formed a seamless and complementary storage mode. "Open the door of the central cold storage, in an environment of minus 18 degrees Celsius, a full 150 tons of yellow peach nuggets and yellow peach juice are not crowded - different from the field cold storage for temporary storage of fresh fruits and vegetables, this professional cold storage has a scale of 4,6000 tons, after the fresh fruit sales season, many cooperatives transfer the surplus agricultural products from the field cold storage to this long-term storage to prepare for further processing and sales. Guoyue Food Co., Ltd., which came to invest in Chaling because of the local cold chain storage conditions, sold 40 million yuan of freeze-dried fruit and vegetable products last year, and <>% of the raw materials came from agricultural products sent to cold storage in surrounding areas.
The supporting role of cold chain facilities has increased the production scale and quality of Chaling agricultural products day by day. In the past three years, the new tea planting area has been 3,2 mu, edible fungi have increased from 900 million to more than 1600 million sticks, garlic area has increased from 2,3 mu to 7,13 mu, the number of regional public brand authorizations for agricultural products has increased from 3 to <>, and <> new geographical indication certification trademarks have been added.
The introduction of modern agricultural infrastructure means the development of production models and the increase in the possibility of profitability: in Qiu Shengjun's family farm, in a constant temperature cold storage at 2 degrees Celsius, the freshness period of bayberry can be extended by two days; The use of modified atmosphere packaging machine to seal the packaging and inject carbon dioxide can delay the oxidative fermentation of bayberry again. "Within 48 hours of logistics, our bayberry can maintain good quality and sell at a good price." Qiu Shengjun said that in the future, with the help of more mature water pipe network equipment, the introduction of water mist spraying technology in the mountains will further reduce the impact of weather on harvest.
"Planting no longer depends only on the sky!" Qiu Shengjun said.
Coordinator of this issue: Wang Zikai
Typography design: Zhang Fangman
(People's Daily reporter Sun Chao)