2022-11-26 17:44:01

Vegetables trapped in the field

Sun Ze was standing in the middle of a 65 cm high piece of Queen Celery, while workers behind him were harvesting vegetables that could not be seen at a glance. He is a vegetable farmer in Cao County, Heze, Shandong Province.

At 6 o'clock on the morning of November 23, he went to the field, bent over, bowed his head, cut vegetables, bagged, and worked creaking. At 11:00 pm, Sun Ze and the workers came out of the field and carried bundles of celery to the car. They had packed them according to size and category. There were 35 kg bags and two kg bags. The celery in front of him was piled up like a mountain. Sun Ze, with dark circles under his eyes, frowned at the time and returned to the vegetable field.

Although workers were hired to help with the harvest, Sun Ze could not stop for a moment. The weather forecast said that in five days, the lowest temperature in Caoxian will reach minus 5 degrees. He will finish harvesting more than 100 mu of vegetables before the arrival of cold air.

At present, how to sell vegetables is his concern.

Vegetables trapped in the field In Sun Ze's vegetable field, workers are harvesting celery. The figures in this paper are provided by the interviewees

"Dishes cannot be sold"

On November 18, Sun Ze sent a short video on the social platform with the words, "The boss who wants to buy vegetables can't come, and the one who wants to sell vegetables can't sell, so how much money is enough? There's no way but to smash the ground."

Under this video, someone commented, "I'm from Jinan, and I really want to go to pick up goods, but I asked if I could get off the highway or not, and I had to isolate when I came back."

Three years ago, 34 year old Sun Ze and his friends invested more than 2 million yuan to buy 200 mu of land in Pujilian Town, Caoxian County to plant celery, cabbage, cauliflower and pepper. In the past years, these vegetables were sent to all parts of the country, and when the market was good, they could sell more than 10000 jin a day.

Now, the vegetables he harvested cannot be transported outside. Some of them are in the field and some are in the cold storage. They can only be distributed to friends around at a loss of twenty thirty cents per kilogram.

At present, there are still high-risk epidemic areas in Wulou Town and Ancialou Town within Caoxian County.

The staff of the epidemic prevention and control headquarters in Caoxian County told the surging news on the 24th that since September, the local government has implemented point-to-point closed-loop management for truck drivers. No matter the truck drivers who go to Caoxian from high-risk or low-risk areas, they must report to the local authorities three days in advance. The doors need to be sealed until they leave after loading. If they come from high-risk areas, they need to be isolated at home or centralized for 7 days.

September is the season for vegetables. "A customer bought vegetables through me, but it was too troublesome to report and isolate them. The car could not be found, and the local people could not consume much." Sun Ze said.

"The wholesale price outside is not high either", the staff of the Market Informatization Section of the Agricultural and Rural Bureau of Caoxian County told the surging news on the 25th that the unsalable vegetables were not entirely due to the epidemic.

She said that this year is a warm winter, spinach, rape, cabbage and other vegetables are harvested in advance, and the vegetables are harvested in the country and listed intensively. In addition, the prevention and control of the epidemic restricted the gathering of meals and the circulation of people, which reduced the demand and led to a decline in the price of vegetables.

Lin Ying, who lives in Zhoukou, Henan Province, is also worried about the vegetable market in the greenhouses this month. In the last ten days, she called several vegetable dealers and said, "(drivers) don't let down at the highway intersection

Lin Ying's family is a "big land parcel", with more than 200 mu of land, including 170 mu of wheat. The 40 mu baby cabbage and more than 10 mu spinach planted in September have matured.

Vegetables trapped in the field

Lin Ying's vegetable field.

At the busiest time, Lin Ying and her husband got up when they heard the cock crowing and went to work on the ground. They didn't even have breakfast. This time, the output of vegetables is good. In normal times, she would laugh happily, but this year she can't laugh. The year before last, the baby dish was 3 cents a catty. Last year, it was 5 cents a catty. This year, it dropped to 2 cents.

In the same harvest season, Sun Ze was in the field all day, picking vegetables with 30 workers. Each person worked 10 hours a day, and the hourly labor cost was 15 yuan.

Cao County, where Sun Ze is located, is a major agricultural county in Shandong Province. In recent years, it has focused on developing a production base of characteristic vegetables. In previous years, Sun Ze's vegetables were mainly sent to Beijing Xinfadi Market, which is the largest wholesale market for agricultural products in Beijing, covering an area of 1680 mu and handling 18000 tons of vegetables per day.

This year, Wang Tao, who has been stationed in Xinfadi Market for ten years, rarely receives vegetables from Cao County. He is from Caoxian County. His land is rented to others to grow vegetables in greenhouses. His relatives and friends in his hometown also grow vegetables.

Before the epidemic, the trucks in Xinfadi used to load and deliver goods one by one, but now it is much colder. The market only does wholesale rather than retail. Wang Tao mainly deals with old customers. "Last year, the daily traffic was more than 100000 kg, but this year, it is only 10000 kg or 20000 kg."

Wang Tao received cabbage, potatoes, beans, celery and cauliflower from farmers. Potatoes are the best, they are not easy to break. They can sell more than one piece per catty, and other vegetables are more than two or three cents per catty.

He calculated that the cost of transporting vegetables from Caoxian County to Beijing, including purchase fees, freight, small labor fees and unloading fees, was 80 cents per kilogram. At the current price, the loss could be tens of thousands a month.

"The car can't run"

On November 22, the cauliflower Wang Tao sold in the market was transported from Jining, Shandong Province. He got up at 3 am to pick up the goods and made nucleic acid at 7 am. A cart of vegetables has been sold for two days, and there are still about half of them left.

Vegetables trapped in the field

Wang Tao sells vegetables in Xinfadi.

Hou Zhi, the driver who delivered the goods to him, came to Xinfadi for the first time. Drivers entering the market need to show nucleic acids and travel cards within 24 hours. Vehicles need to be disinfection and sterilization. Vehicles from high-risk areas will have pop-up windows. Hou Zhi is sealed in the cab.

"It's hard not to pop the window when drivers run all over the country." Hou Zhi told the reporter that in order to prevent the food from rotting on the car, he sometimes needs to find a valet driver. The cost of a valet driver is about 800 to 1000 yuan.

A survey report recently released by Xinfadi Market shows that the market logistics is obstructed. Vehicles released with pop-up windows need to be disinfection and sterilization. The disinfection and sterilization ability is insufficient, and the waiting time for disinfection and sterilization is long. After the disinfection and sterilization, drivers were closed to management. Vehicles needed to find a substitute driver to enter the market. After the transaction was completed, they would drive out of the market to return the driver.

There are fewer vehicles willing to carry the goods, and the freight has also increased. "The usual freight cost is more than 2000, but now it has risen to more than 4000." Wang Tao said that if the vegetables could not be sold out on the same day, he would have to pay the driver 300 yuan more for a day's overtime stay.

On November 18, Xinfadi issued a notice stating that the "Second Turnover Zone" in the market had been unsealed, and vehicles in other places suspended could be returned to the Second Turnover Zone for trading.

Wang Tao and his wife rent a ten square meter bungalow in Xihongmen. The rent is 1700 yuan per month. Xihongmen is about 10 minutes' drive from Xinfadi Market. On November 23, the residence was closed, and Wang Tao moved to a hotel near the market one day in advance, "when to open, when to return".

Wang Tao fed Hou Zhidi through the gap in the window. He had been living in the cab for two days, and two seals were stuck on the door. Late at night, some drivers in the market could not hold back and got off to take a breath.

"Too low temperature"

In the comment area below Sun Zefa's video, farmers from Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Gansu and other places followed.

"There's no selling here." Lin Ying heard that someone in the next village had destroyed vegetables in the field

Lin Ying is 51 years old. She has three children in her family who go to school. Her husband used to work in other places. Since five or six years ago, the couple have been farming for a living. As the New Year is coming, the children need tuition and living expenses, so they can't keep their savings at home. If the vegetables in the field can not be sold, it is estimated that there will be a loss of 70000-80000 after the cost is included.

These days, she often goes to the greenhouse alone and walks around the vegetable field. The baby vegetable growing well worries her. Next year, she plans to change to wheat.

"Maybe the price was high last year and the planting area of some vegetables was a little large this year", said the staff of the Cao County Agriculture Bureau. At present, the county is mainly guiding farmers to sell at off peak, and the price of leaf vegetables may rise if it rains and snows in a few days.

"For example, celery can be stored and kept fresh for 50 days, and cabbage is also a bumper harvest this year. We first stored it, then guided wholesalers and purchasers to purchase it and put it in the fresh-keeping warehouse. At the same time, government agencies, including canteens, helped farmers consume and buy some." She said that everyone in her unit bought 50 kg of vegetables, helped farmers connect with the surrounding supermarkets, and some foreign businessmen came.

On November 19, Henan Province, where Lin Ying lives, issued 10 measures to help farmers sell vegetables. It is strictly forbidden to "add code layer by layer". Transportation departments at all levels strictly implement the "green channel" policy for fresh agricultural products transportation, waive vehicle tolls, and give priority to issuing vegetable transport vehicle passes. At the same time, "one vehicle, one certificate, one route" can be implemented in areas where the passes are used, and vehicles can go back and forth multiple times within the validity period.

On November 21, the Agricultural and Rural Bureau of Caoxian County also announced that in order to facilitate vegetable farmers to better plant, manage and sell vegetables, if there are technical problems and sales difficulties, you can call the hotline. According to the farmer's daily, Cao County is adjusting its epidemic prevention measures to smooth the traffic arteries and logistics microcirculation.

"Isn't it cheap now? If you can refuse to pay, you can pay late." The interviewed staff of the Agricultural Bureau suggested that "we should take the time to collect the outdoor vegetables before the cold air comes, and try not to collect the vegetables that can survive the winter in the warm winter shed and small public shed now."

At present, Sun Ze still has about 150 mu of vegetables in the field, and he plans to harvest them overnight. Lin Ying is covering the vegetables with non-woven fabric, hoping they can survive the low temperature.

Vegetables trapped in the field

Lin Ying is covering the vegetables with non-woven fabric

. (In order to protect the privacy of the interviewees, the characters in the article are pseudonyms.).