Song Tan's Notes

Chapter 1757. The Situation in Baiyu County
The leadership team of Baiyu County is also worried.

How to handle the people and things at the top is a deep, still pool.

By the time people can detect even the slightest ripples, all the undercurrents have already subsided.

But right now, the most pressing issue is the hundreds of acres of vineyards belonging to 136 farmers across the entire county.

In recent years, the fruit tree economy has developed nationwide. From nearby parent-child picking gardens to online live streaming, green channels, and various other channels to help farmers, farmers have gradually earned some income through working or online, and are more willing to accept new things.

Fruit tree planting has also flourished.

Baiyu County's climate and soil conditions were already highly regarded before grape cultivation.

However, those were all local old varieties of grapes, and even at their most expensive, the price per unit did not exceed three yuan, so they couldn't fetch a good price.

Therefore, when the leaders brought in professionals to conduct an inspection and determined that their area was suitable for planting the new variety "Sunshine Rose", several wealthy households gritted their teeth and followed suit.

In the first year, these small-scale investors, despite putting in a lot of effort, could earn tens of thousands of yuan per acre. In the second year, the number of people following them grew to more than forty.

In the third year, which is this year, after seeing the same village's orchards generate such a good income last year when buyers bought the entire orchard, the number of farmers in the whole county who were willing to follow suit with this complicated, troublesome, and expensive high-quality planting has soared to more than one hundred.

However, the grapes are now ripe.

However, the buyer who kept passing the buck had already become completely unreachable last week.

The villagers were all mobilized, and the young children were selling these products online from various places.

But in this era where traffic is king, without enough money to expand promotion, small businesses want to attract people to place orders—there are people, but the conversion rate is simply unbearable to look at.

Now everyone is gathered at the village office, chatting away, their foreheads covered in sweat:
"Our Party Secretary also does live-streaming e-commerce, isn't that what everyone's doing online these days..."

"You only see how others do it, but you don't see that they are all young men. I'm just an old orange peel, who's going to look at me?"

"Besides, they've already paid for it..."

"What does 'investing' mean? Let's invest too! We can't just watch the grapes rot in the field now!"

“I put in the money, and I had my kid do it. We even got a pretty expensive package, over a thousand yuan. But when people clicked in and saw how expensive the grapes were, they didn’t buy any at all.”

"But our grapes are so good! They're so flavorful, everyone who tries them praises them! The cost of growing them is much higher than other people's..."

They served from spring to winter without a moment's rest.

Expensive biological agents for pest and weed control, and the fruit trees require careful tending; I'm always worried if the weather is even slightly off...

And those fruits, the buyers bought the whole orchard, but actually the average price couldn't be brought down to sixty.

Because they only select the best batch, from the integrity of the whole string, the plumpness of the grains, to the taste and sweetness, each one must be up to standard before a single string can be sold for 61 kilograms.

The rest are arranged in order of rank, moving down one level at a time.

On average, it costs about 20 to 30 yuan per kilogram.

But even at just twenty or thirty yuan, it's already an astronomical price compared to the older varieties of grapes.

If it weren't for such a good price, why would everyone rush to buy it?
"Last year, the best ones were 60 yuan. I specially picked the good ones and sold them online for only 40 yuan without adding a penny. Even with the shipping cost, we were losing money... Nobody would buy them!"

"It won't work this year. This year, the streets and alleys are full of these Sunshine Rose teas, and even at ten yuan for three pounds, nobody's buying them..."

"Prices will drop! I understand that prices will drop in a bumper year, but what did those buyers who arrived right on time say? They're offering three yuan a pound?! Isn't that bullying?"

"The original boss couldn't come, so he told us to make a decision sooner rather than later. But that heartless guy just wouldn't say anything and kept delaying! Now the fruit is ripe, and if we don't sell it now, even at three yuan a pound, nobody will buy it..."

Men and women, young and old, including young children, all gathered around, chattering away, making everyone increasingly anxious and overwhelmed.

The young children raised their hands, their faces and heads also covered in sweat:
"There's a big internet celebrity in Ningcheng with over 300,000 followers on Douyin. I emailed his studio to ask if we could do some promotion..."

Live-streaming e-commerce, you all know what that is on Douyin (TikTok)!

Everyone quickly looked over: "What's the explanation?"

The young man gave a wry smile: "I didn't agree."

"Why? Is it because of the high price?"

The elders looked at the lush, green grapevines outside, gritted their teeth, and asked the crucial question.

The young man gave a wry smile: "It's not about money. We haven't even gotten to the money stage yet, and they're already politely saying our positioning isn't right..."

"Then let's find one that fits the profile!" someone blurted out.

The young man wiped his face: "What positioning? What's our positioning?"

Ningcheng is a provincial capital city. It has a large area, a large population, many internet celebrities, and a considerable number of people involved in agriculture.

But why is no one answering the emails I sent?

Some people look down on this small business, but for most, it's not really about the money.

It didn't even come to the point of discussing money; it's just that their product positioning was too awkward!
"I offered to help sell grapes in our county, and they said they were very interested in the agricultural assistance program and could even offer some discounts, but when it came to the price..."

Okay!

Now the business side had nothing to say.

The assistance provided to farmers targets fruits priced at a few yuan per kilogram and agricultural products priced at a dozen yuan per kilogram. The most attractive prices for farmers are between 19 and 39 yuan.

This is the most attractive feature for users to place an order.

But what is Baiyu County's positioning? They sell grapes, and because of their shape, grapes are more expensive to transport than other fruits.

Moreover, just by going to the supermarket and picking up a whole bunch of Sunshine Rose berries, you'll know that a bunch of them is quite heavy!

The higher the quality of the Shine Muscat grapes, the more tightly the fruit is connected, the firmer the flesh, and the heavier the whole bunch, sometimes even exceeding three pounds.

But when they sell them, they can't just split one skewer into four or five skewers and ship them out, can they?

Not to mention how to calculate the weight evenly, that would be detrimental to preservation and transportation! It would also add to labor costs.

In this way, the price of this whole string of beads...

Some top streamers are also very direct:

“Helping farmers is fine, and the current online trend leans towards this, so I’m willing to take on the task.”

"But at this price, I can't bring myself to say it's to help farmers! And the thing is, you haven't been selling Shine Muscat grapes for very long, and you haven't really built a strong brand reputation..."

Moreover, in the fruit business, after-sales service is the key to building a good reputation.

Even if it's really that good, if he sells it based on his own fame and traffic, but then the after-sales service is poor and his reputation collapses, it will hurt the interests of the big streamer.

They might also be criticized online for their unseemly behavior.

After all the calculations, there are the slot fees and promotion fees paid to the streamers, plus packaging and shipping costs...

The price of a pound of grapes can't be less than 40, right?
A whole bunch of grapes costs over 100 yuan, and there's no brand backing, plus after-sales service can't be guaranteed...

Taking this job would be absolutely detrimental and offer no benefit whatsoever!
After the young man finished analyzing these points, everyone fell silent.

After a long while, an older woman quietly wiped away her tears: "What can we do? We've been struggling for a year, and we're just waiting for the money."

In the sweltering heat of July, every household still needs to irrigate and fertilize their crops, and in just over a month, they'll need to start preparing money for their children's schooling.

The key point is that the county promotes and publicizes this Sunshine Rose grape every year, aiming to build the reputation of "White Jade Grapes" for the entire county.

Many of these loans are granted by credit unions coming to your door. Even if the grapes rot in the field, you can't not repay the loan!

But at this price, even their local credit union's internal procurement team can't afford to buy these grapes!

The previous leader was quietly replaced, and the new one took over such a huge mess. Now he's exhausted, his eyes are blurry, and his hair is turning white.

But things still need to be done.

The young people continued to contact the livestreamers, as well as fruit buyers, supermarkets, and street vendors in various places.

The villagers would gather together to discuss their minimum costs—let alone whether they would make money or not, it would be good if they could recover some of their capital!

Otherwise, if they can't sell for a good price this year, they'll be even less likely to sell next year.

The only ones who were happy were probably the few buyers who had joined forces and were waiting nearby.

Merchants are driven by profit.

Originally, their customer base did not include people who ate such high-priced premium fruits, but now that the fruits were about to rot in the fields and no major merchants were coming to buy them, it gave them an opportunity.

Nowadays, you either let them buy all the grapes for three yuan a pound, or you just watch them rot on the ground.

The group huddled together smoking, and when they saw villagers passing by, they would smile warmly again, as if their long journey and tireless efforts to stay here were a testament to their dedication and sincerity.

Turning back, they continued their conversation:

"How many more days can they hold on? You should also be more polite, lest they get carried away and things really fall apart."

"If one family has the guts to leave the land barren, does that mean the others don't need money to survive? It's not that united..."

"We can't hold on for more than two days. When we came here the day before yesterday, the first batch of fruit was already almost ripe. Now that the temperature is high, at most the day after tomorrow, 80% of the fruit will have to be picked."

"They brought this on themselves. It's not like no one else has come to them these past few days, and they've even offered ten yuan, but they still won't sell..."

Those who can offer a price of ten yuan are all well-off.

After all, with hundreds of acres of vineyards here, if they manage them meticulously, they can easily produce three to four thousand catties per acre.

Even so, the current high-quality Shine Muscat roses can yield one to two thousand catties per mu!
Without the strength, it's impossible to take it down.

Especially those two fruit merchants, Wang and Qian, who suddenly made a fortune last year after finding some high-end fruit supplier. They're doing just as well this year, almost opening for the full fifteenth of the month!

The villagers disagreed, and the two insisted that the fruit was not as good as the peaches that a certain family had bought for 41 yuan per kilogram last year...

In short, it was still far from the time when the fruit was ready for mass production, which made people feel uncomfortable, so they refused to sell it.

Finally, the one surnamed Wang and the one surnamed Qian simply left.

Once this gets out, won't it benefit the three of them?
In short, everyone was waiting here, confident of victory.

Just then, the relevant person in charge of Baiyu County received a call from Secretary Wang.

"A top livestreamer is willing to take this order? That's fantastic! Director Wang, you have no idea, I've been..."

"Want to come and see it in person before discussing the details? No problem, no problem, I'll arrange it right away..."

"Not cheap? Don't worry, the whole of Baiyu County is trying to save itself. We understand livestreaming e-commerce; there are slot fees and commissions on each order. I understand..."

　coming.

　　(End of this chapter)