At the beginning of july, the heat wave rolled over。
As the last yellow-skin potato was extracted from the sandy land in the town of sarang in taipei county, the potato-growing team led by the wang league ended the harvest season. In the light of the sun, a full potato rolls out of the digger, and the workers bend their backs to pick up their bags and be content with the sand。
“this year's potato harvest is good!” the king stood on the ground, with a thick smile on his dark face. The young man, who was born in 1996, spoke with a strong northerly accent, but had been working for many years。
From the communications project to the sacrificial fields
The queen's league, a tunnelian, has accumulated a wealth of experience in growing potatoes in her home, where relatives and friends are close to home. After graduating from the university of communications, he had been running around like many young people, but his life in the city had always made him feel like something。
The turnover occurred in 2022. At the time, the queen's uncle had already taken the industry to tai chi. The uncle contracted 760 acres (approximately 50. 7 hectares) to grow potatoes in the salang strip. At that time, the potato industry was rising, selling more than $2 per kilogram, with considerable returns. The king's league moved to think that instead of drifting outside, it would be better to go back to familiar land。
In 2023, the league formally joined the uncle's team. In a short period of one year, the potato cultivation base was rapidly expanded from an initial 1 to 10, covering an area of 17,000 acres (approximately 1133. 3 hectares), of which 8,000 acres (approximately 533. 3 hectares) were devoted to the cultivation of potatoes, while the rest of the land was wheeled to crops such as peanuts, potatoes, maize and wheat。
“the potatoes we grow are mainly ‘test one’ and ‘provocative soil’ varieties of yellow-skinned yellow-coloured, with good taste and good quality.” the king's hand picks up a fresh potato, and in his hand he says, "you see how well it tastes, whether it's stewed or fried."
In the sandy zone, high temperatures and sandy soil ablaze, which provide unique natural conditions for potato growth, together with the expertise and management experience of the royal league's team in the north and north, produce 5,500 kg of acre. One kilo of potatoes sells $3. 2 at best。
“the cultivation of potatoes before the annual spring festival begins to mature in early june, with a large harvest at the end of the month.” “the land will not be idle for the rest of the time, and other crops will be grown on a rotational basis to achieve a basic double harvest a year”
At the beginning of the harvest season, there was a surge of customers from all over the country, and the price of the land was raised. The royal league is proud that their potatoes have also come out of the country to sell to countries in south-east asia such as myanmar and thailand. "the quality is too hard to sell." the league has full confidence in its potatoes。
A professional team has built a million acres of industry
Potato cultivation appears to be simple, but there are plenty of doors. From seed selection, cutting, mixing, to sowing, irrigation, fertilization, pest control, every link requires professional technical support. Most of the core cadres of the league's team are from shao-bei, the main potato-producing area, where everyone is the homehand of potato growers。
Day-to-day field care is based mainly on agricultural machinery, with a combination of sowing machines, harvesters and spraying equipment, which greatly improves productivity. By the harvest season, however, machines alone are not enough and a large number of manual packages are required. "one base needs more than 100 people." the king's league said。
Moreover, the league has not organized regular study trips for the heads of the bases to introduce more advanced farming techniques. He said, “in agriculture, it's not going forward. The variety must be updated, the technology must be upgraded, the management must be fine and nothing must be left behind.”
New farmer's new thought, a birthplace of 10,000 acres of potatoes, formed a short video crew of young people. From land tillage, processing of potatoes, planting of fertilizers, field care, and harvesting, loading and carrying, each link of potato cultivation is recorded in camera and shared on the internet。
“our video is to show more people how good their potatoes are, and to show more young people how good they can be when they go back to the countryside.” the short video team's sun zhi said。
Today, the league's goal is clear, “through our efforts, to create the largest potato production base in the country”. And standing on the land of the earth of the sand, the dream of the coming north is just like the potatoes in the earth, rooting, growing and breaking out。
