One day in 2003, a young man named Chen Shigui had a sudden idea and founded an ecological agriculture development company called "Tu Lao Han". Chen Shigui spent money to buy agricultural and sideline products that farmers regarded as weeds, deeply processed and carefully packaged them, and then sent them to large supermarkets in the city for sale. City people regarded them as treasures. Chen Shigui turned weeds into gold and made the folks in Wangjiafan rich. In just a few years, "Tulaohan" has grown from a small rural workshop to a provincial-level key leading enterprise. "Tulaohan" has created the myth of a rural brand in Yichang, the province and even the country. From the deputy director of a township stone factory to a leader in getting rich, Chen Shigui, the man behind "Tu Lao Han", also wrote the legendary entrepreneurial history of a farmer under the tide of market economy. In the magnificent 30 years of reform and opening up, the stories of "Tu Lao Han" and Chen Shigui reflect the wonderful changes in our city's rural economy and farmers' lives. The legend of "the old fool" written by Chen Shigui is actually a variation on the life of an ordinary farmer in China's vast rural areas under the background of China's reform and opening up. "The power of shoelaces comes from communication and binding." This is the most eye-catching sentence written on the cover of the promotional renderings of the "Tu Lao Han" series of products.

“Tu Laohan” is a leading agricultural and sideline products processing enterprise in Yidu City. It produces more than 30 green products such as Qingjiang wild fish, natural zinc-rich tea, rice cereal paste, and crested ginger, which are sold in Beijing and Shanghai. , Guangzhou and other places are selling well. Today, "Tulaohan" has become a famous brand product in Yichang and even Hubei Province. To some extent, "Tulaohan" has become synonymous with local products in the Three Gorges area.

What is little known is that Chen Shigui, the founder of "Tu Lao Han", is an ordinary farmer in Wangjiafan Township, Yidu City. Chen Shigui and his Tulaohan Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd. are like shoelaces, "stringing" each farmer together through the raw material base and local products, and ultimately tightly binding them together to get rich together.

In the golden autumn of October, the most charming season of the Three Gorges, the reporter and his delegation took the topic of the 30 years of reform and opening up to the production base of "Tu Laohan" on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and made a special trip to interview Chen Shigui . In 2002, a customer from a big city called and asked Chen Shigui to bring some mountain products and wild vegetables while selling stones so that his family could try them. At that time, Chen Shigui served as the deputy director in charge of sales at Wangjiafan Township Stone Factory. This phone call suddenly inspired Chen Shigui: "It turns out that these wild products, which are troubled by rural people but rare by city people, can be turned into wealth!" Later, Chen Shigui simply gave these wild products as gifts to customers in the city. It was actually very popular. Mountain products are abundant not only in Yidu, but also in nearby counties and cities such as Changyang, Wufeng, and Laifeng. Wangjiafan Township, where he is located, has an annual output of 6,000 tons of potatoes, 2,670 tons of radishes, 26 tons of wild pepper, 450 tons of mountain bamboo shoots... There are also mountains of wild vegetables such as kudzu root and toon, so the mountain product resources are abundant. Chen Shigui founded Tu Lao Han on a whim. Before the Spring Festival in 2003, Chen Shigui went to Wuhan with his village leaders to do business, and by the way, he brought friends in Wuhan their favorite bacon and vegetables, which are extremely common in every household in rural Yidu. On the way to give gifts to friends, a bold idea flashed through Chen Shigui's mind. Because there was no packaging, these souvenirs had to be packed in woven bags. How does a young man who has seen a lot of the world feel when he walks on the bustling streets of a metropolis carrying local specialties packed in woven bags?

On the way back to Yidu, Chen Shigui was wondering if he could set up a deep-processing factory for agricultural and sideline products to beautifully package the farm products that urbanites love. He imagined that this factory would be an agricultural enterprise mainly engaged in the processing and production of dried vegetables and wild vegetables. On the one hand, it can help the villagers earn money; on the other hand, it can satisfy the city people's "advantage".

Chen Shigui’s ideas coincided with Zheng Shenglie, then secretary of the Wangjiafan Township Party Committee. With Zheng Shenglie's support, Chen Shigui opened a "Tiancheng Wild Vegetable Food Factory" and registered "Tu Laohan" as his trademark. "Tu Lao Han" is based on the traditional family food of Shanxiang Village

and soon formed 35 varieties of specialty food in 14 categories. In 2003, "Tu Laohan" series of foods were put on the shelves in major supermarkets in Yichang; in 2004, "Tu Laohan" was sold in nearly 20 cities across the country; in 2005, "Tu Laohan" entered the Hong Kong and Macau markets. This year, there are already orders from overseas such as Japan, South Korea, and North Korea.

Honest and simple, creating a "dark horse" in the market

At the beginning of his business, Chen Shigui faced many unexpected difficulties. There was no factory building, so he made do with simple things and used the empty house of the township stone factory to make Packaging workshop. There were no packaging boxes, so he rode to the county seat and spent a few hundred yuan to ask a carton factory to help him design and order a batch of simple packaging. Without products, he recruited a few good farmer brothers, gave them a certain amount of cash, and asked them to ride bicycles from village to house to buy local mountain products and smoked bacon products made by farmers at home. Chen Shigui packed the purchased local mountain products and smoked bacon products in his own factory, and then transported them to county towns or even provincial capitals for marketing. At the beginning, Chen Shigui’s products only had simple packaging, no own brand, and no product introduction. It was still difficult to go to the market by going to supermarkets. Many people said they liked Chen Shigui's products when they saw them, but when it came to cooperation, they waved their hands and declined. It seems that if the local products and smoked bacon products from the Three Gorges rural areas want to enter the market, there is still one thing missing: product brands. Before opening the door to the market, Chen Shigui lingered and thought for a long time. In 2003, Chen Shigui, who already had a deep understanding of the market, was determined to launch his own brand. He mobilized his relatives and friends to rack their brains to come up with a name for "Tu Lao Han". The name not only implies the green and natural nature of the product, but also represents the honesty and simplicity of the farmers, and also highlights the perseverance to move forward. In order to learn from the brand-building strategies of internationally renowned companies such as "McDonald's" and "KFC", Chen Shigui invested 180,000 yuan and asked a professional company in Guangzhou to design the trademark, packaging, facade advertising, vehicle image, and store decoration of "Tu Lao Han" A series of designs. Chen Shigui was very proud of this: "My 'Han Son' is so handsome. He will never be confused with other products in the market!" "Tu Lao Han" became an instant hit. A year later, an export company in Shandong offered 1.2 million yuan to purchase the "Tu Lao Han" trademark. Chen Shigui refused: "There is no way!" The collision of 180,000 yuan and 1.2 million yuan proved that his decision was correct. Because of a series of green products produced in rural areas and a brand name with rich connotations, "Tu Lao Han" has formed a unique market brand advantage in a short period of time and has become a "dark horse" in the Hubei agricultural and sideline products market. . Nowadays, many rural enterprises in counties and cities around Yidu have taken the initiative to find Chen Shigui, willing to sell their products to "old-fashioned". Because of the brand effect, Chen Shigui's company successfully achieved low-cost expansion. In just 6 years from its establishment to today, Chen Shigui's "Tu Lao Han" Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd. has grown from scratch and has become one of the leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization in Yichang City.

In August 2005, Chen Shigui co-registered and established Hubei Tulaohan Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd. Relying on his brand advantage, Chen Shigui has successively developed products such as Tulaohan Tender Ginger, Tulaohan Nenbao Grain Milk, and Tulaohan Natural Zinc-Rich Tea.

In 2006, Tulaohan Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd. acquired more than 300 acres of land in Yidu City’s Green Product Entrepreneurship Park to develop the Tulaohan Qingjiang Fish Project. After one year of hard work, the Qingjiang Wild Fish was developed Leisure food series, processing more than 1,000 tons of fresh fish throughout the year, can produce leisure fish food with 9 barcodes in four flavors: spicy, pickled pepper, crispy and barbecue, with an annual output value of more than 8 million yuan. After being launched in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and local markets, Tulaohan series products have become very popular among consumers. In April 2006, Chen Shigui's Hubei Tulaohan Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd. joined the Yidu Honghuatao Citrus Industry Cooperative and successfully grafted the two major agricultural brands of Yidu, namely "Tulaohan" and "Yidu Mikan" , integrate resources, realize complementary advantages, rely on the carrier of the citrus industry cooperative, and rely on the Tu Laohan brand, the Yidu tangerine industry is getting bigger and bigger today. After becoming wealthy, Chen Shigui thought most about the peasant brothers who were closely related to his industry. After 30 years of reform and opening up, Chen Shigui has seen the tremendous changes brought about by the party's rural policy changes to the rural economy and brought opportunities to his family. His changes are just a microcosm of the changes in thousands of ordinary peasant families. Therefore, when his industry was established, what Chen Shigui thought most about was how to develop his industry to drive the surrounding villagers to get rich as soon as possible and repay the society with practical actions. In view of the situation in the past that Yidu mandarin orange production was not of high quality and farmers’ income could not be increased, Chen Shigui proposed that Yidu mandarin orange should take the road of high-quality products.

With the support of the local government, Chen Shigui visited Zhejiang twice for inspection and study. After returning, he promoted standardized citrus production to fellow farmers. At the same time, we pay close attention to product quality in the production process and focus on marketing in the sales process. In April 2008, with the support of the local government and relevant departments, Chen Shigui and his Honghuatao Citrus Professional Cooperative joined 10 citrus professional cooperatives in Yidu City to form the Yidu Mikan Group Cooperative after full consultation. After the Mikan Group Cooperative was established, Chen Shigui organized 28 large citrus farmers to make a special trip to Linhai, Zhejiang to learn advanced experience in planting, marketing and business operations. Focusing on development, Chen Shigui's industrial structure has become more and more reasonable, his talent pool has become more scientific, and his marketing methods have become more and more advanced. This year, Chen Shigui’s Tulaohan Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd. has declared three more green products to the state: “Tulaohan” Qingjiang fish, “Tulaohan” wild kudzu powder and “Tulaohan” natural zinc-rich tea. At the same time, the Tulaohan series of projects to enrich the people have also begun to be fully launched, with a total investment of more than 10 million yuan. Relevant departments in Yidu City preliminarily estimate that by the end of this year, "Tu Laohan" will increase the income of 18,000 farmers and fishermen in the Qingjiang Gaobazhou reservoir area by nearly 5 million yuan.

According to statistics, 5 of the 8 agricultural product processing industrial parks in Yichang City have become provincial-level parks. The Yichang Fruit and Vegetable Industrial Park has a planned area of ??1,800 acres and can currently accommodate 15 to 20 industrial enterprises and provide jobs. 4,500, driving the development of a base of 100,000 acres. Last year, the Three Gorges Agricultural Bank of China invested 767 million yuan in infrastructure construction and technological transformation projects for leading enterprises; the Agricultural Development Bank of China provided working capital for the acquisition of key leading enterprises, with the total amount of funds reaching more than 600 million yuan. This year, the municipal government allocated 2 million yuan from agricultural cutting funds to provide loan interest discounts to support key leading enterprises in implementing technological transformation and expanding production and marketing scale. Xiangyi's aquatic products are exported to the United States, and New Century's fruit and vegetable products are exported to Europe. Last year, the city's agricultural exports increased by 51.9% year-on-year, and the total export volume accounted for 1/4 of the province's total. Yichang City has explored and established a mechanism to promote agriculture through industry and promote rural areas through cities, and implemented the "100 Enterprises Feedback" project, guiding 137 enterprises to pair up to assist 139 pilot villages in the construction of new rural areas. So far, 317 construction projects have been implemented, involving 56.6 million yuan in funds, benefiting 110,000 rural households, forming a new situation of "one hundred enterprises leading hundreds of villages, building a new countryside".