The article is reproduced from "Listening to the Call of the Barren Mountain"

Author: Chi Tong Dan Zhu

"I once interviewed my mother on Shandong TV. I thought she could be very happy and praised me. But she told the reporter: I think he made it too big. It’s not because I don’t want him to do it. Do it well. I can do it. Point, but too big, too tired." Wei Benxin turned his gaze to the distant mountains, and quietly wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, "It turned out to be a barren mountain and ridge. I don’t know from which dynasty it was a barren mountain and ridge. I changed. After my mother passed away, I buried her on Mount Hua, and let her continue to watch the barren mountains turn into green mountains, and watch her hometown become more and more beautiful and richer."

Huashan Base-a piece of green terraced fields

Prosperity by one person

In 2010, Wei Benxin came into contact with hazelnuts, known as the "King of Nuts," during an expedition in Europe. According to traditional Chinese medicine, hazelnuts nourish the spleen and stomach, replenish vitality, improve eyesight and exercise, and are quite beneficial to the disease of lung and kidney deficiency. Wei Benxin intuitively felt that hazelnuts are a good thing. After returning to China, he went to the Northeast for a week. He also went to the Chinese Academy of Forestry to ask experts and professors about the feasibility of planting hazelnuts and related technologies, which was recognized by experts and professors.

"Later, the leaders of Huanghua Town and some community leaders also approached me, hoping that I could make some efforts in poverty alleviation and project construction. I decided to use the barren hills in the southern part of Huanghua to grow hazelnuts to help the fathers and villagers root out the poor. "In 2013, Wei Benxin retired from the chairmanship of Zhucheng Huaxin Casting Co., Ltd., with the right time and place, and he officially became attached to Hazel.

Mountain reclamation

Wei Benxin first tried planting 20 hectares of hazelnuts on the east slope of Changshan Mountain and accumulated some experience. In 2016, he started to build the Huashan hazelnut production base covering an area of 133.3 hectares. The first season of planting hazelnuts coincided with three years of continuous drought. Wei Benxin rented dozens of large and small vehicles from the town’s Lila River to fight drought and protect seedlings. For more than two months, he left early and returned late, hiking more than ten miles a day. He had a sore on his mouth, paronychia on his toes, and limped as he walked. He was so dark that he was better than Bao Gong. The sky pays off. When the hazelnut trees all over the mountains sprout buds and spread their leaves, and sway with the wind, the rain showers all over the hillside, and all the hazelnuts planted survive. Wei Benxin’s good friend Chen Zhongyi (Chairman of Zhucheng Yihe Axle Co., Ltd.) said with a smile: “Old Wei’s management of mountains and waters, planting trees and afforestation is very helpful, the beginning is smooth, and then Belden.”

"In recent years, I have visited many places at home and abroad, and communicated with many experts. Everyone thinks that this is an industry with very promising prospects-generally speaking, it can maintain national food and oil security and promote regional coordinated development. Xiao Chu said that it can promote farmers’ income and improve the ecological environment."

Wei Benxin spread it all on the hazelnuts. He consulted experts and professors of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, and compared and observed their cross-breeding results for more than ten years. All the 49 varieties successfully tested in different regions, climates and soils were standardized and planted. The planting row spacing was 2x3m, and the fixed height was 40-60cm. , Go alone and happy-shaped tree. Through regional comparison experiments, more than ten excellent hazel seeds suitable for cultivation in Shandong were selected and planted in the demonstration bases in Huashan, and successively promoted to hazelnut planting areas in the southern part of the country.

In order to ensure the soil fertility, Wei Benxin dug the barren mountain twice and leveled it three times successively, and built an advanced micro-drip irrigation water and fertilizer integrated system and perfect water, electricity and road facilities, completely turning the barren mountain into a high-standard hazelnut plantation. . More than 1.3 million high-quality hazelnut varieties such as "Huazhen" No. 1 and No. 2 and "Dawei" are planted in the base.

Hazelnut Milk Production Line

In 2017, the base introduced full-intelligent hazelnut processing equipment from Germany and Italy, and took the steps of industrialization. Products such as hazelnut kernels, flour, oil, and beverages have been introduced to the market one after another. The base integrates the breeding of high-quality hazel seedlings, the demonstration planting of hazelnuts, the storage, logistics, and deep processing of hazelnuts. It has become the largest industrialization demonstration zone of Pingou hazelnuts in the country. 

Demonstration base entrance

In 2018, Wei Benxin and the Hazelnut Engineering Research Center of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration jointly built Shandong Province's first high-standard Pingou large fruit hazelnut breeding and promotion center in Huashan, Changshan, Qingdun and other places, covering an area of more than 40 hectares. It can breed 3 million high-quality hazelnut seedlings annually. At present, the center's business has radiated to more than a dozen cities across the country. There are more and more large growers in the industry to visit, exchange, and cooperate. Only around the Huashan base, there are more than 70 cooperatives, family farms and farmers joining hazelnut planting.

In 2019, the inaugural meeting of the Shandong Hazelnut Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance was held in Zhucheng. 3 colleges and universities, 26 hazelnut planting, food machinery manufacturing, product design, packaging, and sales related companies participated in the meeting. Through open alliances, promote resource sharing, speed up innovation and research and development, and promote the improvement and improvement of the hazelnut industry chain. At the same time, Huashan Agriculture and Forestry Co., Ltd. was recognized by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration as a key national forestry leading enterprise.

Behind Wei Benxin, a vibrant "Hazel Era" has arrived.

People have to be a little energetic

From 2014 to 2020, in six years, Wei Benxin spent most of his life savings, using a wide range of contacts to raise nearly 100 million yuan through crowdfunding and equity investment. Shandong Huashan Hazelnut Demonstration Base has grown from 133.3 hectares, to more than 466.7 hectares, to 667 hectares, to more than 1333.3 hectares, planting 1.9 million hazelnut seedlings of various types, and nearly 100 ancient mountain valleys have been transformed into 15 large and small reservoirs and dams. A dozen large and small barren hills and bald ridges represented by Taer Mountain have been transformed into terraces and orchards.

Enjoy it

Correspondingly, there is an old man who is over sixty years old. He is covered in soil in winter and mud in summer. He walks up and down the mountain for more than ten miles every day. With the continuous expansion of the Huashan base, people's expectations of Wei Benxin are getting higher and higher-the party committee and the government are paying attention to the development, the farmers in the mountainous areas are looking forward to increasing income, and the franchise households in all regions are looking forward to common prosperity. The ensuing problems of industrial development, capital investment, land disputes, production and R&D cooperation methods... are all hard bones, and they all affect the whole body.

"Have you regretted it?" the reporter asked bluntly.

"There is nothing to regret, Huashan is just like my child." Wei Benxin's smile was a bit meaningful. "My little granddaughter applauded, I originally wanted to call it'Zhenhao'. Less than half a year after she was born, Huashan started. It’s built. Sometimes when I see those hazelnuts sprout, grow leaves, and hang fruits, I feel like I’m smiling at me, growing up a little bit."

"In the beginning, I didn't want to do it on such a large scale, but since the establishment of Huashan, some things are beyond the control of individuals. My mother's hometown is in a small village in this ravine. I used to tell my mother, this Not only is my fate with Hazel, but also my fate with this land. I chose this land, and this land recognizes me. This is called a ghost, or how could I do it so willingly and untiringly? " 

"People have to be a little energetic. Look at Chu Shijian, why does he have to go up the mountain? He was 76 at that time, and he just didn't grow oranges, and his friends would not wrong him. But with that mountain, there will be With Chu Cheng, there will be Chu Shijian. Just like when there is an epidemic, Zhong Nanshan will stand up. If this matter cannot be explained clearly, it is called a ghost and a god. This is probably the origin of the mission."

"I have been working hard for 20 years in the industry, and the accumulated taxes paid by enterprises over the years have been more than 300 million. Sometimes I think about it. If I have been in Qingdao Hanyi in the past five or six years, I will enjoy a good fortune, but if I don’t go into the mountains, I won’t accept it. Mountain spirit, there must be a lot of weightless things in life. I drove around in the car that day, and the barren hills and ridges in some places were still the same as thousands of years ago, but the Huashan base has begun to regenerate, and there are layers of terraces. Green, like a picture."

Because of the pro-agricultural nature of the base, Wei Benxin has done a lot of poverty alleviation work internally and externally while promoting industrial development. An  53.3 hectares hazelnut poverty alleviation industrial park was built in the park in two phases. Up to now, 633,000 yuan of income has been turned in, benefiting 338 poor households in 81 villages in Huanghua Town. The 1267 hectares of land transferred in the park covers the provincial designated poverty-stricken villages Hugou and Xiakangling. Among them, 94 poor households have been transferred and registered, with 22 hectares of land, and the annual land rent is 194,000 yuan. The park also gives priority to poor households to work in the park. There are currently 120 poor households working in the park with a daily income of 80 to 120 yuan.

"The green hills are closely connected, and the white clouds surround the mountains." Under the blue sky and white clouds, Wei Benxin would also hum a little song on the top of the hill, "I like to see our harvest and happy life for thousands of years..." He said The singing is not beautiful, but it permeates the vicissitudes and warmth of the mountains.

Create "Wei Zhen" brand

In recent years, Shandong Sanyang Zhenyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd. based on Huashan Base has been reorganized into Shandong Huashan Agriculture and Forestry Technology Co., Ltd. and Zhucheng Sensen Garden Farming Technology Co., Ltd. +Special hazel orchard exclusive area subscription + intensive processing + warehousing logistics + online and offline sales + agriculture, forestry and tourism integration" the whole industry chain development model and modern enterprise management, realized the breeding, planting, production, and intensive processing of hazelnut seedlings , Trade and sales of the whole industry chain development.

"We now have a hazelnut planting area of more than 1333.3 hectares, with an annual output of more than 15,000 tons of hazelnuts. With such a large volume, to solve the problem of market for hazelnut growers, it will not work if we do not follow the road of industrialized production. We have to make products and brand." 

"How fast time has passed, five or six years have passed in a blink of an eye. The base is the last year of seedling cultivation this year. The seedlings are all up, and the industry chain is about to close." Wei Benxin's eyes showed thoughts, "In the past two years, the former Director of the State Forestry Administration Zhao Shucong’s visit to Huashan gave us a lot of encouragement, but he also reminded me that the brand has to take its time. We have to wait for everyone’s understanding of the value of hazelnuts. We must insist on making good products and withstanding the test of the market. We are I came here one step at a time." 

Wei Benxin has made products with endurance, starting from natural ingredients such as hazelnuts and hazelnut crushed, to hazelnut oil, hazelnut butter, hazelnut chocolate, hazelnut energy bars, hazelnut milk... Over the years, the products have been loved by consumers and have filled the domestic market. There is a gap in the deep processing of hazelnut products. Hazelnut series products have passed GB/T19001-2008 quality management system certification, China Forest Food Raw Material Base Certification, the first batch of national forest mark ecological product certification, Qilu assured fruit brand certification, etc. Two products of "Huashan Laowei" hazelnut and hazelnut oil won the gold medal of China Forest Products Fair, and the "Huashan Laowei" cauldron hazelnut product won the silver award, and the company's products were recognized as special products designated by the International Kite Federation.

Hazelnut Milk Production Line

It is particularly worth mentioning that the company and China Agricultural University jointly developed the first pure hazelnut vegetable protein beverage in China-Wei Zhen·Hazelnut Milk, which created a new category of vegetable protein beverages in China, won the Forestry Industry Innovation Award, and launched the product launch. Social attention, online and offline sales are booming. 

"In the past two years, my country's hazelnut industry has entered a stage of rapid development, and the cultivation area has increased rapidly. According to incomplete statistics, the national Pingou hybrid hazel cultivation area has exceeded 66667 hectares in 2019." Speaking of hazelnuts, Wei Benxin is like a treasure. In the past two years, we have been improving and upgrading our products, leading the formulation of "Hazel Nut Purchasing Grade", "Hazel Nut Quality Grade", "Hazel Nut Storage Regulations", "Hazelnut Milk (Lotion)", "Coated Hazelnut Kernels (Baked) "The six group standards of "Squeezing Hazelnut Oil" make their own contributions to the development of the industry."

"The value a person creates does not lie in how much money you have and how much money you contribute to society, but how much you contribute to this industry." Wei Benxin said. What he wants to do is the pioneer and promoter of the national hazelnut industry.

According to Wei Benxin's idea, his son has a foundry company to manage, and his grandson is a good academic seedling and has no interest in agricultural planting. The Huashan base will eventually be handed over to the people and the community. "I am now trying to divide Huashan into five production teams, divided into hills, reservoirs, ponds and dams, and adopt seedlings." From the end of last year, Wei Benxin began to implement a "land return contract" experiment: farmers can freely associate and contract a certain scale of hazelnut orchards. The cooperative provides agricultural materials, technology, purchase and other services. After the hazelnuts are received and settled, the cooperative deducts the contracting fee and service fee of 300 kilograms of hazelnuts per hectares, and the rest of the income goes to the contracted farmers. 

"Return these 1333.3 hectares of hazelnuts to farmers, freeing the cooperative from daily field management affairs, focusing on product research and development, exploring the development of leisure tourism projects, and being more closely connected with farmers, and leading the role of more sophisticated leaders. This is the basis for sustainable and comprehensive development." Wei Benxin said, "I am 65 years old this year, and I am going to work for another five years to do a good job of the brand "Wei Zhen" and improve the long-term development model of the base. I hope that by the age of 70, I can Draw a successful end to my own entrepreneurial life."

Company Profile

All employees of Shandong Sanyang Zhenyuan Biological Technology Co., Ltd. "Zhencheng" welcome the guidance of alliance members, win-win cooperation, and jointly make suggestions for the development of China's hazelnut industry, and jointly realize that "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains". To build a full industrial chain of China's hazelnuts, and strive to provide Chinese people with green, healthy, nutritious and assured hazelnut products.

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