Chapter 427 Industrial Expansion
With grapes, the idea of ​​making wine naturally comes to mind.

Originally, the "Yeshan Winery" carefully brewed liquor, beer and various fruit wines based on the local unique clear water and rich resources.

Now, as tens of thousands of acres of vineyards enter the harvest season, the wine that the winery has devoted many years to developing has finally ushered in the glorious moment of large-scale production.

This move has undoubtedly injected new vitality into the development of the winery.

As a result, the scale of "Yeshan Winery" has expanded rapidly, and its product lines have become increasingly rich and diverse, meeting the different needs of consumers.

Deep processing of grapes can not only be used to make wine, raisins and other foods, but the grape seeds left after making wine can also be recycled as waste.

"Grape seeds are waste in wineries, but here they are valuable raw materials for producing healthy products."

On the morning of the Autumnal Equinox, the wine production workshop of the Fifth Factory (winery) of "Yeshan Winery" located in the Hebei Industrial Park in Liujiazhuang was still working intensively and orderly, and the production lines of the extraction, refining and packaging workshops started a new day of production.

This is currently the only grape seed deep-processing enterprise in China. Liu Shuliang, head of the Fifth Wine Factory, introduced to the visiting reporters from the Beijing Daily how to "turn waste into treasure" after the fermentation of wine grapes and "squeeze every ounce" of the available resources in the wine grape industry.

"In the past, the winemaking process produced a large amount of residue waste, which could only be used to feed livestock, backfill land, or be piled up around the winery. During the wine pressing season every year, each winery had a headache about how to deal with this waste.

Now, after research by experts in our factory laboratory, we have found that grape seeds are rich in protein, crude fat, various amino acids, vitamins and minerals, etc., and can be used..."

The reporter of Beijing Daily nodded continuously upon hearing the words, and with shining eyes, he quickly took a pen and wrote down the interview records.

"Statistics show that the total amount of grapes used to make wine or beverages in my country each year is about hundreds of thousands of tons, and about 50,000 tons of grape pomace waste is generated each year, causing a huge waste of resources..." Liu Shuliang said very professionally as he walked.

Liu Shuliang, a proud winemaker from Liujiazhuang, has quickly made a name for himself in the winemaking world in just a few years since graduating from university. He has been promoted to a backbone force in the industry and holds important middle and senior management positions.

The reporter learned from him that with the cooperation of the Brewing Research Institute of "Yeshan Winery" and teams from major universities, they planned, designed and invested 500 million yuan to build a grape seed deep processing production line, turning grape pomace into "treasure", drying and separating the grape seeds and grape skins in the pomace, extracting the effective ingredients proanthocyanidins and grape seed oil in the grape seeds, and developing them into a series of products, thus achieving a perfect closure of the wine grape industry chain.

Since the production line was officially put into operation this year, the "Yeshan Winery" estimates that it can digest an average of about 95 tons of wine grape waste from the Liujiazhuang grape producing area each year, and produce 3000 tons of high-quality proanthocyanidins raw materials with a purity of more than 60% and tons of grape seed oil annually...

Among them, 80% of the proanthocyanidins and grape seed oil raw materials are exported to East Germany, Eastern Europe, Japan and other countries.

The remaining 20% ​​will be used to independently develop high-end functional foods and daily chemical products, targeting the domestic and international mid- to high-end consumer markets.

The southeast area of ​​Liujiazhuang has long sunshine hours, strong solar radiation, and a large temperature difference between day and night, which is the best environment for grape growth.

Grape seeds produced under such natural conditions are richer in polyphenols (mainly proanthocyanidins) and oils.

The production area is far away from urban industrial pollution, and the effective ingredients extracted from grape seeds grown in a green and natural environment are higher than those in other domestic production areas. The content of unsaturated fatty acid - linoleic acid in grape seed oil is as high as over 70%.

The reporter saw a wide variety of grape seed-derived products in the display cabinet in the lobby of the fifth factory, including proanthocyanidin powder, proanthocyanidin tablets, grape seed oil, toner, moisturizing lotion, face cream, essence lotion and other series of cosmetics, grape refined feed and other products.

Moisturizing lotions and creams were already very common in the 1970s, primarily used to moisturize and hydrate the skin and help fight off the dryness and cold of winter.

For example, Continental Facial Oil, Friendship Cream, Clam Oil, etc. are all popular products of this era.

"The proanthocyanidins extracted from grape seeds by our factory are currently recognized by foreign countries as the most effective natural antioxidant for removing free radicals from the human body. They have health benefits such as improving blood circulation, protecting eyesight, promoting cholesterol decomposition, and improving heart function." Liu Shuliang said with some pride.

Using grape seeds as raw materials, subcritical fluid extraction technology is used to extract proanthocyanidins from grape seeds, and then grape seed oil is extracted. The remaining residue can also be used as an additive to make animal feed.

At the same time, a variety of derivative products such as functional foods and cosmetics are produced using the extracted proanthocyanidins and grape seed oil as raw materials, further increasing the product value.

“Through multiple extraction processes, the value of wine grape pomace can be fully utilized.”

This year, the implementation plan for the high-quality development of Liujiazhuang's wine industry was released, which mentioned cultivating new competitive momentum for the entire industry chain, using grape seed oil, dregs and other products to develop derivatives to cultivate related enterprises and increase the added value of the industry.

In addition, daily chemical products are undoubtedly the most frequently purchased consumer goods in people's daily lives, covering soap, laundry detergent and a wide range of skin care products.

Among them, there are many well-known brands of skin care products in China, such as Pechoin, Friendship Cream, Shanghai Women's Cream, Seagull Shampoo, Bee Flower Conditioner, An'an Moisturizing Cream, Clam Oil, Ya Shuang, Yongfang, Gongdeng Almond Honey and other domestic brands.

Even though these are domestic brands and not very well-known in later generations, their current effects are not inferior to imported products!

The daily chemical industry will also be an industry with a huge market in the future, and its scale will not be inferior to that of the pharmaceutical industry.

In the 1st century, the global market size of daily chemical products has exceeded trillion US dollars and is showing a steady growth trend.

Behind this huge figure is the continued growth in consumers' demand for health, beauty, cleaning, etc., as well as the continuous innovation and development of the daily chemical industry.

From traditional skin care products and shampoos to emerging organic products and personalized customization, the market is diverse and the competition is fierce. It has become a dark horse in the commercial competition.

As the world's factory, the Xia Kingdom of later generations provided high-quality and low-priced goods to consumers around the world.

However, as a country that supplies the world, Xia State is at the end of the industrial chain and earns its money through hard work.

The bulk of the profits are firmly controlled by some international giants!
This is especially true in the daily chemical products industry!

Giants like Procter & Gamble, Unilever, L'Oreal, Johnson & Johnson, Colgate, Estee Lauder, Kao, LVMH, Henkel, and Shiseido are all giant companies from Japan, Germany, Gaul, and the United States.

Therefore, in Liu Zhiye’s plan, Liujiazhuang will set the production of daily chemical products as a new development direction in its future industrial blueprint.

Under the guidance of Liu Zhiye, they carefully planned and prepared to build a production enterprise focusing on the daily chemical field, aiming to lead the market trend through innovation.

In the future, this company will not only focus on the potential of the domestic market, but also on the international market.

They plan to introduce a series of efficient and environmentally friendly production processes and automated production lines from Japan, Eastern Europe and other frontier regions of daily chemical technology to ensure excellent product quality and leading production efficiency.

During this period, Japan's daily chemical companies swept the global market like a storm and quickly gained ground.

From 1956 to 1973, Japan's economy soared like a rocket after the war. The basic material needs of the people were met as never before, and their spending power rose accordingly. This economic torrent injected strong momentum into the daily chemical industry.

It was in this context that Estee Lauder, Kao, POLA, Kose, Carbopol and other daily chemical giants that would later become world-renowned emerged one after another, and quickly rose and grew stronger with their strong technical strength and keen market insight.

Their products have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, occupying every corner of the market.

In the 2023 Anholt-Ipsos National Brand Index (NBI) ranking, Japan was ranked first for the first time, surpassing Germany and becoming the leader in the global daily chemical industry.

Liujiazhuang, as one of the raw material suppliers for these future Japanese daily chemical giants, will also get a share of this industry feast.

Thanks to its stable supply chain and good cooperative relationships, Liujiazhuang was able to easily introduce advanced technologies and production lines, injecting new vitality into its own development.

At the same time, in order to continuously promote technological innovation and product development, Liujiazhuang also decided to set up a professional daily chemical product laboratory to bring together industry elites to focus on the research and development of new formulas and the optimization and upgrading of old products.

This move has undoubtedly injected new vitality into the industrial development of Liujiazhuang, and will also bring more high-quality and diversified daily chemical product choices to consumers in the future.

No one expected that Liujiazhuang initially got involved in the development of the planting industry with the simple vision of broadening income channels for members and balancing barren hill management and environmental protection.

Today, after years of vigorous development, Liujiazhuang's fruit industry has quietly transformed and has become the leading fruit supply center in the Beijing-Tianjin area. It has also been working hard on the industrial chain, not only involved in the field of deep processing of fruits, but also extending its tentacles to the daily chemical industry, showing an amazing development momentum and cross-border integration capabilities.

With the continuous expansion of the administrative territory, Liujiazhuang's fruit planting industry has developed to its peak.

Today, Liujiazhuang has a vast territory of seven or eight hundred square kilometers.

However, its northern, western and southern parts are all rolling mountainous areas, while the eastern part only has a small corner that was merged from the plain area.

These mountainous areas are mostly towering and steep, with many cliffs, and the natural conditions are not conducive to the widespread development of agricultural production.

Therefore, limited by the uniqueness of the region, Liujiazhuang's agricultural production is facing an insurmountable bottleneck, especially its traditional fruit planting industry, which has expanded to its peak.

In the future, if the people of Liujiazhuang want to continue to develop the fruit planting industry, they have to go out.

In recent years, Liujiazhuang has shifted its focus to industrial production, resulting in the agricultural sector, especially the former economic pillar of "greenhouse cultivation", declining year by year and facing the crisis of being eliminated by the times.

Behind this transformation, there are two core factors that cannot be ignored.

First of all, Liujiazhuang has special geographical conditions, with scarce plains and widespread mountains.

With the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the already limited plain land resources are becoming increasingly tight, making it difficult to meet the expansion needs of traditional agriculture, especially "greenhouse cultivation".

Furthermore, economic considerations also prompted this change.

Compared with the huge profits brought by industrialization, the cost of manpower, material resources and land resources required for "greenhouse cultivation" is becoming increasingly high and is no longer the best choice for local economic development.

In addition, social technological innovation is also a force that cannot be ignored.

In recent years, the leap forward in domestic petrochemical technology, especially the successful development of new materials such as plastic sheets, has directly impacted the "greenhouse cultivation" technology using glass as material, reflecting the potential impact of scientific and technological progress on traditional agricultural models, and indicating that the agricultural sector also needs to continue to innovate to adapt to the changing times.

Plastic sheeting is a plastic product made from polyethylene through a special process. It is waterproof, corrosion-resistant, transparent and widely used in geotechnical, agricultural, construction, environmental protection and other fields.

Xiaguo began producing plastic sheeting two years ago. Due to Xiaguo's relatively weak economic foundation, it needed to find a cheap and easy-to-use covering material in agricultural production. As a result, plastic sheeting was developed and widely used in agricultural covering.

The use of relatively expensive transparent glass and plastic cloth greatly reduces the cost of covering the greenhouse.

Using plastic sheeting as greenhouse material, which costs much less than transparent glass, significantly reduces construction costs.

Therefore, in the past few years, not only has Liujiazhuang built "plastic greenhouses" on a large scale, but the vast rural areas in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region have also followed suit, setting off a craze for "plastic greenhouse" cultivation.

Moreover, the emergence of "plastic greenhouses" for vegetables has brought forward technologies such as "greenhouse farming" that only appeared twenty years earlier.

This trend may soon sweep across the country, profoundly affecting the dietary structure and habits of the Chinese people and opening a new chapter in agricultural and animal husbandry.

With the rapid expansion of the scale of "plastic greenhouse" cultivation, the market supply of vegetables is abundant and the prices naturally fall to affordable levels.

This change prompted Liujiazhuang to quickly adjust its agricultural and animal husbandry development strategy, deciding to gradually reduce the production scale of greenhouse vegetables and animal husbandry, and instead invest precious human resources and materials into emerging industries with greater potential and prospects, in order to gain a place in the new market wave.

This move not only demonstrates the keen insight of Liujiazhuang's leadership, but also indicates that they are actively embracing change and moving towards diversified development.

Although Liujiazhuang has embarked on the road of transformation and is determined to move from a rural economy to a new era of urban economy, its agricultural roots have unexpectedly regained new vitality.

Many traditional industries originally rooted in farming have not declined, but have become stronger. Take the long-standing Jingxi rice planting as an example. Relying on the unique river and lake resources in the Jingxi area, it has now developed into a grand base with 50,000 acres of vast rice fields, which can be called the crown of "Jingxi rice" and is well-known.

At the same time, the integrated rice field breeding model has also flourished. The "Shengfang Crab" and various freshwater fish produced in Liujiazhuang have successfully occupied up to 80% of the current Beijing market due to their excellent quality. They have become a regular on the tables of Beijing diners and have brought unprecedented prosperity to this land.

As a specialty aquatic product in Liujiazhuang area, "Shengfang Crab" originates from Shengfang Town. It is large in size, thin in shell, tender in meat, and has a fresh, sweet flavor.

Around the Mid-Autumn Festival is the best time to taste Shengfang crab. Whether it is steamed or braised, you can feel its delicious taste and unique flavor.

Speaking of the crabs in Shengfang Town, they were very famous in the past. In the past, they were a must-have on the tables of the powerful and wealthy during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Jingang, Beijing. In the late Qing Dynasty, they were also the signature dishes of the imperial palace and major restaurants.

The crabs in Liujiazhuang are also called "Shengfang crabs". Due to changes in the geographical environment in recent years, "Shengfang crabs" in areas other than Liujiazhuang and Shengfang Town have gradually become extinct.

Liujiazhuang’s “Shengfang Crab” has become the most sought-after crab variety in the Beijing market, with shipments far ahead.

In the days leading up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, the night and dawn of Liujiazhuang interweave into a busy scene. Before the sky turns pale, or even when the moon is at its zenith, an endless stream of trucks roar into the village, with only one destination in mind - fully loaded with Shengfang crabs.

This is because the best time to catch crabs is after nightfall.

Under the dim light, the villagers cast fine fishing nets on the sparkling water, and then it was a competition of patient waiting and skillful catching.

The tranquility of the night is broken by the joy of the harvest. Every net pulled up is the best reward for the hard work.

When Liu Zhiye was a child, he often called a few friends to go to the river to catch crabs late at night.

Catching crabs was quite interesting at that time. It was a one- or two-person operation. The tools they used to catch crabs included a fishing boat, four wooden stakes, several horse lanterns, a handful of scoops, nets or reed foil, etc.

If you want to catch crabs, you must first choose a water area with lush aquatic plants and no limit on the water depth.

Then push four wooden stakes into the mud and water in the shape of a "口". The distance between the stakes should be about two meters, and their height should be about five or six feet above the water surface.

Then use the wooden stakes as support pillars and use mesh to enclose the four stakes. The bottom edge of the mesh should be close to the mud and sand, and the top should be level with the top of the stakes. The size of the mesh should be like a "dice".

After nightfall, place a lantern on top of each of the four stakes and light them, thus completing the preliminary preparations for lighting the crabs.

If you do not use the four-pile method, you can also use the "one"-shaped method.

Which method of laying out the piles is used depends on the conditions of the water area. If the water area is in a strip shape, the piles are usually laid out in a "one" shape. If the water area is in a piece, the piles are usually laid out in a "mouth" shape.

If you do not use mesh but use reed foil to block wooden stakes, you need to put a wooden beam across the top of the stake and hang the reed foil on the beam like a bamboo curtain. This will make it easier for crabs to attach and climb.

Nowadays, the "Shengfang crabs" raised in the rice fields of Liujiazhuang have a particularly strong habit of being attracted to light. When they are foraging at night, they will notice the flashing lights.

Generally speaking, crabs in water bodies within a radius of dozens of acres can be attracted by lights.

The temptation of light is far greater than that of food, so no matter how far away the light is, it will try its best to chase it.

The lamp is hung on the top of the pole. In order to get closer, it uses the net or reed foil as a ladder to climb up.

Shengfang crabs in autumn are fat and big, and are at their most delicious. Anyone who has eaten them knows that this kind of crab not only tastes good, but both the claws and the shells are edible, which is very good for the body.

(End of this chapter)