Today, the People's Daily published a report titled "How Fragrant is a Cup of Garlic Coffee?" in Gaoshan Village, Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The report focuses on Gaoshan Village, Wanchun Town, Wenjiang District, and tells the innovative story of Dai Chao, a post-90s rural chief operator, using a cup of garlic coffee to heat up the seven star garlic industry. It showcases the vivid scene of "new farmers" rooting in rural areas and industry revitalization in the integrated development of urban and rural areas in Wenjiang.
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The cup tilted, the milk jug gently tapped, and between the push and pull of the wrist, a tulip slowly bloomed on the surface of the cup. Next, sprinkle a layer of roasted garlic powder, and the rich aroma wafts in. In the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) community of Gaoshan Village, Wanchun Town, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, a freshly baked garlic coffee has attracted tourists to take photos.
Garlic coffee, which sounds like a 'dark cuisine', sold over 90000 cups last year, bringing in revenue of over 1.7 million yuan. Dai Chao, the chief rural operator born in the 1990s, heated up the garlic industry in the village with a cup of coffee: the purchase price of Red Seven Star garlic increased from 3 yuan per kilogram to 8 yuan, and garlic farmers' wallets swelled.
Dai Chao is from Gansu. He came to Gaoshan Village in 2022 and as soon as he got off the car, he looked around and saw 2800 acres of green garlic sprouts. At that time, the office space of the old village committee had been idle for many years, and the village wanted to use it to develop homestays and rural tourism. Dai Chao has another idea: "The occupancy rate of surrounding hotels is not high, and traditional methods are not feasible. To revitalize it, it is better to create a rural entrepreneurship incubator
Just do what you say. After the renovation of the old house, the two-story small building is scattered and surrounded by trees and bamboo forests. The old village committee has become a shared space for homestays, restaurants, cafes, and office areas; Gaoshan Village Cooperative and Dai Chao's team jointly established a company to create a model youth CSA community.
Our cooperation model is for the village collective to invest in idle asset management rights and receive a guaranteed dividend of 150000 yuan per year, "said Yan Zeju, Secretary of the Party Committee of Gaoshan Village.
Red Seven Star Garlic, a specialty of Gaoshan Village, has good quality but low added value. The Dai Chao team collaborated with Sichuan Agricultural University to develop a desulfurization extraction process that removes sulfides from garlic while retaining allicin. Garlic coffee made using this process leaves no breath after drinking. After the technological bottleneck was overcome, the product quickly broke through, the industrial chain was activated, and the thousand acre garlic field became an agricultural experience field, doubling the value of Red Seven Star garlic. By 2025, the collective income of Gaoshan Village will reach 8.3 million yuan, including more than 2 million yuan in operating income, and the per capita annual income of villagers will be 43800 yuan.
In 2024, the Chengdu Model Youth CSA Community launched a plan to recruit young entrepreneurs, cultivate and incubate them based on community resources, and attract more young people to join rural businesses. Previously, young people used to walk outward, but now they are running back, "Yan Zeju said. Driven by the project, many villagers in the surrounding area have started to renovate their farmhouses and start businesses.
Entrepreneurs can only mobilize everyone's enthusiasm by fully integrating into the countryside, "said He Jie, Deputy Director of the Wenjiang District Urban Rural Integration Development Promotion Center.
The relevant person in charge of Chengdu Agriculture and Rural Bureau introduced that Chengdu has built 150 pilot villages and 150 key villages through the implementation of the three-year action plan for livable, business friendly, and beautiful countryside construction, and the total income of rural collective economy has exceeded 4.3 billion yuan.
The Red Seven Star Garlic in Gaoshan Village, as a national geographical indication product, has high allicin content and excellent quality. However, it has long been sold only in the form of primary agricultural products, with prices fluctuating with the market, making it difficult for villagers to obtain stable income.
In order to enhance the added value of this precious national geographical indication product and create more sustainable revenue, Dai Chao has turned his attention to the highly popular beverage – coffee. Using Red Seven Star Garlic as the core ingredient, he has developed an innovative coffee product that combines health and unique flavor. At present, the Dai Chao team is gradually expanding around the core IP of "garlic coffee" to a multi category system of cultural and creative peripherals, flavor drinks, functional derivatives, etc., forming a diversified business model of "drinks+cultural and creative+agricultural products", upgrading a single product into a characteristic rural brand.
Taking a cup of coffee as a guide and relying on the innovative thinking of new farmers, it has activated the infinite possibilities of idle rural resources and local specialty products, and opened up a small but refined, new and vibrant new path for rural industrial revitalization.
Next, Wenjiang will deepen the collaboration between schools, land, and enterprises, accelerate the landing and transformation of agricultural scientific and technological achievements, take the incubation and cultivation of "fashionable agricultural products" as the starting point, deeply tap into the value of local agricultural products, and innovate rural business models. Through multidimensional empowerment such as technology, creativity, and branding, we extend the agricultural industry chain, enhance product added value, and strengthen rural characteristic industries. With industrial innovation as the engine, we continue to promote urban-rural integration and rural revitalization.
Reporter | Yang Yajie
Liaoning ICP Security No. 21122402000217