In the golden autumn season, the town of Sangbi in Yonghe County is filled with the joy of harvest.
Orchards stretch across the landscape, their branches heavy with fruit and rich with fragrance, as premium apple varieties including Venus Gold, Ruixianghong, Ruixue, and Xiangfu all reach full harvest. Throughout the orchards, red and golden apples hang abundantly from the branches, while farmers busily pick, sort, and pack the fruit, creating a lively and bustling scene of abundance.
Wei Hongfeng, a fruit farmer from Shuyi Village in Sangbi Town, said: "This year, our old Fuji apples only sell for a little over three yuan per jin, with very thin profit margins. But the Venus Gold apples are different — this year the market price can reach over eight yuan per jin. The gap is truly enormous! Seeing with our own eyes that this variety has high yield, good prices, and sells easily, we feel very reassured. Next, we plan to plant more or convert more land to Venus Gold apples, and earn more money by growing better varieties!"
Zhang Minghai, another fruit farmer from Shuyi Village in Sangbi Town, said: "The weather has been favorable and the rainfall good. This year I planted 22 mu of apples, with 6 mu of young trees and 16 mu at full fruiting stage. I can say that with the good rainfall this year, my apples have all grown to this size, and a yield of five thousand jin per mu is certainly guaranteed. I estimate my income this year will be over 200,000 yuan."
Li Yongsheng, General Manager of Hualong Fruit Industry Technology Development Co., Ltd., said: "The core purpose of building the Venus Gold smart orchard is to create a demonstration model, transform traditional planting concepts among the public, and establish a development philosophy of high investment, high output, and high returns. The base was planted last year, and this year the trees have successfully borne fruit. Everyone can see the tangible returns. Next, we will continue to manage the base operations well, use visible economic benefits to help people increase their income, and support rural revitalization."
Gao Zhongmin, Party Branch Secretary of Shuyi Village in Sangbi Town, said: "The Venus Gold smart orchard implemented in Shuyi Village in 2025 has successfully borne fruit and shown initial results this year. Combined with the overall favorable market conditions, it has truly given fruit farmers hope for increasing income and achieving prosperity through new varieties and new models. Next, the Party branch of Shuyi Village will continue to cooperate with and serve enterprises well, and solidly carry out high-standard orchard construction and refined management. On one hand, we will increase publicity and guidance efforts, mobilize fruit farmers to actively upgrade and change varieties, and expand planting scale. On the other hand, we will proactively provide services, make every effort to open up both online and offline sales channels, and practically resolve farmers' concerns."
In recent years, Sangbi Town has relied on the unique natural advantages of the Loess Plateau — abundant sunlight, large temperature differences between day and night, and superior fruit quality — to deeply cultivate its specialty apple industry. In response to the development shortcomings of traditional Red Fuji varieties, including severe homogenization, cumbersome management, concentrated market timing, and narrowing returns, the town has proactively pursued transformation, abandoned extensive planting models, selectively introduced new varieties such as Venus Gold, Ruixue, and Ruixianghong, and vigorously promoted modern planting systems featuring dwarfing and dense planting, smart management, and scientific disaster prevention, driving the fruit industry to leap from "traditional experience-based planting" to "smart premium agriculture." Currently, the town's apple planting area reaches 7,000 mu, with over 200,000 apple saplings and an annual fresh fruit output of over 45 million jin. By continuously optimizing fruit quality and enriching fruit categories, and creating high-quality apple planting demonstration models, the small apple has become a "golden fruit" for people to increase income and achieve prosperity.
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