During the National Day holiday, the rice field experience tour in Fangzheng County, Harbin, Heilongjiang was very lively. Tourists learn to harvest rice with farmers, and each person harvests about 3 kilograms of rice. Calculated, the rice harvested by each person is equivalent to about 30 bowls of rice. The rice harvested throughout the day is enough to make about 9,000 bowls of rice. Brother Jin, a farmer, said, "This year's harvest is great! I have been a farmer all my life and now I am a teacher."
Last year, "working in the fields" became the most special way to start the harvest season. In Anguo City, Hebei Province, as the harvest of Qi yam comes to an end, farmers open their field gates and let tourists pick up those small white-mouthed yam that are "not up to standard". Hohhot, Inner Mongolia and other places have launched a "potato picking map" and prepared "free baked potatoes" spots for tourists to experience the "joy of work."
This wind of "working in the fields" also blows to the seaside. The tidal flat in Xiapu, Fujian Province has become a popular "labor field". Tourists dig shells and catch crabs, covered in mud but with smiles on their faces.
"Working in the fields" is like a magnet with its own gravity, which can retain tourists' footsteps and extend their stay, thereby activating the "multiplier effect" of agricultural and cultural tourism projects. This potential hidden in the soil is worth exploring.
Use "thematic work" to create in-depth participation.
The scenery, folk customs, etc. in the same area have certain similarities, which can easily make rural tourism fall into the dilemma of homogeneous development. However, the diversity of farming experience provides ideas for solving the problem.
By setting different themes, such as the "Farming Heritage" theme that allows tourists to experience plowing and transplanting rice seedlings and ancient oil extraction, or the "Green Agriculture" theme that allows visitors to experience soilless cultivation and smart farms, it can bring visitors a unique tourism experience.
The deep connection between the rural economy and the natural environment also allows the theme of labor experience to change with the seasons. For example, in Liuwang Town, Qingdao's West Coast New District, a series of carefully designed four-season agricultural experience activities based on the seasons, including the Rice Plowing Festival, Rice Harvest Festival, Sweet Potato Harvest Festival, and Sunflower Flower Appreciation Festival, allow tourists to find ways to have an in-depth dialogue with the land in every season.
Broaden the boundaries of value through quality improvement.
As an important part of the integrated development of rural agriculture, culture and tourism, farming experience must break away from the form of a single farming experience and focus on improving the quality of the entire chain.
On the front end, tourists can be invited to participate in the selection of new varieties, and consumption feedback can be used to guide agricultural production; on the back end, one-time experiences can be transformed into quality memories that can be preserved for a long time, realizing the secondary transformation of consumption. For example, the wheat harvested by tourists is ground into flour, made into bread, steamed buns, and handicrafts such as wheat straw paintings and wheat straw woven bags are made to freeze the memories of labor.
This quality improvement can also radiate and drive the upgrading of supporting businesses such as B&Bs and restaurants. The "viewing + picking + B&B + catering" all-season consumption scene created in the Yangjiashanli Rural Revitalization Area of Qingdao's West Coast New Area uses farming experience to upgrade the overall service quality and provide tourists with a better comprehensive rural life experience.
Host-guest sharing achieves long-term development.
Rural tourism is not about building a “theme park” to please tourists, but about creating a beautiful community full of vitality that hosts and guests share.
As an important part of rural tourism, the most impressive thing about farming experience activities is the "fragrance of the soil." Therefore, by protecting and displaying authentic farming techniques and rural life scenes, and allowing local villagers to transform from service providers into cultural narrators and co-workers, we can maintain the authenticity of labor as much as possible.
Only when local residents benefit from this, will they become the strongest guardians and disseminators of rural culture, thereby achieving long-term development. Dongqiao Town, Fuyang District, Hangzhou trains villagers as certified "agricultural instructors" and now has developed more than 200 farming experience points, generating more than 1 million yuan in income for farmers.
People rush to the countryside, and in the sweat of labor, they pick up not only the fruits of the fields, but also a return to the true nature of life. "Working in the fields" is shaping a new way of dialogue between urban and rural areas and injecting new vitality into rural revitalization.
(Yangcheng Evening News·Yangcheng School comprehensively sourced from CCTV Finance and Qingdao Publicity)
