Just after the beginning of winter, the cold weather in Qingdao gradually intensifies, and all things begin to gather and thrive. However, at this time, the greenhouse of Liyuan Ecological Farm located in the West Coast New Area of Qingdao is full of vitality. Various vegetables such as chili peppers, eggplants, bitter gourd, tomatoes, pumpkins, etc., under the careful care of technicians, grow vigorously, bloom and bear fruit, and have a bountiful harvest. Here, they have a common name - 'space vegetables'.

      On the morning of November 11th, on the occasion of the annual shopping carnival, Liyuan Ecological Farm held a grand "space vegetable" launch ceremony. Bi Jifeng, Secretary of the Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Qingdao West Coast Agricultural High tech Zone, and Che Mingchao, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Zhangjialou Street on the West Coast of Qingdao, led a delegation to attend the listing ceremony. The heads of the company's marketing and functional departments, as well as colleagues from the farm and supply chain base, jointly attended the listing ceremony.

       The event was held in the central area of the farm, with bright banners hanging high on site and various space vegetables displayed on the booths on both sides. Before the ceremony began, under the guidance of the staff, the leaders carefully watched the displayed space vegetable varieties and walked into the greenhouse to get a close-up understanding of the cultivation and nurturing of space vegetables.

       At 10:28 am, the space vegetable launch ceremony of Qingdao Liyuan Ecological Farm officially began. General Manager Xu Tao of Qingdao Liyuan Ecological Farm delivered the first speech. Mr. Xu warmly welcomes the leaders of Nonggao District and Zhangjialou Street, as well as the heads of various departments of the company, and expresses gratitude for their strong support. In his speech, Mr. Xu also summarized the current construction situation of the farm and introduced space vegetables, making prospects for the future construction and development of the farm.

Speech by General Manager Xu Tao

       At the ceremony, Secretary Che Mingchao and Secretary Bi Jifeng also delivered speeches, warmly congratulating the launch of space vegetables on the farm. Secretary Che Mingchao fully affirmed the contribution made by Liyuan Ecological Farm in solving the problem of local villagers' employment and income increase after settling in Zhangjialou Street, and stated that the street will fully implement the system of "quick handling of important matters and full-time response" to serve enterprises as the top leader, and provide good services for projects and enterprises. Wishing space vegetables to fly into ordinary people's homes.

Speech by Secretary Bi Jifeng

Secretary Che Mingchao's speech

       Secretary Bi Jifeng highly praised the work of the farm, believing that the one-stop service model of Liyuan Ecological Farm from the field to the dining table has effectively promoted the development of characteristic agricultural industries and provided a good reference for the development of agricultural enterprises in the new area. He also expressed his earnest hope that the farm can further create channel advantages in research and development, planting, processing, and sales, and drive the innovative development of modern agriculture and science and technology agriculture in the new area.

Secretary Bi Jifeng watches the space vegetable exhibition booth

       After the ceremony, the leaders took a group photo with everyone to commemorate the occasion.

have a group photo taken to mark the occasion

       With the slow start of transportation vehicles, Liyuan Ecological Farm's space vegetables will be sent to key cities such as Beijing and Jinan to supply Jianliyuan's customers. At the same time, they will enter supermarkets and truly step onto the dining tables of ordinary people.

Space vegetables ready to depart

       【1】Liyuan Ecological Farm

       The Qingdao Liyuan Ecological Farm and Supply Chain Base project belongs to the Jianliyuan Group. It was established under the policy guidance of vigorously promoting rural revitalization, developing cold chain logistics, and advocating the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in the entire industry chain. It is committed to meeting the dining and food safety needs of more than 2 million customers of the group.

       The project covers an area of 1200 acres and is divided into three phases. It is expected to be completed in six years. Currently, the first phase of construction has been completed and put into operation, with a cold storage supply chain base of 150000 cubic meters and a vegetable and fruit greenhouse of 300000 square meters.

       Liyuan Ecological Farm has established cooperative relationships with multiple national ministries, central enterprises, state-owned enterprises, military forces, and universities, providing a full range of food supply and emergency support services. In 2022, it was awarded the titles of "China Ecological Food Production Demonstration Base" and "Qingdao Smart Agriculture Application Base".

       The group will conscientiously implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and make every effort to promote the construction of Liyuan Ecological Farm and Supply Chain Base. It is committed to creating a supply base that provides customers with one-stop services and cold chain logistics for all categories of ingredients, a demonstration base for military civilian integration development, a demonstration base for the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, a comprehensive display base that embodies new agricultural technologies, aerospace breeding achievements, and aerospace science popularization experiences, and a rural comprehensive project that integrates leisure sightseeing experience, health care vacation, and industry university research. It will contribute to solving local farmers' employment, promoting the development of modern agriculture and logistics industry on the west coast of Qingdao, assisting rural revitalization, and building a happy, beautiful, and harmonious city.

Farm aerial photo

       【2】Space vegetables

       Space vegetables "are a product of space breeding. Aerospace breeding is a breeding technique that involves carrying crop seeds into space and accelerating the genetic mutation process of the seeds under the combined effects of cosmic rays, microgravity, and complex electromagnetic environments. After the seeds return to the ground, they are planted, screened, and improved to cultivate new crop varieties. Space vegetables are emerging vegetables cultivated from such seeds.

       In August 2022, Liyuan Ecological Farm collaborated with Chinese aerospace breeding institutions to select high-quality vegetable seedlings cultivated through aerospace breeding for planting and cultivating space vegetables.

Staff display harvested space vegetables

       【3】Characteristics and advantages of space vegetables

       1.Good appearance

       The color and appearance of space vegetables are better than ordinary vegetables, and their size is generally larger and more uniform.

       2.High nutrition

       The vitamin content of space vegetables is more than twice that of ordinary vegetables, and the beneficial trace element content for the human body is generally higher than that of ordinary vegetables, such as an increase of 7.3% in iron content, 21.9% in zinc content, 26.5% in copper content, 21.9% in phosphorus content, 13.1% in manganese content, and 5.88% in carotene content. The soluble sugar content of space tomatoes is 25% higher than that of ordinary tomatoes.

Space vegetables harvested from the farm

       3. Good taste

Space vegetables are more delicious than ordinary vegetables, such as space bell peppers that can be eaten raw, with a slightly sweet taste and a crisp and refreshing taste; Space tomato, smooth and beautiful, thick flesh, sweet and sandy texture, excellent taste and flavor; Space cucumber, with a more crispy and sweet taste.

       4.Safety and Health

       （1）Space seeds receive very little radiation intensity in space, and after returning to the ground, they need to undergo several generations of cultivation and screening, as well as years of trial planting, to obtain certification before they can be put on the market. Therefore, there is no radiation issue with space vegetables.

       （2）Space breeding only uses the space environment to accelerate the DNA mutation process of organisms themselves, rather than introducing exogenous DNA, so space vegetables do not belong to genetically modified foods.

       （3）Space vegetables have strong drought resistance and virus invasion prevention abilities, which are more conducive to growth than ordinary vegetables. They basically do not need to be sprayed with pesticides, and are more secure for people's health.