Xu Changliu and his families check the growth of the crops on his farmland. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]

After noticing swathes of idle farmland in his hometown of Hai’an, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, Xu Changliu decided to come out of retirement and pursue a new career that could provide his family with a better life.

Despite having no experience in farming, Xu rented 200 mu (13.33 hectares) of farmland at the price of 500 yuan ($69.84) per mu in 2016.

Unfortunately, Xu ended up making a loss in the first year as much of his wheat became infected with disease.

But instead of calling it quits and cutting his losses, the sexagenarian had his eyes firmly set on making a comeback. To do so, he sought help from the technical staff of the local government who helped to rectify the problem.

The next year, he capitalized on a new national policy which rewards households that produce large amounts of grain by establishing the Hai’an Zhenyong Family Farm. That same year, he rented another 800 mu of farmland to expand his production capability. He also added rice, corn and soybean to his portfolio.

In 2021, his family farm generated a net annual income of two million yuan.

With the help of his family members, Xu continued to expand his farm and was managing 1,700 mu of farmland by the end of 2021, making him one of the largest grain production households in the area. 

Xu also purchased agricultural machinery to boost farming efficiency. Due to his interest in agricultural machinery, he even designed and patented a new machine that improves seeding efficiency.

Xu later went on to set up another company to sell this machine, which has proved to be highly popular among farmers.