From researcher to budding entrepreneur

If Bai Wen hadn't returned to his home village four years ago, he might have been an outstanding researcher at an institute in Lishui, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, studying the cultivation of wild mushrooms. However, he has never regretted his decision.

The 30-year-old grew up in Lujia village in Huzhou, Zhejiang. After studying at a technical secondary school for three years, he entered Nanjing Forestry University in Jiangsu province in 2011, majoring in landscape architecture.

After graduation, he complied with his parents' wish that he would live in a city, and became a researcher at a microbiology institute in Lishui, cultivating wild fungi.

However, in 2014, he decided to quit his job and return to his home village.
"I noticed that it had developed a lot, and I wanted to apply what I had learned at university to its further evolution," he said.

His parents could not understand why he had resigned and returned to the village. They told him that university graduates should work in offices, rather than villages, and if he insisted on working in a rural area, it hadn't been worth spending several years at university.

Bai became an official in Lujia. "Working as a grassroots official, I knew there were preferential policies to encourage university graduates to establish startups, which inspired me," he said. "I was young, so I decided to start out on my own."

In 2015, he rented 1.33 hectares of land to establish a farm, which he called Lingzhi. He used the skills he had gained at university to plant edible mushrooms, strawberries and other cash crops."

Lack of funds and experience are an inevitable problem for most startups, and Bai's was no exception. However, he benefited from preferential policies put forward by the provincial government that provided graduate entrepreneurs with 300,000 yuan ($43,516) in interest-free loans from local banks.

In addition, the local agriculture department provided classes in startup management and agricultural techniques, which showed Bai how to run his business.

"It was very helpful, and I was also introduced to many business partners," he said.

Lingzhi farm began with a soft opening in October last year, selling its produce to local restaurants, government canteens, and individuals who provided agritainment－activities designed to attract visitors to farms. Bai also set up an online store.

"The farm has already made a profit, we plan to open officially next year," he said. "I think annual revenue could hit 300,000 yuan then, so we could recover our setup costs in about five years."