URUMQI – November 12, 2026 -- Farmer and agricultural technician Zhang Xiying has helped 19 neighboring households in Urumqi county, Xinjiang, take up specialty crops including flowers, figs and strawberries, according to a China Daily report. She charges nothing for technical guidance and arranges buyers for the harvest, which she calls the farmers' main obstacle.
"Selling is the biggest challenge for farmers," Zhang said. The report names no other cost or income barrier.
Zhang links growers to wholesalers and pick-your-own buyers
After households started growing cut flowers, Zhang connected them with wholesalers at a flower market. She says those channels remain in place and that the flowers are distributed among the wholesalers.
For fruit, she combines pick-your-own sales, community group-buying and wholesale orders. She says pick-your-own generally fetches higher prices than wholesale. Nearby ski resorts bring winter visitors, and before Spring Festival, she says, visitors pick almost all the strawberries. Later in the season she mixes pick-your-own with wholesale distribution. The report gives no prices or income figures for the 19 households.
In her greenhouses in Dongwan village, she shows neighbors how to read seedlings. Strawberry plants normally produce a new leaf every seven days, she says, and leaf color and growth help her judge their condition. She also trains technicians, several of whom now teach other growers.
Zhang trials blueberries before recommending them to growers
Her latest trial covers blueberries, in both potted and in-ground cultivation. She says the aim is to cut costs before promoting the crop more widely. The work is still at the trial stage, and she plans to introduce blueberries to local growers once costs come down.
She also tests and adjusts irrigation water, which she says has high pH and electrical conductivity. Earlier trials included lilies introduced from the Netherlands. She invited neighbors to see them before they planted the crop themselves.
Zhang's 30 years in farming include 20 in technical advice
Zhang says she has spent 30 years in farming: about 20 giving technical advice and 10 running her own business. She began with an apprenticeship at a flower company after vocational high school, then took courses on growth cycles, pest management, and soil and water needs.
She was invited to teach farmers in Ili, where she prepared six sets