Record of Dangshan Crispy Pear Going to Sea

In spring, the old course of the Yellow River is dyed, and the 400000 mu pear orchard in Dangshan County is full of flowers and branches, with pear blossoms fluttering gently in the wind like snow. Thousands of miles away in Melbourne, Australia, the first batch of 7 tons of "Anhui Reclamation Jade" Dangshan Crispy Pear has drifted across the sea and is about to be put on the shelves of local supermarkets. From exporting to Thailand and entering Central Asia in 2025, to tapping into the high-end Australian market in 2026, the export territory of Dangshan crispy pears continues to expand.

Dangshan County, through quality reshaping, chain improvement, and mechanism innovation, has steadily propelled this local fruit into the ranks of international high-quality products, and has embarked on a modern agricultural development path that promotes upgrading through reform and expands the market through openness. On March 26th, Yang Zhimeng, Secretary of the Party Committee of Dangshan Orchard Farm Co., Ltd. of Anhui Agricultural Reclamation Group, couldn't hide his joy as the quality revolution shifted from "traditional planting" to "international standards". "Our Dangshan crispy pears will soon be served on the dining table in Melbourne. The "Wan Ken Jade" Dangshan Crispy Pear exported this time consists of 560 pieces, with a net weight of 7 tons. They will be transported by cold chain special vehicles by land to coastal ports, and then transferred by sea directly to Melbourne. This is not only the first time Dangshan pear has entered Oceania, but also marks the official opening of a new channel for the international high-end market in Dangshan, known as the "Pear Capital of the World". The key to the smooth export of Dangshan crispy pears lies in their excellent quality.

Walking along the old course of the Yellow River, the Dangshan Orchard is surrounded by pear orchards blooming with flowers, and the old trees have strong branches and full tree shapes, showing the confidence of time sedimentation. This pear tree was planted in 1955 when the farm was established, and it is a treasure in the farm. The tree shape and vigor that have been cultivated for decades are difficult to replicate, "said Lv Qingqiang, General Manager of Dangshan Orchard Farm Co., Ltd. of Anhui Agricultural Reclamation Group, gently stroking the rough trunk with a tone full of appreciation. However, innate resource advantages do not necessarily equate to market competitiveness. In the past, some fruit farmers blindly pursued yield, applied non-standard fertilizers and pesticides, and the quality of crispy pears varied greatly. In recent years, quality improvement has become a core issue in the Dangshan pear industry. As a state-owned enterprise, we must take the lead in demonstrating and leading the way in improving quality and upgrading, "said Lv Qingqiang. The orchard farm focuses on" variety improvement, quality enhancement, brand building, and standardized management ", and plays a combination of quality improvement punches. Standardized planting rules. The orchard has formulated the "Dangshan Crispy Pear Planting Technical Standards", which provides a systematic process for pruning, fertilization, plant protection, and harvesting, bidding farewell to the extensive mode of "relying on experience and feeling", and stabilizing the quality bottom line from the source. Green planting adheres to the bottom line. The orchard strictly implements the "double reduction" of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, increases the application of organic fertilizers, promotes biological and physical control, plants green manure such as hairy leaves and sweet potatoes, and returns them to the field to improve soil fertility. A set of green measures has been implemented, and the pesticide residue testing indicators for exported pears are far below international standards, successfully passing multiple rounds of third-party testing in developed countries. Digital empowerment enhances accuracy. Among the nearly 10000 acres of standardized orchards in Dangshan Orchard Farm, 1000 acres have been built into smart pear orchards. Scanning the QR code, the entire process of pear flowering, pollination, fertilization, and picking is clear at a glance. This is not only a quality control tool, but also a trust mechanism for connecting with the international market, allowing overseas buyers to see and trust it, "Yang Zhimeng said frankly. With this as the core, the entire county has built over 10000 acres of digital orchards and established 56 digital agriculture demonstration bases, covering over 300000 acres of pear orchards. Technological empowerment has made planting management more refined and efficient. The quality upgrade has finally gained international recognition, and the exported pears to Australia have all met the standards for sugar content, crispness, storage resistance, and other indicators. Quality improvement is endless. In response to the problems of insufficient mechanization and uneven distribution of fruits, the deepening reform of orchards has broken through. Lv Qingqiang introduced that the pilot project of unified management has been implemented in the field, and the contracted orchards of individual households have been reclaimed to achieve the five unifications of "production, fertilization, pesticide application, technology, and sales", solving the pain points of inconsistent standards and loose management in the past. This year, a pilot project of 100 acres will be launched, with the simultaneous promotion of refined management and integrated water and fertilizer management. Next year, the plan is to expand the pilot project. At the same time, we will explore the implementation of flight prevention technology to solve the problem that ordinary farmers have no large machinery and low efficiency of manual pesticide application. "Once the flight prevention is successful, it will not only reduce the planting cost by 30% to 40%, but also drive the pear planting of more than 400000 mu in the whole county to a new level." The upgrading of storage and transportation from soil cellar pear storage to the national cold chain hub last November, 50 tons of Dangshan crisp pears arrived at the Khorgos port in Xinjiang, and were sold along the ancient Silk Road to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other five Central Asian countries.

Li Deqiu, the chairman of Li's Fruit and Vegetable Professional Cooperative in Chengzhuang Town, Dangshan County, smiled and said, "The purchase price of exported pears is two or three cents higher per kilogram, which has really increased the income of fruit farmers." "We have explored the Central Asian market through our Xinjiang partners, and the first batch of 50 tons of pears has received excellent market feedback. The long-term cooperation is also steadily advancing," said Cheng Zhuzhu, the person in charge of the sorting center of Anhui Aize Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Dangshan pear, with thin skin, cannot be found on the ground. "This folk song expresses the crispness and juiciness of crispy pears, but also exposes their shortcomings of being easy to consume and difficult to store. Fruit farmers use soil cellars to store pears, with a shelf life of only over a month. The cold chain weakness was once the biggest obstacle for Su Li to go abroad. Now, this dilemma has been completely rewritten. Aize Supply Chain Company has built a 100000 cubic meter intelligent cold storage, where all exported pears are pre cooled and finely sorted. The intelligent cold storage has precise temperature control throughout the entire process, and the mobile app can view temperature and humidity in real time. ”Cheng Zhuzhu introduced that Dangshan crispy pears, which will be launched in September, can be stored in cold storage until March to April of the following year, and the taste is still crispy and tender without any bran; During cross-border long-distance transportation, the cold chain vehicle maintains temperature control throughout the entire process to minimize losses. The enterprise is also equipped with advanced grading equipment, and laser scanning can accurately screen out spoiled fruits that are difficult to distinguish in appearance. After layer by layer screening, the exported pears are uniformly sized, with a standard sweetness and outstanding appearance. The breakthrough in cold chain is not the result of a single enterprise fighting alone, but the result of the systematic layout of Dangshan County. In 2023, relying on the advantages of Dangshan fruit and vegetable industry, Suzhou City successfully applied for the national level backbone cold chain logistics base. The total planning area of the base is 2316 acres, with a storage capacity of 1.18 million cubic meters, gathering 13 cold chain enterprises, and building a full chain industrial cluster including post harvest pre cooling, graded sorting, refrigerated storage, cold chain transportation, and initial precision processing. The base is based on the fruit and vegetable production areas at the border of the four provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, and Anhui, and aims to create an important cold chain logistics hub that connects domestic and international dual circulation. "The person in charge of the Development and Reform Commission of Dangshan County introduced that this layout has upgraded Dangshan from an ordinary fruit production area to a regional fruit and vegetable circulation core. Relying on the hub advantage, Dangshan County and Xinjiang Tianshan Flower Sea Group have achieved two-way linkage: Xinjiang fruits are sold nationwide through Dangshan, while Dangshan pears are exported to Central Asia through port channels. This supply chain transformation has enabled Dangshan Su pear to break free from the limitations of being a "seasonal local specialty" and transform into an international commodity that is supplied year-round. Off peak exports and cross season sales have become the norm, greatly enhancing its bargaining power in the international market. From "going it alone" to "going global together" in the workshop of Dangshan Xingda Can Industry Food Company, cans of pear and mixed canned goods are neatly arranged and ready to be shipped to the European and American markets. The person in charge of the enterprise, Shang Shuai, picked up a bowl of roasted pears and introduced, "This is our new product launched in 2024, which has been widely favored by overseas consumers after export." It is understood that the company has built more than 10000 acres of pollution-free planting base, signed orders with farmers, and purchased high-quality crispy pears at a guaranteed price, firmly controlling the quality from the source. The annual comprehensive production capacity of the enterprise reaches 60000 tons, and products such as canned pear and pear ding are exported to more than 80 countries and regions around the world. The foreign trade practice of Xingda Can Industry is a vivid epitome of Dangshan County's agricultural products going global in the whole chain. In Dangshan, there are more and more business entities like Xingda Canye actively going global.

Suzhou Customs and Dangshan County Commerce Bureau actively provide front-line services, offer one-on-one assistance to enterprises, simplify customs clearance processes, and establish a normalized green channel for agricultural products to go abroad. "The government's support is very awesome, and the export tax rebate, exhibition subsidies and other policies are solid, which help us to effectively connect with overseas buyers and develop the market with more confidence." Shang Shuai sighed. In order to expand the market and expand the international "circle of friends", the Dangshan County Bureau of Commerce actively organized enterprises to participate in international exhibition platforms such as the Canton Fair and the Cologne Food Exhibition, and focused on promoting the Dangshan Crispy Pear geographical indication brand. At the 2025 Canton Fair, four Dangshan enterprises secured intention orders worth 2.5162 million US dollars; In June of the same year, Dangshan Crispy Pear made a heavyweight appearance at the RCEP Local Government and Friendship City Cooperation Forum, reaching procurement cooperation with multiple countries and continuously expanding its international market territory. At the same time, Dangshan County vigorously cultivates new forms of cross-border e-commerce, supports enterprises to settle in international platforms such as Alibaba and Amazon, layout overseas warehouses, and achieve online and offline linkage to go global. A deeper level of openness is the comprehensive integration of standards with the international community. Benchmarking against market inspection standards such as Australia, Dangshan continues to optimize the quality indicators of crispy pears, forming a virtuous cycle of "promoting reform through opening up and improving quality through standards". In 2021, Dangshan County was awarded the National Fruit Foreign Trade Transformation and Upgrading Base; In 2024, the self operated import and export volume of fruit products in the county will be nearly 100 million US dollars; In 2025, the total import and export volume of foreign trade reached 174.99 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 3.67%, with an export value of 167.05 million US dollars. From the ancient course of the Yellow River to the dining tables of the world, the journey of Dangshan crispy pear to the sea is not only a transformation of a pear, but also a vivid epitome of China's traditional agriculture breaking through reform and achieving long-term success through openness. Lv Qingqiang revealed that Dangshan peaches are also expected to be exported to Australia in May and June this year, continuing a new chapter of characteristic agricultural products going global. (Zhang Yufang)