The model of "linking vegetable fields to workshops, transforming farmers into industrial workers" has driven the full-chain upgrading of Ningxia's cool-season vegetables industry through developing products such as quick-frozen vegetables, dried dehydrated vegetables, ready-to-eat salads, and nutritional soup packets. As of the end of 2024, the total cultivation area of cool-season vegetables in Ningxia reached 3.055 million mu, with a total output of 7.965 million tons and a primary industry output of 21.14 billion yuan. The market share in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has ranked among the highest nationwide for 5 consecutive years and the processing conversion rate of cool-season vegetables has reached 73%.

Recently, celery seedlings have been thriving at the Xiangfeng Agricultural Seedling Center in Malian Township, Xiji County. While distributing the seedlings, the villager Zhang Guilan said, "The large-scale and standardized cooperative planting allows us to work here during the slack farming season and earn additional income," adding that these seedlings will be transplanted to a 10,000-mu base by mid-March, when the first batch of celery will be ready for harvest.

The base Zhang Guilan mentioned is the 10,000-mu cool-season vegetables standardized planting base in Malian Township, which epitomizes Ningxia's efforts to build a "plateau vegetable basket." As a dominant production area for cool-season vegetables in China, Ningxia has built up an integrated whole industrial chain model of "enterprise + base + cooperative + farmer" in recent years: from seed selection to field management, and from picking and packaging to market sales, each link in the chain is closely interconnected. The model promotes the whole chain development of Ningxia's specialty agriculture, retains more value-added benefits within local counties, gives profits back to the farmers, and drives the optimization and upgrading of agricultural structure. 

At the processing end, intensive processing multiplies the value of vegetables. "We have formed a closed-loop system from seedling, planting to intensive processing, and developed 14 products including quick-frozen vegetables and dried dehydrated vegetables, which fetch nearly 6 times the price of fresh field produce," introduced Mu Kun, the director of Ningxia Lirong Biotechnology Co., Ltd. in the Green Food Processing Innovation Park, Huinong District of Shizuishan City. The company has established cooperation with 10 villages through contract farming, providing seasonal employment for over 300 workers annually. In Helan County, broccoli, kale and other cool-season vegetables are transformed through intensive processing into ready-to-eat salad and nutritious soup packets, achieving a nearly sixfold increase in added value.

At the sales end, the direct farm-to-supermarket supply and online-offline integration drive growth. In Pengbao Town, Yuanzhou District, Guyuan City, the direct "farm-to-supermarket" model ensures vegetables like choy sum and Chinese kale reach stores and supermarkets in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other cities within 48 hours. Meanwhile, Guyuan's "Liupan Mountain Delicacies" livestreaming network has introduced dehydrated and quick-frozen vegetables to consumers in dozens of cities through a live streaming room.

"To date, Ningxia has established 1,524 contiguous clustered vegetable base and 1,245 on-farm cold-chain storage facilities, and nurtured 309 vegetable circulation enterprises and cooperatives; 8 e-commerce platforms; 9 external sales hubs; and 20 cold-chain transportation enterprises," said a relevant responsible person from Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Ningxia. "A large number of regional public brands such as 'Ningxia Choy Sum', 'Xiji Celery' and 'Pengyang Chili Pepper' are gaining national prominence, solidifying Ningxia's status as a nationally recognized premium vegetable production region." He added that this industry chain-blending technology, market forces, and local ingenuity-is forging a 'green pathway' to shared prosperity for local communities.