Dingtao, a district of Heze in Shandong province — known as the “Town of Chinese Roses” and the “Home of Chinese Yam” — has in recent years transformed from selling raw agricultural products to developing a value-added and technology-driven farm produce industry.

By adopting advanced technologies such as automated sorting, vacuum freeze-drying and modified atmosphere packaging, the district has established a complete industrial chain that integrates standardized planting, large-scale procurement, intelligent processing and multi-channel marketing.

At present, Dingtao is home to more than 100 large agricultural processing enterprises. The sector generates an annual output worth billions of yuan and has created employment opportunities for tens of thousands of local farmers.

“Our new quick-freezing production line requires a highly stable and high-quality power supply,” said Xie Hua, production manager at Dingtao Jiuyuan Food Co Ltd. “After upgrading our equipment this year, we soon found that our previous electricity capacity was insufficient.”

To better serve the specialized agricultural sector, the local power supplier has designed tailored electricity plans for enterprises, taking into account factors such as peak consumption periods and the voltage sensitivity of processing equipment.

According to State Grid Heze Dingtao Power Supply Co, services such as a “one-click application” system and designated account managers have been introduced to improve responsiveness to business needs.

With stable and sufficient electricity supply, Dingtao has significantly expanded and upgraded its agricultural processing industry. Local produce is now sold in supermarkets nationwide and exported to markets in Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.