Cixi has yielded great results in facilitating agricultural transformation, enhancing the regional advantages of specialty industries and the competitiveness of agricultural brands, and vigorously cultivating a "wild goose" echelon of processing enterprises to create influential agro-processing industry clusters in China.

Recently, the Cixi-based Xulong Food Group appeared on the program of "The Right Finance" (Zhengdian Caijing) of CCTV-2 to share the story of the success of selling the originally export-oriented roasted eel in domestic markets and utilizing e-commerce to develop its business. During the outbreak of the COVID-19, Xulong successfully explored such emerging markets as Southeast Asia and Russia, and turned from export to domestic sales and made best use of e-commerce market. As a modern enterprise group, Xulong has taken a new path by integrating breeding, processing and marketing, and has been awarded the title of National Key Agricultural Leading Enterprise, a Top 500 National Private Enterprise and a Famous Trademark of China, and has built an efficient eel industry chain spanning more than 2,000 kilometers in Jiangsu, Guangdong and Fujian provinces, with export volume ranking the first place in China for 28 consecutive years.

Not long ago, a soybean harvester from the Haitong Times Farm of Cixi worked at the Shanghai Chuandong Farm of Yancheng City, Jiangsu, which is adjacent to the National Elk Nature Reserve. It has a land area of 3933 hectares, with arable land of 2433 hectares. This is the first time Cixi's soybean harvesting machine has been sent to work in a farm outside Zhejiang Province. This demonstrates the strength of Cixi-based enterprises. It also signifies that the city's soybean processing enterprises are seeking more quality resources for the soybean primary and secondary processing.

It is reported that Haitong Food Group has opened a "central kitchen" mode, speeding up the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Currently, it operates a total planting area of 6666 hectares and six farms in Cixi, Yuyao and Ninghai, with annual production capacity totaling 100,000 tons.

The agricultural whole industry chain is an advanced form of agricultural industrialization, which connects the links of production, processing, circulation, storage and logistics and distribution, and is an important step towards the transformation and upgrading of agricultural development. At present, Cixi has got 1 demo agricultural whole industrial chain, 1 one- billion-yuan chain and 2 500-million-yuan chains in Zhejiang Province. Among them, the vegetable industry is in the fast lane of development, with the production scale, standardization, intensification and marketization and quality and safety level leading in the province, forming a provincial model agricultural whole industrial chain. In addition, Cixi has got 12 regionalized management bases and 36 registered bases for export of vegetable raw materials, the annual output value of over 70 million U.S. dollars. The poultry whole industrial chain was ranked the model one of Ningbo City, with such leading enterprises as Cixi CP Egg Industry Co.Ltd. Xinpu Yida Chicken Farm, Weidalong Poultry Co., Ltd. and others, with an annual output of 15,000 tons of eggs. The output value of the whole industry chain exceeded 510 million yuan.

In recent years, the city has optimized the layout, innovated on models, strengthened the quality, forged brands and effectively enhanced the regional advantages and competitiveness of specialty agricultural products, with focus on developing a "wild goose" echelon of processing enterprises, cultivating leading agricultural enterprises, supporting enterprises to increase investment in technical innovation, and promote the "central kitchen" model. At the same time, the government encourages export-oriented enterprises to turn to domestic markets and create influential processing industry clusters in the country.

So far, Cixi has had 1 national modern agricultural industrial park, 1 provincial modern park integrating development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries and 3 provincial agricultural characteristic towns, and has developed 5 agro-clusters (such as vegetable and bayberry) with export volume of 200 million yuan. To date, Cixi is home to 3 national agricultural leading enterprises, 2 national staple agricultural products processing demonstration enterprises, 120 Ningbo municipal-level famous brand agricultural products (trademark). The brands of Xulong Roasted Eel, Haitong Fruits and Vegetables, Hengkang Roasted Seeds and Nuts are taking the lead in the industry. In addition, Cixi boasts 12 characteristic farm products such as vegetables (pickles, cauliflower), fresh soybeans, melons, bayberries, strawberries, grapes, which are listed as special advantageous produce of Zhejiang, ranking the first place in the province.