In early March when most farmers in Anlan village in East China's Shandong province had just started preparing their farmland for sowing seeds, An Liang, a farmer of the town was ready to harvest his first fortune.

The 36-year-old harvested 400,000 Chinese cabbages from his 100 greenhouses in late March, bringing in a fortune of more than 2 million yuan (about $307,000).

An planted a kind of melon on the land in April. A company based in Hainan has signed a contract with An to buy all of the melons he grows at a favorable price.

"There is still more room to extend my agricultural business at the village," said An, whose 100 greenhouses are surrounded by a large expanse of farmland in Xiaoli town close to the provincial capital Jinan, which seems to be still asleep in the early march.

This year, An plans to add six hectares of farmland by renting land from local farmers at the price of 15,000 yuan per hectare to his current 13.8 hectares.

"An is an innovative farmer who learns fast and has comprehensive knowledge of both farming and marketing," said Wang Guijun, a local official on agricultural work.

An dropped out of school to work as an apprentice at a car repair shop at the age of 16. After years of hard work in the city, An found life in the city not as good as he dreamed of. He returned to his hometown and tried his hand at greenhouses.

"I realized that if I wanted to make a fortune from farming, traditional methods won't work, I have to change the farming model," said An.

With repeating tests, An created a planting model - planting garlic sprouts, Chinese spring cabbage and watermelons in turn in a year.

"The three plants are highly resistant to pests and not easy to succumb to diseases, reducing the need for pesticides," said An.

Pesticide residue is his top concern and regular checks are a must. "I make my fertilizers myself to ensure no harm to land," he said.

An went to markets to do research and found Chinese cabbages weighing between 2 kg and 2.5 kg are most popular among buyers.

An standardized his planting procedures to ensure the quality of his Chinese cabbages.

"The farmland is marked out with lattices and each Chinese cabbage is planted into a specific point to ensure their growing space. And seedlings are strictly sorted," said An, adding all his Chinese cabbages weigh between 2.25 kg and 2.5 kg.

An's desk is packed with books and papers on rural economy, ecological agriculture, laws and rural policies.

He registered his land as a family farm in 2013 and began using a quick response code last year.

"My family farm and the quick response code ensure food safety can be traced back to my family," said An.

Last year, An was certified as a professional farmer by the local government.

Wang said a professional farmer has to have not only planting skills, but also the ability to manage a rural business. Professional farmers take agricultural production, operation and services as their work.

The country needs a new-type of professional farmers who can integrate modern elements such as science and technology and machinery into agricultural development to farm the large expanse of land left by rural laborers who poured into cities, as was cited by Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu on March 5 at a national meeting.

Shandong, a major agricultural province in China, will be able to cultivate 500,000 professional farmers by 2020, according to Shandong agricultural bureau.

An will open a company that provides services such as packaging in the second half of this year.

He believes farming-related work will be a decent profession in the future. "I am farming for my children. One day they might take farming as their job," said An.

zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn

Professional farmer An Liang (right), inspects his cabbages with a local official at his greenhouses near Jinan earlier this year. Zhao Ruixue / China Daily