Agriculture Maniac

Chapter 550 The Food War and the Financialization of Food Prices

Old Bu drove his electric wheelchair around the town's main streets.

What I saw and heard along the way was terrifying.

Grain prices have fallen, and incomes have fallen, but that's secondary.

Most importantly, where did all the food go after the price drop?!
Although Old Bu already had the answer "Yu Sanyuan" in his mind and knew that North America had become dependent on Agriculture 3.0, deep down he didn't want to admit it.

Because Old Bu was very clear about the importance of food.

Just like a Russian bear.

Everyone knows that this industrial behemoth is also a major agricultural country.

Few people know that during the Cold War, Russia relied on imports from Europe and the United States for more than 70% of its food, accounting for 15% of global food imports.

The main reason for this is the four food wars between North America and the Russian bear.

The first instance occurred in 1921.

During the Great Famine in Russia, the North American Relief Administration (ARA) provided Russia with 100 million tons of food aid under the guise of humanitarian assistance. However, Russia later discovered that the staff of the ARA were mostly spies who had bribed a large number of intellectuals and were smuggling supplies. Ultimately, the two sides terminated their cooperation in 1923.

The second occurred in 1960.

In the context of the Cold War, in order to achieve food self-sufficiency, Russia promoted the farm system and reclaimed land everywhere. However, due to environmental problems, such as desertification and depletion of regional water resources, the agricultural system collapsed and the overall food production was poor. As a result, North America took the opportunity to demand that Russia export crude oil at low prices in exchange for food.

With this, North America and the Soviet Union signed the 'US-Soviet Food Trade Agreement,' creating an economic cycle of 'food-oil' between the two sides.

The Russian bear exports 20 barrels of crude oil per day, and North America exports the equivalent amount of grain annually.

The third occurred in 1970.

At that time, Russia's grain production was poor again, but Russia pretended to have a bumper harvest and secretly used foreign exchange and gold to purchase 30 million tons of grain from North America. North America took advantage of the situation and raised grain prices, even at a loss of 3000 billion US dollars, in order to increase Russia's debt.

The fourth occurred in 1980.

At that time, Russia was already heavily indebted. Taking advantage of the war in Afghanistan, North America, along with its allies, imposed a global embargo on Russia and canceled Russia's food import and crude oil export orders, thus triggering Russia's debt crisis.

The fourth food war also became one of the main causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It can be said that the Cold War between North America and Russia, including things like digging into their home planet, the space race, the nuclear arms race, and NATO vs. Warsaw, was all about attrition.

The real conflict is actually a war for food.

If I can make you dependent on my food, I can make your voters go hungry, starve, or even die. Then, while your voters are restless, I can secretly infiltrate and manipulate them, making them start to question the system, their faith, and everything else.

Although public opinion may not be able to shake the regime, it will definitely undergo a qualitative change over time.

For example, when the older generation dies, dissenters take the stage.

Ultimately, the Russian bear disintegrated.

Therefore, food is the cornerstone of a country.

Therefore, for the sake of the 'foundation', Old Brooks has been trying every means to transfer important family businesses to Austin since three years ago.

Then, they firmly grasped Texas and the surrounding major grain-producing areas of North America, such as New Mexico, Louisiana, Florida, and the Gulf Coast, with the intention of making the Brooks family invincible.

This was a strategic shift that neither J.P. Morgan, the oil tycoon, nor J.P. Smith had noticed.

During this time.

Old Bush certainly knew that international grain prices had declined for three consecutive years, but he only thought that the price drop was an inevitable trend brought about by increased grain production.

The federal government's push to raise food prices is also aimed at taking advantage of the increasing amount of food it holds to sell at a better price.

Besides, the food supplies in Texas and other regions are all in our hands. Do you think Yu Sanyuan could steal them?
Unexpectedly, Yu Sanyuan used a feint attack.

On one hand, it stirs up trouble in international finance like a turd.
On one hand, it acted like a troublemaker, pushing for oil-producing countries and the U.S. to join the WTO.

On one hand, it's like a troublemaker, igniting tensions in Southeast Asia.
While quietly and secretly carrying out a counter-offensive, they launched an unprecedented food war against North America using Agriculture 3.0.

Today's Agriculture 3.0 is no longer the "remote planting" of the past.

It is now an industry service chain connecting countless farms across North America, based on the North American California Trade Hall and the secondary root server of the Tri-Network.

Just like the old Burke who had known him for over fifty years.

Initially, Burke considered that his young children were unwilling to stay in the countryside and had all gone to the big cities. In addition, the cost of hiring labor was extremely high, and he was reluctant to sell the farm. So, he decided to give it a try and joined Agriculture 3.0.
Then, depending on the size of the farm, a payment of $250 million will be made to automate and digitize the farm, allowing farmers to manage planting, fertilizing, irrigating, harvesting, and selling from their computers.

The following year, Agriculture 3.0 launched a VIP service, which means that you don't need to sit in front of a computer. The back-end system can help you with sowing, fertilizing, irrigating, harvesting, and selling based on the farm information management system.

Old Burke considered that he had recently become fond of activities organized by the Agriculture 3.0 Farm Activity Center, such as square dancing, playing chess, mahjong, playing Gouji (a card game), outdoor shooting, and online chatting. Since he didn't have much time, he decided to give it a try and signed up for the VIP service at a price of $20 per year.

In the third year, the North American Trade Hall opened, and Agriculture 3.0 launched a full-service farm management program. The gist of it is: Are the costs of setting up automation too high? Are the annual maintenance costs too expensive? Is the VIP service not cost-effective? No problem, we don't need any of that. Just register your farm information and apply for farm management services, and you can earn money passively without spending a single penny.

According to Burke's idea, the farm used to earn 200 million a year after deducting various taxes and fees, and now that he doesn't need to manage it himself, he can still get at least 100 million.

Unexpectedly, in the first year of full-time boarding, global food prices plummeted. He was supposed to earn 200 million, but he only earned 120 million, and he received 60.

In the second year of full-time boarding, global food prices plummeted again. Originally, he could have earned 120 million, but in the end, he only earned 80, and he received 40.

In the third year of full-time boarding, global food prices continued to plummet. Originally, he could have earned 80, but in the end, he only earned 50, and he received 25.

If Burke were just a lonely old man, $25 would be enough to cover his expenses.

But for the children who move to the city, there are expenses for housing, cars, and schooling…

Old Burke is having a really tough time.

No wonder your eyes are red.

However, North American officials could not find any fault with this.

The root of the problem is the four consecutive years of sharp decline in global food prices.

Agriculture 3.0, strictly speaking, is just an 'e-commerce platform'.

Furthermore, it is not only legal and compliant, but has also introduced a series of pro-farmer policies that benefit North America.

For example, arranging low-interest agricultural loans for the elderly Burke.

For example, arranging low-interest installment payments for the children of the elderly Burke.

In other words, Burke not only cannot resent Agriculture 3.0, but should also be grateful to Yu Sanyuan.

What are the most evil capitalists?!

Faced with such a move, Old Bu felt that he didn't even have any real capital.

Austin.

Crawford Farm.

Old Bu spent the morning wandering around outside before driving his electric wheelchair back to the villa.

After a quick lunch, I summoned the advisors of the Carlisle Group. Then I recounted everything I had seen and heard that morning, as well as my speculations.

After the consultants analyzed the situation for a long time, the person in charge spoke up:

“Mr. Bu, the grain strategy that Sanyuan Agriculture is implementing for us should be the financialization of grain.”

"They take advantage of people's laziness and various needs to promote Agriculture 3.0, and then take advantage of people's curiosity and dependence on new things - various entertainment activities, and their desire for family affection - online chat, to launch VIP services. Based on the above, they take advantage of people's dissatisfaction with time to launch full-time care services."

"It's like playing the stock market. When you buy stocks yourself, you sometimes lose money and sometimes make money, almost breaking even. At this time, 'stock market gurus' appear in newspapers and magazines, saying that they can guide you in stock trading and help you make more money, but you need to pay to become a VIP."

"You signed up and did make money following the stock market guru. Then the guru suggested 'full trust,' which means you provide the funds and he manages the stocks for you, with the profits split 50/50. You thought it sounded good, so you signed up for full trust."

"However, the stock market guru and Old Smith are in cahoots. After you put your money in a full-trust fund, a global stock market crash occurred, and major stock markets continued to collapse. The funds you entrusted to the stock market guru were trapped one after another and halved repeatedly."

"At this point, you are unwilling to quit, but you have no money to live on, so you can only hope that the stock market guru can turn things around."

"The problem is, the stock market guru is a market manipulator, how could he possibly turn the tables?"

"However, the stock market guru didn't tell you the truth; instead, he 'kindly' offered you a living loan..."

"Look how similar Agriculture 3.0 is to the stock market guru?"

"In short, this isn't a pig butchering scam, it's like uprooting the entire leek field."

After hearing the analysis, Old Bu's suspicions were confirmed, and he was so angry that he overturned the table. "What should we do now?"

"The best approach is to freeze Agriculture 3.0, waive the three-tier loans, and return everything to its original state."

Old Bu shook his head and denied it: "Impossible. Farms that have joined Agriculture 3.0 all use three-line seeds, which now yield three times more than traditional seeds. This just makes up for the losses caused by the continuous decline in world food prices. If all these farms withdraw from Agriculture 3.0, their harvest will be reduced by two-thirds, while world food prices continue to fall. This means that these farms will be unable to make a profit at all."

"Moreover, if the farmers' three-line loans are waived, Yu Sanyuan will definitely get angry, which may lead to a more serious conflict. You know, our investment in the East is much larger than Yu Sanyuan's investment in North America. If he reneges on his promise and forcibly takes over our investment to Shiliying State, we will probably suffer a great loss."

The consultant nodded.

Or rather, the suggestion just now was a prelude to what was to be said next, so as not to fail to demonstrate one's abilities.

"So, Mr. Brooks, we are at a loss now."

"... "

"However, our secret cooperation with old Morgan and the oil tycoon, which was to divide up the Smith family, has now gone bankrupt with the death of the oil tycoon. Now our biggest threat in North America has become old Morgan. After all, we and old Smith belong to the new class, while old Morgan belongs to the old class."

Old Bu nodded, agreeing with the statement.

The consultant continued, "Some time ago, Old Smith went to Shiliying to save his life. I heard that he got hundreds of billions of US dollars and hundreds of billions of euros from Yu Sanyuan. Perhaps we can reach a settlement with Old Smith and have him buy out North American Agriculture 3.0."

“Yu Sanyuan has spent five years completing the current layout, which has almost completely sidelined 60% of North American farms, equivalent to taking away half of North America’s food production capacity. How could he possibly be willing to sell off North American Agriculture 3.0?”

"The reason he's reluctant to part with it is definitely because our threats weren't strong enough and what we offered wasn't sincere enough."

"Ok?"

“There is an Eastern proverb that says ‘carrot and stick.’ Perhaps we can make a move by giving up the grain market and even flipping the table, forcing Yu Sanyuan to hesitate. Then we can give up some of our interests to persuade Yu Sanyuan to agree to sell North American Agriculture 3.0.”

Old Bu nodded. "This is a very good plan. Explain it in detail."

"Sorry, I haven't figured it out yet."

"."

Seeing that Old Bu's face was gradually darkening, the consultant quickly tried to salvage the situation, saying, "Little Bu is about to visit the East. We can talk to the East and have them persuade Yu Sanyuan."

"Or rather, just because Yu Sanyuan doesn't want our things doesn't mean Dongfang doesn't want them."

If Dongfang wants it, we can make Dongfang give us what Yu Sanyuan wants in exchange.

Then we'll take what Dongfang gave Yu Sanyuan that he wanted and exchange it with him.

Old Bu listened to the somewhat convoluted words and pondered for a moment, "What does Yu Sanyuan want?"

"do not know."

"."

"However, Sanyuan Agriculture is accelerating the development of the private economy. The three industries have no shortage of resources, manpower, or capital, but they lack land. Perhaps we can talk to Dongfang about this."

"Real estate?"

"It should be, especially this year, Yu Sanyuan spent the Spring Festival on the construction site and has been there for almost a month."

Old Bush pondered for a moment, "Young Bush's visit to the East is at the official level. As a friend, I'd better go there too, and bring Old Smith back with me."

The consultant thought for a moment and nodded.

Given the current situation, with the oil tycoon dead, Morgan should try to win over the Brooks family and reconcile with Smith, so that the three parties can unite against external threats and prevent Yu Sanyuan from taking advantage of the situation.

But Morgan Sr. has never made his stance clear...

For the sake of their own interests, the safest course of action for the Brooks family is to form an alliance with Old Smith, making Old Morgan wary of the Brooks family and deterring him from taking any action against them.

...

Construction site on Jing Shi West Road.

Yu Yang sat in his office, flipping through the construction drawings for the steel pipe project he had obtained through a bidding process before the Lunar New Year, while listening to the remote report from the factory secretary through his earphones.

This year, our most important project is "Reshaping the Straits of Malacca", which involves transforming the ruins of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur into a three-line maritime toll station and a three-line maritime pass.

And to defend Christmas Island, to prevent Western ships from bypassing Malacca and entering Southeast Asia via the Sunda Strait south of Indonesia.

Once all this is done, Western ships that don't use the Mali-6 route will have to either go around Singapore or take the Arctic route.

After the report is finished.

Yu Yang suddenly realized something, "Old Smith has been in Shili Camp for several days now, what is he doing?"

"Visiting Sanyuan Chemical to remember Madam's belongings."

"."

"Chairman Yu, just now, Lao Bu applied for a business jet route at Han Gaixi International Airport and is expected to arrive the day after tomorrow night."

“If the other party requests a meeting, then we’ll hold the meeting at Dongshan Prefecture… I didn’t feel comfortable sitting at the bottom during the previous bidding meetings, so this time I want to sit at the top.”

"Ok."

"Also, Old Smith has been wandering around for so long, it's time for him to show his face. Let him go to Dongshan Prefecture as well."

"Was this notification issued in your personal capacity or in the name of Sanyuan Agriculture?"

"Never mind, I'll contact him myself."

(End of this chapter)