Fatal Strike: Paladins Mercenary Road

Chapter 716 Loss-making business
The greenhouse at the brown bear camp is real high-tech for the native people of Alaska.

The plastic steel frame is topped with a transparent plastic panel and the semicircular top ensures daylighting. There is a ventilation fan every 30 meters, and the 10m*0.6m planting area is neatly arranged inside the greenhouse.

Because of the permafrost in Alaska, it is impossible to plant directly on the ground, so the soil used in the planting area is special planting soil purchased from outside. Later, a large composting area was established in the camp to ensure the supply of planting soil and fertilizer.

The built-in drip irrigation and geothermal systems within the planting area ensure that off-season vegetables can be continuously produced even in extremely cold winters.

The moment he opened the door and entered, a warm air rushed towards him. Two huge mountain lions with suspicious marks on the corners of their mouths rushed to the door quickly, staring at the unfamiliar Razer with greedy eyes and making low growls like snoring.

Mountain Eagle reached out and rubbed the heads of the two huge mountain lions, then opened their big mouths to check and found that these two guys had just stolen tomatoes from the greenhouse, and there was still tomato juice at the corners of their mouths.

He laughed and scolded the two thieves who were stealing and patted their heads, drove them aside, and then said to Razer who was completely stunned, "Go in and take a look..."

Razer was only surprised for a moment when the mountain lion appeared, and then he was completely attracted by the scene before him.

In the greenhouse that is 4 meters wide and 20 meters long, the four rows of planting areas are full of green vegetables, including the common lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, garlic, as well as some vegetables that he doesn't recognize.

There are four greenhouses of the same size in the camp, and judging by the reserved space, this greenhouse area is expected to continue to expand.

The moment Razer received the invitation from Mountain Eagle, he strode into the greenhouse. He let out a comfortable sigh as he breathed in the humid air. Then he reached out, picked a green pepper, put it directly into his mouth and took a bite.

The peppers were not too spicy, but the refreshing taste and slightly spicy stimulation made Razer sigh with satisfaction...

“How on earth was this done?
We tried before, but the grow companies told us it was impossible to grow vegetables in Alaska.”

Razer looked at Shanying with shining eyes and said, "Can you sell me some vegetables...

I heard that you can trade fur for things here, so I asked my granddaughter to bring you all the top-quality bear and fox furs in the house."

When Shanying saw that Razer was serious, he waved his hand and said, "No, if you need, I can ask Ruby to fly over and send some of the vegetables you like."

After listening to this, Razer didn't hesitate. He nodded and said, "Then let little Ruby go there in two days. Every winter we can only rely on the berries and vitamin pills stored in the summer to supplement the necessary vitamins. Many children in our tribe cannot eat enough vegetables and fruits in a year.

If this greenhouse really works, then..."

Shanying saw the expectation in Leishe's eyes. He hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don't know where your tribe is located...

In terms of latitude, the cost of growing vegetables increases by one dollar for every ten kilometers north from Fairbanks.

My goodness, America is a real agricultural power. I believe you if you say that American agricultural companies are not good at greenhouse cultivation, because there is no need for off-season cultivation in America, and the cost is too high.

But I don’t believe you that they can’t solve the problem of greenhouse cultivation. To put it bluntly, it’s a cost issue.

The construction materials for my greenhouse are all imported from the University of the East. Although it is much cheaper than buying from the United States, it still cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I haven't counted the cost of little Ruby and the indigenous helpers.

In addition, there is the installation of geothermal and drip irrigation systems, the fuel consumption of the boiler that needs to run 24 hours a day to maintain the temperature, and the electricity consumption generated by the headlights installed to maintain the daylight hours.

In Alaska, these costs increase by about 20 percent for every degree cooler the further north you go.

It costs more to grow vegetables in Alaska than it does for a drug dealer in California to grow marijuana in his basement!
If you want a greenhouse, you can definitely get it as long as you are willing to spend the money, and I guarantee that you can grow crops normally, but are you sure your people can take care of the greenhouse?
When you spend money like water and end up eating only some vegetables, will your people really be happy to accept it?"

When Razer heard this, he said in confusion: “If that’s the case, why do you have so many greenhouses?

According to you, this is a losing business..."

Shanying spread his hands and said, "I am doing this to meet the needs of the camp itself and the surrounding indigenous people...

To be honest, I never thought about making a profit from Brown Bear Camp, even though I own the land surrounding the camp and a mountain with tens of thousands of acres of gold mines.

I didn’t think about making a lot of money from this either, because that’s impossible!
There are many businessmen in this world who are smarter than me. If such an opportunity really came up, it would never be my turn.

I can seriously say that if the value of the land I own does not increase, the Brown Bear Camp is actually a huge loss investment, and every year with property taxes and maintenance costs, it will actually lose millions of dollars. "

Razer walked in the greenhouse full of greenery, caressing the green vegetables on both sides lovingly, and said with a complicated expression: "This is really good stuff, but why?
If it is really a losing business, then what's the point?
Isn’t there any other way…”

Shanying looked at the depressed expression on Razer's old face, and he smiled and said, "I can get funds from the bank by mortgaging the land, and then make money beyond the cost line through financial markets or other investments.

My wife leads a salmon and fur trade route. Although no profits have been seen yet, Alaska's specialty is still valuable and will always generate some profits in the future.

At the same time, I also plan to develop part of the tourism industry and make up for the losses of the camp by receiving a group of wealthy guests every year.

I don't plan to develop the gold mines and amethyst in the mountains myself... but I have authorized the tribes in the north to mine them through non-industrial methods. I will then be responsible for purchasing their gold and crystals at the market price, and I can barely earn a little toll.

Oh, there are still thousands of cattle and sheep in my valley. Although it is only experimental and is still in the investment stage, even in the worst case scenario in the future, we can achieve free beef and mutton in the camp and subsidize the livelihoods of the northern tribes.

In fact, strictly speaking, the property on the other side of the valley, including tens of thousands of acres of mountain land, is the legacy left to me by that evil laboratory.

I only spent 2000 million to get it, so it was basically a pure win for me.”

After listening to this, Razer took a sip of Erguotou, then sighed and said, "We don't have any of the things you said, and we can't do any of them.

There is no chance then!"

Shanying picked a tomato and handed it to Razer, saying with a smile, “You don’t have to do it yourself. The cost of flying a bush plane is very low. Even if the flying time exceeds 150 hours a year, the cost is only about $5.

Even in winter, it won’t cost you too much to fly here yourself.

There is no storage problem in winter, and one trip can meet a family's needs for a month.

If you have a large demand and a suitable runway, I can even arrange for a freighter to deliver the goods to you as long as you have goods to trade or you are willing to bear the freight.

King salmon, king salmon, Arctic grayling, whitefish, as well as winter beast skins, mammoth fossils, and whale skeletons are all items that can be traded.

In the past you simply couldn’t sell these things, but now I can help you maximize their value.

Your means of fishing and hunting are limited by weather and environment and cannot be industrialized, so there is no problem of overfishing and hunting.

You only need to take out the extra food or take out part of the original food to exchange for "luxury goods" such as vegetables, rice and flour as substitutes, so that you will not starve and the variety of food will increase. "

Shanying's words made Lei Ze fall into silence, because he felt Shanying's sincerity...

In Alaska, apart from fish and venison, the remaining daily necessities such as rice and flour can really be called "luxury goods".

In slightly more remote places in Alaska, it is not uncommon to see a piece of OSB board or 5 gallons of gasoline sold for $200 in winter...

These things themselves are not valuable, but the warmth brought by the OSB boards for repairing the house and the gasoline helps the indigenous people drive snowmobiles to hunt farther away, which is directly related to their survival!
Survival is the most valuable product!

But Shanying didn't want to interfere with 'survival', he wanted to provide them with something different and of quality on this basis.

Among traditional Inuit people, it is not uncommon to not have any green vegetables to eat during the 6 to 7 months of winter every year.

The Inuit eat rice, but rice is really a luxury for them!

Many people don’t know that the states with the highest grocery spending in the United States are not large cities like New York or Los Angeles, but Hawaii and Alaska.

Due to geographical and transportation factors, the prices of any daily necessities in these two places will increase significantly.

In Alaska, even if you go to Anchorage, the most developed logistics area...

The cheapest rice there costs $5 per kilogram, and the cheapest flour is around $4.

If you want to transport rice and flour from Anchorage to northwestern Alaska, even if you transport 5 to 8 tons at a time, the average price of rice and flour will increase by about 70%.

Of course, this kind of business has long been done in interior Alaska. Grocery store owners in those inland towns would take advantage of the summer when the cost is the lowest by water to stock up on enough supplies for the indigenous people in and around the town to purchase and consume.

At this stage, Shanying’s cost is actually higher than theirs, but you can’t resist the fact that it has vegetables as its killer weapon, and it has included some things that the indigenous people could not exchange for money in the past into its trading sequence.

If you look at the Brown Bear Camp alone, you will definitely lose a lot...

Whether or not it can make money in the end actually depends on Xiaowan’s operations in China. Currently, Shanying sees no hope of making a profit.

But Shanying doesn't mind this. What he wants is a comfort zone that can accommodate him and his family.

Make friends with the natives through appropriate efforts, and then let them build a certain degree of dependence...

If it lasts for one to two years, the Brown Bear Camp will have a certain status in Alaska politics because it is related to the living conditions of some indigenous people and can influence their votes.

If you simply look at product transactions, even if there is a small loss every year in the later period, it is still a big profit for Shanying, because he has won the "harmony among people" that cannot be bought with money!
What's more, he could earn more income through investment with the money he got from the land mortgage...

(End of this chapter)