Era: I was a farmer at the foot of Yaoling Mountain

The meeting that Fang Wei attended in the provincial capital was hosted by the Provincial Department of Agriculture. It was both an awards ceremony and a breeding experience exchange meeting.

He was surprised to find that two units in the province had successfully developed hybrid rice.

Although its output and quality cannot yet compare with "Nanguang No. 2", it is indeed a significant improvement.

This indicates that someone has mastered the key technology of breeding through the three-line screening method, and with the advancement of technology in the future, it may be possible to develop good hybrid rice.

Of course, the research results of these two institutions are currently only in the experimental stage, and there is still a long way to go before they can be widely promoted and applied.

Fang Wei was given a report at the meeting. Fang Wei always speaks his mind and never holds back.

But to his surprise, his report caused a strong reaction, and it took more than an hour just to answer various questions.

However, he only touched on some very profound things, such as the successful breeding experience of Xiatang Brigade, which he spoke vaguely about because such experience is actually impossible to replicate.

Fang Wei's report inadvertently incorporated some advanced agricultural development concepts from later generations, as well as descriptions of some new technologies.

It's not hard to understand why it received such a warm welcome.

After the meeting, Fang Wei went straight back to the team.

"Secretary, as you instructed, the team has sold a total of 3300 high-quality pigs, and there are currently 4591 pigs left in the pig farm."

Fang Wei rested at home for two days before going to the brigade headquarters.

Zhao Jinsheng immediately reported to him about the sale of the high-quality pigs; all 3300 high-quality pigs were sold out in just a few days.

At the end of the year, the sows at the pig farm gave birth to piglets. After New Year's Day, Zhao Jinsheng and others started contacting customers and cleared out all the adult pigs that could be sold in just a few days, earning 330 million yuan in cash.

The remaining pigs at the farm include 3468 piglets, 300 pregnant sows, and 823 adult pigs.

Currently, the improved breed of pigs produced by the team has become a pillar of the team's secondary business, bringing in more than 600 million yuan in income for the team every year.

However, this scale is about the ceiling; once large quantities are supplied to the market, prices will drop rapidly.

"Old Zhao, get things ready over here, prepare to slaughter the pigs for the New Year. We'll slaughter 160 pigs again this year, so everyone can have a good New Year. As for the chickens, ducks, and eggs, you can decide what to do with them, it's fine to give out more."

With the Lunar New Year approaching, Fang Wei reminded Zhao Jinsheng to prepare to distribute gifts to everyone.

In the past two years, the supply of goods on the market has become more abundant, thanks in large part to the large-scale fertilizer plants introduced in previous years. Increased grain production has spurred the vigorous development of the livestock industry, and the supply of meat is not as tight as it was in previous years.

However, the prices of goods outside the rationed supply were much higher. It didn't matter if they ate less normally, but during the Spring Festival, the commune members still hoped that the team could slaughter a pig.

"Okay, I'll handle it."

Zhao Jinsheng had been thinking about this too, and now that Fang Wei had spoken, he would do as he was told.

Next, the brigade got busy, distributing chickens and ducks, grinding tofu, slaughtering pigs for the New Year, and every household cleaned their houses to prepare for the New Year.

This year, the Fang family was the most lively. The day before New Year's Eve, Fang Tao returned to the team with his wife and children. The whole family gathered together, which was like sending Fang Tingting off.

Before the Lantern Festival, Fang Tingting boarded a train heading north to the capital to report for duty.

Fang Ping was worried and personally took his daughter to school. Tian Guihua didn't go because she had to take care of her grandson, but she had been noticeably downcast lately.

If her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson hadn't been there, she probably would have burst into tears.

Sometimes she feels helpless. People envy her family for having two college students, but her son and daughter will not be around in the future, and her life will be much less fun.

Pan Lianhua advised her, "Sister-in-law, once the two children have settled down, we'll bring you to live with them. Then you'll be a city person too, won't that be great!"

"I'm not going. Look at where Tao Tao and the others live. It's barely bigger than a pigeon coop. Where would I stay if I went there?"

Hearing this, Tian Guihua felt much better.

Then she took Pan Lianhua to make clothes for her grandson. Xiaoya would also be leaving soon, but Taotao would stay.

Before spring planting, he and his colleagues still had a lot of preparatory work to do, hoping to achieve results as soon as possible. They were determined to make this project a success, not for anything else, but so that they could live in a big house sooner.

night.

Pan Lianhua chatted with Fang Wei and mentioned that Wen Xiaoya was planning to take the child back to the provincial capital.

"Third brother, didn't you say you were going to the capital for a meeting soon? Why don't you talk to your eldest brother and sister-in-law and ask Xiaoya to leave a little later? When you go to the meeting, you can drop Xiaoya and her child off in the provincial capital on your way."

Pan Lianhua felt that it was inconvenient for Xiaoya to go out with the child, and Tao Tao couldn't leave, so she made a suggestion.

Fang Wei felt it was just a small favor, so he agreed. He then told his elder brother and sister-in-law, as well as Tao Tao. Fang Tao was extremely grateful, as he had been worried about Xiao Ya and her son returning home.

Over the next few days, Fang Wei convened a series of coordination group meetings, as well as meetings with brigade cadres and production team leaders, to arrange the spring planting work.

Everything in the Yao village and the breeding center remains the same; last year's production plan can be carried out directly.

Afterwards, Fang Wei set off for the provincial capital to send Xiaoya and the child back. He didn't stay in the provincial capital; he bought a ticket and went directly to Beijing.

His status as a representative was quite useful; he even managed to buy a sleeper berth, and arrived after just one night's sleep.

The meeting covered a wide range of topics, and even Fang Wei hadn't expected that it would be so tense from the very beginning, with arguments everywhere.

This was a crucial period of transition, and the clash of ideas was naturally intense. Meanwhile, in remote rural areas, some people had already secretly pressed their fingerprints on agreements to distribute land to individual households.

Fang Wei did not comment on this matter. He criticized the existing distribution system, believing that distribution should be adapted to the development of productive forces, with more pay for more work, rather than limiting everyone's enthusiasm for work because of distribution issues.

The meeting, originally scheduled for a week, was postponed by five days, which allowed almost everyone to speak freely.

Fang Wei knew this was in preparation for an important meeting in the second half of the year, since the clash of ideas was an essential process for unifying thoughts.

Many delegates were excited after the meeting.

But Fang Wei couldn't be happy. For example, if the Xiatang Brigade implemented the "household contract responsibility system," then the two levels of units, the brigade and the production team, would disappear.

The team's success today is not solely due to his talent, but more importantly, to the collective strength of the team.

Even if the brigade ceases to exist, Fang Wei can still live a good life. However, all the opportunities that the brigade has worked so hard to accumulate over the years will be wasted.

That's what he finds unbearable.

After the meeting, he didn't go to Tingting's place but went straight back to the team. "If, and I mean if, land distribution to individual households were allowed in the future, what would you choose?"

At the brigade headquarters, Fang Wei asked a question in front of all the brigade cadres and production team leaders.

This is a very important question, as it concerns the future of the Xiatang Brigade. He needs to know everyone's true thoughts.

"How could that be? If the land is divided among households, each family will have to work alone. Although people will be more motivated to work for us, the advantage of having more people is lost."

Zhao Jinsheng found this idea hard to understand. He always believed that only large ships could better withstand the wind and waves. If they were all turned into small boats, wouldn't they be just like a pile of loose sand?

He felt that this form of production was not suitable for the Xiatang Brigade.

"There are definitely positive aspects, but there are also many negative factors, which need to be judged based on the actual situation. For example, our brigade's biggest advantage is its scale. If the brigade and production teams were disbanded, would we still be able to build such a magnificent man-made forest?"

Zhang Chu put it more tactfully, saying that this issue should be viewed from two perspectives.

For many places, distributing land to individual households might be a great thing, but it wouldn't work for Xiatang Brigade.

The advantage of Xiatang Brigade lies in its scale: large-scale breeding, large-scale aquaculture, large-scale afforestation, and so on. If this advantage disappears, the members may not necessarily prosper if they go out and work independently.

Take breeding as an example. It goes without saying that those who truly master the core technology solutions can become rich by leasing a barren mountain or wasteland, but most members of the team cannot do that.

At this time, we need the strength of the collective. Under the leadership of the leader, we should work hard, accumulate experience, and strive for progress. Everyone's life will definitely get better and better.

There is no "equal pay for equal work" mentality in the team. The principle of rewarding hard work and punishing laziness has long been deeply ingrained in the team, and these issues have been resolved long ago.

"My opinion is that we should adapt to local conditions. What works for others may not work for us. We should continue to develop the collective economy."

Gao Wenshu made it very clear that what suits you best is the best, and he disagreed with implementing the land distribution system within the team.

"Alright, let's stop here for today. This is a hypothetical question, let's just treat it as casual conversation. Everyone, keep your mouths shut and don't go around talking about it."

Fang Wei ended the discussion; he already knew what was going on.

However, this matter was not officially implemented, so there was no point in saying more. He told everyone to be mindful of the potential impact.

Zhao Jinsheng and the others nodded in agreement and then left.

Time flies.

It's the annual spring planting season.

Fang Wei consciously accelerated the testing of [Nanguang No. 3], and would occasionally return to the experimental field to work with Tao Tao and the others.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, breakthrough progress will be made in the screening of sterile plants by this summer's harvest. The [Nanguang No. 3] experiment will be officially announced as a success during this autumn's harvest.

The answer was in his hands, and he could naturally control the pace of the experiment at will.

The fact that the workday was to convene a particularly important meeting in history foreshadowed the grand "reform and opening up" conference taking center stage. Therefore, he needed to develop "Nanguang No. 3" to boost the confidence of the commune members.

This morning.

Fang Wei and Zhao Jinsheng arrived at the commune together to attend the coordination group meeting.

The meeting was originally intended to discuss mutual support for spring planting, but it ended up turning into a discussion. The topic of discussion was still the same one raised by Fang Wei: whether everyone wanted to work independently or continue developing the collective economy.

This is a litmus test, involving issues of future cooperation between us.

If someone chooses to part ways at that time, Fang Wei will lose the right to designate that part of the land, which means that the land will be removed from the [planting area] and the breeding work will come to a standstill.

Without the support of attributes, everything will return to its original state.

This result was beyond Fang Wei's control; it was determined by the system, and he had no power to change it.

The branch secretaries and team leaders of these 16 brigades were not so resolute in their stance, but overall they still hoped to maintain the status quo to avoid interference with the breeding work.

Fang Wei understood the situation and temporarily ended the discussion on this topic.

Next comes the busy spring planting season. This season, the entire commune will continue to cultivate the "Nanguang No. 2" rice variety. The cash crops remain largely unchanged, with soybeans, peanuts, and flue-cured tobacco rotated in rotation, primarily to cultivate seeds for high-yield crops.

Before spring planting, all the production brigades harvested rapeseed and obtained 1600 million catties of high-quality rapeseed seeds.

These seeds will be distributed throughout the country via the supply and marketing system, providing support for rapeseed production and ensuring increased production and income in rapeseed-producing areas.

Harvesting crops, points +16000000, total points: 254100980.

morning.

Fang Wei went to the breeding center and checked the progress of the spring planting work with Guo Wenxian.

This farmland is truly excellent; its flat terrain and convenient irrigation make it ideal for mechanized farming. As a result, spring sowing has progressed rapidly, and like the Xiatang brigade, the breeding center has also implemented centralized seedling cultivation.

The breeding center will continue to cultivate the "Nanguang No. 2" rice variety this season. Because of concerns about affecting soil fertility, rapeseed was not planted in the winter.

"Director Guo, we can use less fertilizer this year. Haven't you seen the comparative experiments? Fertilizer doesn't have much effect on our breeding work."

"That's what I was thinking too. We reduced our purchases by 50% this season, which should be enough."

The two walked through the fields, chatting as they inspected the farmland.

At noon, Fang Wei declined the other party's suggestion to go to the county town for lunch and ate something casually at the canteen in the center.

After finishing his meal, Guo Wenxian hesitated for a moment before asking, "Secretary Fang, have you heard? It seems they're going to implement the household responsibility system again. If it's true, will it affect our cooperation?"

"No! Future policies will become more and more lenient, and there are plenty of ways to cooperate, so you don't need to worry."

Fang Wei glanced at the other person and then gave an affirmative answer.

The breeding center has 40,000 mu of high-quality paddy fields, and he will not give up the cooperation with this place unless absolutely necessary.

If contracting is allowed in the future, he will contract these 40,000 mu of farmland in the name of the production brigade.

Xiatang Brigade and the breeding center will undoubtedly become his base, while the situation for the other 16 brigades in the commune is uncertain; we can only wait and see. (End of Chapter)