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

"We need to work hard to expand our sales channels and start officially launching to the market now."

Fang Wei gave the order, and the cooperative officially began selling rice seeds to the public.

The Yao village's major customers arrived as scheduled and snapped up all the [Nongyou 76] rice seeds, without saying a word about the price increase.

The remaining [Nanguang No. 3] rice seeds began to penetrate into other provinces. Although the sales speed of this rice seed was not fast, it won the favor of good reputation, especially since the yield per mu was as high as about 1300 jin, which was sought after by some customers.

Based on the current trend, although the sales of [Nanguang No. 3] are a little slower, it will not cause a backlog.

"It's okay to be slow. Don't forget that our profit margin is very high. Those rice varieties that compete on price don't make much money. As long as we stay patient, they will have to raise prices sooner or later."

Fang Wei convened a council meeting to summarize the experience of the autumn harvest work and asked everyone to remain calm and not follow others' lead.

Currently, several low-priced rice varieties have appeared on the market, posing a certain challenge to the [Nanguang No. 3] rice variety. However, in the long run, the [Nanguang No. 3] rice variety, with its higher yield and better quality, will undoubtedly be favored by more customers.

Therefore, Fang Wei will never engage in a price war with them, but will instead take a steady and pragmatic approach to establish the image of "Nanguang No. 3" as a product of high quality and high price.

As for rice varieties like [Nongyou 76], there's no need to worry. They're unique in China, and it'll be years before others develop hybrid japonica rice.

“Secretary Fang, I suggest abolishing the clinics in each brigade. The commune health center is also being strengthened, and the clinics at the grassroots level seem a bit redundant.”

After discussing the sale of rice seeds, a council member made a new suggestion: to abolish the medical clinics in each brigade.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, someone objected.

"There is no conflict between clinics and health centers. Clinics deal with minor and common illnesses, and medicine that costs only a few cents can cure the disease. Health centers are either far away or relatively more expensive."

"Yes, especially in Xiatang Brigade, which is now Brigade 1. Look how well their clinic is. For minor illnesses, people don't even need to leave the village, so the economic burden on the villagers is very light."

"Removing clinics is not a solution; we must vigorously promote the cooperative medical system."

“Cooperative medical care is a heavy burden on the community. This kind of thing is better left to higher authorities. Let’s forget about it.”

There was a lot of discussion and heated debate, with various viewpoints clashing fiercely, making it impossible to reach a consensus.

"Let's put the cooperative medical care issue aside for now. I don't think the clinics should be closed down yet. Although other communes have already started doing this, it has created difficulties for commune members in accessing medical care."

Finally, Fang Wei shared his opinion, believing that it is not advisable to abolish the medical rooms of each team at present.

The cooperative now has 17 clinics, and most importantly, it has trained a group of barefoot doctors who can play a significant role. While they cannot be relied upon for complex or serious illnesses, they can effectively treat minor and common ailments.

Why blindly withdraw something that provides convenience and effectiveness for everyone?

Most of the board members agreed with Fang Wei's point of view, and the debate came to an end. A resolution to increase funding for the various medical clinics was passed.

The meeting ended there. Fang Wei had just entered the office when Zhao Jinsheng followed him in.

"Secretary, we've gone against them again."

"It's not about going against anyone; we need to see if something is suitable for us. If it is, we'll keep it; if it's not, we'll make changes."

Fang Wei knew, of course, that continuing to keep the clinic and barefoot doctors would cause criticism from others.

This is the current situation: most brigades and production teams are now defunct and will soon be abolished. Without these two levels of accounting units, the clinic is like a rootless duckweed, naturally unable to survive.

The situation with the cooperative is different. The cooperative has retained its complete brigade structure, and the operation of the clinic is funded by the cooperative. It will certainly not close down the clinic that is so popular with everyone.

"That's right, we're already outcasts anyway, so this little thing won't make a difference. Party Secretary, there's something I need to report to you. Many places in the province have started promoting the hybrid rice developed by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences."

In addition, several other rice varieties in the province are also vying for market share, which is having a significant impact on our "Nanguang No. 3" rice variety. Perhaps we should adjust our price; among so many rice varieties, ours is the most expensive.”

Zhao Jinsheng came to see Fang Wei mainly about the rice seeds.

The rice variety developed by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, led by Fang Tao and his research team, is of good quality in all aspects. Thanks to the efforts of Director Li and others, its promotion has been rapid.

In contrast, the sales of "Nanguang No. 3" within the province are not good due to its price.

"Fighting a price war is the worst thing to do, Lao Zhao. I understand how you feel, but don't lose your composure. We still have markets in other provinces, and the cooperative doesn't have any financial pressure. What's wrong with going a little slower?"

Furthermore, if sales of the [Nanguang No. 3] rice variety haven't improved by spring planting time, we can continue to adjust the planting ratio. We should cultivate more [Nongyou 76] rice varieties and further reduce the planting area of ​​[Nanguang No. 3].

Fang Wei would certainly not agree to lower the price. He already felt the current price was too low, so how could he possibly engage in a price war with others?

Although those rice varieties seem to have an advantage over [Nanguang No. 3] due to their low prices, they have sacrificed reasonable profits, which is actually detrimental to their future development.

"It seems I was too hasty. I'll wait until next year to see."

Zhao Jinsheng nodded, then took his leave.

Not long after he left, Fang Wei received a call from Huang Zhigang, asking him to go to the county.

After hanging up the phone, Fang Wei drove his jeep straight to the county town and arrived at Huang Zhigang's office.

"Secretary Fang, please have a seat. I have some good tea here. Let's brew a pot and chat slowly."

Huang Zhigang took out his treasured tea leaves and had someone brew a pot of tea and bring it over.

Fang Wei took a few sips; the tea was indeed quite good.

"I heard you've encountered some difficulties selling your rice seeds?"

After each of them drank a cup of tea, Huang Zhigang began to discuss serious matters.

The purchase and sale of rice are gradually being liberalized, and producers have gained some pricing power, gradually forming a price system with varying levels of price.

As a high-quality rice variety, the Nanguang No. 3 rice is not only expensive to produce, but the rice produced from it is also expensive.

Now, the sale of the [Nanguang No. 3] rice seed in the province is encountering problems. He is worried that farmers who grow this variety of rice will also suffer losses, which is why he called Fang Wei over.

"Yes, we've been besieged by low prices and are facing some difficulties for the time being. But it's not a big problem; as time goes by, gold will always shine."

Fang Wei did not shy away from the difficulties at hand, but she was equally confident about the future.

He doesn't think there's anything wrong with his pricing; shouldn't high quality command a higher price? Besides, the cost of rice seeds accounts for a very small proportion of the total production cost, so a low-price strategy is hard to sustain in the long run.

As for rice specifically, he felt it wasn't a problem. The price difference wasn't that significant, and the [Nanguang No. 3] variety of rice had an excellent taste and was definitely worth the current price.

"That's good! I was worried that if farmers planted [Nanguang No. 3] rice, they wouldn't be able to sell it, which would have a huge impact." Huang Zhigang put his worries aside; the rice seeds cultivated by the cooperative and the rice produced by each commune were what he cared about most.

Fang Wei chatted with the other party for a while before returning to the company.

A few days passed quickly.

Good news came from there: customers there increased their purchases of the "Nanguang No. 3" rice variety, which greatly reduced the pressure on their inventory.

Zhao Jinsheng and the others, who were initially worried that they wouldn't be able to sell their rice seeds, finally came to their senses.

In less than a month, the "Nanguang No. 3" rice variety sold out completely, to the point that some customers came to the store only to find that there wasn't a single seed left.

While everyone was in high spirits, Fang Wei announced that all children of cooperative members would be exempt from primary school tuition, with the cooperative responsible for paying the fees.

At that time, nine-year compulsory education had not yet been implemented. Although the tuition and fees were not much, they were still a burden for some families.

While waiving tuition and fees, the organization also requires all school-age children to attend school, with severe penalties for violations, including but not limited to job reassignment and salary reductions.

Nothing else matters; economic measures are the only way to truly deter people.

Anyway, no cases of students dropping out of school due to family reasons were reported to Fang Wei. He felt that the members were reasonable, since everyone cherished their current job income.

morning.

After Fang Wei and Pan Lianhua finished exercising, they sat down together to eat breakfast.

Pan Lianhua said she was off today and asked Fang Wei what her plans were.

"How about we take Grandpa and him for a walk around the village?"

Fang Wei originally wanted to take Pan Lianhua for a drive, but when he saw Ah Gong sitting in a chair lost in thought, he changed his mind.

He felt that his grandfather hadn't been doing well lately; he often sat there lost in thought or dozing off. That's why he thought of taking his grandfather to the Yao village, hoping it might be good for him.

“Great, Grandpa will be very happy.”

Pan Lianhua gave the man a grateful look, then went to tell her grandfather.

After finishing their meal, Fang Wei went to the village office to pick up the jeep and took Pan Lianhua, her grandfather, and her sister to the Yao village.

Binbin lives at school, while Xiaojie attends the brigade's primary school and doesn't come home for lunch. The brigade's primary school, which is under the cooperative, provides two free meals a day, morning and noon, so all the primary school students don't have to travel back and forth for lunch.

After all, with the merger of the primary schools, some children had to travel quite a distance to school, making the round trip very difficult. Following the merger, all the primary schools had their own canteens, and the food was quite good.

Grandpa and Grandma were very happy sitting in the jeep, partly because it was faster than riding a tractor, and partly because it was much smoother.

In less than half an hour, they arrived at the village.

"Cars are so much better. Before, we didn't even have tractors, and we had to walk up and down the mountains. Things have really changed so much now. I can even ride in a car. It's unbelievable."

Grandpa was filled with emotion. In the past, it would take a whole day to go from the village to Xiatang Brigade and back.

It took less than half an hour by car to get to the village, something I never dared to imagine before.

Wang Zhuyun hadn't been back for quite a while. After getting off the bus, she greeted everyone and went straight home. She hadn't met the right person all these years; although people had introduced her to potential partners, she hadn't liked any of them.

When she returned to the house, she found herself alone and cold, and her heart seemed to stir again.

Fang Wei and Pan Lianhua accompanied Grandpa back home. The room was very clean. Although they didn't come often, the house was cleaned almost every day.

The damaged house looks much more comfortable and beautiful after being repaired.

"Grandpa, Third Brother, Lianhua, you're back? Come to my room for lunch, my wife is already preparing it."

Wang Songlin arrived late. He had arranged lunch in advance to save his grandfather and the others the trouble.

"Okay! We'll have lunch at your place then, and we'll head back afterward."

Fang Wei responded with a smile, and then went for a walk around the village with Wang Songlin.

The Yao village has also accumulated wealth quickly. After all, the village has a small population, a lot of arable land, and a large amount of high-quality forest resources, which is considerable when distributed among each person.

The average annual income per capita in the Yao village has long exceeded 2000 yuan, which is no worse than that of the cooperative.

However, the village's infrastructure is worse, and its education and medical care are incomparable to those of the cooperative, mainly because the overall economic scale is too small.

"Songlin, how are the wheat seeds you cultivated coming along?"

Fang Wei successfully cultivated high-quality soybean seeds in the experimental fields of the first and second production teams, which gave him a new understanding of the powerful capabilities of the planting area.

So he had Wang Songlin try cultivating wheat seeds in the experimental field on the mountain.

"The wheat breeding trials are going smoothly, but it's too early to say whether they're successful or not. We need to plant them for another two or three seasons before we can say for sure. However, based on my experience, the probability of success is at least 90%."

Wang Songlin gave a detailed report on the wheat breeding process and expressed his confidence in the final result.

It wasn't that he was blindly confident, but rather that the other party had unwavering confidence. With their guidance, it was impossible to fail in any aspect of breeding.

Fang Wei then went to see the wheat seeds that had not yet matured. These were spring wheat seeds, and due to environmental and climatic limitations, winter wheat could not be cultivated for the time being.

We'll discuss the cultivation of winter wheat seeds later.

"Hmm, so far it seems to be going well. Continue to cultivate it, and let me know if there are any problems."

Fang Wei didn't think Wang Songlin was exaggerating; success was inevitable, and failure would be an accident.

"Third Brother, let's go back for dinner."

The two wandered around for a while, and soon it was noon.

Wang Songlin pulled Fang Wei back and called his grandfather, Pan Lianhua, and his sister to have lunch.

The lunch was quite sumptuous, consisting entirely of dishes that Grandpa, my older sister, and Lianhua all liked, and it tasted quite good. (End of Chapter)