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

“We’ve grown very little rice these past few years. We need to encourage everyone to take it seriously. If we grow our own rice varieties and our yields are still lower than others, that would be a laughing stock.”

"How could that be? No way, Party Secretary, growing rice is a piece of cake."

Zhao Jinsheng couldn't help but smile. After chatting with Fang Wei for a while, he said goodbye and left.

It's that time of year again for busy farming, and the entire cooperative is working hard; no one dares to slack off. The year's plan starts in spring, and missing the farming season would be bad for everyone.

The cooperative's 80,000 mu of paddy fields are ready to be planted with "Nanguang No. 4" rice. When Fang Wei arrived at the seedling nursery and looked at the busy members, he suddenly had a feeling of unreality.

The cooperative has been cultivating rice varieties for years and hasn't grown rice for a long time.

The price of rice is very low right now. Ordinary rice costs only 16 cents per pound, and better quality rice costs at most 20 cents per pound. Premium Yaoling rice is slightly more expensive, but not by much.

"Secretary Fang, have you come to take a look?"

"Yes, I've come to check on your seedling cultivation."

"We have such good facilities, with constant temperature and humidity, so the seeds germinate very quickly, there are no problems."

Accompanied by the person in charge of the seedling base, Fang Wei inspected the progress of the breeding work.

With large-scale seedling raising bases, seedling raising work no longer needs to depend on the weather, and will not suffer losses due to sudden changes in climate.

The seedling nursery, built with a huge investment, is fully enclosed and includes an automatic sprinkler system, a constant temperature and humidity system, a lighting system, and so on. It is currently a very advanced seedling nursery facility.

There are almost no organizations in the entire county or even the entire region that can afford to build such facilities, simply because they are too expensive.

People are still raising seedlings outdoors, relying on the weather for their harvest.

Fang Wei stayed at the seedling nursery for more than an hour before turning to leave. He estimated that the transplanting time would be about half a month earlier than normal.

On the one hand, the cooperative has a large seedling nursery base, which is not limited by temperature. On the other hand, it uses its own cultivated "Nanguang No. 4" rice variety, which has extremely high resistance and strong adaptability to natural conditions such as temperature.

Without these two foundations, it's impossible to plant rice seedlings early.

Fang Wei suggested that the growth rate of rice could be adjusted this year. It wasn't that he wanted to plant three seasons of rice, but rather to let everyone get used to the various extraordinary aspects of the cooperative.

Back in his office, a staff member brought him a meeting notice.

He has to go to the capital for a meeting again.

three days later.

Fang Wei arrived in Beijing and went to the conference organizing committee to register as soon as she got off the car. Then she took some time to visit Fang Tingting.

After his niece started working here, she had less contact with her family, which worried him a lot.

"Manman? It's so good to see you. I've been traveling a lot for work these past two years and haven't been able to take care of my family and kids, so I haven't been in touch with you much. Please don't blame me."

Fang Wei was lucky; she happened to arrive when the other person was home.

Fang Tingting is already a mother, but she doesn't seem to have changed much.

“You’re busy with work, why would I blame you? Come on, I’ll treat you to lunch. I’m going to join the team this afternoon, and there’s a meeting tomorrow, so it’ll be hard for me to find time to see you again.”

Fang Wei then went to Donglaishun to eat hot pot with Tingting. Tingting seemed very excited and kept talking.

However, when it came to specific work details, they said very little. Due to confidentiality requirements, there were many things that couldn't be said, so they simply avoided discussing them altogether.

Fang Wei didn't ask any more questions. As long as he knew his niece was doing well, he was at ease.

the next day.

The meeting officially commenced, and the main topics of discussion were economic, including tax reform.

When it came time for the group discussion, the debate was quite heated. After all, many things were still being explored as we went along, and no one had any experience, so there were significant differences in understanding.

Fang Wei also spoke up. As someone who had been through it all, he clearly understood the successes and failures, so his views were often insightful.

There are supporters and opponents, but the overall atmosphere is quite good.

Nowadays, people are no longer concerned about the development model of cooperatives. Yaoling Cooperative is not the only exception. Many people want to see what the result will be if they take the path of collective economy.

"Comrade Fang Wei's suggestion is excellent! Our job is to offer advice and suggestions. Everyone should not have any reservations and should speak freely like Comrade Fang Wei."

Fang Wei's speech was affirmed by all sides. Regardless of whether the higher authorities would adopt his suggestions, everyone looked at Secretary Fang with new respect.

He didn't want to show off; he wanted to demonstrate his value and also genuinely hoped to avoid taking unnecessary detours.

He couldn't worry about anything else; he was just a nobody and his words carried little weight. He would just do his best.

After the meeting, Fang Wei didn't go to see Tingting again. He went straight home, knowing that his niece was doing alright. He had a lot of things to do back home.

A few days passed quickly.

The cooperative completed the rice transplanting work, and rice was planted in the cooperative's 80,000 mu of paddy fields. Half of the 40,000 mu of paddy fields in the breeding center were used to cultivate the "Nanguang No. 4" rice variety, and the other half were used to cultivate the "Nongyou 82" rice variety.

This reduction in rice production is thorough, cutting supply at the source and preventing stockpiling and a sharp drop in prices.

The Wuling Agriculture team was quite unsettled, as the yield reduction of the [Nongyou 82] rice variety this time was so significant that people were beginning to suspect that the cooperative might not be planning to cultivate rice varieties in the future.

Zhao Jinsheng received the visitors from Wuling Agriculture, explained the situation to them, and promised that the 2 mu of [Nongyou 82] rice seeds cultivated this season would be given priority to Wuling Agriculture.

The visitor was relieved and left happily.

As long as they can guarantee their own raw material supply, the reduction in the availability of [Nongyou 82] rice seeds on the market will only benefit them and not harm them.

The supply of Nanguang No. 4 rice seeds can only be guaranteed for long-term contracted households. Rice seed dealers in the market still have some inventory, and prices have already started to rise.

Fang Wei is not worried about losing market share due to reduced production, because the quality and yield of the two rice varieties are currently unmatched.

There are always some people who want the best rice varieties. In fact, whether you plant Nanguang No. 4 rice or Nongyou 82 rice, the cost performance is very high.

The province promoted the planting method of "early rice and indica rice, late rice and japonica rice" as early as the 60s. This arrangement is the most reasonable and can give full play to the advantages of each variety.

After a period of inactivity, this planting method has become popular again in the last two years.

Some shrewd people saw the news of reduced rice production at the Yaoling Cooperative and got their hands on it. The [Nongyou 82] rice seeds that had been piling up in the distribution channels suddenly became highly sought after.

"Secretary, not only distributors, but also some large-scale growers have called to inquire whether our production reduction is real."

These people are interesting. When rice seeds were hard to sell, they played dead, but now that they hear our yield has decreased, they're all scrambling to buy them.

Zhao Jinsheng came to Fang Wei to get a signature and casually mentioned some recent developments. "We can listen to the clients' feedback, but we can't make decisions based on their statements. I've also recently looked into market saturation and will gradually increase rice yields starting next season."

Fang Wei felt that the decision to reduce production this season was the right one. Those customers who were making a fuss might not have bought any rice if there had been enough seeds.

He referenced market saturation data, emphasizing that one shouldn't just look at who's making the loudest claims, but also at the quantity of rice seeds stored by distributors and farmers. Based on his assessment, the actual demand for both types of rice would only pick up during the summer planting season.

In fact, the cooperative is not losing money by growing rice. The cooperative has its own rice mill and the increasingly well-known [Yaoling Rice], so the overall benefits are quite good.

Although the profits can't compare to breeding, the total market size for rice seeds is limited. Unless it's for export, this game of reducing production while increasing output will continue in the future.

"With you overseeing this matter, we don't need to worry too much."

Zhao Jinsheng smiled and then handed the application report to Fang Wei, asking him to sign it.

Fang Wei glanced at it; it was about Yangshan Farm building a small seedling nursery. The investment amount just didn't require board approval; Fang Wei's signature was all that was needed.

He then signed his name on the report and turned to leave.

The next day.

Fang Wei went to the county and informed Cui Yiming of the spirit of the meeting.

"Secretary Fang, you've come at the perfect time. I have something to discuss with you. I heard you're cultivating a large quantity of corn seeds this season, both in this county and other counties. Are you confident you can sell them all?"

After finishing their business, Cui Yiming suddenly asked about the cooperative's corn seed cultivation.

He is not very clear about the situation of the cooperative, such as the situation of Yangshan Farm, so the cooperative does not need to report to him.

Cui Yiming had heard about this from others, and of course there were other reasons why he brought up the topic.

"If we can't sell them, we'll sell them slowly. Anyway, I don't have that many dryland corn seeds for the next season. Secretary Cui, just say what's on your mind. Did Xin Kaiqi send someone to deliver a message to you?"

Fang Wei and Cui Yiming had a good relationship, so he didn't bother to beat around the bush.

"Can't you speak more tactfully? You guessed right, several people have called me, hoping I can advise you to stick to rice cultivation and stop getting involved in corn seed breeding."

Cui Yiming sighed helplessly. He had nothing to do with this matter, but the person who called him was no ordinary person.

He knew very well that he couldn't control Fang Wei's decision, but he still had to ask her the questions he needed to ask.

“New Cage is being a bit unreasonable. He can come to Xinlin County and oppose us at every turn, so why can’t I challenge their advantageous industries? Secretary Cui, please forgive me for not being able to agree to this.”

Fang Wei's decisive rejection of Cui Yiming was actually meant for the benefit of those lobbyists.

Cui Yiming shrugged, indicating that he understood.

This has nothing to do with him. He only needs to tell those people Fang Wei's decision; he won't get involved in this kind of thing.

Fang Wei sat in Cui Yiming's office for more than an hour before taking his leave.

Is the new Cage feeling guilty?

Fang Wei shook her head, not caring about who had greeted her before.

The cooperative can cultivate whatever crops it wants, as long as it doesn't break the law; it doesn't need anyone to teach it how to do things.

He's really annoyed with New Cage; they started the fight, and now that things aren't going well, they're resorting to underhanded tactics. He doesn't plan to deal with them. The corn seeds are already in the ground; are they going to uproot them?

After returning, he reported the matter to the board members, and Zhao Jinsheng and others couldn't help but curse, saying they had never seen such a shameless company.

"Just keep this to yourselves, don't get too worked up. We'll continue with what we're doing, but we also need to be wary of New Cage pulling any dirty tricks. If you hear any news that could be detrimental to us, let me know as soon as possible."

Fang Wei told everyone about this to give them a heads-up, saying that there was no need to take any action for the time being.

Of course, normal business competition will continue as usual, and it would be best to defeat New Cage in multiple fields.

Next.

Fang Wei spent most of his time in the experimental field; the closer he got to success, the more careful he needed to be.

That afternoon, while he was handling official business in his office, good news came from the experimental field. After repeated experiments, they finally discovered a different plant in a large number of pairing tests.

The breeding technicians were unsure and quickly called Fang Wei.

Fang Wei put down what he was doing and followed the person who came to the experimental field.

“Secretary Fang, these plants seem to be different from the others, based on our observation.”

He walked closer and, upon seeing the plants, knew that things had succeeded.

Fang Wei has extensive breeding experience, and success or failure is hard to escape his notice.

"You should start cultivating this new rice variety immediately. Also, what variety did you choose as the restorer line for this pairing?"

The breeders then brought in rice as a restorer line, an unremarkable variety.

Fang Wei remembered this rice variety and asked the breeding team to immediately set aside a dedicated 100-mu plot of land to cultivate the new rice variety.

Some data can only be collected after the rice seeds mature, so the cultivation of the new rice varieties is not yet completely successful; it can only be said that there is a very high probability of success.

In order to see results as soon as possible, Fang Wei continued to adjust the attribute values ​​to ensure that the new rice varieties he cultivated could mature quickly.

In this way, large-scale trial planting can be carried out when summer planting season arrives, and the model can be fully finalized by the first half of next year at the latest.

night.

Fang Wei opened a bottle of wine while eating, and a smile appeared on his face.

"Third Brother, what's making you so happy?"

It took Pan Lianhua a long time to recover after her grandfather passed away.

She's been talking more lately, unlike before when she was so lifeless.

"Of course there's good news! Let me tell you, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I'll have a new rice variety coming out soon."

There's nothing wrong with talking about this. He might not want to brag about it outside, but he can always boast a little to his wife.

Pan Lianhua smiled and said, "Congratulations, congratulations! Let's celebrate later."

It's only because their older sister isn't around that the couple dares to make jokes like this. (End of Chapter)