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

“I understand. Let’s leave him alone for now. Once our new generation of hybrid corn comes out, it will definitely be able to suppress New Cage in every way. Secretary, you’re busy now, I won’t bother you any longer.”

Lin Bingkun hung up immediately, and the two ended the call.

Fang Wei smiled and shook his head. It seemed that the other party still hadn't fully understood what he meant.

In reality, due to the constraints of arable land, as soon as China becomes wealthier, it will import large quantities of corn from abroad. This is something beyond human control; both New Cage and our own side will gradually see a decline in corn seed sales.

The reason he didn't give up corn breeding was because he was targeting New Cage, his rival; in short, he couldn't let the other party have it too easy.

In any case, Fang Wei will not engage in a price war with the other party. He can bear the temporary loss of a small portion of market share and there is no need to be led by the nose by others.

At this point, a staff member brought him several documents that needed his signature, so he returned to his work.

After finishing his work, Fang Wei went to the seed bank to check on the recent results.

“Secretary, since you reached an agreement with the unit in another region, the variety and quantity of crop seeds in the inventory have increased significantly. In addition, in exchange, a considerable number of seeds from the inventory have also been distributed.”

The person in charge of the seed bank gave a report, and Fang Wei nodded with a smile.

He personally spearheaded the seed exchange program, and after such a long period of operation, it has already shown initial results.

"You did a good job, you deserve praise."

Fang Wei acknowledged everyone's work achievements, and the person in charge was very happy to hear that.

The Party branch secretary's praise is not just for show; it will be linked to their performance and will ultimately be reflected in their performance-based pay and bonuses.

Fang Wei didn't stay in the seed bank for long. After listening to the report, he took a quick look around the bank and then left.

“Secretary, our wild herbs are in high demand, especially some rare wild herbs. Some customers are willing to pay high prices to buy them. Unfortunately, the production of these rare herbs is very limited, and there is nothing we can do about it.”

in the afternoon.

Fang Wei was still handling official business in his office when Yu Wenming, the head of the forestry company, came to visit.

His main purpose in coming here was to consult Fang Wei about whether it was possible to cultivate wild and rare herbs on a large scale.

"This question is difficult to answer in general terms; it requires a case-by-case analysis. I am familiar with the rare herbs you mentioned. Based on my experience, artificial breeding is possible, but it would be very difficult."

After listening to the other party's request, Fang Wei gave a very rigorous answer.

"Secretary, we currently lack personnel in this area. Could you spare some time to provide guidance to the relevant staff?"

Yu Wenming looked at Fang Wei expectantly.

To be honest, the profit margin for wild herbs is already quite high these days, and with the added premium effect of supply falling short of demand, forestry companies are paying more and more attention to this area.

The Dayao Mountains have unique natural conditions, and many wild herbs are only produced in large quantities here, while they are very rare in other places.

Therefore, this is essentially a unique business opportunity, no wonder Yu Wenming was tempted.

"This isn't about giving guidance; I need to figure some things out myself before I can tell everyone. So, I'll go to the mountains a few more times and think about what methods I can use to successfully intervene in the reproduction of these wild herbs."

Fang Wei did not refuse, but he needed to sort out his thoughts first.

The rare wild herbs that Yu Wenming mentioned earlier were not unfamiliar to him; in fact, these herbs were among the prescriptions that Sun Daoren gave to Wang Songlin.

These herbs are called "rare herbs" because they are very few in number and extremely difficult to reproduce naturally.

To be honest, it was only because Fang Wei designated the herb planting base as a "forestation and harvesting area" that these rare herbs were successfully transplanted. However, their natural reproduction has not been ideal, so their numbers remain small to this day.

"Thank you so much, Party Secretary! I'll go back and prepare. Just let me know if you need anything."

Yu Wenming did not stay long and immediately got up to take his leave.

Fang Wei continued working on her tasks and returned home when it was time to leave work.

The next day.

Fang Wei drove up the mountain early in the morning and arrived at the herb cultivation base.

This area is now closed off, and outsiders are not allowed to enter. He was obviously not an outsider, so he walked straight in through the entrance.

Wild herbs were recently harvested in this area, so the plants appear somewhat sparse. Extinction-level harvesting is a strict company rule, so there are always a considerable amount of herbs remaining, regardless of variety.

However, what remains now are mostly seedlings, herbs that are not old enough, and plants that are difficult to propagate.

"Actually, there are ways to breed more rare herbs, but the key is that it's hard to explain."

If Fang Wei designates a forest and adjusts its attributes to accelerate plant growth as much as possible, the plant reproduction rate will also increase.

He was very familiar with these rare herbs. The reason they were not easy to propagate was that they had strict requirements for their growing environment and that their numbers were scarce, making natural propagation prone to failure.

Therefore, the first step in solving this problem is to ensure that these herbs reach a certain quantity. Fang Wei believes there is a way to achieve this, but the plants are growing too fast, and he cannot explain it.

After driving around in the woods for a while, he drove to his office and then called Yu Wenming.

"Manager Yu, please designate a piece of experimental woodland between the three herb planting bases. Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from entering."

"Okay, Party Secretary. How many people do you need?"

"Not for now. Natural breeding is different from artificial planting, and we should try to minimize human intervention. I'll transfer two people from the breeding team in the Yao village first, and I'll let you know when we need more manpower."

Fang Wei plans to conduct trials first, and then roll it out on a large scale.

In fact, the wild plants in the mountains grow naturally and do not require human intervention. It's only because these rare herbs are so scarce that we need to find solutions.

the next day.

Fang Wei personally went to the mountains and forests to fence off a large area of ​​woodland. This location was right between the three herb cultivation bases, which was more in line with the growth environment requirements of rare herbs.

Yu Wenming had his company employees fence off the woodland, not in a completely enclosed way, but by setting up numerous warning signs around it, prohibiting anyone from entering without permission.

Fang Wei then led some members of the breeding team to transplant those rare herbs, creating a sparse growing area.

"That's fine. There's no need to assign anyone to guard them. Just let them grow naturally."

Because the number of plants was small, the transplanting work was completed within a day.

Fang Wei didn't leave anyone to guard the area, and everyone left before dark. Before leaving, he adjusted the attribute values ​​of this experimental forest, only accelerating its growth rate.

The [Forestry Harvesting Area] also has two important additional attributes: [Attribute Doubling +2] and [Natural Reproduction +1]. These two additional attributes are crucial for this experiment, as the growth rate is 4 times that of normal growth, and natural reproduction has been enhanced.

Three months of growth is equivalent to a year of growth under normal circumstances. Natural reproduction will inevitably be faster, and we will see the results next year.

Once there are enough plants, they can be transplanted to a medicinal herb cultivation base. In less than two years, the number of these rare medicinal herbs will inevitably increase significantly.

Of course, the increased quantity still wouldn't meet the demand, unless these herbs were everywhere. That's definitely unrealistic; that's all he could do.

The entire mountain is a complete ecosystem. Minor changes are not a big deal, but if things are done too extremely, it will definitely damage the environment.

"Third Brother, can't these herbs be grown artificially?"

During dinner that evening, Fang Wei briefly discussed with Pan Lianhua the matter of cultivating rare medicinal herbs in the mountains.

Pan Lianhua doesn't understand why they insist on natural reproduction instead of trying to find a way to cultivate it under the forest canopy.

"The forestry company tried artificial planting, but it was unsuccessful."

Fang Wei shook his head. Not all plants can be artificially cultivated. For example, swan fungus and fir fungus cannot be artificially cultivated.

There are many similar examples. The reason why these rare herbs are so expensive is because they are produced in very small quantities and cannot be artificially cultivated.

However, it wasn't a big deal, and the couple chatted casually for a few minutes before stopping the conversation.

Half a month later, Fang Wei went to the mountains to take a look. Good heavens, in such a short period of time, all kinds of plants in the experimental forest had grown wildly, and some weeds were already taller than knee-high.

The transplanted rare herbs are also growing well, with the plants becoming noticeably thicker.

Fang Wei then called over a group of young men from the Yao village. These men used to come here every year to pick medicinal herbs and were very familiar with this mountain forest.

"Everyone, hoe the weeds. Don't worry about the ones that don't affect the growth of the herbs. We should try to keep them in their natural state as much as possible."

Although the woodland was quite large, it wasn't a delicate task according to Fang Wei's requirements.

Simply weed a little to ensure the rare herbs have room to grow and reproduce; no extra work is needed.

in the afternoon.

Fang Wei led a group of people back to the village. After Pan Lianhua returned from get off work, the couple took everyone to the canteen for a delicious meal.

Next, there's no need to test the forest land anymore. Let the rare herbs grow and reproduce naturally, and we'll gradually see the effects after a while.

Fang Wei is no longer as cautious as he was in earlier years. Sometimes he will take some radical measures and is not worried about others questioning him.

The mountains and forests are rarely visited by people, so he required the forestry company's employees not to enter the experimental forest, so that no one would go looking for trouble.

Next, the experimental forest officially entered a closed period. Fang Wei decided to stop any artificial intervention and let the rare herbs grow and reproduce naturally.

His approach was to compress the experimental cycle, which would normally take three to four years, into one year.

As I said before, the process isn't important; the result is. (End of Chapter)