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

"Third brother, the new house is really nice, it makes me a little envious."

Wang Songlin, Wang Sanqi, and others also arrived. Looking at the house, which was comparable to a villa, everyone kept praising it.

"You refused to rebuild your houses, so what's the use of being envious now? Come on, come on, today is a good day, everyone must have a few more drinks."

Fang Wei dragged everyone out for drinks, and by the end of the day, he had no idea how much he had drunk, and he was already feeling a bit tipsy.

However, the people in the Yao village certainly wouldn't force him to eat, so he could have something to eat and rest for a while.

It wasn't until evening that Fang Wei and Pan Lianhua finally had some peace and quiet. Both of them were exhausted, but looking at their comfortable new home, they couldn't help but smile.

The next day.

Neither of them went to work.

Yesterday was a busy day, so I need to rest today. If there's anything urgent, someone will naturally call them.

We don't need to buy groceries today. There are some leftover ingredients from yesterday's banquet. We can just stir-fry a few dishes with lotus root for lunch.

Fang Wei tried to experience the effects of the [Main Residence], and apart from feeling comfortable inside, he couldn't feel anything else. After all, the attributes of the [Main Residence] are somewhat mysterious, so it's normal that he couldn't directly perceive them.

A few days later, Tian Bingyi called to say that he was also moving into his new home.

Only some members of the Tian Bingyi Cooperative were able to move into their new homes, as the others were unwilling to demolish and rebuild, so the cooperative provided them with housing subsidies.

When Fang Wei and Pan Lianhua arrived, they noticed that the houses here were not laid out neatly, with new and old houses interspersed, unlike the uniform layout of their village.

He can't control this matter; it's an internal affair of the cooperative, and he has no say in it.

The two then went to their second sister and brother-in-law's new house. There were quite a few guests today. Tian Bingyi was in charge of cultivating vegetable seeds, planting vegetables, and managing vegetable greenhouses. He had a wide circle of friends, and many of the guests didn't even know Fang Wei.

He and Pan Lianhua congratulated their second sister and brother-in-law and presented them with gifts.

Tian Bingyi and Fang Mei didn't have time to entertain them much. After a brief chat, they invited them to take their seats.

After finishing their meal, the two returned to the village. "My second sister and brother-in-law are both very busy today. I'll come see them again when I have some free time."

The next day.

Fang Wei went to the forestry company and listened to the work report from the company's senior management.

"This year, the company's production of wild chestnuts, wild camellia seeds, and wild loquats has increased slightly, but the income from wild medicinal herbs has increased significantly."

In addition, afforestation has achieved excellent results, with planned logging quotas increased and economic benefits significantly improved. Understory planting has also yielded good returns, and we plan to close the mountains for reforestation after autumn.

According to the company's head, the forestry company's revenue is expected to increase by 33% this year, with profits increasing by as much as 67%.

Among these, the profits from wild and rare medicinal herbs are considerable, and the rise in timber prices has also driven profit growth.

Next, the company will close the mountains for reforestation, prohibiting outsiders from entering the forests except for a few tourist routes.

“Everyone has done a good job and deserves praise. I think wild fruit trees should also undergo variety improvement. I will take charge of this matter, cultivating improved varieties in the experimental forest to gradually replace those degraded trees.”

The area has three major wild fruit forests, including wild chestnut forests, wild camellia forests, and wild loquat forests.

After so many years of development, many trees in the wild forests have shown signs of degradation. Degraded trees should be gradually removed and replaced with improved trees.

Fang Wei plans to personally improve the tree species, but they should still be kept in their wild state in the future.

“Secretary, this is definitely a good plan, but replacing the trees is not easy and will probably take many years to complete.”

The company's manager was somewhat troubled. The three wild forests covered a very large area, and if they were to replace them little by little, plus the need for manual care, the company simply didn't have enough manpower.

"It's a wild forest, so it doesn't need human care. After transplanting, you don't have to worry about it and let it reproduce naturally."

Fang Wei smiled and waved his hand, offering an explanation.

He doesn't plan to cultivate artificially in the deep mountains; the improved varieties he has developed in the experimental forest will be replaced by sowing.

Degraded trees can be felled in batches, but after transplanting, they do not require human care.

There's absolutely no need to assign people to water and weed such a large woodland.

"Oh, I understand. No problem, we'll definitely get this done."

The person in charge understood Fang Wei's meaning and breathed a sigh of relief.

That makes things simple. In reality, transplanting and cutting down degraded trees are not big deals. The problem is that the trees need to be cared for, which involves too much daily work, and the company doesn't have enough manpower.

Adding more staff would be too costly and pointless.

The company already faces many restrictions in contracting this large area of ​​forest. If they were to cut down the wild forest and turn it into artificial afforestation, the forestry department would not agree.

This method of gradually replacing degraded trees is the most reliable. After listening to the work report, Fang Wei, accompanied by the person in charge, inspected the plantation.

To be honest, after so many years of development, man-made forests are not much different from wild forests. However, there is one significant difference: the difference in species diversity is quite large.

Planting under trees will inevitably occupy the living space of other plants, which is the main reason why wild forests are not artificially afforested.

"The harvest of medicinal herbs planted this year is also good. Our output is always in short supply every year. It's just a pity that our own forest area is only so big, otherwise the income would be even higher."

"Under the premise of not occupying farmland and state-owned forest land, the current scale of understory planting has reached its limit. Don't think too much about it, you have already done a great job. Don't just look at money, protecting state-owned forest land is also our responsibility."

Fang Wei didn't think there was anything to regret. Forestry was indeed very important in the early stages of development, but it's not as important now.

He doesn't want forestry companies to neglect their environmental responsibilities in pursuit of economic benefits. He thinks the current development is good enough and there's no need to overthink it.

"Understood, we will act strictly in accordance with laws and regulations."

The person in charge quickly made a statement to avoid leaving a bad impression on Secretary Fang.

Later, Fang Wei went to the experimental forest alone. He had long had the idea of ​​improving wild fruit tree varieties, and now that the task of cultivating rare wild herbs had come to an end, he was ready to implement the improvement plan.

the next day.

He asked the forestry company to send someone to bring him some wild fruit tree seeds. Although seed propagation is more troublesome, it's all the same to him, as it's more conducive to variety improvement.

After the seeds were sown, everyone left the experimental forest.

This area is a restricted zone. The company's management is concerned about the potential leakage of technical secrets, so no one is allowed to approach without permission.

Fang Wei didn't really care. Cultivating saplings wasn't complicated; what was complicated was adjusting their attribute values.

"Improved varieties must have the following characteristics: high yield, good resistance, excellent quality, good taste, and high success rate of natural breeding."

Fang Wei didn't need to specifically adjust the growth rate because the entire forest belonged to the [forest cultivation and harvesting area], where the growth rate was already very fast. What he needed to do was change the characteristics of the wild trees to meet his requirements.

Without hesitation, Fang Wei adjusted the attribute values ​​of this experimental forest.

The cultivated saplings will be transplanted into wild forests to replace old and obsolete trees. After these saplings mature and enter the breeding stage, the varieties will be improved through natural breeding over several years.

Natural propagation of trees is certainly slow, but once the success rate is increased, improved varieties will replace the original varieties on a large scale.

The priority order is to first improve the varieties of camellia trees, then the varieties of chestnut trees, and finally the varieties of loquat trees.

After the experimental forest was planted, Fang Wei left it alone and let them grow naturally.

Next.

The autumn harvest season has arrived, and large machines are busy in the fields, while the harvest in the barns is increasing.

Fang Wei began his routine inspection, this time in the reverse order of previous ones, starting with the Yaoling Cooperative and arriving at the Hengzhou Rice Production Base as the penultimate stop.

The last stop was the Jianghuai base, which was the season for winter wheat sowing. By the time he arrived, the work was nearing completion.

A large flour mill has been built here at the base. All the wheat produced at the base will be processed here, then packaged and sold on the market.

The flour is still branded as "Yaoling". Unlike the poor sales of wheat seeds, Yaoling flour was quickly popular with consumers after it hit the market.

This flour not only tastes great, but also makes the dough very elastic, resulting in incredibly fragrant noodles.

Promoting consumer goods is relatively easier, while promoting planting takes much longer.

Fang Wei fully affirmed the work of the Jianghuai base. He inspected all the facilities and found no problems.

The base has also achieved good economic benefits, and he is even considering expanding the planting scale to eventually build a million-mu wheat planting demonstration base.

It is said that the cost of planting in North America is low, and the planting costs of various units in Yaoling Agriculture are about the same.

First, it enabled mechanized operations, significantly reducing labor costs. Second, due to its specific properties, it greatly reduced the amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used.

The saying that farming doesn't make money refers to small-scale farmers; large agricultural groups like this one do make money.

Yaoling Agriculture has achieved a complete industrial chain, from breeding to planting to deep processing, and its comprehensive benefits are not to be underestimated.

After leaving the Jianghuai base, Fang Wei returned to the village, and the autumn harvest was basically over.

He received good news as soon as he returned.

The research institute and breeding team have overcome the challenges of second-generation hybrid maize, and all work is progressing smoothly. If all goes well, seed samples should be available by this time next year, after which verification work can begin.

"Congratulations everyone! I hope you will continue your efforts and complete this project completely."

Although the profits from cultivating corn seeds are not very high, the successive development of the first and second generations of hybrid corn is still very meaningful. (End of this chapter)