1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 349 Communication
Wang Daxin is also a vegetable grower in Nengyu Town, and he also planted cucumbers this year.

Unlike Uncle Gui, Wang Daxin's seedlings were transplanted in early September and harvested in October. It has been two months now, and the overall harvest is quite good.

However, as the nighttime temperature dropped, the cucumbers barely grew and stopped flowering and fruiting.

However, despite being looked down upon by everyone this year, Uncle Gui's cucumber vines are still lush and green, and he has not missed a single thing: flowering, fruiting, and harvesting.

He has been observing this for more than half a month, but still has not seen any significant reduction in cucumber production.

This made him even more surprised.

His mood soured because his uncle had asked him to buy melon seedlings two months ago, but he hadn't sold them, and the two families weren't on good terms.

He didn't want to ask the reason directly.

But today, while my family is already pulling up the vines, Uncle Gui still picked several baskets of cucumbers, and the cucumbers were of excellent quality.

This made him feel very unbalanced, extremely unbalanced.

Uncle Gui is an old farmer with rich experience in growing vegetables. When Wang Daxin first started growing vegetables, he consulted Uncle Gui many times. However, Uncle Gui liked to keep his secrets and kept many of his techniques and experiences to himself, which caused Wang Daxin to take many detours.

This year, Uncle Gui's seedlings ran into problems, which made him secretly happy, and he even belittled Uncle Gui in front of many people, saying that his seedlings were outdated.

Especially when Uncle Gui replanted cucumbers near October, he subjected him to extreme belittling and ridicule.

If cucumbers are planted in October, even if they bear fruit, how much will the yield be?

This is a classic case of desperation leading to any remedy!
Uncle Gui is in for a lot of trouble!
Just when he and many other farmers were watching with a detached, spectator's mindset, things gradually deviated from their expectations.

Uncle Gui's cucumbers have borne fruit and been harvested. The yield seems quite high, but wait! How come there are still so many?
Damn, it's already December, and there are still cucumbers? When will this end?!

Wang Daxin, who was pulling up rice seedlings, was very unhappy. He sat on the edge of the field with two other equally frustrated vegetable farmers, smoking their pipes.

"Another load of cucumbers carried home!"

"These cucumbers are pretty good!"

Uncle Gui carried two baskets of cucumbers, the carrying pole bending his back, but the faint smile on his lips couldn't be hidden.

A vegetable farmer struck up a conversation: "Da Gui, your cucumbers are amazing! You've picked so many even in this season. Come on, take a break, have a smoke before you go."

"You really have to be an experienced vegetable farmer! Your skill in growing these melons is the best in our area!"

Uncle Gui paused for a moment, but didn't put down the carrying pole. "You guys chat, I'm still busy working. Next time, next time for sure."

After Uncle Gui walked away, Wang Daxin said jokingly, "You two shouldn't expect to learn anything from him. Don't think that Uncle Gui and his wife would tell you anything."

A vegetable farmer asked, "Wang Daxin, don't you want to know how he grows cucumbers?"

"I've been thinking about it," Wang Daxin said with a smile. "But this requires some thought. I've been observing for half a month, and after thinking it over, there's only one possibility."

"Tell me quickly, don't hide it. You're not like Da Gui, trying to keep everything to yourself, are you?"

"Hmph, do you think I'm that kind of person?" Wang Daxin pondered. "A couple of days ago, Da Gui went to Yuanma Town and delivered eggs to the new vegetable seedling farm there."

The other two pondered for a moment.

Nengyu Town is south of the county seat, and Yuanma Town is north of it. Why would Da Gui go to Yuanma to deliver eggs for no reason?
It should still be given to the seedling nursery.

"Hey~ Da Gui's cucumber seedlings were given away for free by the nursery, right? I heard they were in seedling trays and they were grafted seedlings."

"Could that be the reason?"

"It's pretty close." With the seedlings pulled up and things temporarily quieter, Wang Daxin pondered, "How about we go check out Yuanma together?"

"When?"

"Now."

"go!"

The three young vegetable farmers acted decisively and arrived at Xinghuo Village, Yuanma Town, in the afternoon.

The greenhouses on the plain are very eye-catching, and the greenhouses are surrounded by vegetable fields that look like a green carpet, interspersed with red, green and purple fruits.

"No, the eggplants haven't even been pulled up yet at this time of year?"

"It looks like it'll be over soon. There aren't many fruits left, and the quality isn't good either."

"Is that the point?"

"..."

From the moment Wang Daxin saw the eggplant, he knew he had found the right direction. Apart from the eggplant, which was already past its prime, the cucumber and tomato seemed to be in their prime.

"If this isn't a scam, I'll write my surname backwards!"

His companion's lips twitched. "Isn't it still '王' (king) even written backwards? It might not necessarily become '王八' (turtle)?"
However, there's definitely something special about this vegetable garden.

The three young vegetable farmers kept walking and kept thinking how wonderful it would be if they could still harvest their melons from their own fields.

Every extra day of picking is money!
Besides, Da Gui has been picking for far more than just one day; it's been almost half a month!

After walking for a while, we encountered workers in the vegetable field. Compared to the cucumbers at Da Gui's house, the cucumbers in the baskets were much more standard.

The cucumbers are uniform in size, length, and color, and are all perfectly straight.

The tomatoes were a bit messy, but in an open area, tarpaulins were laid out and workers were sorting them.

The tomatoes, all the same size, were neatly arranged in layers in the basket, like soldiers standing at attention.

Different.

Really different.

"Da Xin, isn't what they're doing causing trouble?"

"trouble."

"Then for what?"

"That might be why it's more expensive." They had just spoken with the workers.

Wang Daxin pondered for a moment and said, "None of that matters anymore. What matters is that we've found the cause, and the root of the problem lies in the seedlings." "I heard that seedlings aren't cheap, 15 cents per seedling, and it costs several hundred yuan to plant one acre."

"Yeah, it's too expensive."

"But it will allow us to harvest cucumbers for at least another half a month, or even longer."

In fact, the yield of Yuanmou winter early-season cucumbers will decline after November.

Wang Daxin was brainstorming and came to a conclusion a few minutes later.

Even if the seedlings cost 15 cents each, the yield per acre could potentially increase by more than 1500 jin.

As long as cucumbers sell for more than 3 cents per kilogram, planting grafted seedlings is more cost-effective.

Based on prices in the past two years, even in the worst years, the price was far more than 3 cents per kilogram.

Moreover, based on his observations, the increased yield of cucumbers from Da Gui's family might be more than 1500 jin, and he felt there were other undiscovered benefits as well.

"Daxin, shall we go check out the seedling nursery?"

"Clap!" Wang Daxin clapped his hands. "Damn it, what am I thinking about? I should just go to the seedling farm and ask them. If they want to sell seedlings, they definitely won't hold back!"

The group then learned that the nursery was temporarily out of seedlings, but the melons and fruits in the greenhouse once again caught their attention.

The cucumber, tomato, and eggplant plants were much taller than usual, and the amount of fruit they bore was astonishing.

Peeking out, every corner of my view was filled with the sight of fruits and vegetables.

Wang Daxin stared wide-eyed.

"Are you here to buy seedlings?"

Chen Jiazhi walked towards them, accompanied by Li Mingkun and Zhong Jiakai, the secretary of Xinghuo Village.

Wang Daxin took the cigarette that looked somewhat high-end, sniffed it, and said, "Let's ask."

After a pause, Wang Daxin pointed to the open cucumber patch and asked, "Is the fact that these cucumbers are still bearing fruit related to your seedlings?"

Chen Jiazhi nodded with a smile, secretly pleased. "Wow, it's been so long, either no one comes, or they all come in droves."

Besides the three people in front of them, other vegetable farmers who also noticed something amiss came over to inquire.

There aren't many people with this kind of initiative; they're mostly farmers with some knowledge.

"Of course it's related. Do you all grow cucumbers?"

"Yes, could you tell us?" Wang Daxin lit a cigarette and added, "We can plant your seedlings next year too."

I didn't say I'd buy it~
That's a bit sneaky.

However, Chen Jiazhi didn't take it seriously. "Let's go sit in the office and have a drink first. There are other people besides you. We'll talk about them later."

Besides the three vegetable farmers who came on their own, many vegetable workers at Yunling Farm also noticed that the growing period of cucumbers had become longer.

The news has spread throughout the neighborhood these days, and many people are quite interested in it.

This also includes Zhong Jiakai, the village secretary.

Since they were moving into the new office building today, Chen Jiazhi took the opportunity to have a sheep slaughtered and cooked, and to have a dinner party in the evening, while also conducting a small training session or technical exchange.

In addition to his own family members, he also invited several research groups that were conducting breeding research at Yuanmou Farm.

We've managed to get to know each other fairly well now.

Only then did he realize that several research teams specializing in vegetable seed production had known about seedling farms and their benefits for some time.

Unfortunately, agricultural research groups usually have limited funding, and spending money to buy seedlings is a luxury.

In addition, Li Mingkun's prices were too high, so no one placed orders.

But coming here for technical exchange is still fine, and we can also grab a bite of mutton while we're at it, just to treat ourselves.
Time passes slowly.

Yunling Farm is becoming increasingly lively.

A stove has been set up outside the new office building, and people are already cooking. The workers have finished their busy day and are heading to their offices.

The conference room quickly filled with people.

There were workers, management team members, village officials, experts from nearby research groups, and vegetable farmers who came to inquire about seedling information; a total of over a hundred people gathered together.

Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, Chen Jiazhi, who was standing at the door, smiled and said, "Director Li, do you want to say something later?"

"I'd rather not." Li Mingkun felt a little guilty; he had never experienced anything like this before.

"Backing down?" Chen Jiazhi teased. "What's there to be afraid of? In this position, you'll have to go through these things sooner or later."

Li Mingkun hesitated.

"It's settled then. Just say whatever you want. If you really don't know anything, just tell me how you grow cucumbers."

"Okay, then I'll say this one."

"go in."

Chen Jiazhi patted him on the shoulder, actually encouraging himself, as he had rarely experienced such a scene.

Upon entering the conference room, the first two rows were occupied by experts from nearby research groups.

As Chen Jiazhi stepped onto the stage, the meeting room fell silent.

After taking a breath, Chen Jiazhi said with a smile, "I won't mince words and will get straight to the point. The aroma of meat outside is making me a little impatient."

"Haha~"

The well-timed laughter eased Chen Jiazhi's tension, and he slowly began to deliver his prepared speech.

"Since everyone is here for the grafted seedlings, let me first introduce the actual performance of the various plug seedlings and grafted seedlings at Yunling Farm during this period."

(End of this chapter)