Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 476 Grain Reserves
The struggle for alliance between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers continued until the beginning of 1910, and the members of the two military blocs expanded from the original five powers to nearly ten European countries.

As the number of member states of the two major military blocs continues to increase, the European public is increasingly convinced that if war breaks out between the two major European military blocs, it will escalate into a super war that will affect the whole of Europe.

Given that most of the European powers possessed their own colonies, this European war could potentially escalate into a world war.

Many people were looking forward to a world war, hoping to wash away national humiliation in such an unprecedented super war; at least some French people thought so.

The Russian government was also eager to use a war to reaffirm its existence. For nearly a decade prior, the Russian government's influence in Europe had been abysmal, falling to its lowest point in nearly a century.

The reason is simple: Russia's internal and military turmoil led the major European powers to underestimate this once very powerful country.

Although Russia's domestic problems had not been resolved, Tsar Nicholas II believed that there were no major issues within his country. He thought that a single victory in war would restore public trust in the Tsarist government, and that the Romanov family's rule would not be in danger. After all, Russia had not yet seen a large-scale revolution, and the unrest that had broken out was mostly aimless.

The German government did not want war to break out at this time, and there was a belief within Germany that war preparations were not yet adequate.

However, under constant pressure from France and Russia, Germany had no choice but to continuously expand its military strength and frantically manufacture all kinds of weapons and equipment to deal with the possible outbreak of war.

France and Russia did the same thing, and almost every European country was frantically producing all kinds of weapons, ammunition and strategic materials, which led to a significant increase in the prices of food, medicine and steel in Europe starting in the second half of 1909.

In particular, the price of food, a resource that is always very important, has skyrocketed by nearly 50%.

Before 1909, the price of grain in Europe remained relatively stable within a certain range, with wheat costing approximately 205 pesetas per ton and barley costing approximately 176 pesetas per ton.

By 1909, however, grain prices in Europe had risen to 286 pesetas per ton of wheat and 263 pesetas per ton of barley.

Rising grain prices are not necessarily a good thing, after all, there are grain trading companies as intermediaries between farmers and buyers of commercial grain.

Farmers' actual income is about the same as before the rise in grain prices, which means that only grain companies are really making money, while the cost of grain for both farmers and urban residents will increase.

In particular, urban residents who do not produce food will see their living costs rise as food prices generally increase.

In response to the widespread rise in food prices across Europe, the Spanish government quickly convened a meeting and decided to release some of its grain reserves to stabilize domestic food prices.

It is simply impossible to maintain food prices in Spain at the levels of a few years ago when food prices are rising across Europe. As part of the European market, Spain cannot act independently unless it completely closes off its domestic market.

However, given the widespread increase in food prices, the Spanish government can make some adjustments to ensure that the price increases are not too extreme and to guarantee the daily food consumption of urban residents.

For other countries, lowering domestic food prices is very difficult. They either need to release enough food into the country to stabilize prices, or they need to control the middlemen in the food supply chain to prevent unscrupulous merchants from continuously raising prices during such times.

For Spain, both of these were achievable. Spain's African colonies produced a large amount of food, and its domestic food reserves were sufficient to feed the entire Spanish population for more than half a year.

Furthermore, since Spain's major grain trading companies are controlled by the government and the royal family, as long as the government issues a notice to these grain companies to stabilize grain prices, the grain companies controlled by the government and the royal family will immediately implement these orders to ensure that grain prices in various regions of Spain do not rise to an excessive level.

In addition to quelling rising domestic food prices, Carlos also ordered the Spanish government to increase its food reserves and suspend most food exports.

Following Spain's large-scale agricultural development of its West African colonies, Spain also became one of Europe's major food exporters.

After all, Spain has always been one of the less populous countries among the great powers, and its grain production has been increasing with the use of chemical fertilizers and the development of its colonies.

In 1909, the total grain production of Spain and its colonies reached 1048 million tons, an increase of about 4.1% over the previous year.

Of the 1048 million tons of grain produced, the main products were wheat and rice, with yields of 578 million tons and 231 million tons, respectively.

In addition to these two most important grains, the production of rye, oats, and barley also exceeds 200 million tons.

These grain yields also reveal the characteristics of Spanish cuisine, which is dominated by various types of pasta, such as bread, pasta, and pizza.

Rice made from paddy rice is also widely used in Spain, with the most common way to prepare it being paella, which is considered one of Spain's iconic dishes.

Pizza actually originated in Italy several decades ago. Carlos, having had enough of the food native to Spain, learned that a dish called pizza was becoming popular in Italy. He immediately sent the Spanish royal chef to learn how to make it, and successfully introduced pizza to Spain, inspiring many Spanish nobles to follow suit.

This also led to Spaniards quickly falling in love with pizza, adding slices of beef or Iberian ham to it for a unique flavor.

With the introduction of pizza and the invention of cola and various fruit-flavored soft drinks, the Spanish dining table became incredibly abundant.

Of course, there's also Carlo's earliest fast food company, which produced food like hamburgers.

Making a hamburger is relatively simple: a beef patty is sandwiched between two buns, topped with some of your favorite vegetables, and a squeeze of special salad dressing. It's not only easy to make, but also nutritious.

Based on the current per capita grain production in Spain, the annual output of various grains, amounting to 1048 million tons, is enough to feed more than 6500 million people for a whole year.

Spain doesn't have that many people, which means it sells nearly 262 million tons of grain annually—enough to feed almost 1500 million people. If Spain announces a halt to grain exports and stockpiles all the surplus grain as reserves, European grain prices will inevitably see another round of increases.

After all, European countries will certainly take similar actions. In order to prepare for a possible war, European countries will definitely expand their domestic food reserves to prevent food production reduction and food crisis caused by the outbreak of war.

Regarding the matter of expanding Spain's grain reserves, after lengthy discussions, the Spanish government ultimately decided to focus the main expansion of grain reserves on wheat and rice.

These two are staple foods for Spaniards and are also the two most produced grains in Spain.

Spain currently has a total grain reserve of 575 million tons, including 320 million tons of wheat, 125 million tons of rice, 40 tons of soybeans, 30 tons of rye, 30 tons of barley, and 30 tons of corn.

These food reserves are enough to feed the Spanish people for more than half a year. In addition, with the production of vegetables and fruits, as well as various dairy products and meats in Spain, these food reserves can easily sustain the entire population of Spain for a year.

However, considering that this super war could last for several years, Carlo ordered the government to expand food reserves to feed all Spaniards for at least a year and a half, so as to ensure that Spain would not suffer from famine if the super war broke out in the future.

To feed all Spaniards for a year and a half, grain reserves would need to be at least equal to annual production, which is tens of millions of tons.

To achieve grain reserves of tens of millions of tons, the Spanish government will need to allocate a significant portion of its budget to grain purchases in the coming years.

Fortunately, grain production in both the homeland and the colonies was increasing, and Spain had suspended most of its grain exports, storing more than 200 million tons of grain each year. This allowed it to accumulate tens of millions of tons of grain reserves within about two years.

Increasing grain reserves to tens of millions is already the limit for the current Spanish government. After all, both Spain and its colonies continue to produce food, and even if the colonies are occupied by enemies, domestically produced food can continuously replenish the warehouses.

More importantly, the enemy might not be able to occupy Spain's colonies. As long as the food-producing areas of the homeland and the colonies are protected, even if a super war breaks out in the future, Spain's annual grain production can still be stabilized at tens of millions of tons, which is more than enough to feed the entire population.

Currently, in addition to dealing with the unlikely food crisis, another purpose of expanding grain reserves is to earn substantial foreign exchange revenue through grain exports after the outbreak of war.

Carlo did not plan for Spain to join this super war in the early stages, which meant that Spain could hedge its bets and profit from both military blocs in the early stages of the war.

If war breaks out, food prices in Europe will continue to rise. Although the Spanish government is spending a lot of money buying this food now, the money from selling the food in the event of war will be far more than what they are currently paying for.

The profits earned from grain sales will be enough for the Spanish government to launch a larger-scale military mobilization.

For Spain, which is not financially well-off, it is something that needs to be considered: how to raise funds for the war effort.

The good news is that, in addition to using domestic grain production to fill the gap in grain reserves, Spain can also purchase some grain from South American countries.

Since the establishment of the Spanish-speaking Economic Union, relations between Spain and South American countries have improved significantly. Argentina, in particular, has seen a substantial increase in relations with Spain for a period of time, driven by the need to counter Chile, which is backed by Britain, resulting in numerous economic cooperation agreements between the two countries.

Argentina has a large area of ​​black soil, and Spain has signed an economic cooperation treaty with the Argentine government to jointly develop this vast area.

Spain established numerous grain-producing regions on Argentina's black soil, which in turn increased Argentina's grain production.

A large portion of this grain production was purchased by Spanish grain companies and then transported to Europe for sale.

These grain production figures are not included in the grain production statistics of the Spanish agricultural sector, but they are within the scope of Spain's control.

As long as Spain maintains good relations with South American countries, it can still purchase large quantities of food from them even if a world war breaks out in the future.

Besides grain production, Argentina also boasts impressive meat production. Argentina's subsequent economic prosperity relied heavily on beef and lamb exports, and Spain could also lower domestic meat prices by importing Argentine meat.

Currently, Spain has reached a close cooperation agreement with Argentina regarding the import and export of food and meat. Combined with other South American countries, this ensures that Spain can secure sufficient food and meat supplies to cope with a potential war that could last for several years.

Speaking of South American countries, since the establishment of the Spanish-speaking countries' economic alliance, not only have economic ties between Spain and South American countries been strengthened, but population flows between the two sides have also become much more frequent.

According to estimates from the Spanish immigration authorities, since the establishment of the Spanish-speaking Economic Union, Spain has received at least one million immigrants from South America. The vast majority of these immigrants have obtained Spanish citizenship and integrated into the Spanish community.

Meanwhile, nearly 50 people from Spain have also emigrated to South America. As the native population continues to increase, the per capita arable land area in Spain is also decreasing.

Although a significant portion of the population has transitioned to urban life and working, the reduction in arable land still impacts the lives of the majority of farmers.

Life may be manageable, but some people still want to take risks and strive for a better life.

South America is a great choice. Most countries in South America speak Spanish, so Spaniards won't have any trouble communicating there.

The majority of the population in many South American countries are descendants of Hispanic immigrants. Aside from changing their place of residence and life, immigrating to South America seems to be no different from living in Spain.

(End of this chapter)