Dreaming back to 1949, the great powers were there to deceive us
Chapter 59: Ways to Increase Agricultural Production
In the car, Hu Zhenhua suddenly realized a problem. The reason why countless volunteers were frostbitten and frozen to death was not because of poor logistical supply, but because the whole of China was short of cotton.
The government's currency devaluation destroyed agriculture and industry.
In the future, Tongan can purchase cotton and grain from the West, but not from the Red side!
Hu Zhenhua rubbed his eyebrows. He felt that his power was too weak to change the agricultural layout!
He had just arrived at Chinachem when a middle-aged man came up to greet him.
"Hello, Mr. Hu, my name is Yu Haiping!"
Out of politeness, Hu Zhenhua extended his hand and shook hands with him.
"Mr. Yu, nice to meet you! I wonder where you are now?"
"Jinling Agricultural University!"
Hu Zhenhua took a step back and observed carefully.
Yu Haiping is about 170 cm tall, wears thick glasses, has short hair, wears coarse cloth clothes, and his feet are covered in mud.
Hu Zhenhua held his hand again and said happily,
"Mr. Yu, was it the master from Xinzhuang who notified you to come?"
"Yes, I heard that Mr. Hu is proficient in breeding, so I came here to ask for his advice!"
"I understand a little, a little! You haven't had breakfast yet, right? Should we have breakfast together?"
"It is better to obey orders than to be respectful!"
Hu Zhenhua was in a very good mood. He was just worrying about agricultural issues, but then experts came to visit him. Could this be considered a wish come true?
Could it be that it was really the Lord of Morality who arrested me?
Both of them ate very quickly, and the fight was over in just 10 minutes.
After the waiter brought the tea, Hu Zhenhua couldn't wait to say,
"Mr. Yu, do you know the current situation of cotton cultivation in China?"
After hearing this, Yu Haiping took off his high-height glasses, wiped them, put them back on, and said helplessly,
"Before the 19th century, my country was more than self-sufficient in cotton. By the 20s, annual cotton production exceeded 30 tons, reaching a peak of 50 tons in 1936. However, during the Anti-Japanese War, production was disrupted and cotton output plummeted. From 84.85 to 1946, annual cotton production was only around 1949 tons, far from meeting domestic demand."
Just a few words tell the entire history of cotton production in China.
Hu Zhenhua thought for a moment and asked,
"Aside from tariffs, are there other factors that are preventing farmers from growing cotton?"
"First, it's mainly about income. The dividing line for farmers to plant cotton is 12.5 kilograms of grain. In other words, when the price of cotton is higher than 12.5 kilograms of grain, farmers will profit and choose to plant grain. On the contrary, if the price is lower, they are unwilling to plant. Second, it's a matter of survival. In wartime, if you don't have clothes, you can still use thatch to keep warm. But if you don't have food, people will starve to death immediately."
Hu Zhenhua understood and asked again,
"If I exchange 13 kilograms of grain for one kilogram of cotton, Mr. Yu, do you think the people would be willing to plant it?"
"Of course I am willing!"
Hu Zhenhua burst into laughter, and a draft took shape in his mind: first lend the farmers a batch of grain to help them survive the famine, and then let them pay it back with cotton next year!
Yu Haiping and Hu Zhenhua calmed down a little and immediately asked,
"Mr. Hu, do you have any advice on breeding?"
Hu Zhenhua waved his hand.
"Mr. Yu, I just heard an idea and wanted to discuss it with you!"
Yu Haiping has taken out his notebook and is ready to take notes.
Although Hu Zhenhua felt embarrassed, he continued,
"Mr. Yu, I'm sure you've heard of the theory of evolution. Survival of the fittest!"
Yu Haiping nodded slightly. He was a knowledgeable person who studied agriculture, so of course he had heard of it.
"Adaptability refers to adapting to a certain environment, such as high temperatures and wind resistance! Let's take rice as an example. Some rice varieties have high yields, some are pest-resistant, and some are resistant to lodging. So, what determines these factors? It's genes! You know about genes, right?"
Yu Haiping nodded and said,
"In the 19s, Austrian geneticist Gregor Mendel discovered the basic laws of biological inheritance through pea hybridization experiments. In the early 60th century, Danish geneticist Johansson defined this genetic material as 'genes.'"
Hu Zhenhua felt a little ashamed. He only knew this little, but he wanted to show off in front of professional scholars.
He looked at Yu Haiping's expectant eyes and said,
"Let me use rice as an example. In rice, certain genes determine yield, others determine lodging resistance, and still others determine pest resistance. So, is there any way to combine these excellent genes in a single rice plant?"
Yu Haiping listened attentively and subconsciously asked, "What method?"
"Hybrid!"
Hu Zhenhua continued, "It involves hybridizing rice with one advantageous characteristic with another to create new varieties, and then selecting the variety that possesses both advantages."
Yu Haiping frowned and said,
"In the late 20s, my country began using hybridization to improve crop varieties, primarily by institutions such as Central University, Jinling University, Sun Yat-sen University, the Central Agricultural Experiment Station, the National Rice and Wheat Improvement Institute, and the Central Cotton Improvement Institute. The resulting high-quality varieties included Zhongshan No. 1 rice, Mozi 101, Liying No. 3 wheat, and the leaf roller-resistant Jijiaodezi cotton."
Hu Zhenhua opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.
It turns out that our ancestors had already started exploring hybridization, and I thought I was ahead of the times.
So ignorant.
Yu Haiping looked at Hu Zhenhua and said after a moment of silence,
"However, although the yield of these hybrid varieties has increased, the effect is not very obvious!"
Hu Zhenhua rubbed his eyebrows. From the 20s to now, nearly 30 years have passed. Is the progress so slow?
It seems that there are no shortcuts in scientific research.
Hu Zhenhua thought for a moment and said,
"That's because the number of experiments and the number of samples haven't been sufficient. I once saw a hybrid rice that could yield over a thousand kilograms per mu. Unfortunately, the rice fields were destroyed by war!"
Yu Haiping grabbed Lao Hu's arm tightly and asked,
"Where? Where?"
Hu Zhenhua thought of his hometown and said casually,
"Xinyang!"
"Where is Xinyang?"
When Hu Zhenhua saw that he was about to sprain his ankle, he quickly excused himself and said,
“I was young at the time and didn’t understand much!”
Yu Haiping then let go of Hu Zhenhua's hand, and the disappointment on his face was undisguised.
“Can we really produce 1,000 kilograms per mu?”
"Absolutely, I swear on my soul!"
Seeing Hu Zhenhua's clear eyes, Yu Haiping believed it a little and said,
"My teacher is Ding Ying, and it was he who developed Zhongshan No. 1!"
Hu Zhenhua was filled with awe. This Mr. Ding Ying could be regarded as a pioneer in hybrid rice research in China and deserved the respect of every Chinese.
"Mr. Ding's name will surely be remembered by future generations!"
Yu Haiping was silent for a moment and asked,
"Aside from hybridization, are there other breeding methods?"
"Yes, but the conditions for researching this technology are not yet in place!"
"What technology is it?"
"Genetically modified organisms, to put it simply, are about changing the genetic material of organisms. For example, if we send seeds into space, the weightlessness and cosmic ray exposure will cause the seeds' genes to mutate. When the technology matures in the future, we'll even be able to edit plant genes!"
Yu Haiping frowned and said with emotion,
"Is Western breeding technology so advanced?"
"No, this kind of genetic modification was proposed by us. It is currently only theoretical and the experimental conditions are not yet in place!"
Yu Haiping's brows relaxed.
He obviously understood GMOs, so Lao Hu didn't waste too much time talking about it.
The two of them chatted about this topic for about ten minutes, and they got along better and better the more they talked!
"Mr. Hu's words are truly enlightening and have broadened my horizons. I wonder if there are other ways to increase production?"
Hu Zhenhua naturally didn't hide his shortcomings in this regard and immediately replied, "You're welcome. There are certainly ways to increase grain production, such as using fertilizers! Every plant has its own nutritional requirements. If it has adequate nutrients during its growth process, it will naturally have a good harvest. Anyone who has farmed knows that the fertility of a piece of land decreases year by year, so farmers apply fertilizers. However, farmers only rely on experience and cannot accurately determine which nutrients are lacking in the land. In the future, we must vigorously develop nitrogen fertilizers, phosphorus fertilizers, potash fertilizers, etc., and build agricultural science academies and fertilizer plants. Through scientific testing, we can determine what the land lacks and then replenish the corresponding nutrients."
Seeing Hu Zhenhua stop, Yu Haiping immediately asked, "Testing the soil nutrients is not easy, right?"
“Any technology progresses from difficult to easy. As long as we keep developing, the difficult will become easy.”
Hu Zhenhua smiled and continued, "Of course, there's another method, which is crop rotation. Each crop requires different nutrients. For example, corn mainly absorbs mineral elements to grow, while wheat mainly absorbs nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. On the same piece of land, we can plant wheat this year and corn next year. This way, the land will have a year to recover other nutrients!"
Although Lao Hu is a poor student, he was born in an era of information explosion and his knowledge is seventy years ahead of his time.
This is the dimensionality reduction attack.
Hu Zhenhua paused and continued, "Another agricultural model is to develop greenhouse cultivation, which can solve the problem of eating fruits and vegetables in winter. However, this method is not suitable for staple food. After all, greenhouses require costs."
In later generations, Shouguang’s greenhouses were low-cost and effective, so Lao Hu didn’t mind letting this type of greenhouse come out earlier.
The dinner suddenly turned into an agricultural development conference.
Hu Zhenhua didn't care whether Yu Haiping was a professional scholar or not, and he talked incessantly for nearly half an hour.
The more he talked, the more his thoughts became divergent, and the more he recalled.
Suddenly, an idea came to him and he said,
"Mr. Yu, we are planning to build an agricultural research institute in the Magic City. I wonder if you would be willing to join us!"
Yu Haiping thought for a moment and gave an ambiguous answer.
"We researchers are the same wherever we are."
Hu Zhenhua didn't know whether he agreed or not, so he just painted a big picture first.
"Our Agricultural Research Institute will travel around the world to collect crop samples and open branches in the future. For the future of Chinese agriculture, we must take action. Therefore, I will first invest 10 yuan in the Agricultural Research Institute!"
Yu Haiping was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He wanted to conduct breeding research with just 10 yuan?
Agricultural research is an industry with high investment and slow returns, which is not something a private company can handle.
"Mr. Hu, thank you for your kindness. I'm in the fields all day long, and you probably only see me a few times a year! There's no point in working at the research institute!"
Hu Zhenhua refused to give up. Now that he had encountered it, he would speed up the breeding process.
"Mr. Yu, let me sponsor your breeding research. If you ever figure it out, you can always come to me. The door of the institute is always open to you!"
Hu Zhenhua rolled his eyes and continued,
"I'm planning to build a greenhouse to grow rice seedlings to study the effects of temperature on rice. Mr. Yu, could you please join me?"
This topic immediately aroused Yu Haiping's interest.
"Okay, I will definitely participate in this experiment!"
Hu Zhenhua was overjoyed and took Yu Haiping's hand.
"Let's go buy some land and start building the greenhouse now!"
……
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