industrial overlord

Chapter 609 Fallow

The so-called fallow means that a piece of land is not planted with crops for a certain period of time in order to restore its soil fertility.The soil fertility of the land refers to the chemical elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the land and the content of humus in the soil, which is the guarantee for the high yield of crops.If a piece of land is continuously cultivated for a long time, these chemical elements and humus cannot be replenished, which will lead to crop yield reduction.In order to obtain high yields on land with insufficient soil fertility, people have to use a large amount of chemical fertilizers to supplement these substances that should exist in nature, which eventually leads to harsh phenomena such as land compaction, which is the so-called degradation of cultivated land.

In the United States, in order to maintain the fertility of the land and ensure the sustainable development of agriculture, the government has introduced a series of measures including fallow, crop rotation, and no-tillage.Among them, a fallow plan started in 1986. Under the premise of farmers' voluntary, the government provides subsidies to let some land go fallow for 10 to 15 years, so that these lands can be restored to their original state before farming.In addition to this government-led fallow plan, many farmers themselves will set aside part of the land from time to time to avoid excessive consumption of land fertility.

In contrast, in China, due to its large population and limited land, it is impossible to allow cultivated land to be left uncultivated.When climatic conditions permit, people often adopt a farming system of two or even three seasons a year, so that the land is continuously in a state of overdraft.To restore soil fertility, people sometimes plant a season of green manure crops such as safflower and alfalfa in winter to add some organic fertilizer to overwhelmed land.

The United States is able to put a large amount of land in a fallow state, largely due to the abundance of land resources. If all the land is used for cultivation, the market will simply not be able to digest so much output.Now, when Lin Zhenhua asked whether he could buy 2000 million tons of wheat from the United States, Slitter's first thought was to use the land that was in a fallow state. You know, this can be exchanged for white money.

Hearing Slit's suggestion, Radka also realized that a large amount of land on his farm was also fallow.The fallow time can be long or short, if it is not possible, if you put in more chemical fertilizers, will you still worry about the wheat not growing?

"Sleeter, you are right. If there is such a large order, I think the agricultural associations can lobby the government to ask the government to relax some of the fallow requirements. We can reduce the fallow to once every two years. Once every three years, it doesn't do much damage to the land," Radkar said.

"But, Lin, are you sure that China needs to import 2000 million tons of American wheat?" Ford is not as optimistic as these two farmers. He still remembers what Huang Gang said that China's wheat is enough to be self-sufficient. According to Ford's experience, China As long as people can produce things themselves, they will never import them.The Chinese regard foreign exchange as more precious than their daughter-in-law, so how could it be used indiscriminately?
Lin Zhenhua pointed to Huang Gang and said to Ford: "I am afraid that only their government officials can answer this question. As you know, I am in industry, and I don't need so much wheat."

Hearing Lin Zhenhua's nonsense, Huang Gang was a little annoyed. He winked at Lin Zhenhua and said, "Boss Lin, should we go out and talk about this matter?"

"Uh...Okay." Lin Zhenhua stood up, greeted Ford and the others, and walked out of the meeting room. Huang Gang followed closely behind him and also came outside the meeting room.

"What's the matter, Huang Gang, do you think I'm wrong?" Lin Zhenhua asked.

Huang Gang complained: "Brother Lin, you can't just pat your head and come up with an idea, right? We came to talk with Ford today to persuade them to become the spokesperson of China. This task is clear. However, we can't do it just to win them over. Just make random promises? What you said about importing 2000 million tons of wheat is simply unreliable."

Lin Zhenhua retorted: "Why is it unreliable? Didn't you hear what Radka said, 2000 million tons of wheat, which is more than 30 billion US dollars, we can import hundreds of billions of dollars a year. More than 30 billion, do you also feel distressed?"

Huang Gang said: "You don't feel bad about spending the money that should be spent, and don't spend a penny of the money that shouldn't be spent. Brother Lin, you are also in business, you should know how difficult it is for our country to earn some foreign exchange. Look at what you said, 'more than 30 billion yuan', if our director hears your words, I'm afraid they will call you a prodigal son."

"Is it difficult to earn foreign exchange?" Lin Zhenhua said, "Little Huang, are your thoughts still stuck 10 years ago? Yes, it was very difficult for us to earn some foreign exchange in the past, but the situation has been completely different in recent years. .Our chemical equipment alliance alone can earn tens of billions of dollars of foreign exchange for the country in a year. The foreign trade of our entire country is already a large surplus. Why do you still think it is difficult to earn foreign exchange?"

Huang Gang said: "That's right, the situation of foreign exchange receipts and payments in the past two years has been better than in the past, and the foreign exchange reserves have also risen to nearly 2000 billion. But we must be prepared for danger in times of peace. In case of major changes in the foreign trade situation, or 97 What should we do in a situation like the Asian financial crisis in 2000? The foreign exchange reserves of [-] billion US dollars are not too small, but they are not too much, and we still need to save and use them.”

This is the fear of the poor when they become rich.You know, only six or seven years ago, China was still a country with a serious shortage of foreign exchange. At that time, China's foreign exchange reserves were only more than 200 billion U.S. dollars, far lower than the amount of foreign investment in China, and also lower than the country's burden. The amount of external debt.If at that time there was a situation like the Soviet Union's debt duress in the early 60s, China would face a very difficult situation.

During the Asian financial crisis in 97, it was not that Soros, the financial tycoon, had no idea about China. Thanks to China's sufficient foreign exchange reserves, Soros retreated.It can also be seen from this how important a sufficient foreign exchange reserve is to ensure national financial security.

Over the past few years, the country has been frugal, constantly expanding exports, saving imports as much as possible, and finally increased its foreign exchange reserves to a level of 2000 billion US dollars. The difficult situation disappeared again.

Only people with foresight like Lin Zhenhua can be so optimistic about the prospect of foreign exchange income.Lin Zhenhua knows that in the next 10 years, China's foreign exchange balance will not deteriorate, but will get better and better, so that in the end there will be nowhere to go.To put a simple figure, by 2011, China will be able to get back nearly 13 billion U.S. dollars in interest a year only on the foreign bonds it holds.If these interests were exchanged for wheat, it would be enough to feed the country's [-] billion people.

Knowing that there will be so many unspendable dollars in the future, why not spend them now and buy something of value?
Lin Zhenhua persuaded: "Xiao Huang, your worries are completely unnecessary. You can also see that the export situation of Chinese goods is very good now. It is almost impossible for foreign countries to completely boycott Chinese goods. In the case of a substantial increase, if we do not consciously increase some imports, we will inevitably incur the dissatisfaction of other countries in the end, thus triggering a trade war. Instead of holding unused money to provoke hatred, it is better to use the money Let's go buy what we need."

"It is inevitable to expand imports from the United States, but we don't need to buy wheat, right? It's not something we can't produce." Huang Gang said.

Lin Zhenhua spread his hands and asked, "If you don't buy wheat, what are you going to buy? Are you going to buy American luxury goods? Didn't you hear what they said? The American Agricultural Association is a very influential interest group. If we Being able to tie the American Agricultural Association with the import of agricultural products and let them speak for us on various occasions will also be of great help to the export of Chinese goods to the United States. It is only 30 billion US dollars, and we only earn a few stamping production lines. came back."

Huang Gang said: "Brother Lin, you have only considered the issue of import and export, but have you thought about another issue? Our country's grain production is sufficient, and there is even some surplus every year. Under such circumstances, if a large amount Import wheat from the United States, so what is the use of China's own land?"

"Fallow!" Lin Zhenhua blurted out, "Isn't this simple?"

"Fallow?" Huang Gang was taken aback, "What kind of idea is this? Let's not plant our own land, but waste a lot of foreign exchange to buy food abroad. How can there be such a reason?"

Lin Zhenhua looked at Huang Gang with eyes that hated iron and steel, and said, "Huang Gang, Huang Gang, I always thought you were an open-minded person, but I didn't expect you to have such a small-scale peasant consciousness. First of all, foreign exchange can neither be eaten nor drunk. It is enough to keep a little as a reserve, and the rest has to be spent when you earn it, what is waste?"

Huang Gang said: "Well, let's just think what you said is reasonable. But, if we don't plant our own land, it's always a waste, right?"

Lin Zhenhua said: "This problem is complicated. In fact, land fallow is not a waste, but a kind of protection for the land. Most of our land in China is over-cultivated, and we have to rely on chemical fertilizers to maintain production. From a scientific point of view, these lands should be left fallow every few years, and some lands with poor conditions should even be left fallow for a long time, which is the need for sustainable development.”

"This..." Huang Gang nodded thoughtfully, "What you said seems to make sense. The country's efforts to return farmland to forests and grasslands over the years are also out of the need to protect the ecological environment. However, returning farmland The scale is far from enough. This is mainly to ensure the food supply. If we can import from the United States... let’s say 2000 million tons of wheat, it is equivalent to the output of 5000 million mu of high-quality cultivated land. According to your statement, the 5000 million Ten thousand mu of land can be left fallow, which is indeed very valuable for the restoration of the ecological environment."

(End of this chapter)