Chapter 247 From Field to Table
The purpose of the Ministry of Agriculture is self-evident.

The crisis of domestic soybeans has caused headaches for a number of leaders, and the voices of experts in the soybean and grain industries have become increasingly louder.

Tax exemptions, subsidies, and barriers to imported genetically modified soybeans... various measures are already being implemented.

But there is a hidden danger.

Currently, most of the investors in the domestic soybean industry are multinational grain traders, and there are no other purely domestic enterprises except Jiusan Grain and Oil.

These multinational grain traders invest in my country's soybean processing industry based on the premise of selling foreign soybeans.

For example, ADM acquired 30% of the shares of Huanong Group's Zhanjiang Oil Factory, but obtained 70% of its raw material purchasing rights.

Multinational grain traders invest in my country's soybean industry only as a way to realize their international trade profits.

Rather than saying they are here to invest, it would be more accurate to say they are here to seize the domestic soybean consumption market, eliminate competitors, and then monopolize.

This results in the Ministry of Agriculture sometimes being unable to find suitable entities when it wants to support leading enterprises.

Jiahe thus came into the sight of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Its strong profitability and control over seeds such as soybeans, corn, and forage enable it to easily cope with the high risks of the processing industry.

In other words, Jiahe can withstand higher losses, and the potential of Tiandou No. 1 on wasteland such as saline-alkali land and medium- and low-yield fields also enables Jiahe to have the ability to reverse the situation.

The current national reserve policy can only solve the problem of farmers’ difficulty in selling grain, but cannot solve the problem of market shortage.

It is also impossible for the national storage capacity to purchase without limit.

It has become inevitable to extend the subsidy policy for national reserves to large-scale processing enterprises, allowing enterprises to participate in storage, which will not only solve the problem of insufficient storage capacity in national reserves, but also reduce the amount of soybeans imported by processing enterprises.

However, this policy also has hidden dangers. Past experience has told the Ministry of Agriculture that some enterprises, even state-owned enterprises, are unreliable.

They received government subsidies and then turned around and sold the soybeans to the national reserve department, acting as a middleman.

In this way, the state subsidies are given out, and the domestic soybeans are not consumed in the processing stage, so the problem is not solved at all.

There are very few corporate options that can be supported. In addition to Jiusan Grain and Oil, the Ministry of Agriculture is indeed very fond of Jiahe Group.

Able to bear the losses, plus government subsidies, and then wait for the situation to turn around.

Therefore, Director Liu cared a lot about Guo Yang’s statement at the meeting. Although he spoke briefly, it was enough as long as the meaning was conveyed.

In fact, Guo Yang also wanted to get involved in the entire industrial chain.

What's more, the country is in trouble. If Jiahe stands up at this time, the political benefits it can gain will be beyond imagination.

The four major multinational grain traders all have strong political backgrounds, and the president can come out to support them from time to time.

If Golden Harvest wants to ride the waves in the international arena, it must have the support of a great power behind it.

Moreover, at this time, there is a serious overcapacity in domestic soybean crushing capacity, which is not only the best time for multinational grain traders to carry out full-line mergers and acquisitions, but also the best time for Jiahe to acquire.

Unlike the China National Grain and Foodstuffs Corporation, which is diversified, according to Guo Yang's plan, Jiahe will focus on processing areas such as soybeans, corn, wheat, and forage.

Then, you can also enter the feed industry.

The new corn variety that Guo Yang had previously cultivated was named Tianyu No. 8, which is an extremely excellent high-quality protein corn variety.

At the same time, Tianhe also has Tiandou No. 1.

This gave Jiahe more confidence to enter the grain processing field. Although soybean processing was loss-making, I still had corn, wheat, and rice...

As long as Jiahe continues to deepen its presence and expand in the vertical fields of the industrial chain, it will be able to cope with the risks brought by international capital.

……

Nine springs.

Guo Yang gained a lot from this conference on high-quality development of the agricultural industry, especially some development strategies of the four major grain traders.

It gave him a feeling of enlightenment.

Combining his previous life's understanding of the four major grain traders, Guo Yang spent several days organizing his various ideas into documents.

Subsequently, various departments and core management were convened to organize a strategic meeting, at which several major work priorities of Jiahe Group were listed.

The first is the development of the entire industrial chain, focusing on seeds and expanding support for multiple industries such as fertilizers, planting, pesticides, and food.

Second, overseas market expansion;

The third is the leadership development plan and overseas localization strategy.

Multinational operations always have to go through the pain of talent shortage. In fact, Golden Harvest has already experienced this pain.

The leadership development plan pays more attention to the construction of young teams and focuses on cultivating talents with the potential to become senior executives of the company.

Guo Yang hopes to cultivate talents with imagination, execution and interpersonal relationships through this program.

Interpersonal Relationships – To build a network of friendly relationships with investors, government, employees, farmers, customers, etc. in order to bring the greatest benefit to the company.

If you want to expand globally, overseas talent is always indispensable, which can be seen from the difficult overseas expansion of Chinese companies.

Therefore, there is an overseas localization strategy, the core ideas of which are mainly four points:
Decisions are made based on those closest to the market, as they understand the actual situation and customer needs best, and local talent is used when appropriate.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do and communicate in the customer's language and habits.

Encourage employees to focus on the grassroots rather than on top-down, high-level goals.

Stimulate employee and customer loyalty and create an atmosphere of openness.

...

At the same time, Guo Yang repeatedly emphasized that the core of the success of the entire industrial chain strategy is to provide farmers with complete supporting services.

This is also what Golden Harvest has been doing.

Only the farmers know the truth, but we must publicize it in a big way and work hard to achieve it.

On the one hand, we provide farmers with a series of agricultural services such as seeds, technical support, agronomic training, harvesting, drying, storage, etc.

On the one hand, farmers' agricultural products are purchased, stored, processed and brought into the trade system.

Through services, Jiahe has turned the entire process of "production-sales" of agricultural products into a value chain and incorporated these farmers into the system.

Jiahe will always publicize that Jiahe's success comes from the hard work of farmers. Farmers are not only Jiahe's bread and butter, but also Jiahe's customers.

Finally, it is appropriate diversification.

Build an agricultural industrial system with seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and food as the core.

The meeting lasted for two consecutive days.

Because Guo Yang only proposed some big frameworks, there are still many details that need brainstorming, and this entire industrial chain plan will also be revised and improved over a long period of time.

After the meeting, the entire group's top management was shrouded in an inexplicable emotion.

Excited? Thrilled? Nervous?

No one can tell.

But it seems that there is always endless energy to vent.

This sentiment also spread to work, making Jiahe Group's subsequent investment and acquisition methods appear particularly rough.

...

When Jiahe was organizing the meeting, the domestic soybean industry had already been in turmoil.

Even because of the fluctuations in the futures market and the sensitivity of GMOs, domestic soybeans have once again attracted the attention of the public.

The incident originated from an interview in which Xue Liqiang, chairman of Jiusan Grain and Oil, spoke to reporters.

"Only one of the four factories in Heilongjiang Province is producing soybeans, and the quantity is very small. But now the three soybean processing factories along the coast are doing very well, and they all use imported soybeans."

"Now the entire enterprise is supported by the factories in the coastal areas. Therefore, even if the factories in Heilongjiang Province are shut down, the workers will go to work as usual."

The reporter asked: "Are the imported soybeans genetically modified?"

Xue Liqiang said: "Yes."

This defender of domestic soybeans responded that the problem has been raised and suggestions have been made, but the actual effect is not obvious.

"The low tariff of 3%, no transition period, and no import quantity restrictions... have led to a flood of low-priced genetically modified soybeans from abroad."

"The state provides a subsidy of 160 yuan per ton to domestic soybean processing companies, but they must purchase domestic soybeans at the national reserve price of 1.85 yuan."

“We have basically given up processing domestic soybeans.”

After the interview came out, it quickly began to spread.

Related reports spread on portal websites such as NetEase, Sina, and Tencent: Jiusan Grain and Oil has begun processing genetically modified soybeans!
"The impact of low foreign soybean prices has come again, and the steadfast Jiusan Grain and Oil Company has turned to a new direction."

"Huaxia Soybean was forced to make its final roar."

This is a big blow to the people.

Looking back to a year ago, the GMO controversy triggered by Tianyu 1 spread to Monsanto's genetically modified soybean seeds.

Finally, Jiusan Grain and Oil, which insisted on non-GMO soybeans, gained huge profits.

At that time, many housewives placed their hopes for cooking oil on Jiusan Grain and Oil.

It can be called the light of the nation!

Unexpectedly, in just one year, this guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes rebelled.

However, the claim that it loses 600 yuan for every ton of domestic soybeans processed has also made many people sigh in dismay.

Some reporters also conducted in-depth investigations in the Northeast.

At a farmer's home in Achengxian, the soybean hometown of Heilongjiang Province, the 4000 kilograms of soybeans harvested last year have not yet been sold.

The villagers said: "The planting cost of soybeans is at least 1.4 yuan per kilogram. At the beginning of the year, the price was less than 1 yuan, and now it is only 1.2 yuan, which is still not enough to cover the cost. We can only stay at home."

In fact, because the soybean price was low and they could not be sold, soybeans were piled up in every corner of every household, and many villagers in the village stored more soybeans than his family.

Faced with the aggressive influx of imported soybeans, the most direct victims are soybean farmers.

Therefore, the villagers realized that there was no future in growing soybeans, and their enthusiasm for growing soybeans decreased year by year.

Similar interviews are very popular in society, which leads to more and more people paying attention to them.

At the same time, the devastated soybean industry was directly exposed to the Chinese people.

“Who will save the domestic soybean industry?”

"If Professor Zhuang Bingchang can be given a few more years, the country might have more say."

"Alas, how could an accident happen to a professor of this level?"

Discussions about soybeans among all sectors of society are becoming increasingly heated, conspiracy theories are rampant, and at the same time, there are more and more hidden concerns.

Who will save domestic soybeans? This has become the voice of all sectors of society.

At this time, Jiahe Group began to rapidly expand into the grain processing sector.

In early June, Jiahe Grain and Oil Group Co., Ltd. was established.

In the following month, Jiahe invested 10 billion yuan each in Jiangsu Province and Heilongjiang Province to build grain processing plants, covering soybeans, corn, rice, and even biomass energy was included in the planning and design.

We also negotiated mergers and acquisitions with Guangdong Fuzhiyuan Oil Factory, Liaoning Hualiang Oil Company, and Fujian Zhangzhou Oil Factory, and the deals were quickly concluded.

Investment projects in Sichuan Province, Xinjiang Province and the central region were also quickly put under investigation.

At the same time, based on a comprehensive analysis of the layout of domestic soybean producing areas, Jiahe has successively established several typical high-oil and high-yield soybean planting bases in the Northwest, Northeast, Huanghuaihai, and Southwest to replace part of the imports.

If the entire investment is to be realized, the basic investment will exceed 60 billion yuan!

...

Nine p.m.

The sunset dyed the sky into a fascinating dreamy color. The busy employees of Jiahe Group occasionally looked up to enjoy the stunning sunset. The sunset glow poured into Guo Yang's office through the window.

Xie Shijie and Qu Yang walked in hurriedly.

Xie Shijie said: "Boss, the loans that farmers borrowed from the Agricultural Development Bank for alfalfa No. 1 seeds have been fully paid off, a total of 28 billion yuan."

Guo Yang looked up, relaxed his tired eyes, and said, "Now all we need is the follow-up subsidy from the state, which can only be obtained after the project is completed, which may be by the end of the year."

Xie Shijie gave him a strange look and said, "The project has been accepted in advance, and the local government is already going through the financial process for subsidies. According to the current progress, the funds may be returned this month."

Guo Yang looked at him in surprise, and then felt that it was very reasonable.

It should be the top management who stepped in.

The investment in improving coastal saline-alkali land is composed of farmers + bank loans + national subsidies, involving a total of 1 billion yuan in alfalfa No. 85 seeds.

The farmers had already obtained their own funds, but the loan from the Agricultural Development Bank was stuck in the early stages.

Now, because Jiahe has entered the domestic soybean industry, not only are loans flowing smoothly, but financial subsidies have also entered the fast track.

Not only Jiahe benefited, but also farmers and enterprises that reclaimed wasteland on coastal saline-alkali land.

After thinking for a while, Guo Yang saw the documents in Qu Yang and Xie Shijie's hands and took them.

Documents on investment in grain and oil processing plants, and payment of funds for mergers and acquisitions.

In an emergency, Jiahe had to make special arrangements. After taking a quick look, he signed the contract without hesitation.

Guo Yang asked: "How is the soybean storage going?"

Qu Yang said: "The Huanghuaihai region is coming to an end. In addition to our own warehouses, we have also signed warehousing agreements with many supermarkets."

"The purchase price is between 1.5 and 1.85 yuan. Under the current situation, the loss for processing one ton of soybeans has increased to more than 900 yuan."

The loss is 900 yuan per ton. The daily soybean production capacity designed by Jiahe Grain and Oil is 2 tons. If it operates at full capacity, it will lose more than 1800 million yuan every day. But at the same time, Quanneng can also consume 730 million tons of soybeans.

Based on the per-acre yield of ordinary soybeans, it can cover more than 5000 million acres of planting area. Based on the per-acre yield of Tiandou No. 1, it can cover 3000 to 4000 million acres of planting area.

In recent years, the soybean planting area in the country has been between 1.2 million and 1.4 million mu, and Jiahe can account for about one-third of the share.

Grain and oil also account for one third of the total.

The remaining companies account for another third.

This ratio is almost just right, but the prerequisite is that other companies have the courage to start work in the face of losses.

Guo Yang calculated in his mind, then smiled and said, "A loss of 1800 million yuan a day, do you think you can handle it?"

Xie Shijie and Qu Yang also laughed. At the group's strategic meeting, most of the senior executives agreed to enter the corn, wheat and rice processing field.

The only thing they think is that processing domestic soybeans is a suicide attack. In fact, there are still many people who hold this idea.

But judging from the current situation, at least Jiahe’s political background has become stronger.

There is some calculation to be done. Tiandou No. 1 will be able to be rolled out on a large scale early next year. Excluding the time for factory construction, the factory will be in operation for exactly about a year.

"I'm sure we can resist it."

Xie Shijie said: "In addition to the 85 billion yuan in seed payments, Alfalfa Agriculture and Animal Husbandry has also received payments from the second crop of alfalfa exports.

The first crop of 40 mu of alfalfa exported 10 tons, worth about 3 million yuan. The second crop also exported 8 tons, worth about 2 million yuan. The third crop is also being prepared for harvesting.

At the same time, the new Alfalfa No. 1 seed is about to be harvested.”

Qu Yang also looked confident and said, "Tianhe also has sufficient funds. The cumulative sales of Tianyu No. 1, Tianmai No. 1, Tiandou No. 1, and vegetable seeds have just exceeded 60 billion yuan this year."

Even though they already knew the number, they were still a little dazed.

Together with Fengkai Agricultural Machinery, Quanwang Biotechnology, and the booming Hexi Dairy, Jiahe is bound to exceed 200 billion yuan in operating revenue this year.

Maybe it will really be time to compete with New Hope Group.

The profits of Alfalfa and Tianhe are also extremely high, and they will maintain high growth in the next two to three years.

Guo Yang said: "There is some good news. The bank has lowered Jiahe's loan interest rate, and supporting preferential policy documents for soybean planting, procurement, processing, and export have also been issued. Coupled with the operation of the entire industrial chain, the actual loss will be less than expected."

Qu Yang and Xie Shijie also smiled. Jiahe has many large investment projects. Qinghe, Quanwang, Hexi, Shahai, and the group headquarters all require continued investment.

Therefore, loans are necessary. The interest rate of agricultural loans is already low, and it has been reduced again. This is all goodwill released by the upper level.

In fact, the Ministry of Agriculture consulted Jiahe for its opinion when formulating policies.

Jiahe’s status is clear as it can participate in decision-making at this standard level.

It was almost 10 o'clock in the evening, the sun was setting and the moon was rising, but there were still many people from Jiahe Group who stayed behind to work overtime.

Guo Yang can only compensate at the welfare level.

During this period, he also worked overtime for a long time. He went to bed at 11 o'clock in the evening and got up at five or six in the morning. Work took up most of his time in the day.

This will be the norm for some time to come.

After finishing their work, they went to the cafeteria to have some midnight snack. Xie Shijie suddenly said:

"Boss, I applied for the Guanghua School of Management MBA and have passed the exam. I may have to go to classes more often in the second half of the year."

Guo Yang was stunned as he was chewing a cucumber. Qu Yang and the team that followed him also looked at Xie Shijie in surprise.

You are so busy with work, do you still have time to study?

After thinking for a while, Guo Yang turned his head and looked at Ning Xiaojing beside him, and said, "Register for me too. Others who are interested can also register. My plane can seat several people. We can take turns to replenish energy when the time comes."

Someone asked: "Boss, can I apply to Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business?"

Guo Yang smiled and said, "It's all right. As long as you go to study, the group will always support you. Even if you are admitted to Harvard Business School, I will still approve your leave."

Perhaps stimulated by the newly launched leadership development program, Jiahe’s leadership has a strong desire to learn.

Guo Yang thinks this is a good thing.

The existing talent pool is not sufficient to cope with the complex international situation.

...

At the same time, while Jiahe was quietly and rapidly developing its layout in the grain processing field, domestic discussions about soybeans did not stop.

There was even a new wave of craze caused by the four major grain traders' crazy investment in setting up factories and mergers.

One day in June,
Albert Wiesel, global CEO of Bunge Group, has publicly expressed optimism about China's soybean crushing market.

Albert said: "The development of China's pig and broiler farming industries requires a large amount of soybean meal, and the rapidly growing consumer demand has made China the largest soybean importer.

In the next 10 years, China's soybean imports are expected to increase by more than 6000 million tons from the current level, which is more than Argentina's soybean production."

Bungie also took real money action.

It even bypassed policy review, set up a "shell company", and indirectly entered the Huajian soybean processing plant.

After investigation by domestic professional journalists, a bright sign was erected on a factory office building: Zhenhua Oils.

Zhenhua Oils and Fats is also on the address book.

However, even for such a company with a national name, there are many foreigners in the factory.

In fact, Zhenhua Oil is the fourth oil processing plant that Bunge secretly established in China.

It built the factory in the name of an investment institution in Shanghai to circumvent foreign investment review, and then Bunge acquired it under the name of leasing operation.

However, in the official information released by Jiangsu Province about Zhenhua Oil, there is no trace of Bunge at all.

However, there have been unnoticed changes in the nominal investor of Zhenhua Oils.

The investors behind it have remained silent, which undoubtedly pushed the matter to a higher climax.

"Zhenhua Oil? This name is really profound!"

"Anyone with eyes can tell there's a traitor."

"Didn't the experts say that soybean crushing capacity is seriously oversupplied? Why are foreign investors still building factories on a large scale? Come on, come out and take a walk!"

"I remember an official from the Agricultural Economics Department of the National Development and Reform Commission once said: The soybean problem is not that big, do you want to come out and take some steps?"

"It's over. All soybean oil will be genetically modified from now on."

...

All kinds of public opinions come one after another.

Local media reports on local soybean investment were drowned out by this wave.

At this time, the officials from the Ministry of Agriculture were also tortured to the point of being fed up. You, the National Development and Reform Commission, wanted me to clean up the mess left behind.

But we have to respond.

Soon, official media such as Farmers’ Daily and Xinhua also announced a number of domestic companies’ soybean investments and a series of policies.

Among them, a series of investment lists of Golden Harvest Group caught the attention of the Chinese people.

Improved and updated varieties;

Establish a soybean planting base;

Large-scale land management;
Invest in soybean processing plants;
Interaction between upstream and downstream of the industrial chain;

Futures markets are risk averse.

Jiahe's layout covers every region of the country, including Northeast, North China, East China, South China, and West China.

Domestic soybeans are expected to regain lost ground!

People counted the amount of their investment, and the long list of numbers was dizzying.

According to calculations by those who are knowledgeable in the industry, based on the current production capacity design, the loss of processing per day is 1800 million yuan, and this figure has been widely circulated among all sectors of society.

"Jiahe Group is risking its life to fill the hole of domestic soybeans!"

"Jiahe was obviously forced to survive. It's a good enterprise. It won't be ruined by some people in the end!"

"I declare that Jiahe is the last defender of domestic soybeans!"

“How can Jiahe Group defend the last bastion of domestic soybeans?”

"Buy Jiahe's cooking oil!"

“A true national brand!”

"I have decided to only use Jiahe's cooking oil from now on."

Before Jiahe Grain and Oil was launched, it was already well received by the public, who were all looking forward to the launch of Jiahe edible oil.

The media also flocked to Jiuquan, but Jiahe remained low-key as usual and Guo Yang did not show up.

In the futures market, influenced by Jiahe Group, the September and November contracts of Yellow Soybean No. 9 also began to strengthen.

With this rate of losses, people outside are wondering how long Golden Harvest Group can last.
How will Jiahe Group lead domestic soybeans to break through?

In Jiuquan, Guo Yang, Xie Shijie, Yan Qun and others are discussing the seed production base and a new saline-alkali land improvement project.

It is already July. After the last crop is harvested in September, the Jinta grassland will have to plow the land and leave it fallow for rotation to produce seed corn next year.

A new saline-alkali land improvement project has also been confirmed, still in Jiuquan. The only thing that needs to be confirmed now is how large the area will be.

20 acres, 30 acres, or even 50 acres?

As they were expressing their opinions, Ning Xiaojing, revealing her smooth, white thighs, knocked on the door and walked in hurriedly.

"Boss, Liu Xiang broke the world record!"

(End of this chapter)