Chapter 261 Potatoes: Earthen Eggs Turn into Golden Eggs

Tianhe’s latest rice and potatoes have been delivered, and the chefs in the cafeteria are already preparing them carefully.

Local employees like to eat potatoes.

However, Guo Yang wanted to taste rice more.

He hasn't eaten rice for a long time.

Even though he is not very particular about food, after staying in the north for a long time, the most common thing he eats is various kinds of pasta.

He was a southerner in his previous life!
Although I can accept pasta, I used to mainly eat rice.

So he was quite looking forward to Tianhe rice, especially Tiandao 22 cultivated by the seed store.

This is conventional rice, not hybrid rice. Conventional rice has an inherent advantage in taste.

What's more, the seed store's evaluation of the characteristics of Tiandao 22 is: average yield, but excellent taste and quality, and high requirements for water and soil quality.

This inevitably raised Guo Yang's expectations. On the contrary, his expectations for Tianshu 21 were slightly lower.

Potatoes can be found in daily meals in the northwest, especially in Gansu.

Among them, Dingxi potatoes are the most famous for their quality.

Dingxi is located in the Longzhong area. It is named after the "stability in the west" and is known as the "throat of Gansu and the gateway to Lanzhou".

This is a loess plateau with an altitude of more than 2000 meters, sparse vegetation, steep slopes, severe soil erosion, and fragmented arable land.

For a long time, Dingxi was known as "the most miserable place in the world", with poor land, drought and water shortage.

The villagers had no choice but to plant potatoes, because these earthen eggs could produce a harvest regardless of drought or flood, and could be used as both vegetables and food.

For more than two hundred years, villagers have been accustomed to growing their own potatoes for their own consumption. Even if they want to sell them, they only sell them in the surrounding villages.

But this situation changed around the new century.

Although the soil on the Loess Plateau is poor, it is loose and rich in potassium, which is one of the most important elements in the growth of potatoes.

In 1998, governments at all levels in Dingxi established potato industry development leading groups.

The entire industry is developing rapidly.

The best potatoes in the country are produced here, as well as the best wide noodles in the country.

The potatoes here are sold well in domestic markets such as North China, Central China, East China, and South China, and are also exported to Southeast Asia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Europe, the United States and other countries.

From 90 mu in the early 10s, it has grown to 2006 million mu in 350, becoming one of the three largest potato producing areas in the country.

Here is the country's largest base for virus-free potato seedlings, commercial potatoes and deep processing, forming the Dingxi potato industrial cluster.

Tianhe Seed Industry is very famous.

But in Dingxi, Tianhe's potato division is just an outsider among more than 30 seed potato companies.

The only advantage: deep pockets!

The word "rich" is almost carved on his face!
In October last year, Tianhe successively built advanced breeding facilities in Dingxi, including a tissue culture building, a natural light culture room, a seed potato mist culture production line, and a fixed original seed net shed propagation base.

A complete set of specialized production models has been formed, including virus-free potato seedlings, net shed original seed production, and first and second level seed potato breeding bases.

In fact, the total investment is only about 10 to 20 million yuan, which is easy for Tianhe.

However, when the Dingxi Regional Dryland Agriculture Research Center was split into three joint-stock cooperative enterprises, namely Jinyu, Xindi and Hefeng, there was an extreme shortage of funds.

The three companies can only take on one link of detoxification, original seed production and breeding respectively.

This has made Dingxi the largest potato virus-free seed potato production base in the country, producing 80% of the country's micro potatoes.

“Only with good potato seeds can we grow high-quality commercial potatoes.”

Local potato farmers have gradually realized this over the years of planting.

The penetration rate of high-quality seeds in the city is close to 60%, and some farmers have begun to use virus-free seedlings.

"In the past, we kept our own seeds, but the yield dropped after a few years, and there were many diseases. Some potatoes tasted numb because of the virus."

Potatoes are asexually propagated crops. During the planting process, viruses will gradually accumulate through multiple generations of asexual reproduction of seed potatoes, causing the seed potatoes to degenerate.

Therefore, preventing variety degeneration and realizing the commercial characteristics and yield of the variety is an important reason for the need for virus-free seed potatoes.

The virus-free seedlings are bred through the stem tip stripping technology. After testing, the virus-free seedlings are placed in a greenhouse for cultivation and breeding into miniature potatoes.

What follows is miniature potatoes - original seeds - the first generation of original seeds - high-quality virus-free seed potatoes - farmers. This is a complete breeding process.

Tianhe, however, has established a complete potato breeding system in a short period of time.

Jiahe is the most well-known enterprise in the province.

Potatoes can be grown in most parts of the country, and Tianhe's development of the potato seed industry in the province is definitely like winning the lottery for local leaders.

Its strong financial resources and scientific research capabilities have even led the local government to call for exporting Dingxi's seed potatoes to the world!
Its formation is so large,
It left existing scientific research companies stunned!

Here comes a wolf that wants to eat meat!
Also, is this how you spend your money?

In the following period of time, Tianhe quickly launched a variety, which made many people nervous because it takes a long time to select and breed a high-quality seed potato.

Tianhe obviously came prepared!
Dingxi already has more than 40 relatively mature varieties, and now there is a new strong competitor.

In fact, this is the first time that Tianshu 21 has started to be promoted. The high-profile of the upper management is just for publicity, while the technical service staff at the grassroots level are actually very low-key.

Tianshu 21: High yield, wide adaptability, disease resistance, suitable for planting in arid and semi-arid areas.

The technical service personnel found the correct position.

The high-altitude, cold and humid areas in the south, and the river valleys and water areas of the Tao River, Wei River and Zhang River, these two places were never thought of for promotion.

Instead, it went directly to the arid and semi-arid areas of the hilly and gully areas of the Loess Plateau in the central and northern parts.

How about the terrain here?

It seems difficult to describe the complexity of the landform using the words "undulating hills and crisscrossing gullies".

Mountain, ridge, beam, peak, hill, pier, mouth, top, point, slope, flat land, terrace, cliff, ridge, ditch, fork, bay, shoal, pit, river, valley...

You can find all the topography and landforms you can think of here. After all, it was once rated by the United Nations as a place unsuitable for human habitation.

But here, the main focus is on high-yield cultivation of high-starch potatoes and staple foods.

However, this high yield is relative. In Northeast and North China, an yield of more than 6000 kilograms per mu can be considered high yield. As long as you dare to use chemical fertilizers, even kilograms or kilograms can be grown.

Because of the long-term drought here, a yield of 3000 kilograms per mu is considered a bumper harvest.

But it is a suitable place for Tianshu 21 to settle down.

Although Tianhe was famous, Tianshu encountered many difficulties in its first year of promotion.

Many farmers have developed the habit of planting whatever seed potatoes are available.

Although farmers are aware of the importance of good varieties, many are reluctant to use them because of the high prices of virus-free seed potatoes.

The city's virus-free commercial seed potato supply area is less than 10 mu, and the supply rate is extremely low. The newly arrived Tianshu 21 does not have an advantage.

However, Tianhe has its own promotion system.

Cooperate with large-scale growers or villages to establish potato demonstration planting bases, which will receive support from Tianhe Company in the form of seed potatoes, agricultural materials, agricultural machinery, etc.

Especially when it comes to using virus-free seed potatoes, local finances are difficult and the scope of coverage of subsidies for good varieties is very small.

Tianhe directly reduced or exempted most of the fees for farmers, highlighting its wealth!
It has greatly reduced the burden on farmers.

Naturally, many people chose to cooperate with Tianhe.

This simple and crude promotion method has left companies and scientific researchers who have been struggling to promote virus-free vaccines dumbfounded!

It can still be like this!

Big dog owner!

Businesses need to make profits!

How do you recover such a huge investment cost in this way?

Aren’t you afraid that your business will go bankrupt?

Oh, it’s Tianhe!

That's fine.

...

In Xinjian Village, Anding District, Su Kejian, the 50-year-old party secretary, led the villagers to cooperate with Tianhe to establish a demonstration base.

Ridge making, film covering, cutting, sowing... the villagers have clear division of labor and carry out potato planting in an orderly manner.

Although Fengkai has not yet developed high-quality small machinery with stable quality and suitable for use on small and medium-sized plots.

But the simple seeder can still produce a batch easily. Two people are in a group, one person makes the nest and the other one throws the seeds, and the speed is extremely fast!

More than 2700 mu of land in the village is planted with Tianhe’s Tianshu 21.

In summer, the most eye-catching thing on these rolling hills is the endless fields of potatoes.

Potato flowers bloom all over the mountains and fields, and the fragrance of increased income and wealth is refreshing.

After several months of hard work, this potato demonstration base did not disappoint the expectations of the villagers.

It was the biggest harvest ever!
From the moment the autumn harvest began, the smile on the face of old secretary Su Kejian never stopped.

In his eyes, those heavy earth eggs were golden eggs, and it seemed as if they could never be dug out again, constantly rolling out of the soil.

Piles of potatoes are like small hills, and the villagers go out early and come back late every day, busy digging for golden eggs.

The adults were busy working in the fields, and the children who had just returned from school would gather together to dig earthen pots and roast potatoes.

Cooking a ground pot requires a technical skill.

Only older children can do this.

First, dig an earthen stove on the side of the hill, and then use some dry earth blocks the size of goose eggs to build a "hill" above the earthen stove.

The firewood picked up from the mountain was lit and put into the earthen stove.

When the earth blocks on top are completely heated, put in fresh potatoes, block the fire door with earth blocks, and knock open the small hill of small earth blocks on top of the earth stove.

Let the hot soil come into full contact with the potatoes, and then seal the top with soaked soil. When the wet soil on the top dries, the potatoes are cooked.

Finally, dig the potatoes out of the stove, brush off the yellow soil on the surface, and break them into two halves. The roasted potatoes are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the natural smell of soil fills your nose.

While the adults are busy, they will also enjoy the roasted potatoes.

I just feel that the potatoes this year are much more delicious. This simple delicacy is both the plainness of the countryside and the ultimate enjoyment for the taste buds.

In addition to cooking in the earthen pot, you can also make potato dough made from new potatoes, garnished with chili oil and chives. It is sour, spicy and fragrant and it is so addictive. It is so addictive!

After a whole autumn of hard work, 2700 acres of potatoes were finally harvested.

Some of the potatoes have been sold to dealers who came to purchase them, and most of them have been stored in warehouses for sale.

Even when we were harvesting, we knew that the yield had increased significantly this year, but when the yield was actually counted.

The whole village was excited!
6500 tons!
The average yield per mu exceeds 4800 kilograms!
The increase in production was so great that the villagers once suspected that the production statistics were wrong.

Due to fragmented arable land, drought and water shortage, the average potato yield in Xinjian Village is around 2500 to 2800 kilograms throughout the year.

There are very few plots of land that can produce more than 3000 kilograms of potatoes!
This year, the yield per mu was calculated to be 4800 kilograms, which made the villagers a little unsure.

Is it because the secretary is old and his eyes are blurry that he read the number wrong?
But after many calculations, the facts proved that the output of Xinjian Village was not wrong!

That means the yield per mu is 4800 kilograms!
The production increased by nearly 2000 kilograms.

This reminded the old secretary of the first year he planted commercial potatoes, when the yield per mu immediately increased by 750 kilograms.

However, this year the yield per mu increased by 2000 kilograms, and the whole village was brought along!
These virus-free seed potatoes are really amazing!
Even better than ordinary commercial potatoes!

Calculated at 0.45 yuan per catty, the income increased by 900 yuan, and the income per mu reached 2160 yuan!
The earthen egg really turned into a golden egg!

The villagers' faces were also filled with joy. Wives from every household began to compete in making potato dough, and the village was filled with the rich aroma of potatoes.

This is an increase of several hundred yuan per mu.

For Xinjian Village, where the annual per capita income is only more than 1600 yuan, the happiness of increased income is no less than pie in the sky.

Although they haven't been sold out yet, every household is already taking stock of what furniture to add.

Tianhe originally wanted to help with sales, but Su Kejian refused, saying that there was no problem selling!

Although Dingxi's financial strength is backward, the local government attaches great importance to the potato industry.

A special marketing team was formed many years ago, and we also have control over the wagons for export and built a large number of storage cellars.

Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Heilongjiang, Dingxi’s main competitor is Inner Mongolia.

After a long period of continuous efforts, Dingxi potatoes have replaced several traditional production areas in dominating the terminal market and become a leader in the national market.

Nowadays, if Dingxi potatoes do not arrive in a day, the price of potatoes in Guangzhou retail market will immediately rise by 5 cents.

Therefore, Su Kejian has no worries about sales at all.

6500 tons of potatoes were sold out in a short time!

The sales revenue of the whole village reached 585 million yuan!

Like Xinjian Village, several other demonstration bases of Tianhe have also ushered in bumper harvests.

These demonstration bases are all built in arid areas, and the biggest feature of Tianshu 21 is that it has obvious benefits when planted in arid and semi-arid areas.

Therefore, the drought-resistant and high-yield characteristics are fully demonstrated.

These arid areas also have one thing in common: poverty, old revolutionary areas, red culture, and gas stations on the Long March.

Today, these villages have seen significant increases in production and income.

This is big news locally!

Get rid of poverty and become prosperous.

This is a brilliant political achievement!

In 2005, Dingxi's potato industry was reported by the People's Daily, Farmers' Daily and other foreign media, and came into the attention of senior officials.

Now, new changes have come.

It was created by Tianhe Seed Industry, a star enterprise in the province. It has both capital and technology, and its strength is outstanding.

Many people are aware of the potential for the future.

First, the township leaders came, and then the city leaders came, which also attracted attention from both inside and outside the province...

Then, they saw many villagers bought tricycles, color TVs, and planned to build new houses.

The golden eggs really paved the way for a well-off life!

This makes Qinghai next door envious. Qinghai has a cool climate and potassium-rich soil. It is the best potato growing area in the country and potatoes are regarded as a treasure.

It is also an important potato seed base, and its green potato series varieties are also very popular in Dingxi area.

70% of Qinghai’s cultivated land is in mountainous and arid areas.

I was really jealous of the drought-resistant and high-yield Tianshu series, so I directly requested for introduction and invited Tianhe to invest...

In short, Tianshu 21 became popular in the surrounding areas.

脱毒种薯价格确实不便宜，每亩需要300~400斤种薯，每斤2元的话种薯就要去掉600~800元。

Even the villagers in the demonstration base felt distressed.

But if you think about it carefully, the yield per mu used to be more than 1000 kilograms, and the income per mu was only 1200 to yuan, which was less than yuan after deducting the seed potatoes.

If you plant Tianhe's virus-free seedlings, you can produce at least 4800 kilograms, with an income of 2160 yuan per mu. After deducting the seed potato fee, there is still more than 1360 yuan left.

Moreover, Tianhe also provides various subsidies to the demonstration bases.

In fact, with the popularity of Tianshu, more and more orders from customers from inside and outside the province for virus-free seedlings and micro-original seeds have begun to appear.

Tianhe’s existing breeding base is no longer sufficient.

Some demonstration bases with good isolation conditions can be directly transformed into Tianhe’s first-level propagation base for potato virus-free seed potatoes.

Because the local leaders shouted the slogan: "Let Dingxi's virus-free seedlings and virus-free seed potatoes be sold throughout the country and the world."

This is not just a slogan.

But it is the direction of real efforts.

my country's potato producing areas are shifting, with the area of ​​potato planting in the south in autumn and winter increasing, and the space for out-of-season potato sales becoming smaller and smaller.

This is a crisis.

It is also an opportunity.

Tianhe’s seed potato pricing strategy leaves farmers with ample room for profit.

This has led to the promotion of virus-free seed potatoes in the entire Dingxi area and the development of the potato industry.

Dingxi has more than 30 enterprises in the seed potato breeding industry chain, producing a wide variety of seed potatoes, and four to five hundred processing companies, whose products are sold well at home and abroad.

The drought-resistant and high-yielding Tianshu is like a powerful new force, making Dingxi's potato industry more competitive.

It also helps more farmers get out of poverty and become rich.

……

Jiuquan.

Guo Yang came back to his senses from the development history of Tianshu, sat down at the coffee table, made some ramie tea, and waited for lunch time.

It is no problem for Tianshu's single product sales to exceed 100 million yuan, but there is not much profit at this stage.

After all, we chose the relatively poor mountainous area.

However, this is also the meaning of the existence of seed enterprises, to lead the people out of poverty and become rich.

Especially for Tianhe, it has made a lot of money by selling one seed after another. Now it is the face of domestic seed companies and has to carry the banner externally.

If you have spare time, you can also do something more socially responsible.

The average domestic potato yield is higher than that of Russia, but only half that of developed countries in Europe and the United States.

The main gap is in the mountainous areas of the northwest and southwest, which are also the old and remote areas where poverty is relatively common in the country.

Tianshu can take root in these places and help farmers increase their income and become rich.

Guo Yang felt quite accomplished.

I sipped tea leisurely by myself for a while. The snow on the Qilian Mountains became more and more obvious. The top of the snow-capped mountains was covered with white snow, as if it was the purest gem between heaven and earth.

Guo Yang quietly felt the magnificence alone.

A knock on the door broke the silence.

It was Luo Xiu. He said softly, "Boss, it's time to eat."

Guo Yang looked at the time and it was already time to go to the hotel. "Okay, I'll be there right away."

When he walked out of the office, Guo Yang could see that the employees were already heading to the cafeteria one after another.

Some female employees were discussing excitedly as they walked.

"Hurry up, hurry up, I heard the cafeteria is doing something new today."

"What's there?"

"The potato feast and rice are all products of the company."

"Ah, that's nothing strange. When I was a kid, I ate potatoes in the morning, yams at noon, and potatoes at night. I'm tired of them."

"I used to be fed up with it, but after coming to Jiuquan, I actually started to miss it."

Guo Yang and Luo Xiu walked past calmly, the discussion continued as the others were also talking and laughing.

Guo Yang couldn't help but sigh that having more female employees in the company does have many benefits and makes the company more lively and energetic.

It can also solve some of Jiahe’s internal needs.

When we arrived at the cafeteria entrance, the atmosphere became even more intense. There were constant exclamations coming from the front, which made the people behind us squeeze forward.

The rich aroma of food also wafted in the air.

"Potatoes are having a meeting!"

“Is this all made from potatoes?”

“I didn’t expect there were so many variations.”

As soon as Guo Yang entered the door, he saw a unique potato feast.

Potato shark fin, potato and turtle rice, Tai Chi potato soup, sashimi potato, potato pizza, potato ice cream...

Potatoes, a versatile ingredient, can be transformed into a delicacy with the chef's superb cooking skills.

Regardless of whether it tastes good or not, the visual effect alone is quite enjoyable.

The employees rushed to get the dishes.

Guo Yang went straight to the dining table. Various dishes had been prepared and every one of them was available.

It's a bit of a waste for him.

However, the bowl of rice did attract his attention. It was rare to smell a hint of rice in the room filled with the aroma of potatoes.

The rice is as white as jade, and each grain is distinct, like plump pearls.

It exudes a faint rice aroma, which seems to penetrate the nasal cavity and reach the heart.

Guo Yang picked up a handful of rice with chopsticks. They stuck together but not too much, showing a unique stickiness and fluffiness.

When the rice enters your mouth, the soft and glutinous texture is intoxicating. Every grain of rice jumps on the tip of your tongue, releasing a rich rice aroma and a light sweetness.

"good to eat."

"good."

Luo Xiu also comes from the south and has an obsession with rice.

The two of them savored it carefully.

Unprecedented satisfaction.

Food is not just about its taste and aroma, but also about the warmth and satisfaction it brings to people.

The cafeteria of Jiahe always brings various surprises to the employees.

From a variety of delicious vegetables, beef and mutton, to high-quality flour, to today's potatoes and rice.

The quality of food is guaranteed and the variations are extremely rich. It is foreseeable that a variety of foods will appear in the future.

Seafood, vegetables, fruits, hops...

The colorful taste feast will undoubtedly greatly enhance employees' sense of happiness.

After dinner.

Guo Yang strolled leisurely around the park and suddenly felt that the overall greenery was a bit monotonous.

After thinking for a while, he cultivated about 4 flower seeds in April. In one summer, he produced a lot of seeds.

After walking around the office area for a while and asking other people, I finally found Yan Qun in Tianhe's seed processing department.

"Old Yan, don't you take a break at noon?"

Yan Qun stood not far from a seed production line and said with a smile: "Most of the vegetable seeds have been sorted and processed, and the main ones left are corn seeds. Tianyu No. 1 has a heavy task this year."

"Be more busy now, so you can have time to rest during the New Year!"

Guo Yang was stunned.

It's already mid-November.

It seems like another year is about to pass.

Yan Qun continued, "Boss, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Coming back to his senses, Guo Yang suddenly felt that Yan Qun should not be asked to handle the greening matter, so he said:

"Nothing much. I just thought the greenery around the factory and company was too monotonous. Doesn't the company have about 20 flower seeds? I want to use them. Do you know anyone who is good at this?"

Yan Qun thought for a moment and said, "This is a simple matter. We can find a few workers from the flower seed production base to get the job done. I'll arrange it!"

“It’s better to keep it simple.”

"No problem." Yan Qun suggested: "I think we can set up a flower nursery near the group headquarters in Gobi."

"The company can also domesticate some local wild flowers and native plants for use in flower borders."

The flower seeds that Guo Yang cultivated last time were diverse, but in order to get in touch with the Huinong Network, he did not impose too many restrictions on the regionality of the seeds.

However, since most of the collected germplasm resources come from the Northwest, they also have a certain adaptability to the Northwest climate.

After thinking for a while, Guo Yang said, "That's fine, but if you want to make money, you still have to go to a big city."

Yan Qun laughed and said, "Tianhe built a flower nursery mainly for cultivating seeds."

Guo Yang also laughed and said, "Okay, you go ahead and get busy."

In terms of gardening, the Northwest region has distinct four seasons, with cold winters, poor soil and little rainfall.

At the same time, there is a relative lack of plant varieties, urban construction is relatively backward, and the application of flower borders is still in its infancy.

In contrast, flower borders in the south are rich in plant materials, and generally have flowers in three seasons, scenery in four seasons, or even flowers in all four seasons.

With the booming real estate industry, gardening and flower borders have also ushered in a golden age of development.

Jiahe does not have enough energy to get involved in flower border projects, but it can spend more time on the cultivation of flower border plants.

It is possible to have flowers and scenery in all seasons in the Northwest.

(End of this chapter)