Chapter 302 Changes in the Industrial Situation

Guo Yang emphasized again: "Calm down."

Seeing the boss's serious expression, Xie Shijie was stunned for a moment and realized that he had lost his composure.

He wanted to find an excuse for himself, but in the end he didn't say it out loud.

After he calmed down for a while, Guo Yang said, "There will always be a market for high-quality fodder."

Xie Shijie had calmed down by now. After thinking for a while, he said, "It's not necessary to eat livestock and poultry. We can always find substitutes."

"That's true."

"But when the Dairy Farmers Association or other farmers feel the difference in forage, such as reduced milk and egg production, nutritional content and taste, they will come back."

"But if you want to cancel the contract, you can cancel the contract. If you want to buy, you can buy. How can there be such a good thing in the world?"

Guo Yang paused. In fact, this matter was not that complicated.

After knowing the news, he realized that this might not be a bad thing, so he could use the elves to patrol the fields calmly.

But he ignored Xie Shijie. At least in the one or two hours after receiving the news, Xie Shijie was unable to change his mind.

Or maybe I haven’t thought of a suitable solution.

Xie Shijie asked: "Then why did Muhe take over the remaining half of the orders from the island country?"

When the price of American alfalfa dropped to around 2,000 yuan per ton, the price of alfalfa forage inevitably dropped to 2,100 to 2,200 yuan per ton at the port.

But when it comes to farmers, the price has not changed much.

Guo Yang said lightly: "First, there is still money to be made, and second, it delays time so that we can be more fully prepared."

Xie Shijie came to his senses a little, but his thoughts were still not completely coherent, so he asked directly.

Guo Yang also spoke patiently.

"In the past, Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Formosa, and Southeast Asia were the main alfalfa consumers and importers."

“But now the landscape of the international alfalfa market is changing.”

"Domestic." Xie Shijie's eyes lit up and he said without hesitation: "Melamine was reported at the end of last year. Since the beginning of the new year, the demand for alfalfa has been rising."

"And Saudi Arabia has made it clear this year that it will carry out agricultural transformation, from self-sufficiency to full imports."

"Not only Saudi Arabia, but also countries like Egypt will reduce their forage grass planting due to the food crisis." Guo Yang smiled and said, "But the most important thing is the domestic market."

"In the coming period, China will be the country with the fastest growth in alfalfa consumption."

"In the past few years, the alfalfa industry in the United States did not receive any subsidies. This time, they suddenly gave high subsidies just for the market of an island country? Their target is still the domestic market."

Xie Shijie said: "If we exclude alfalfa, the commercial alfalfa production of other domestic companies is only more than 20 tons."

"Most growers still consume the crops themselves, including farmers on coastal saline-alkali land, who feed cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks."

As he spoke, Xie Shijie also became more optimistic about the current situation.

Influenced by the melamine incident last year, senior officials and society have realized the importance of the alfalfa industry, especially large domestic dairy companies have realized the huge value of high-quality alfalfa.

With the rapid development of animal husbandry, especially the dairy industry, the market demand for alfalfa is increasing and the quality requirements are getting higher and higher.

The report submitted by grass industry experts at the beginning of last year also had an impact, and there will also be policies to revitalize the alfalfa industry.

The domestic alfalfa industry will also be able to get out of its predicament and get rid of its dependence on exports.

Driven by the market and supported by policies, the domestic potential demand is indeed considerable.

As a leading enterprise, Alfalfa Agriculture and Animal Husbandry can play a huge role in this regard.

After figuring out all the details, Xie Shijie couldn't help feeling embarrassed.

I was actually influenced by the Japanese.

"Boss, I'm in over my head."

"It's okay." Guo Yang said jokingly, "It's just that you, as the vice president, need to work harder if you want to become a regular employee."

Xie Shijie worked as Guo Yang's assistant for two years, and was then assigned to Muhe to be responsible for specific affairs, but the title of president still belonged to Guo Yang.

"You can ask Yu Xiaochuan more about trade matters. I only know the basics."

"Okay." Xie Shijie asked again: "Next I want to seize the domestic market, starting with Yili and Mengniu."

"And over there with the Japanese, our alfalfa industry cluster can play a role."

Guo Yang said coldly: "Give a heads-up to the grass companies such as Huihuang and Oasis, and make a unified statement that the export of premium alfalfa to the island countries is prohibited."

The production ratio of premium alfalfa is very low. Among the thousands or tens of thousands of tons of alfalfa produced in the United States, only 50 to 60 tons of premium alfalfa may be produced.

In industrial highlands such as the Hexi Corridor, the output ratio of special-grade alfalfa grown with Alfalfa No. 1 is at least 10 times higher.

Do you think my price is high?
When you come to your senses and want to buy it again, it won’t be that easy.

I can digest it myself, why should I sell it to you?
It took the two of them more than an hour to get back to the company from the pasture base.

Guo Yang subconsciously glanced at the seed store and found that his natural energy had accumulated to 5733 points.

It is also the most ever.

After seeing the changes in the Asafetida Gobi Desert, farming and animal husbandry in the sand sea, and the 100 million acres of saline-alkali land of alfalfa, he did not feel surprised.

Perhaps we can cultivate a batch of seeds domestically, but what should we cultivate?

Some of the grain and oil crops that were cultivated previously have just entered the market and have not yet been fully digested, so it is not appropriate to cultivate them again now.

Biodiesel varieties are also available.

After much thought, I can only start with vegetables, fruits, livestock and poultry.

Wait, it doesn't have to be cash crops. Crop cultivation in extreme areas such as deserts, Gobi, mountains, and even the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau can be tried.

Guo Yang recalled an incident in which he had asked Bi Qiang to establish cooperation with Professor Zhong Yang's team from Fudan University to jointly collect and develop crop germplasm in the Qinghai-Tibet region.

It's been a long time, there should be results.

Go to Bi Qiang's place and take a look before going abroad.

After going abroad, you should also think about how to use these natural energies to find faults with others.

It usually takes one day to go to the countryside, and when Guo Yang comes back, it is almost time to get off work. After returning from Sichuan, all the work has been almost done.

Now I have some free time.

I simply logged into the Happy Farm interface, planning to play for a while and look for inspiration for breeding seeds.

As a result, after I went online, I saw another message from Xu Xiaoxue, and it had been a while.

"Someone is missing again? Do you want to participate in the department's interview on the seed industry? Forget it, I'll go find Mr. Qu."

"I saw on Taobao that a company called Jingjing Gardening was selling Tianhe's flower seeds. Is it a partner of Tianhe?"

It’s strange, why do you always like to send messages through Happy Farm?
"Well, find Qu Yang."

"If you have any questions in the future, you can call me directly or send me a QQ message."

After replying to the first message, Guo Yang looked at the second one.

Jingjing Gardening.

He also searched on Taobao and quickly found the store. The photo on the cover was Tianhe’s flower garden, followed by the flower beds in Jiahe Office Park.

The pictures are eye-catching.

Guo Yang thought of the two girls who had previously done the flower border design. Calling them partners didn’t seem to be anything wrong.

As for purchasing goods from Tianhe and acting as a second-hand dealer, it has little impact on Huinong.com. Companies operating nurseries and flower gardens will still purchase goods from Huinong.com.

It’s just a middleman’s business, it won’t last long!

Guo Yang didn't pay too much attention to it. He wanted to take another look at the sales of flower seeds, but then he thought, the game was already open, so he might as well play it first.

Harvesting vegetables, cultivating the land, sowing seeds, weeding, watering... after completing the whole process, he still felt unsatisfied.

I then visited the vegetable gardens of a few of my friends, and that was the end of the trip.

However, his account was played too seldom and at a low level, so naturally there were not many types of crops, and his idea of ​​finding breeding inspiration was naturally unsuccessful.

After eating in the cafeteria, Guo Yang returned to the office, prepared to work overtime, and learned about the development of Tianhe Flowers.

First of all, the sales amount of seeds has reached more than 3 million yuan so far, and the sales amount of finished plants is even lower.

This figure is a bit meager for Tianhe. It went on sale in the fall of last year and sold more than 3 million yuan in half a year.

It's not even as much as the sales of corn in one day.

But this is the current situation of flower seeds, and the market share is in the hands of foreign capital.

During the Buzz Buzz period, the domestic flower seed research and industry were completely destroyed. Now the situation is even worse than that of vegetable seeds, and basically all rely on imports.

Although Jiuquan has the largest number of flower seed production bases in the country, they mainly produce seeds for foreign countries.

They are responsible for labor-intensive production tasks but are unable to master key technologies and germplasm resources.

After foreign businessmen buy back the seeds, some of them are sold back to the domestic market at high prices.

There is basically no say in the country.

There are only a few small private companies operating in the production and sale of flower seeds.

Some have also tried to introduce foreign seeds for self-breeding and seed preservation, but the uniformity and color of the offspring showed serious separation and degradation, and the seed quality was very poor.

As a result, high-priced foreign seeds are in great demand in the domestic flower seed market.

It is very difficult to carry out scientific research on flower varieties in China, and even the approval of flower varieties is not carried out much.

It is clear that domestic imitation and breeding are allowed, but it is difficult to avoid the degeneration of varieties.

They are even too busy to introduce new species. Countries such as the Netherlands, the United States, Japan, France, Germany, and Israel authorize four to five thousand new flower varieties every year.

Self-pollinated seeds, mixed seeds, hybrid seeds, and artificial synthetic seeds.

Technological means are becoming more and more advanced.

Fortunately, the sales volume of domestic flower seeds is not too high, approximately 4 to 5 million yuan during this period.

Tianhe’s market share of grass and flower seeds is close to 1%; as for seedlings, it is still a bit difficult to develop in the northwest region.

Anyway, it’s not Tianhe’s main business.

We could use some more fine flowers and garden plants.

Each of the previous 20 varieties only cost 1 point of natural energy. They are excellent, but outside the northwest, their performance may not be so good.

Keeping this in mind, he opened Happy Farm again since it was still early.

The seeds that were sown before dinner had matured, and when we were ready to harvest them, we discovered that some had been stolen.

It just so happens that Xu Xiaoxue is also online, who else could it be if not her?

I looked at the message she sent.

"Not only do I not have your QQ friend list, I also don't have your personal phone number. If I have anything important to say, I call your secretary."

"..."

Guo Yang was choked up. The two had known each other for two or three years and had met each other several times, but it seemed that they did not leave any contact information.

Without much hesitation, Guo Yang sent the contact information and added him as a friend.

"If there are any developments in the department, please inform me in advance."

"can."

Guo Yang didn't know what to talk about, so he just started playing games, harvesting vegetables, sowing seeds, watering... After completing a set of processes, he went offline directly.

This game didn't hold much appeal for him.

Netizens work diligently to collect and steal vegetables online, but he still prefers to run a large farm in the real world.

……

Nitro Corporation, California.

The largest alfalfa seed company in the United States held a grand banquet today.

Entrepreneur and farmer Barnes entertains industry elites and government officials on his farm.

There was no doubt that the white old man Barnes was the protagonist, and people kept coming to congratulate him.

"Congratulations, you have made a successful business, a deal worth $4000 million, which is the largest deal since last year."

An official in a neat suit raised the red wine in a goblet.

Barnes also smiled and said, "This is all thanks to you, Congressman Jay. Without your influence, the subsidy plan would not have been implemented."

The middle-aged man called Jay raised his head and took a sip of red wine.

"The Alfalfa Association will continue to support you," Barnes continued.

This $4000 million order is just the beginning.

He personally visited northwest China and experienced the customs and practices of the Hexi Corridor.

It's dry there, there's plenty of sunshine, and it really does produce the best quality alfalfa in the world.

Alfalfa Farms is also a strong opponent. Their seeds are extraordinary, their forage processing skills are also superb, and even North America’s most proud secondary compression and transportation technology, the opponent seems to be good.

This caused Nitro and the North American alfalfa industry to suffer setbacks in the East Asian market.

But so what?
Netero has accumulated countless experiences in international trade. How could he be defeated so easily?

Now Netero has turned the tables. Even though the exported alfalfa price has dropped to US$285 per ton, with subsidies, it is still a profitable business.

"Barnes, don't let the victory in front of you go to your head." A tall man with gray hair came over. He was Callum, the head of research and development of Monsanto's forage seed division.

"Don't forget, our target is the Chinese market."

"I haven't forgotten." Barnes curled his lips, but still raised his glass: "Have you made any progress on the introduction of new species?"

"I was just about to ask you, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture asked us to find alfalfa ourselves."

"Doesn't Monsanto have a close relationship with the Ministry of Agriculture on the other side of the strait?" Barnes teased, "I heard that you have already obtained the GMO certificate?"

"It still cannot be sold openly. You know, the whole world is rejecting the most advanced technology."

"Nitro also doesn't like GMOs, which will increase obstacles to exports."

"Don't get off topic. Where is China's Alfalfa No. 1?"

"The other party refused very firmly, five or six times in a row." Barnes shook his head. "I heard that Monsanto's seed business in China is not going well?"

“There were some setbacks.”

Barnes and Callum have a lot in common because Monsanto and Netero both have the same opponent and have both suffered losses at the hands of the other.

"Last year's melamine incident dealt a heavy blow to China's dairy industry. The demand for alfalfa has opened up, and Netero is eager to get in."

“Monsanto can help with that.”

Callum smiled and said, "But there's one more thing I think you might be interested in."

"what's up?"

“Remember soybeans in 2004?”

Barnes showed a surprised look and said, "What do you mean?"

"Many people are interested in coming again," Callum said. "If you are interested, you can also participate."

"In exchange, we hope that Nitro can lead the trend of stopping the domestic trend of switching from alfalfa to corn and soybeans."

Every farmer is familiar with the futures market, and Barnes is also good at using financial tools to avoid risks.

In the 04 food war targeting China's soybean market, many people made a lot of money, so it was hard for him not to be jealous.

"It's hard."

Barnes pondered for a while and said, "You know, the profitability of alfalfa cultivation in the domestic market is not high. The price of $170 per ton is far from that of corn and soybeans."

Since 2002, American alfalfa has been on a downward trend due to the banning of some genetically modified varieties and pesticides.

The pest problem is serious, alfalfa seed yield is reduced, the environment is deteriorating, and production restrictions are increasing.

Even banks have begun to restrict the loans they provide to farmers to grow alfalfa.

Tens of millions of tons of alfalfa hay are produced each year, but only a few million tons of high-quality alfalfa are available for export.

Callum laughed and said, “Didn’t we regain the export market?”

“No, it’s just the island market. Competition is still ongoing in Southeast Asia.”

"Southeast Asia is an emerging market. I heard that alfalfa hay in Malaysia can even be sold for $420 per ton."

Barnes was visibly stunned. This was a market that Netero had secretly developed. How did Monsanto know about it?
Callum added: "Can Nitro persuade people not to grow alfalfa and switch to corn and soybeans?"

"Given the rapid growth in demand for forage in China and Southeast Asia, it may even be possible to convert some corn and soybean fields to alfalfa."

Barnes' face turned livid. Monsanto was trying to force Nitro into the car!
Then my friend will die, but I will not.

If there is really overcapacity, perhaps we can try dumping it into the Chinese market at a low price.

Barnes' expression changed, but soon he smiled again.

“It’s an honor to be a part of this event.”

Callum and Barnes clinked their glasses and smiled at each other, with calculation in their eyes.

Afterwards, Barnes moved familiarly among the crowd, and Callum could hear Barnes' seductive voice from time to time.

"Haha, this is just the first order. This year, Netero's goal is to achieve exports of $1 million."

"Compared with corn and soybeans, I am more optimistic about the alfalfa market in the next two years. You have all heard about the melamine incident in China last year. Since then, the demand for alfalfa has been rising. In the first half of the year alone, companies in the association exported nearly 10 tons to China."

"10 tons is not a lot? China used to be an exporter of alfalfa, but now it's starting to import a lot. What does this mean?"

"China has tens of millions of dairy cows, as well as chickens, ducks, fish, geese, beef cattle and sheep. The demand for fodder is at least tens of millions of tons."

"The market potential in Southeast Asia is also huge."

Watching this scene, Callum tasted the red wine alone, and felt more confident.

At the same time, Monsanto also wanted to get involved in China's forage seed market.

……

The island nation's "Positive List System" is known as the most stringent set of rules in history.

There are 15 kinds of pesticides and veterinary drugs that are prohibited from use; 797 limit standards have been set for 53862 kinds of pesticides, veterinary drugs and additives.

There is no limit, but there is also a uniform standard that applies to all.

Since its implementation in June 2006, a large number of domestic agricultural products have been affected.

But there are also many agricultural products that break barriers, cross gaps and stand out.

For example, honey from Jiangshan, Zhejiang, eels from Guangdong, and seaweed from Jiangsu have all seen significant growth.

Alfalfa was originally used as forage grass and is also included in this list. It can even be said that the Positive List System has had little impact on alfalfa.

However, as the other side introduced high subsidies, the island country also extended the quality inspection procedures for domestic alfalfa.

There are also some inexplicable rules.

For example, the application of pesticides to alfalfa needs to be approved by the relevant organizations of the island country, and the application records are required to be kept for 7 years, and will be checked at any time during the process.

Alfalfa can provide the pesticide application records and is not afraid of inspection.

However, this action clearly violated the WTO's trade rules, and the relevant departments immediately lodged a protest.

Wait for a while and there will be a ruling soon.

However, Alfalfa Agriculture and Animal Husbandry is not very interested in this now, so you can take it or not.

Why do you act like I have to sell you out?
The day after returning from the countryside, Xie Shijie began to prepare for negotiations with dairy companies such as Yili and Mengniu.

The result was not surprising. Yili, which was gradually emerging from the shadows, was very interested in alfalfa forage.

You should know that the outstanding quality of Hexi Dairy’s milk has a lot to do with the excellent alfalfa forage.

The two parties quickly reached a preliminary agreement and agreed to inspect and sign the contract in Wuyuan.

During this period, the head of Yili's feed department also revealed that Yili will also set up a pastoral company to focus on the supply of raw milk.

We want to reach a broader cooperation with Alfalfa on alfalfa.

The negotiations with Mengniu were not very smooth, and Mr. Niu was still so anxious that he couldn't sleep, but the National Grain Group had gradually surfaced.

At the same time, dairy companies such as Bright Dairy, Sanyuan Dairy, and New Hope Dairy have also reached partial cooperation with Muhe.

Some are purchasing forage directly, some want to buy seeds, and some want to engage in broader cooperation.

Alfalfa accepts all comers.

This made Qiu Jingrang of Hexi Animal Husbandry and Ji Zhuowen of Hexi Dairy very anxious, and they stayed in the group and sent messages every day.

Qiu Jingrang: "Boss Xie, please be careful. We only have this little wealth. Don't reveal it all."

Ji Zhuowen: "Yili and Mengniu have been suppressed for the past six months. I didn't expect the knife to come from within."

Qiu Jingrang: "If you ask me, I'd just sell some seeds."

Xie Shijie: "The price of premium forage grass sold to Yili is 2850 yuan/ton, with zero tariffs, low freight, and higher profits than exports. Mr. Qiu, do you remember how much you paid for forage grass purchased from Alfalfa?"

Qiu Jingrang and Ji Zhuowen were silent immediately. What else was there to say about this price?

The two of them have had a very comfortable life in the past six months, with constant positive reviews from the outside world and sales rising steadily.

Now, the pressure is back again.

Guo Yang was also silently reading the messages in the group. It was impossible for Hexi Dairy to monopolize the milk market.

But in addition to forage, dairy cow breeds are also an advantage of Hexi Dairy, which is enough to eat the biggest piece of the cake.

He is happy to see the improvement of domestic milk quality and put pressure on his subordinates at the same time.

These days, watching the island country and the U.S. Ministry of Agriculture working together to put on a drama, it is impossible not to feel upset.

The domestic alfalfa market is unlikely to give way.

Monsanto and Nitro have repeatedly sent out requests for introduction of new varieties through various channels, and even proposed to share some of Monsanto's germplasm resources.

This is indeed tempting.

The Americans have been collecting plant germplasm from all continents of the world since the mid-19th century. The accumulated plant genes are incalculable, and it is a true treasure trove of plants.

The fact that Monsanto offered such conditions clearly shows that Alfalfa 1 has attracted international attention.

However, if you have targeted me, I can naturally target you as well. The North American seed market is also a piece of fat meat.

After waiting for another two days, until mid-June, Luo Xiu finally came back.

From Jiuquan to Jinling, to Africa, and then back to China, the journey was quite tiring, but fortunately the goal was achieved.

Qianlong Security Company has already selected an overseas training base.

At the same time, a new batch of security personnel was sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other places. Including the previous ones, the number of security personnel has reached nearly 30 people.

Under such circumstances, the four people who had followed Yu Honghai and had committed crimes, including Wild Rabbit and Cannon, chose to transform into mercenaries.

Yu Honghai also changed his strategy on the African continent, adjusting some industries to Gabon and Angola.

For example, some oil palm and orchards have been moved to Gabon, which is one of the few middle-income countries in Africa.

This basically declared that Jiahe's initial strategy of taking root in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had failed, and Guo Yang had nothing to be shy about.

If you make a mistake you'll be beaten.

Sometimes taking a step back opens up a new world.

Jiahe did not hide its actions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from anyone. It stopped work when necessary and all technical teams were transferred to the safer Gabon.

An expression of accepting loss.

This made the Kabila government and Chief Eddie anxious, and they made promises one after another.

Chief Eddie even repeatedly invited Jiahe to go to Equatoria Province.

Yu Honghai remained unmoved on the surface. In fact, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was still Jiahe's key target, and the grain planting project had not been withdrawn.

The land for oil palm and orchards still belongs to Jiahe, but the construction speed has slowed down and machines have been replaced by manual labor, as the local labor costs are not high anyway.

In addition, the focus of work has returned to trade, including the export of food, seeds, and agricultural machinery, and the import of timber, rubber and even minerals.

Do any business that makes money.

Yu Honghai was already very familiar with the import and export business of agricultural machinery. After he was no longer limited to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he felt like a fish in water.

Companies have reached cooperation in the four East African countries that we visited previously, as well as Zambia, Uganda, South Africa, Gabon and Nigeria.

The transaction amount of agricultural machinery is not high, after all, the level of agricultural production technology in Africa is very low.

But they made huge profits from the trade in food, timber and mineral resources.

Especially food, the rise in international food prices and the downturn in the ocean shipping industry have created opportunities for Jiahe.

A lot of assets were acquired through grain trade.

If construction in Africa fails, then we can start with trade, making money while infiltrating the local political environment.

In the office, Guo Yang and Luo Xiu drank tea and talked about recent developments for a while.

Luo Xiu said: "The rainy season in Africa came late this year, and many areas are facing crop failure due to drought."

"What did Lao Yu say?"

"No, I went back to the country with Mr. Chen Yanqiu, and he told me that Jiahe has plenty of food chips."

“Maybe we can exchange for more resources.”

Chen Yanqiu is the director of the international trade department of Jiahe Grain and Oil. He is a grain analyst by profession and is very sensitive to these things.

Guo Yang thought about it and realized that the subprime mortgage crisis had entered the second stage, and there was still a year before the Americans could no longer bear it and Lehman Brothers went bankrupt.

The impact of the food crisis is clearly coming faster.

Exchange resources?
What resources should be exchanged?

mineral resources?

This is the only option available in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so maybe it will work.

Mining development is the worst option, but Jiahe can hold it in hand and wait for appreciation, and cooperating with financial arbitrage is also an option.

Cobalt, lithium and copper mines are all good choices.

"Do you want to rest for two days before leaving?" Guo Yang was naturally referring to going to America.

"No, I've already delayed the boss's schedule. I can leave anytime."

"It's not a delay. A lot of interesting things have happened in the country these days."

(End of this chapter)