Chapter 305 Cuscuta

"Professor, you know, due to the national conditions, sometimes I cannot make the final decision." Guo Yang was not surprised to hear Putnam's request to introduce new species.

It seems that the connection between UC Davis and the alfalfa industry is very close.

Putnam's face changed.

As one of the world's top grass science research institutions, Davis University bowed its head to introduce new species from a Chinese company. Few people would believe this if they told others about it.

Yet it was rejected.

Putnam said: "Why? Wouldn't it be more conducive to progress if we communicate and cooperate with each other? There are also many excellent germplasm resources in the United States."

"Is the professor acting as a lobbyist for others?" Guo Yang suddenly asked.

"Yes, before this, I didn't know that China had such excellent commercial alfalfa seeds."

"Netero?"

"Correct."

Putnam was very frank, so frank that Guo Yang still found it a little hard to believe.

Judging from the information revealed so far, Nitro is more focused on the commercial quality of Alfalfa No. 1, that is, its nutritional content.

Alfalfa is so successful in the international forage market because of its excellent quality traits.

Alfalfa has strong vitality, is resistant to barrenness, drought, salinity, and improves soil...

The resistance of Alfalfa 1, especially its effect on improving saline-alkali land, has not attracted much attention.

Guo Yang believes that biotechnology companies like Monsanto would place more emphasis on the salt- and alkali-tolerant genes of Alfalfa 1.

After thinking for a while, Guo Yang said, "Professor, cooperation is certainly possible. Jiahe is also happy to cooperate with a well-known school like Davis."

"But it is indeed difficult to introduce the species. Alfalfa No. 1 has relevant protection policies, and its introduction needs to be approved by the competent authorities."

The Ministry of Agriculture passed the matter to Jiahe, and Jiahe can naturally kick the ball back and wait and see.

"What about buying commodity species? Netero is willing to pay for it."

Guo Yang balanced the pros and cons and said, "It can be considered."

The domestic commercial variety of Alfalfa No. 1 is already everywhere, so it is not difficult to get the seeds.

Moreover, when it comes to the consumer market for alfalfa seeds, America actually has stronger purchasing power.

Guo Yang has learned from Putnam that the commercial alfalfa planting area in the United States last year was 1.43 million mu.

With a large planting area, the demand for seeds is naturally higher and the market is also larger.

It is still possible to sell a small amount of seeds on a restricted basis, or to get a castrated version of seeds into the North American market.

When you are on someone else's territory, it is better not to reject them too thoroughly.

Besides, why not make money if there is money to be made?
Guo Yang pondered for a moment, then said, "But the price of the seeds needs to be discussed further. Alfalfa No. 1 is not cheap in China."

"Hahaha, that's natural."

Putnam's mood improved a lot. If he was rejected again, he would consider suggesting to the school to reduce the number of admissions for Chinese students.

"Guo, are you interested in visiting the largest alfalfa farm in California tomorrow?"

"Of course I'm interested." Guo Yang's eyes lit up. There was still time anyway. The bigger the farm, the more likely it would be for problems to arise. He had been worried about this for the past two days!

And, California’s largest alfalfa farm…

"Is it Netero's farm?"

"Hahaha, you guessed it right." Putnam laughed, "Barnes went to Chicago these two days, but he will be back tomorrow."

"Guo, you can stay in Davis for one night and rush over tomorrow morning. It's just about time."

Guo Yang asked curiously: "Is it far?"

"Nitro's headquarters is in Bakersfield, but the farm is on the border of California and Arizona."

"That's quite far." Guo Yang recalled the map he had looked at in the past two days.

From north to south, it is Davis-San Francisco-Bakersfield-Los Angeles, bordering Arizona, so Nitro's farm is in southeastern California.

Guo Yang raised his eyebrows, "Isn't that a desert over there?"

"It seems that Guo has done some serious research. There are indeed two major deserts over there, the Mojave and Sonoran deserts." Putnam smiled and said, "Isn't it the same in China? Alfalfa is planted in dry sandy and saline-alkali lands."

"That's true," Guo Yang said. "I thought alfalfa in North America was at least grown on better land."

“There’s not so much good land.”

It seems that alfalfa all over the world is treated the same and can only be grown in lands with harsh environments.

This is consistent with his previous inference: the improvement effect of Alfalfa No. 1 on saline-alkali land was not taken seriously by Netero.

“Alfalfa is truly a magical plant.”

Guo Yang sighed, and now he was interested in Netero's alfalfa planting base.

In the following time, Guo Yang walked around the campus of UC Davis.

This top agricultural college is not only covered with farmland, but also has a strong academic atmosphere and extremely high admission requirements. It is truly remarkable that the predecessor was able to obtain a place to study abroad.

Unexpectedly, Guo Yang also saw the elf drone on the campus farm.

He also stopped and looked at it for a moment.

In North America, Fengkai sells its products through distributors, and it seems that some results have been achieved.

Putnam did not doubt it and took a look as well. "I heard that this is a product from your country."

"What do you think, Professor?"

"It's very small. If the family goes out for an outing, it would be cool to bring a drone with them."

"Professor, do you think plant protection drones have a future?"

"It's too expensive, the cost is too high, it's not worth it!" Putnam said. "Large farms have dedicated plant protection services."

“What if prices and costs come down?”

"It will be very useful in some small farms or special farmlands."

Guo Yang did not say that this was his own product. I remember that DJI’s agricultural drones were also very popular in North America in the past, and also occupied the largest market share of agricultural drones.

However, this time only the Gremlins was released in the United States, and the MG-1 did not enter the American market at the same time.

There's no need to rush.

First develop the domestic plant protection market.

In the evening, Professor Putnam arranged a dinner and invited several students, including two international students from China, one of whom was even his schoolmate.

Apart from anything else, in the field of grassland science, Longnan Agricultural University is quite influential.

Guo Yang's mood also improved a lot. He communicated with the two students and tried to bring them into Jiahe's camp.

However, both of them are committed to scientific research.

The next day, Guo Yang and Professor Putnam went to Netero's alfalfa planting base in southeastern California.

The conditions here are quite similar to those in Jinta, with plenty of sunshine, little rainfall, and the surrounding area is also desert.

The farm covers 3 acres, all of which is sandy land.

Putnam smiled and said: "Nitro is a leading global supplier of hay, with customers all over the world. It exports a large amount of hay to Japan, South Korea, the Middle East and North Africa every year."

"Nitro currently has three major export processing plants and logistics centers: Erinsburg, Washington, Scottton, California, and Wilmington, California."

"These three processing and transshipment centers cover most of the forage growing areas in 11 states on the West Coast."

“These resources give Nitro the ability to supply high-quality forage to customers around the world year-round.”

It was also the first time that Guo Yang learned about the full picture of Alfalfa, a competitor of Nitro. The area covered is wider than that of Alfalfa. In addition to planting, purchasing and processing are also Netero's strengths.

Putnam continued: "Nitro is also the largest producer of alfalfa seed in the United States."

"It's awesome."

"Muhe is more powerful. I heard that you have been suppressing Netero in the international market in the past two years."

"Aren't you afraid that Barnes and I might get into a fight later?"

"Do you think so?"

Guo Yang was a little hesitant. If something really happened, would it be considered as delivering the goods to the door?

Seeing that Guo Yang was really thinking seriously, Putnam smiled and said, "Don't worry, at most Barnes will show off in front of you this time, but it won't be too much."

"And he brought a friend over from Chicago who wants to talk to you."

"Chicago? Friend?" No way? Guo Yang already had some guesses in his mind. Was Netero also involved in futures trading?

He thought about it for a while but couldn't come up with a conclusion. He could only deal with it as it came.

The most important thing now is to collect seeds.

The alfalfa farm is large, but there are very few people. There are only 18 managers and 6 workers in the entire base of nearly 15 acres. Dozens of temporary workers are hired when it is busy.

This season, the first crop of alfalfa has already been harvested.

But Guo Yang's goal is to collect weeds, and the professional seed fields on the farm are also growing vigorously.

This is the perfect time.

The irrigation of the farm is very particular. It originally relied on meltwater from snow mountains in the river, but downstream people complained about excessive water consumption, so now it mainly uses groundwater for drip irrigation.

There are many things Guo Yang can learn about water use, which makes him think that an inspection team should be organized.

Guo Yang also continued to collect dodder seeds in the farmland under the pretext of learning irrigation technology.

Cuscuta australis is a parasitic weed that mainly parasitizes leguminous crops such as alfalfa and is extremely harmful to forage grass.

The reason why Jinta's alfalfa farm rotates its crops into seed corn is partly to prevent damage from dodder.

It is indeed not easy to manage a large farm. In addition to dodder, there are also many rat holes in the soft sand.

So crop rotation is really necessary.

However, for sandy land like Netero, it is a big problem to choose what crops to rotate, but this is not something Guo Yang needs to consider.

It took some time for Guo Yang to collect the germplasm, but time was tight and it was difficult to carefully select and cultivate it.

You can only start with field dodder and cinnamon dodder, which are the most widely distributed in North America.

It mainly harms herbaceous plants such as alfalfa, clover, tobacco, soybeans, potatoes, etc.

But I didn’t expect that just randomly choosing a direction for cultivation would produce surprising results.

【Variety】：Dodder

[Characteristic 1]: It is a plant killer that quickly absorbs water and nutrients from the host. When the damage is serious, the plant mortality rate can reach over 80%, the grass and seed yields are greatly reduced, and the role of alfalfa in improving soil fertility is reduced.

[Characteristic 2]: It has a strong spreading ability, spreading from a single plant to the surrounding areas, entwining into a patch of plants, with a diameter of more than 20m.

【Characteristic 3】: It is difficult for ordinary chemical agents to completely kill the roots.

[Characteristic 4]: It can cause symptoms such as gastritis, intestinal mucositis, intestinal suppuration and bleeding in livestock.

[Natural Energy]: 1514 (has a tendency to maliciously destroy the ecological environment).

To be honest, Guo Yang felt a little reluctant.

We all grow forage grass, and are familiar with the harm of dodder. Once a large amount of dodder is found on the farm.

At least it will be over for a period of time, especially seed production. Not only will the yield be greatly reduced, but a large amount of dodder will also be mixed in the seeds.

Basically, don't even think about growing alfalfa in the next few years. You can only switch to plants that are not easily parasitized by dodder.

But considering that this is Muhe’s biggest competitor, the other party has never shown mercy.

And I haven’t returned to China yet, so I don’t know what I will face next.

Thinking of this, Guo Yang looked around the seed field, constantly scattering seeds in the grass in a covert manner.

After the alfalfa seeds are harvested, I believe they will bring surprises to alfalfa seed farmers in North America.

By the time all this was done, it was already late, but Barnes still hadn't returned.

Guo Yang, feeling guilty, really didn't want to stay for long, so he asked Luo Xiu to contact someone to buy a return ticket in advance, and then he found Putnam.

"Professor, go to Los Angeles and wait."

"Hmm?" Putnam looked at him in confusion. "Wouldn't it be nice to just rest on the farm for a while?"

"Something happened in Los Angeles." Guo Yang said, "Remember the drone you saw in Davis yesterday?"

"Is it related to drones?"

“That’s also my company’s product.”

"Guo, are you kidding? Drones? Your company also produces drones?" Putnam said in shock.

Even the people nearby were attracted by it. Drones are still a rare thing for most people.

Moreover, it is hard not to be interested in drones produced by agricultural companies.

"If we go now, maybe we can give the professor a gift later." Guo Yang said with a smile, and looked at the two students who came with the professor.

"You have a share, too."

"But if you go too late, you won't be able to get the goods."

The meaning behind these words is self-evident.

The two students looked at the professor hopefully, because drones were not cheap for them.

Guo Yang's attitude was also very firm, and he seemed ready to leave on his own.

"That's very generous of you," Putnam said. "It's hard to say no."

Guo Yang also breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know whether Netero had any ill intentions, but staying in Los Angeles would definitely be more psychologically comforting than staying on the farm.

What’s a few drones? Especially since they are not perfect products.

The group then rushed to Los Angeles.

On the way, Guo Yang contacted Wang Tao in advance, and when he arrived in Los Angeles, he had a brief meeting with the staff there and got the prepared drone.

In a high-end restaurant, velvet carpets covered the entire floor, and waiters in black quietly moved around various celebrities and dignitaries.

Guo Yang met the professor who came out to greet him in the hall, as well as Netero's head Barnes, and a tall middle-aged white man next to them.

Barnes is an old white man with grizzled hair.

If it weren't for the trade sanctions some time ago, Guo Yang would have thought that this was a kind old man, but now, he would only think that he was well disguised.

Barnes said: "Guo, you are different from what I imagined. I didn't expect you to be so young. No wonder Muhe is so energetic."

"But he still lost to Netero in the competition. The older you are, the wiser you are." Guo Yang also said at the right time.

Barnes said: "That's because you pay more attention to the domestic market. China's high-quality forage is in great demand this year."

The exchange between the two did not give people a sense of tension at all, which surprised Professor Putnam, who knew some of the inside story.

After entering the private room, Guo Yang took out the fully packaged elf and gave it to the professor and his students.

"That's really cool, I never thought I'd own a drone, thank you Mr. Guo."

"As long as you like it."

Barnes also cast a curious look, "Is this a drone?"

"Yes."

Barnes looked at the not-so-big package and asked, "Are there drones this small? They look smaller than model airplanes."

"This is a product that was just released this year, and it's not very mature yet." Guo Yang also gave one to Barnes and the white man next to him, and said with a smile: "Fortunately, the sales are not very good, so there are still some left."

"The Gremlins will definitely be popular." One of Putnam's students said, "The Federation doesn't have such cheap drones."

“Indeed, drones are not cheap nowadays.”

At this time, the waiter in black brought the food. After a day of traveling, everyone was a little hungry.

Especially the two students, who were brought by the professor to do hard labor and were already starving.

After quickly filling my stomach, I went out on the pretext of trying out the drone. The professor also went out on the pretext of taking a walk.

Soon, only Guo Yang, Luo Xiu, Barnes and another tall, middle-aged white man were left in the room.

After Guo Yang tasted it briefly, he also stopped.

Barnes didn't come here just to eat, so he quickly got to the point and pointed at the tall white man next to him and said:
"This is Duncan Malone, the president of AIG International Trading Company. He is here to discuss cooperation with Golden Harvest."

Guo Yang was surprised for a moment. He thought it was Barnes' bodyguard, but he didn't expect him to be so powerful.

AIG, or American International Group, is an international multinational insurance and financial services group based in America and one of the world's top multinational companies.

It is at the same level as the four major grain traders, or even better.

Why did AIG come?

In the financial tsunami that occurred a year later, companies with business natures like AIG were likely to suffer heavy losses.

Guo Yang's brain quickly turned, and he had some ideas. He said, "AIG is also interested in alfalfa seeds and forage business?"

(End of this chapter)