Chapter 375 Planting Trees; Insects Protecting Forests

Jiahe has unified standards and requirements for Xanthoceras sorbifolia planting bases, which makes various technical trainings particularly important.

Training is also conducted on-site.

Guo Yang led the headquarters staff to participate in the actual tree planting and training.

To facilitate mechanized production, the terrain of the Xanthoceras sorbifolia bases in the Hexi Corridor is relatively flat and concentrated, adopting an intensive planting model of dwarfing, shrub-style dense planting and high-quality asexual seedlings.

In actual planting, talcum powder was also used to draw lines and mark points.

The spacing between rows and plants is 2~3m, and the length, width and depth of the planting holes are all 0.5~0.6m.

On a site to be planted, a number of planting holes have been dug by the tree-planting digging machine specially developed and produced by Fengkai.

Guo Yang took the lead in placing the Xanthoceras sorbifolia seedlings into the planting holes, and others followed suit.

Tang Weihua, technical director of Jiahe Biochemical Planting Department, was providing technical guidance on the side.

"Yes, yes, yes. The boss did it very standardly. He put it in with the roots stretched out."

"Three burials, two steps, and one lifting. Yes, that's it."

It took Guo Yang and a hundred people a whole day to plant hundreds of acres of land.

There are about 110 trees in one acre of land, and 11000 acres has trees.

It is not just about planting, but also includes processes such as watering the roots after planting, trimming the tree circle, covering with black mulch, and so on.

Compared with farmers, this speed is slower.

But even so, the group was exhausted.

Guo Yang stood in the crowd and shouted, "It seems that you have been sitting in the office for too long and lack exercise!

Without good physical fitness, how can we go to the countryside to understand the actual situation? From now on, we will organize tree planting activities in spring and autumn every year."

"No, boss!"

Upon hearing this, some administrative staff let out wails.

Guo Yang doesn't care about that. "Everyone has to come. Every year, those who complete the tree planting task will receive extra rewards."

Although there is no mention of punishment, this can actually be considered a kind of invisible assessment.

If you don’t even understand the group’s current focus, then you are probably not on the same path as us.

Throughout April, all of Jiahe's subsidiaries responded to the headquarters and launched various tree-planting activities.

Shahai Agriculture and Animal Husbandry has joined forces with Tencent and Happy Farm to launch a massive desert tree planting campaign across the entire network.

Nowadays, the scope of agricultural and animal husbandry activities in Shahai has also greatly expanded.

The southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert in the northwest of Jinchang and the north of Zhangye have become areas for windbreak and sand control in the sand sea.

Adjacent to it are various Xanthoceras sorbifolia planting bases.

Various forage grasses or Chinese herbal medicines have also been planted on the wide inter-row operation paths of the base.

The planting department is summarized as grass cultivation.

It can not only help to maintain water and soil, collect rainwater, reduce soil moisture evaporation, and improve the soil's ability to retain water and fertilizer, but also help increase production.

At the same time, it can also be cut and used as green manure, or sold to others for additional income.

……

At Jiahe Biochemical's monthly summary meeting, Tang Weihua introduced the current planting situation.

"In late March and throughout April, 10 cities and prefectures planted about 250 million mu of land and about 2.75 million Xanthoceras sorbifolia seedlings.

However, the weather was not good. Drought occurred in parts of Qingyang, Pingliang and Dingxi in Longzhong, and it has not rained yet, which has hampered the planting progress.

The Loess Plateau has a typical semi-arid and semi-humid climate, with annual precipitation just above 400 mm.

In fact, there is not such a shortage of water, it’s just that the seasonal water shortage is severe.

The crisscrossing terrain also makes it very convenient to build various small reservoirs and cisterns, thus solving the problem of irrigation.

May to September is the flood season in the Loess Plateau. Although the evaporation is high in summer, the progress in the central Long area can be pushed forward in May.

In general, it will be no problem to complete the planting of 300 million mu of Xanthoceras sorbifolia in the first half of the year, and about 200 million mu of seabuckthorn, saxaul, and citron fruit trees can also be planted."

After listening.

Guo Yang took the lead in applauding.

This progress is indeed remarkable.

Planting on such a large scale is a huge project, which requires more manpower and material resources than one can imagine. It would definitely not be accomplished by Jiahe alone.

But with 10 cities helping to organize the effort and Jiahe providing timely funding, the millions of acres of trees are no longer a cause for fear.

In addition to Tang Weihua, also participating in the meeting were Jiahe Biochemical's new head Fang Xiaozhang and vice president Ning Xiaojing.

Fang Xiaozhang was born in the Jiahe Leadership Program and graduated from Zhejiang University with a Bachelor of Agronomy and a Doctor of Science in Polymer Physics and Chemistry.

He has served as assistant to the general manager of Jiahe Grain and Oil, as well as chief engineer of the biochemical business unit, and has led the research and development of corn deep processing at Jiahe Grain and Oil.

If the external technical leader of bioenergy is the team of Professor Zhang Haoli of Lanzhou University.

The internal strength is supported by the team of Fang Xiaozhang + Quan Wang.

The organizational structure was also derived from the biochemical division originally managed by Ning Xiaojing.

The department structure is also simple.

Fang Xiaozhang leads the overall situation and serves as chief engineer, responsible for the work of the R&D Innovation Center and the Production Technology Center.

Tang Weihua leads the planting division and is responsible for the planting management and acquisition of the base; the transferred deputy general manager Ning Xiaojing is responsible for human resources, finance, etc.

As for the others, they are also being gradually improved.

Tang Weihua is already 50 years old, which is the peak period of experience and production management in the planting industry.

Fang Xiaozhang and Ning Xiaojing are much younger, both in their thirties.

Especially Fang Xiaozhang, who was promoted to a high position like a rocket after only working for a few years.

There is not much research on bioenergy in China. Instead of continuing to poach people from companies like Guoliang, it is far better to promote them internally.

This is also the purpose of the Leaders Program.

After talking about the planting situation, Fang Xiaozhang also talked about the current research and development progress.

"The current best process can produce 68% oil from one pound of Xanthoceras sorbifolia kernels, and 62.3% biodiesel from one pound of kernel oil."

"Based on the current per-acre yield of Xanthoceras sorbifolia and diesel prices, the benefit per acre is not high."

Guo Yang is naturally aware of the impact of the sharp drop in crude oil prices. He said: "Biodiesel is the bottom line of the industry. The early benefits still depend on high-end edible oil."

Fang Xiaozhang nodded and said, "Yes, the value of cooking oil will be much higher."

The most commendable characteristics of the Jinluo Xanthoceras sorbifolia variety, apart from its stress resistance, is its edible value, making it the best among woody edible oils.

Although its seed yield is also high, Guo Yang calculated that the profit per mu of biodiesel is only about 1000 yuan based on a slightly higher calculation using process data.

It is far inferior to being used as high-end cooking oil.

It may even be higher than the additional medical and forest economic benefits.

Of course, if crude oil prices rise sharply, the strategic significance will be completely different.

"The process of refining diesel from jatropha seeds is roughly the same as the mainstream." Fang Xiaozhang continued: "Three tons of seeds can be used to refine one ton of biodiesel."

"If the seed yield per mu can reach the expected 1500kg, the benefits will still be very high." A yield of 1500kg per mu is equivalent to 0.5 tons of biodiesel per mu, and the minimum income is 3000 yuan.

Combined with other by-products, the per-mu income can support the development of the entire industry.

Guo Yang thought for a moment and said, "The company will gradually launch other Xanthoceras sorbifolia and Jatropha species, and we will be able to take over after this mission is completed."

"In addition, the implementation of factory production technology can also be started.

The climate in Guangxi is good, and some trees that have been in the nursery period for a long time may be able to bear fruit in two or three years.”

At this time, Tang Weihua said: "CNOOC's jatropha base in Hainan has fruit in 10 months, but unfortunately no one is harvesting it now."

Guo Yang said: "Old Tang, you can contact them. If CNOOC doesn't want it anymore, see if Jiahe can acquire the base and then graft and replace the seeds."

"Okay." Tang Weihua nodded, "I'm just afraid they've already cut down the trees."

"Try to find someone to find out as soon as possible. Cutting down trees will hurt the enthusiasm of the people and will also be an obstacle to future development."

Tang Weihua said: "I will contact them after the meeting."

"Row."

Next, Ning Xiaojing introduced the financial and human resources situations, and generally speaking, the costs were under control.

The cost in the first three years is 2000 to 3000 yuan per mu.

This still includes the cost of various infrastructure such as roads, ditches, drip irrigation, two years of maintenance, factories, etc.

If you just want to plant trees, three or four hundred yuan would be enough.

...

In the water conservation forest in the upper reaches of Shiyang River and north of Wushaoling.

Large areas of artificially cultivated Qinghai spruce, juniper and Chinese pine are also facing forestry pest disasters caused by drought.

But today there was a group of uninvited guests.

"Mr. Xu, if releasing the natural enemy insects doesn't work, we have to spray pesticides immediately, and then these natural enemy insects will also die."

"Just wait a week."

Xu Xuenong glanced at the Forestry Bureau staff and said, "There will be no chance of spraying chemical pesticides in Wuwei."

The forest ranger nearby was also very suspicious.

This year's spring drought is more serious than expected. Various insect pests are already lurking in the protective forest with a single tree species.

Pine caterpillars, pine wood nematodes, pine weevils, larch aphids...one after another of these troublesome pests emerged during this period.

Can we really curb the development of insect pests by relying solely on natural enemies?
Once insect pests are not controlled, diseases will follow, which will not only affect the growth of the tree, but in serious cases may even kill the tree.

Only Jiahe can allow the city to make such a bold attempt.

A group of forestry workers were very curious about how effective this method of using insects to control pests could be.

Within two days, with the help of drone delivery, the Natural Enemy Center completed the release of natural enemy insects in the areas most severely affected.

A week later, the insect pests in the shelterbelt were significantly reduced.

This won praise from the forest rangers.

The news quickly spread in the surrounding forestry industry, and the popularity of natural enemy insects increased again, attracting the attention of many scientific research institutions and universities.

"You haven't seen it, the ladybugs and beetles are the nemesis of pine caterpillars, just like a tabby cat catching a mouse."

"We released five kinds of natural enemy insects, depending on the tree species and pests, and each one is very fierce."

The Natural Enemy Center did not just release the animals and then leave them alone, it also conducted data monitoring.

Some natural enemy insects have obviously evolved. For example, ladybugs used to only be able to prey on about 5 pine caterpillars in their lifespan, but now they can directly prey on 1.

The scarab beetle has evolved from eating 1 pine caterpillars to eating .

The discovery made the Natural Enemy Center ecstatic.

When Guo Yang was looking at a report in the office, Xu Xuenong called.

"Boss, it seems that the natural enemy beetles such as ladybugs and meadow chafers have all super evolved!"

"Mega evolution? Are you sure you mean the natural enemy insect, not the Digimon."

Guo Yang put down the information in his hand and jokingly asked, "What is the super evolution of Beetlemon?"

"Super-multi-beasts, no, that's not what I meant." Xu Xuenong said, "Natural enemy insects are extremely good at controlling forest pests. One meadow beetle can eat 1 pine caterpillars!"

Guo Yang smiled, thinking that the insects he cultivated in the laboratory last time might have played a role.

Insect reproduction is different from plant reproduction.

For example, the most common trichogrammatid wasp can be bred in large numbers in the laboratory in just one or two weeks.

This season is when natural enemy insects play a role in forestry.

Guo Yang said: "Since it works well, we should increase our efforts to promote it. Many shelterbelts in the north are facing the threat of insect pests during this period."

"We may need to expand the factory area now," Xu Xuenong said. "I have a feeling that natural enemy products will be popular this year."

“Can you tell from this?”

Xu Xuenong analyzed: "Natural enemy factories have not stopped production this winter, and many greenhouse vegetable bases are ordering our products.

With the peak season approaching and more applications in forestry, the current production will definitely not be able to keep up.”

"Could it be that the price is too low?" Guo Yang thought for a moment and asked, "How much does it cost to use trichogrammatids to control borers per acre?"

Xu Xuenong said: "For one acre of rice or corn, 2 trichogrammatids need to be released, which means 4 to 5 balls. Each ball costs 3 yuan. Drones can release 5000 acres a day. The cost per acre is less than 20 yuan."

Guo Yang asked again: "What about preventing and controlling pine caterpillars?"

"Even lower." Xu Xuenong said: "According to the current habits of insects, 250 ladybugs and 150 beetles are enough for one acre of pine forest."

"This time we didn't charge any money. We only looked at the production cost, which was only 1-2 yuan per mu."

Guo Yang smiled and said, "The effect of using insects to treat insects is good, should the price also be raised?"

"That's true, but isn't it too easy to make money?"

It’s not that Xu Xuenong didn’t think about raising the price, but he still brought up the Trichogramma wasp as an example. The average cost of a ball is less than 0.5 yuan.

Now the profit has reached 500%.

As the scale of production expands, costs will continue to fall. If prices are raised significantly again, it can no longer be described as huge profits.

Drug trafficking doesn’t make this much money!

Guo Yang knows Xu Xuenong. He is an honest boy. He is good at scientific research, but he has to be a businessman when it comes to business.

Moreover, the 'super evolution' of insects this time probably made Xu Xuenong a little confused, and he didn't feel any sense of accomplishment after his hard work.

“If it can solve problems for farmers and create value, then it is a good product.”

Guo Yang said: "Besides, natural enemy insects always have limitations. Not everyone can use them well. The market is not big at this stage, so it's okay if the price is a little higher."

"Ok."

"Now you should think about how to promote these achievements." Guo Yang suggested: "You can go to those provinces with major forestry industries to look for opportunities."

Xu Xuenong said: "Then I will go to Fujian Province to try first."

"Of course, Fujian Province is the largest forestry province, so this business will definitely be easy to do."

(End of this chapter)