Chapter 61 There are experts among the people

(PS: The seed company’s name is [Tianhe Seed Industry], thanks to netizens for the recommendation!!!)

Bi Qiang has joined Tianhe Seed Co., Ltd.

Bi Qiang also admitted that the reason for being so decisive was not only because of emotional changes, but also because he could only earn five or six hundred yuan a month.

Although there are performance bonuses at the end of the year, there are also other benefits.

But after studying hard for nearly 20 years, he was really dissatisfied with this treatment.

And you can just cling to your classmates and do what you want to do at the same time, so why not do it?

After joining the company, Tianhe treated him quite well. Guo Yang had the awareness that if one becomes rich, one should not forget his friends.

As the weather has turned cold recently, Long Province has entered winter early, and the risks in the Gobi Desert, mountains have increased sharply.

Bi Qiang could only go door to door in the vast rural areas, asking for information about the local old varieties.

But he didn't find the old local varieties, but instead he had an unexpected gain.

While strolling around a market and chatting with vendors, I learned that there was an old farmer who was very good at growing vegetables. In recent years, his spring peppers have been put on the market ten days earlier than others.

Because the products are put on the market early and the prices are often very high, old farmers make considerable profits every year, which makes many people envious.

According to Bi Qiang's inference, they cultivate peppers in plastic greenhouses in early spring, start raising seedlings in mid-January, and plant them out in late March or early April. Local fresh peppers will only be available on the market at the end of May.

As for the peppers grown outdoors, they are not available until late spring or early summer.

But the old farmer's peppers are on the market in mid-to-early May.

It’s no wonder they make money. The peppers are put on the market so early that they can pick several batches.

After some searching, Guo Yang and Bi Qiang found the old farmer's residence.

The house is an ordinary earthen house, standing at the foot of a loess slope shaded by trees, with the mud slightly peeling off.

Guo Yang and Bi Qiang stood outside the house and shouted loudly: "Is there anyone in the house?"

As soon as he finished speaking, two dogs, one big and one small, came out of the house and barked loudly at the two of them.

Guo Yang was stunned for a moment. The two dogs had pure white fur, long limbs, hind legs and backs in perfect arc shape, and their tails were also long and curly.

Bi Qiang seemed to know something about this dog. "This is a branch of the Huaxia Greyhound. In ancient times, it was a royal hunting dog. It has well-developed leg muscles, strong rear drive, and great explosive power, making it very suitable for high-speed running."

At this moment, an old man with a beard and hair of fifty years old came out of the mud house. He wore a velvet hat on his head and held a long pipe in his hand. He looked at the two people and asked: "What do you do?"

"Uncle, we are from a seed company. We heard that you grow good peppers, so we came here to take a look. If you like, we would like to buy some."

The old man's expression eased, and he said regretfully: "My pepper seeds are nothing special. In the past, I would select some good plants, de-tassel them, pollinate them, and save the seeds. This did allow them to be put on the market earlier, but this year's peppers are growing weaker."

Guo Yang and Bi Qiang looked at each other and understood each other's thoughts.

Degeneration of species?
Pepper is a cross-pollinated plant with a natural outcrossing rate of 20%-30%.

Moreover, the threshold for pepper breeding is low, and artificial detasseling and pollination can be carried out directly. The selection of inbred lines and the purification and expansion of hybrid parents are relatively simple.

The pepper seeds in the old man's hands are kept and selected by himself all year round. If he does not pay attention to isolation during the production process, it is easy to naturally hybridize with other local edible peppers and dried peppers, forming biological mixing, causing changes in the species and serious degeneration of the variety.

"Uncle, where did you plant your peppers in previous years?"

The old man called the big dog and walked out with the two men.

After a while, we came to a relatively flat area on the gentle slope, where two simple greenhouses were still standing. The old man fiddled with his pipe and said, "Yes, that's the land. We grow peppers every spring, which start to be put on the market in May. We pull up the seedlings in mid-August, and then grow broccoli for the fall, which will be put on the market in November."

The harvesting time is as long as four months? The two realized that the yield of the old man's pepper variety must be high.

Sure enough, there are masters among the people!
Although chili peppers were introduced to China only 400 years ago, their large-scale cultivation across the country has been less than 200 years.

However, through natural selection and artificial selection, a large number of excellent variety resources with different characteristics in different places have evolved, and the genetic resources are very rich.

I think the same is true for the old man’s pepper varieties.

But he was not the only farmer growing peppers nearby, so it was very likely that they were mixed with other varieties, causing the variety to begin to degenerate.

Guo Yang sighed sincerely: "Uncle, your vegetable farming skills are really good. You should make a lot of money every year just relying on this one or two acres of vegetable fields!"

The old man raised his head, his expression was so proud, but he said modestly: "Alas, I can only make a little money from one or two acres of gently sloping land, which is not comparable to you. After the broccoli is harvested, I will clear the shed and plant a crop of spinach as soon as possible, and then sell it on the market around the Spring Festival."

Guo Yang couldn't help but sigh, he really made full use of everything and didn't want to rest at all.

Looking at the land carefully again, Guo Yang discovered that it should be on the south side of the gentle slope. The temperature there would rise quickly, so it was no wonder that it could be put on the market so long in advance.

But from the known information, the variety should also be excellent in terms of high yield, early maturity and cold resistance.

As for the problem of variety degeneration, it is not a big problem. After screening, you will always find seeds with excellent traits.

After a while of arguing with the old man, because the old man knew that Guo Yang and Bi Qiang were from the seed company, he finally opened his mouth very high, causing Guo Yang to spend hundreds of yuan to buy a small bag of seeds from the old man.

On the way back, Guo Yang thought of Alfalfa No. 1, whose propagation base was still a little simple.

Although there is a green belt, the potential risk from the surrounding 20 acres of ordinary alfalfa is too great.

If you are not careful, Alfalfa 1 may be contaminated.

I just hope Lao Xiang can control the flow of personnel in the Alfalfa No. 1 expansion and breeding field.

But the seed stores only provide original seeds like Alfalfa No. 1, which are 100% pure seeds.

In order to ensure the purity of the original seed, a special original seed propagation base is usually established.

But we couldn't wait that long at that time. If we sowed late, it would be delayed by another year, and the time to completely improve the saline-alkali land would also be delayed by another year.

As a special and most basic agricultural production material, seeds play an important role in agricultural production.

Studies have shown that among the various measures to increase crop yields, improved varieties contribute about 30% and rank first.

Whether the seeds used for production can truly retain the excellent traits of the variety, the original seeds and original seeds play a decisive role.

Since 1989, the country has implemented a project to build bases for the expansion and propagation of original crop seeds, allocating about 50% of the national comprehensive agricultural development funds.

However, Tianhe Seed is a newly established private enterprise and does not meet the prerequisites for applying for national projects.

Therefore, Tianhe Seed Industry can only apply for full investment and construction on its own.

Currently in Tianhe's seed base, except for the ordinary seed production base which is slightly behind schedule, the original seed propagation base for corn, wheat and sweet pepper has taken shape and will be put into normal use at the beginning of next year.

The investment in the original seed propagation base for each species has reached more than one million yuan.

This made Guo Yang temporarily adjust the future development direction of Tianhe Seed Industry.

It is better to be precise rather than excessive.

Let’s seize the market in the fields of corn, wheat and pepper seeds first!
(End of this chapter)