Chapter 64 Seed Production Base
November 11, Beginning of Winter, Jinta County.
As cold air moves south more frequently, winter is approaching and the scenery is becoming more and more bleak.
After the snow, the sky cleared up and the car was driving on the wide country road.
Guo Yang could also see through the car window that the villagers were busy harvesting cabbage. The fields were full of busy farmers harvesting and transporting cabbage.
The countryside is bustling with activity.
From the beginning of winter, vegetables grown in the open fields have entered their final harvest period.
Many friends in the north have warm childhood memories of harvesting and hoarding cabbage. Whether it is the balcony in the community or the road square in the countryside, cabbages are everywhere enjoying the sun.
The cabbage at this time is also very delicious. As the saying goes, "Frost-bitten vegetables are extra sweet." Vegetables that have been frosted will taste especially fresh and delicious.
Radishes, cabbages, leafy vegetables, lettuce, yellow cabbage, and even apples taste ten times better after frost than before frost.
Plants are also smart. When the weather gets cold, they will accumulate more carbohydrates through photosynthesis during the day.
Under the action of enzymes, starch is gradually converted into fructose and glucose, giving the vegetables sweetness.
In addition, when the temperature is below zero degrees, the cell membranes of green vegetables will rupture due to freezing, and sugar, amino acids and other substances will overflow, creating a sweet and soft taste.
But in the end, these all became nature's gifts to mankind.
The car drove forward and arrived at the destination of this trip: Hekou Village.
At the request of Tianhe Seed Industry, the city temporarily recommended this seed production base to Tianhe.
As early as a few days ago, people from the production department had already arrived in Hekou Village to start work.
The importance of seed production bases is self-evident, and high-quality seed production bases are even more scarce resources.
During the winter farming season, major seed companies are busy looking for suitable seed production bases.
The requirements for land used for seed production are usually very high. In addition to considering conditions such as soil, water sources, transportation, and labor, more important are isolation safety and support from rural governments.
Often, the lack of any link will affect the quantity and quality of seed production.
Along the way, Guo Yang combined the information collected by the company in the early stage and basically understood the geographical conditions of Hekou Village.
This place is indeed very suitable for building a seed base.
Although they are both located in Jinta County, the natural conditions of Hekou Village are far better than those of Shuangqiao Village and Yuanba Village.
The land is flat and fertile, and there is sufficient irrigation water, providing good conditions for agricultural production.
In addition, from the scenes along the way, it can be seen that Hekou Village is mainly engaged in planting and its source of income is relatively single.
Seed production can significantly increase farmers' economic income, and naturally can fully mobilize farmers' enthusiasm for seed production and labor passion.
The most important thing is that this place is far away from the urban area, which makes the isolation conditions for establishing a seed production base here better.
Whether breeding parent inbred lines or preparing hybrids, an isolation area must be set up. The safety of the isolation area is directly related to the purity of the seeds.
Therefore, no other crops can be planted within 500 meters of the breeding area to prevent and reduce foreign pollen from drifting into the seed production area and causing biological contamination.
If the breeding area is located in a low-lying area or downwind area where other crops are grown, the distance of the isolation zone should be appropriately extended.
Not long after the vehicle entered the village, Guo Yang saw Tianhe staff wearing thick clothes waiting on the roadside.
Among them, the group was led by a middle-aged man in a black cotton coat.
The middle-aged man is named Yan Qun. He was formerly the head of the Huaxia Seed Group’s Zhangye corn seed production base in Long Province.
He was poached by Tianhe Seed through a headhunter and is now the deputy general manager of Tianhe Seed, in charge of seed production and seed processing.
As a former middle and senior management personnel of a central enterprise, Yan Qun is a technical personnel by origin and has strong business capabilities.
The car slowly stopped and several people gathered around.
"Boss Yan, I think the conditions here are good. How are the talks with the Hekou Village Committee going?"
Yan Qun said: "It's not very optimistic. The village committee leadership is still hesitating whether to sign a contract with us."
Guo Yang frowned, "Didn't the spirit of the city's meeting get through?"
"We have come down, but before we came, many seed companies had their eyes on this place. Later, after discussion, the village committee reached an agreement with Shazhou Seed Industry to produce seeds."
"Besides that, there is another company that has not given up yet."
"Moreover, the city only recommended Tianhe Seed Industry to Hekou Village. The specific decision still needs to be made by the farmers in the village."
"The city is setting a trap for me!" Guo Yang sighed helplessly.
But this matter is mainly Guo Yang's own fault.
Because when the seeds were being cultivated in a targeted manner, people subconsciously forgot to calculate the 'thousand-grain weight' of the seeds, which resulted in the cultivation of one thousand kilograms of screw peppers and sweet peppers each.
Those are light pepper seeds!
According to estimates, 1 seeds of Red No. 6 sweet pepper weigh 7-1g, and jin means more than seeds, which can be used to grow seedlings and transplant them to more than acres of land.
Tianjiao No. 1 is even more exaggerated, with 1 seeds in kilogram!
If all these seeds were used for breeding, they could plant 50,000 acres!
The area of Tianhe’s seed base in Jiuquan is definitely not enough.
Guo Yang, who understood this, had to advance his plan and establish a pepper seed production base by cooperating with large seed producers or professional villages.
Hekou Village was recommended by the city to Tianhe.
There are about 5000 acres of high-quality arable land here that can be used for vegetable seed production.
But I didn't expect that there were already many heroes surrounding this place.
Yan Qun was also helpless. "It is said that Shazhou Seed Industry is planning to build a tomato seed production base here, and has been communicating with Hekou Village half a year in advance."
"How's the nearby village?"
At this time, Duan Haitao, who was wrapped tightly, stood up and said, "Mr. Guo, we have also visited several nearby villages, and none of them are suitable."
"How to say?"
"Xingxing Village next door started seed production a few years ago, but because the village cadres were incompetent, some farmers privately introduced other seed companies, resulting in two or three seed companies in one village, and production order is in chaos."
Other employees also expressed their opinions.
"Previously, some companies failed to pay the seed production fees on time in previous years, which resulted in no farmers willing to produce seeds for them. Then this company won over village cadres and villagers, deliberately belittled its competitors, and used improper means to pry the bases signed by other companies."
"Some companies have also deceived farmers into planting commercial corn in seed production areas and set up obstacles to seed production, creating a situation where they cannot produce seeds and do not allow others to do so."
"And, and..."
Basically everyone spoke.
Guo Yang also has an understanding of everyone's work, and he has learned that working in rural areas is indeed not easy.
All kinds of incredible things can happen.
After pondering for a moment, Guo Yang stamped his cold feet and asked, "How is the village committee of Hekou Village?"
Yan Qun said: "From the contacts I have had so far, the Hekou Village Committee has great prestige among the people and strong appeal."
"This will be very beneficial for the unified planning and layout of the base, the establishment of isolation areas, the organization of seed production and technical training, etc."
"And from the Shazhou Seed Industry incident, we can also see that the village committee is relatively honest."
Hearing the constant praise for the Hekou Village Committee, a production technician began to grumble: "But it is also because of this that our current work is difficult."
"That's right. The people in the Hekou Village Committee are all stubborn old men."
"You can't hit me, you can't scold me, you can't win by talking to me, and if you go too much, people will dislike you."
"That's nothing. I gave cigarettes to the village chief, but he complained that my cigarettes were not strong enough."
Guo Yang listened to everyone's discussion and looked at Yan Qun who remained silent with sharp eyes. "Is there a way to treat the symptoms and the root cause?"
Yan Qun smiled and said, it’s time to show your value.
"You can try it."
……
In the production workshop of Shazhou Seed Company’s Jiuquan Branch.
Winter is the golden period for seed processing companies to produce seeds. Several production lines are running at full capacity to produce and process corn seeds to supply them for spring sowing in fields across the country next year.
Yin Xiaobing was patrolling the workshop absent-mindedly, looking blankly at the coated seeds being measured, packaged, and stacked on the production line before being put into storage.
He is the production manager of this branch of Shazhou Seed Industry.
Logically speaking, as a middle-level leader in a state-owned enterprise, one should live a comfortable life.
But in the last two years, he's just felt tired.
As an old employee of the company, he was engaged in the production and processing of corn seeds in the factory before the company was integrated and restructured.
Having worked his way up from the bottom of a state-owned enterprise to where he is today, he has long had deep feelings for the company.
I thought that after strong integration and restructuring, the company would develop better and better.
However, the company was only big but not strong. It still struggled on the profit and loss line all year round and could only bully others within the province.
Employee benefits have remained stagnant in the past two years. On the contrary, the reorganization of many state-owned enterprises and public institutions has led to the emergence of numerous factions within the companies.
There are more and more messy and confusing things.
Recently, the company is planning to expand outward, expand the corn seed production base, and also build a supporting seed processing plant.
The company's new general manager has already contacted him and said that the headquarters values him and intends to transfer him to the new factory.
If he could get a promotion and a raise, he would definitely agree, but this turned out to be a lateral transfer!
It is even possible that revenue may decline because the new factory is not yet profitable!
Is this respect?
Isn't this clearly setting a trap for others?
Yin Xiaobing was so angry that he couldn't help but have a big quarrel with the new general manager yesterday.
He definitely won't go to the new factory!
But without a job, how can I support my family?
At this time, he thought of Tianhe Seed Industry, which was poaching people everywhere, so he took the initiative to contact them by phone.
He thought about the promise that the boss of Tianhe had made to him personally yesterday, and the generous treatment.
Yin Xiaobing made a decision.
I stood up and walked towards the office area with the prepared resignation letter.
……
In the general manager's office, Xie Fanglin was looking through documents.
At this time, a burly and rough man with large-proportioned features walked in angrily.
"Leader, Tianhe Seed Industry is getting more and more outrageous. You have to find a way to control it!"
Xie Fanglin frowned slightly, very disgusted with the behavior of coming in without knocking, but Lao Cao had a backer in the head office, so he couldn't touch him for the time being.
Moreover, he is the talent in the company, and he has to know when to place his own people. It will not have a good impact if the old employees are transferred away.
"Tell me more about it."
Lao Cao sighed and said, "It's fine if Tianhe Seeds poached our production technicians and middle-level managers."
"But today I went to the city government for a meeting, and guess what, the city government asked us to compete fairly with Tianhe for the land in Hekou Village!"
"What? Haven't we already reached an agreement with the village cadres of Hekou Village?" Xie Fanglin felt incredible.
And what is Lao Cao saying? Production technicians and middle managers are the foundation of the company.
Without these people, where can we find people to do the work?
Lao Cao found a chair and sat down. When he talked about Hekou Village, his face was full of contempt.
"Hekou Village works in the fields all year round, how much can they earn? Tianhe Seed Industry is very wealthy, and it is possible that the village committee has been bribed."
"And the contract hasn't been signed yet!"
Hearing this, Xie Fanglin felt that it made sense.
At the same time, he was very angry. Since taking over the branch, Tianhe Seed Industry has always been causing trouble for him.
He personally went to discuss the seed production base in Hekou Village half a year ago, and it was also the first project he discussed after taking charge of the branch.
He was deeply impressed by the village cadres. Although they were all elderly people, he could tell from just a brief encounter that the leadership team had a high prestige in the village.
For profit, other villages started to engage in seed production a few years ago.
Even if the village committee does not organize it, some farmers in the village will privately introduce seed companies to produce seeds, which will eventually cause a mess.
Only Hekou Village, although a little poor, is united and has few conflicts.
Such a village is the preferred seed production base!
The only drawback is that the ideas are rather outdated.
It is not easy to find high-quality seed production base resources. For this reason, he spent half a year to gradually change the ideas of the village committee cadres.
Now someone wants to pick peaches?
The more Xie Fanglin thought about it, the angrier he got. He couldn't help but slam the table.
In the past, Shazhou Seed Industry relied on its large size and status as a local tyrant to always have an advantage in the competition for seed production bases.
Unexpectedly, this time my home was stolen by Tianhe Seed Industry.
Seeing his anxious look, Lao Cao suggested: "The thousands of acres of land in Hekou Village are related to next year's tomato seed production. Should we also go to the city for help?"
"It's useless to go to the city now. Tianhe Seed Industry has come with huge capital this time, and it has already stunned the city." Xie Fanglin began to feel uncomfortable.
As the seed production bases move westward, more and more seed production companies emerge in the Hexi Corridor region, and competition among the bases becomes fierce.
The city probably had no choice but to push towards Hekou Village because of being forced by Tianhe!
"Lao Cao, you have worked in the company for so many years, and you don't have any solution?"
Lao Cao showed a cunning look, "Hey, leader, there must be a way."
Seeing this, Xie Fanglin asked curiously, "Tell me about it."
"The first thing is to promise to increase the organization service fee of village cadres. I suggest raising it to 0.1 yuan to 0.2 yuan per kilogram. In addition, we can also build good relationships with individual cadres."
Hearing this, Xie Fanglin hesitated.
"Secondly, we can also promise to advance the cost of original seeds, fertilizers and mulch film to the villagers, and even promise to pay the villagers a deposit for seed production..."
Xie Fanglin understood Lao Cao's idea. He casually promised to take over the base first, but then broke his promise in disguise at the end of the year.
"Lao Cao, your thoughts are very dangerous..."
Just then, Yin Xiaobing knocked on the door and walked in.
"Boss Xie, I want to resign!"
(End of this chapter)