In the next few days, Qi Zheng and Zhang Zehong did not rush to seek farm deals, but first visited many large farms in Texas.

Texas has a very developed agriculture with more than 240,000 farms, and the main agricultural products are cotton, sorghum and other grains, vegetables and fruits. Its livestock and specialty operations are among the best in the United States, raising beef cattle, pigs, poultry, bees and deer, hence the name of the Texas cowboy.

In Texas, the two fully experienced the big farm model of Lao Mei: a single farmer can cultivate thousands of acres of land, spray pesticides with airplanes, use genetically modified technology to solve the problem of diseases, pests and weeds, and grow a single crop in a county or even a state, and then transfer the agricultural products produced to the whole country and even the world through long-distance transportation.

A glimpse of the whole picture shows the high efficiency and high technology of American agriculture.

So much so that Zhang Zehong sighed for a while: "When will our country be able to do this." ”

Not necessarily.

Qi Zheng has a different view on this.

Zhang Zehong's views actually represent the views of most people in China.

Because we can always see cool videos of American agriculture doing airplane sowing, large harvester harvesting, and so on, so in our thinking, American agriculture is certainly a model of high-tech, high-yield, high-efficiency agriculture.

The legends that "an American farmer can farm 3,000 acres of land by one person" and "an American farmer can feed 200 people with 150 tons of grain" have become popular, and even the myth of American agriculture has been worshipped.

With the popularization of global informatization and the great exchange of knowledge in later generations, many people have a further understanding of American agriculture and understand that, in fact, this is just a beautiful misunderstanding.

According to the data of the United States in 07, its agricultural population is only 2.056 million, but it has produced 184.699 billion US dollars of agricultural output value with 2.97 billion mu of arable land.

If we do not consider land productivity and only labor productivity, the output value of each agricultural worker is as high as 90,000 US dollars, which is undoubtedly amazing and impressive! This is also the basic data that "American agriculture is regarded as a model of high efficiency and high technology."

But if you look at the cruel side of high-tech and the disastrous consequences of monopolies' pursuit of profits, you don't think so.

We can imagine that the American farmer sitting on a tractor can take care of his thousand acres of land alone, but we can't ignore that the operation of this large farm actually depends on a large amount of cheap labor:

The correct translation of "farmer" in Lao Mei's English should be "farmer", not "farmer" in the true sense of the word. After all, the peasants of the local tyrant family and the small farmer of your hanging silk family facing the loess with their backs to the sky are not the same species, and the real definition of people should be agricultural capitalists.

Of course, there are capitalists who have a lot of money, and there are also those who go bankrupt. But in any case, the 2.056 million agricultural workers in Laomei are actually farm owners.

You know, the average land area of Lao Mei's family farm is more than 100 hectares, such a large scale, do you think you can really rely on mechanization to win the world? Don't be naïve.

Aside from the single grain crops, various cash crops represented by fruits, tobacco and vegetables require fine management of their seedlings, transplanting, harvesting and other links, and are inseparable from a large number of seasonal laborers before the advent of highly intelligent agricultural machinery.

It's no secret how high labor costs are in the United States. If you rely only on domestic labor, the cost is quite impressive.

So where do these seasonal laborers come from?

The answer is that the vast majority are immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America, foreign workers on visas, or illegal immigrants. These laborers are counted as workers in the demographics of the United States. And because most of them are not native, there is no very precise data. But it is estimated that there are between 2.1 million and 5 million such farm workers in the United States.

Therefore, in the future, the Trump leader of the United States who ruled the country with Twitter built a wall on the US-Mexico border to restrict illegal immigration, and the trade war led to the increase in taxes on domestic agricultural products - on the one hand, it increased the cost of labor, and on the other hand, agricultural products could not be sold.

Well, of course, it's possible that he will wait for the large subsidy he has been given before scolding......

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In addition, we can see the high output of American agriculture, but we cannot ignore the painful trauma that this model has brought to the land and the health of the people:

Later, there were media reports that hundreds of cancer-stricken farmers in the United States complained about the health harm caused by long-term use of herbicides, and that the government colluded with agrochemical companies to conceal the harm of herbicides bundled with genetically modified technology.

And because of the binding of interest groups, this kind of report did not cause much of a wave at all and was annihilated by other disturbing news.

However, a series of problems caused by American agriculture, such as environmental pollution, soil erosion, increased resistance to pests and diseases, and the simplification of variety resources, cannot be ignored.

The big agriculture of the United States is essentially capital, technology and energy-intensive agriculture, that is, the use of modern facilities and agricultural machinery and equipment, relying on a large number of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, and high input in exchange for high output, which to a certain extent violates the nature of agriculture as a combination of natural reproduction and economic reproduction, and the tragedy caused is inevitable.

The sophistication of American agriculture is just its delicate skin.

Of course, it is his own business that American agriculture is not environmentally friendly, and if it does not affect China, Qi Zheng will not care whether he lives or dies at all.

However, while the United States has taken advantage of high subsidies, high technology, and high scale to dump grain at low prices, while earning huge profits, the three major domestic monopoly grain merchants, ADM, Bunge, and Cargill, have basically completed their global layout and controlled two-thirds of the world's grain trading volume. On the other hand, giant companies such as Monsanto and Pioneer control half of the world's seed and agricultural chemicals markets!

Needless to say, the pursuit of profit by the conglomerates is already dangerous.

A few years later, under the pretext of low food prices, the three major grain monopolies pushed Congress to pass the National Energy Policy Act, and under the banner of ecology, hundreds of millions of tons of grain were converted into bioenergy every year.

The consequences are obvious: global food prices have risen significantly, causing social unrest in many developing countries, and grain production has been hit hard -- why China has repeatedly emphasized "food security" is of profound practical significance.

Don't expect kindness from a capitalist, he will always only think about how to get the last coin out of your pocket.

Of course, Qi Zheng also had to admit the excellence of the American agricultural system.

Throughout history, agricultural science and technology has always led and run through the entire development process of American agriculture, and its model of scientific research, education, and extension of the "trinity" of a huge system and huge investment has been extremely successful, and has played a key leading role in promoting the United States to become the world's largest agricultural power.

In this regard, it can only be said that while the world's agriculture has benefited from the high technology of the American agricultural model, it has also suffered even more from it.

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Hearing Qi Zheng's eloquent analysis and rebuttal one by one, Zhang Zehong was stunned, this is really a long time to see. The routines in the city are deep, and the roads in the countryside are also slippery. In this world, there is simply no way for people to live.

"Then according to what you say, Lao Mei didn't find the problem herself?" Zhang Zehong asked in confusion.

"How could I not have found out, but on the one hand, it is a matter of interest - this model is the most cost-effective, and on the other hand, it is ...... People can afford to squander. ”

"The unique geographical environment, diverse suitable climate and rich land resources of Laomei are simply endowed with unique resources, coupled with the strict implementation of the fallow and production restriction system, even if there are problems in agriculture, it will also hang the world!" Qi Zheng said with envy and jealousy.

"Then we will follow this model on the American side?" Zhang Zehong was a little confused.

Qi Zheng said as a matter of course: "If you have the opportunity, you will definitely do this, and it is not my country that is hurting." How easy is this big agricultural model, Lao Mei is not afraid, why should we worry about their life and death?"

You have a good point, I can't even argue with it. Zhang Zehong was also speechless when he heard this.

"However, if we want to really make a lot of money from Lao Mei, we still have to play some different tricks. Qi Zheng touched his chin and said thoughtfully.

"Huh?" Zhang Zehong looked at Qi Zheng curiously, waiting for his high opinion.

"We still have to make organic food. "As early as 1990, the United States began to implement the "Organic Food Act", which stipulates the standards for the production, disposal and processing of organic food, and according to the relevant regulations of the United States, only products with an organic rate of 95% in the production and processing process can be labeled with the 'USA Organic' logo. Having this magic label means a high price. ”

"The one that can issue this labeling authority is the National Organic Program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Large organic farms must be audited by a third-party certification body authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture, and after passing it, they can obtain an organic certification certificate so that the farm can be qualified to call its products organic. ”

"The review by a third-party certification body is subject to a large application fee, which further drives up the price of organic food. ”

"I've seen a study that predicts that organic food sales in the U.S. will grow at least double-digit rates in the 21st century. "There is no need to read such a report at all, Qi Zheng directly uses the data in his memory to talk about things.

"Think about it, if we produce organic products in the way we do at home, we don't have to reach the full level of the products at home, as long as there is half of the quality, according to the level of the old and beautiful local tyrants, I don't slaughter them harshly, I am sorry for my conscience. ”

Zhang Zehong thought about the cost and profit of the farm in the village, and suddenly realized that this was the truth.

In fact, Zhang Zehong was used to being fooled by Qi Zheng.

Normally, organic production is not a simple task in the United States, and the high cost alone is difficult for most producers.

Organic means more manpower, and in the U.S., more manpower means costs are skyrocketing – and don't be surprised to see that fruits and vegetables are often more expensive than meat in developed countries, the biggest reason is that they can't be mechanized.

But Qi Zheng has the reliance of the Spirit Array, which can offset the high cost of labor to the greatest extent, so it is difficult to make money or not.

What Qi Zheng wanted to think about was how to control the effect of the spirit array - aura was rare, and he didn't want to produce too high-quality products for Lao Mei.

Money is to be earned, but the best things are still to be left to your family.

It's that principled.

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