Link remembers the contents of Martha's report to him last year.

As mentioned above, fish is the least consumed meat protein consumed by humans today.

The feed coefficient of shrimp farming has been close to 1, while the feed coefficient of marine fish can be reduced to about 1.5 at the lowest. Even chickens have to reach 2.3. So fish seems to be one of the carnivores that consumes the least human resources.

On top of that, deep-sea fish farming does not require direct access to fresh water.

The drought of the past few years has put the problem of water scarcity and food problem together. As a man bent on creating an agricultural empire, he certainly followed the discussions.

Scientists are once again emphasizing the amount of fresh water that is needed to be depleted in the cultivation of various animals.

Not just the water they drink, but the fresh water that needs to be consumed in the production of the feed they eat.

That's a shocking statistic. One gram of beef is farmed, and twenty or thirty liters of fresh water are consumed.

Fish are fed artificial compound feed with a feed factor of between 1.5 and 2, and if a cow does not eat grass and only eats compound feed, the feed coefficient can be as high as 15. Therefore, raising animals with a low feed coefficient is actually saving a lot of fresh water.

Deep-sea fish farming can make him a lot of economic benefits, and it can also allow him to get involved in more food production industries that are needed by human beings, and can also improve his position in world agriculture on this basis.

That's why he felt the project was out of place, but didn't want to give up.

Jessica's proposal, he felt made sense. Although Jeff has not been involved in marine farming, he has experience in aquaculture. I also have experience in running a fishing farm. It is also impossible to build many of those platforms at once. If Jeff is willing to manage, there is enough time for him to wait.

He smiled at Jessica and said, "I'll talk to Jeff." ”

Jessica added: "If Jeff doesn't plan to leave Overtown, you can find a good enough manager. One platform and one manager, if you have any questions, you will be contacted. ”

"But the logistical aspects should not be overlooked. ”

Of course, it is impossible for the deep-sea platform to produce the required feed by itself, so it can only be transported by land by ship. Even the fry need to be farmed on land for a period of time before they can be sent to the platform, which is not necessarily less managed than the platform work.

"Are you worried?"

Although Link didn't want to admit it, he still nodded and said, "It's really a little uneasy. In his heart, he still wants to have his own relatives, friends or trusted people to manage his company. And the people he knows now are not familiar with the aquaculture industry other than Jeff.

Jessica smiled and said, "Trust is cultivated. You and I weren't unable to trust each other at first, and now I'm not married to you?" she said, laughing suddenly. "When I first decided to come to Ozette to meet you alone, Kiss even feared that you would imprison me. ”

Link was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but smile and said, "If it weren't for the unbearable heart, I really wanted to do that!"

Jessica glanced at him, but the charm in her eyes was impossible to ignore.

After she sent a hot autumn wave, she did not continue to talk sweetly with Link, but analyzed with him the benefits of investing in deep-sea platform farming.

"I guess you haven't considered another benefit of you developing this project!"

"What is it?"

"Have you ever wondered what impact we would have on U.S. agriculture if we promoted high-yielding wheat, soybeans and corn?"

Link thought for a moment and said, "Because the yield is high and the total yield is too high, the acreage of wheat and soybeans will shrink." ”

Although the United States has agricultural subsidies, the prices of agricultural products are very sensitive to the market, and there is no protective price or anything like that. U.S. agriculture relies heavily on exports to be profitable, if the world's agricultural products are all raised. Even a 20 percent increase in production today could lead to a significant decline in world food growth.

If the export of agricultural products from the United States is blocked, the agricultural acreage will certainly be reduced because of the price problem.

Of course, it is also possible that the food will be used for other purposes. For example, feed. Like alcohol.

He thought of what Jessica was trying to say, "You mean to promote deep-sea platform farming and consume more food?"

"Yes. Jessica said with a frown. "If the area under agricultural acreage declines, the territory of the Benehans Group will also shrink. So we're promoting high-yielding crops, and preferably a consuming industry. Livestock cannot be spread forever. There is also a surplus of meat production in the United States. And it is relatively difficult to export. But fish are different. Now Asian and European boats are running to Africa for indiscriminate fishing. Small island nations in the Pacific also sell fishing rights in their territorial waters. That means there is still a big gap in the world's demand for fish. ”

Link listened to her as he considered her words and felt that she had a point: "You're right. I really didn't think of this question. ”

Jessica laughs, "Aren't many people claiming that humans need more food, and everyone is worried that they won't be able to supply human food needs in 2050? ”

"Fish is a really good meat. ”

The benefits mentioned by Jessica made Link let go of his worries and think about it more deeply.

If he develops the mariculture industry himself. He has enough money to build his own processing system, and he even already has his own retail platform.

As the first retailer to commit to selling only food products with GMO identification labels, Lin's Retail has grown well in the past year, and has now established its own sales outlets in 48 states in the contiguous United States.

He also has a sales network in all cities with a population of more than 50,000 in the United States. Even in some small towns, Lin's Retail has a small supermarket. Although his retail income is a small percentage of his total income, it does help his other businesses a lot.

The same will certainly be true for fisheries.

He finally nodded and said, "I'll think about it again." ”

In fact, he also thought about some worries about the future.

For example, if fish farming develops, the demand for fishmeal will certainly increase rapidly. The price of flour will also soar, which will increase the cost of selling farmed fish to unacceptable levels. And overfishing fish for fishmeal can have devastating effects on the entire marine environment.

At that time, the industry of deep-sea platform farming will also be criticized, and even his investment in it will be lost.

Jessica said, "If you feel the project can be done. I suggest you consult with my dad and have his institute prepare products for the prevention and control of fish parasites and bacterial diseases. ”

"Even if I wasn't going to do it, they should start studying the diseases of farmed animals," Link said. ”

Jessica smiled and nodded, "Maybe you won't believe it." In fact, my dad and I also had a plan to conduct research on aquaculture. Because this industry is more receptive to our products. She laughs. "You know, if a fish gets sick, the damage can be huge. In order to save sick fish, farmers are willing to accept new products. And willing to pay the bill for it. ”

There are many types of diseases in farmed animals. In addition to viral diseases, bacterial diseases and parasitic diseases are based on research.

For bacterial and parasitic diseases, there is nothing more for animals on land. Because many land animals have added antibiotics to their feed, there are also vaccines for various viral diseases. Therefore, land-farmed animals are not easy to get sick. Even if an animal is sick, it is easy to observe and isolated.

Viral diseases are probably the ones that can cause large-scale outbreaks of diseases in animals. And the virus disease, for the time being, is beyond the beinscoy institute.

Fish are different, there are still few vaccines for fish, and even if there are antibiotics in the feed, they have little effect on bacterial and fungal infections and parasites in the water body. Because of the high density of farmed fish, it is easy to cross-infect, and perhaps a single farmed fish can get sick and wipe out the entire pond and cage.

The key to this is that the fish are in the water, and in the middle of a large number of farmed fish, several fish get sick, and it is difficult for farmers to find out. By the time they find it, most of the fish may have already been sick.

Most fish, after getting sick, become restless and do not eat. Trying to give the drug by feeding often does not achieve therapeutic effect. And if you want to manually administer medicine to one fish at a time, not to mention the harm that may be caused to the fish by catching the fish, ask the farmer how many fish can be fed medicine or injections?

For example, one of the deep-sea farming platforms that Link just mentioned can hold 1.5 million salmon......

Biological control, on the other hand, treats all fish directly through the respiration of the fish or the water that the fish comes into contact with, without the fish ingest. And it can remove harmful bacteria and parasites in the water body at the same time.

Tens of millions of tonnes of aquaculture are produced worldwide, and large amounts of damage occur every year due to diseases in aquaculture.

If biological control methods for diseases of aquaculture animals can be developed, it will certainly be a large market.

If Benihans wants to develop his business in animal disease control, the best place to enter is of course aquaculture. If it's a land animal, then you need to develop a vaccine or an antibiotic or something. There is too much market for biological control.

Jessica finally said, "Do you want me to talk to my dad?"

Link looked at her expectant little eyes, smiled and nodded, "Then you can talk to Florin!"

He knew that Jessica had brought up the idea of talking to Florin about it, "Let me get back to work!"