Jets flew from the North Point of Washington to the South Point of Oregon, and it didn't take much time for the two adjacent states to be far apart. Link got off the plane with a dozing Hannah, and they also needed to take a helicopter ride to the wheat planting test site.

The wheat planting test field is in the middle of the farm, in the mountain basin, where there are two small lakes and a flat land of thousands of acres. Link had previously asked to be used here as a testing ground for the first planting.

There is a camp in a simple prefabricated house at the test site, where more than six technicians work on weekdays. But today there are more than 10 scientists gathered here.

Florin was also here himself, and when Link's helicopter landed, they were still sampling to see what percentage of the wheat grains were necrosis. That is, the degree of disease in wheat.

The sound of the helicopter alerts Florin that Link is coming. He walked out of the board house, and the helicopter had landed.

Link hugged Hannah and Jessica out of the helicopter's wind zone before asking him loudly, "Florin, how's it going?

"So far, everything has been satisfying. We have spot-checked more than 4,000 small shops, and only one is moldy, and the fullness rate is almost 100%. The results are very encouraging. This shows that this wheat not only has an increased yield, but also has a strong disease resistance. ”

The helicopter temporarily turned off its engines, and they didn't have to speak so loudly.

Link asked, "Could the lack of disease have anything to do with the first wheat cultivation in this place?"

Florin nodded and said, "This reason cannot be ruled out. It is indeed possible that the number of pathogenic bacteria here has not yet reached the pathogenic concentration. But even then, our experiments have shown that our new wheat varieties are more resistant to disease than other wheat varieties. ”

Link smiled and said, "It seems that we have just heard good news. ”

Florin looked at Hannah curiously looking around him in his arms, smiled and said, "Let's go into the office and talk." ”

The so-called office is just a small room made of simple board houses, which is very cramped, with only a small office and a laptop. There was no coffee or anything like that, so Jessica poured a few glasses of cold water and asked, "Dad, we all want to know, is our wheat now a stable seed?"

Link said, "Also, is it possible to prevent growers from keeping seeds?"

The shape is basically stable. Because of the 12 acres of wheat planted this time, we randomly inspected 1,000 plants and found no mutated plants. However, we cannot predict whether there will be shape separation after the third generation. ”

"How long will it take?"

"At least two more generations of planting. However, it can be grown in an experimental greenhouse. ”

Link thought for a moment and said, "In that case, twelve acres of wheat can be used as seed at this time." ”

"That's the case in theory. Florin felt that the previous experiments were reliable. But before there is time, he cannot guarantee that the traits before the third generation will be stable, and by the fourth generation there will be shape separation. "We want that to be 0 percent. Because that's what makes it easier for us to produce a lot of seeds. ”

If the first generation decides that those seeds can only be planted for four generations, there will be severe shape separation, and it will be difficult for them to get more seeds. Because they can't increase the amount of seeds with more generations. If most of these seeds do not have trait separation, then they use some biotechnology to make these seeds more prone to shape separation on the next generation of seeds. This ensures that the farmers who grow these seeds do not keep their own seeds.

Link also understood what he meant, and if that was the case, he should have been able to plant the wheat in advance.

"I plan to keep most of these seeds, and I plan to expand the planting area. How much wheat can we grow now?"

"We harvested more than 3,000 bushels of wheat. If you want to plant, I suggest, you only plant three thousand bushels of seeds for the time being. An acre takes about two to three bushels of seeds. So you can only plant fifteen hundred acres at most. Or less. ”

"Okay, just leave three thousand bushels. You can take the rest back for experiments. But the seeds must be kept safely. He didn't want the new seeds that he had spent a lot of time and money cultivating to be stolen.

"We'll lock the seeds in the safe. Florin also said with a smile. This is his daughter's future business, and it is his current business, and of course he will be careful to guard against it.

He paused and then said, "Since you are here, I will also elaborate on the results of this experiment." ”

"According to our current research, the yield of the hard red wheat grown this time can be 15 to 18 percent higher than that of similar varieties that are mainly grown in the United States today, if it is grown in the usual way. The exact protein content is still being determined, but preliminary estimates are above 14%, but not more than 15%. We estimate it to be around 14.4%. But this is already a very rare good quality. ”

"Are you sure that you can increase the yield by more than 10 percent? Isn't it just about 10 percent more than that?"

"Yes, that's how the data goes. But the amount of fertilizer we use per unit area is much lower than the amount used for large-scale cultivation. Only about 40% of those wheat fields. ”

"How is that possible?" both Link and Jessica were surprised.

You must know that modern agriculture can have such a high yield, mainly relying on chemical fertilizers, if the cost of application is so small, no matter how good the wheat seed is, it is difficult to achieve such a high yield.

"Our estimates at that time. Florin smiled and pulled out a document with some data on it. "This is the data we investigated. This is the amount of compound fertilizer applied to the average farmland to grow wheat, and this is the amount we use. ”

Link looked at the data above, and if the data that Florin took out was not falsified, then the amount of fertilizer per unit area of this twelve-acre land was indeed much less.

"However, we also use enough green manure. He said, looking at Link. "The dried algae residue delivered from Ozette has a very high mineral content. We are also investigating the mineral content of the soil after wheat has been planted. Maybe that's also a reason. ”

Well, it's because of the effect of fertilization. Link asked, "What would have happened if green manure hadn't been used?"

"It won't have much of an impact. Today's compound fertilizers can meet all the nutritional needs of wheat. Without green manure, wheat can also rely on chemical fertilizers to produce as much wheat. ”

In fact, the price of wheat in the United States is not very high. The futures price of the hard red spring in the United States is now only about $5.6 per bushel. That is, the price of a pound of wheat is less than ten cents (1 bushel = 60 pounds). Even if the yield of this wheat seed can reach 260 bushels per acre, the value of production per acre is only more than 1,500 dollars.

That's obviously not a very good earnings figure. Because in cultivation, there is a lot of cost. Fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation for cultivation and seeds. These costs add up to a lot.

But he didn't think about selling wheat directly. He can sell seeds. A pound of seeds can buy at least two dollars. That's a difference of more than twenty times.

Then one acre of acreage can generate $30,000 in value. And there are benefits that can't be measured in terms of money alone.

If he could control most of the hard wheat seeds, he would control most of the wheat cultivation in the United States. However, he felt that this matter could not be publicized for the time being.

He thought about it for a moment and said to Flolin: "Don't announce it until we have determined whether our wheat seeds are suitable for promotion." ”

Florin had thought of filing a patent right away. So he didn't agree with Link's decision: "Link, this is a great invention. We have to apply for a patent as soon as possible, only then can we better protect our rights and interests. ”

Jessica was also a little confused by his idea, and asked him, "Link, what do you think? As it stands, we'll soon be able to develop seeds that can be promoted." If it is not announced now, it will be easy for others to know. ”

Link naturally had his considerations in mind, saying, "The problem is that we don't know yet if we'll be able to get the seeds that can be promoted this year." If people know, whether we can keep the new seed is a question. ”

Florin shared his concerns. But he felt that it was precisely because of this that he should apply for a patent in advance: "You're right, Link. Once our seed leaks out. We can only stop people from infringing if we have patents! You think about it, you've invested hundreds of millions of dollars in these projects. ”

Link thought for a moment and said, "Let me think about it first." Until I decide, ask everyone involved in the experiment not to disclose this information to the public. ”

He was the majority shareholder with the decision-making power, and although Florin disagreed with his decision, he reluctantly accepted his decision in the end.

After Florin told him the results of the experiment, he went back to the improvised laboratory. Link and Jessica left the farmland. Take Hannah to the hillside to see the alpacas she wants to see.

Alpacas are kept in a concentrated herd on a hillside. At the foot of the hillside, there is also a campsite. But the camp is better than the one in the wheat field, with herders, researchers, and a laboratory.

All buildings are prefabricated and there is an animal breeding laboratory. The lab is of course targeting the alpacas.

However, these alpacas have not yet reached breeding age, and not many researchers have been recruited.

Hearing the sound of a helicopter, the head of this laboratory walked out. Seeing that it was Link who got off the plane. He greeted him with a smile.

Link smiled and said, "Tom, are you still used to being here?"

Tom is a zoologist from the United Kingdom. Now he is sixty years old. He is working here with a team of five people on artificial embryo transfer techniques for baby alpacas. But they've only been here for a month and a half.

"The view is great and there are cute little llamas. Tom smiled and shook his hand. "Is this your daughter Hannah?"

Hannah isn't particularly cheerful though. But when faced with people who greet him, he always consciously responds: "Hello grandpa! I'm Hannah Lin." It's Daddy's daughter!"