In fact, the benefit of importing grain is not only to save land, but also to save a lot of water in agriculture. Although wheat is a dryland crop, generally speaking, the production of 1 kilogram of wheat also consumes about 1 ton of fresh water, and if 20 million tons of wheat can be imported, it is equivalent to saving 20 billion tons of agricultural water. Using an algorithm that became popular in later generations, it is equivalent to saving 2,000 West Lakes of water.

In northern China, farmers have long relied on pumping groundwater for irrigation due to a shortage of surface water. According to experts' estimates, by 2010, the cumulative scale of groundwater overexploitation in North China had reached 120 billion tons, and this scale will continue to expand.

If North China can reduce the cultivation of wheat by 20 million tons, it can save an additional 20 billion tons of fresh water and backfill it into the ground, and in just a few years, the over-exploitation of groundwater in the entire North China region will be completely replenished, what a significant ecological contribution? And to do that is just more than $3 billion a year.

Huang Gang's work in the Planning Commission is not in charge of agriculture, but he also has some idea of these figures, and he keenly feels that this is indeed a very good suggestion, but on the issue of importing grain, the state has some concerns, and Huang Gang has no choice but to introduce these concerns to Lin Zhenhua and at the same time listen to his views on these issues.

"Brother Lin, there are indeed many benefits to importing food, but it is also very risky. Food is no better than other things, and if it is pinched in the hands of others, it will pose a great threat to the security of our country. Once there is some turmoil in international politics, others will be able to surrender without a fight with our grain in their hands. Huang Gang said.

Lin Zhenhua was surprised: "Huang Gang, why are you so worried? It's just 20 million tons of grain, how can it have an impact on our country's food security? I have the impression that our country's annual grain output is 400 million to 500 million tons, right? These 20 million tons are equivalent to 4% to 5%. In a big country, where can't you save such a little food? ”

"Is that all?" Huang Gang was also stunned, he pinched his fingers and counted it, and couldn't help but laugh dumbly, isn't it, 20 million tons of grain, which is quite a lot, but in a country as big as China. It's really not a big deal.

In fact, concerns about food security are a legacy of history. More than a decade ago, China's total grain production was low, and the supply of non-staple food was insufficient, so people ate too much. Food supply and demand have always been very tight. 20 million tons of grain is indeed very important for the whole country. But after years of development, China's food supply has become very sufficient, to put it mildly, just the leftovers thrown out of the restaurants on the streets are more than 20 million tons.

In addition, as a country that once suffered from hunger, China is also very cautious in terms of grain reserves, and there are as many as 300 million tons of grain reserves in grain depots at all levels all year round. If there is a fluctuation of 20 million tons in the year, it will not affect the food security of the whole country.

Lin Zhenhua said: "Huanggang, you have to pay attention to such a point, we import grain just to let our land fallow, not to destroy these land. If the Americans dare to use grain as a weapon to make things difficult for us, we can immediately put the fallow land into production, and it will only take a year to fill the gap of 20 million tons. If you think about it, if a means can't kill the opponent at all. Do they still dare to take it out and use it? ”

"Why didn't I think of that?" Huang Gang scratched his scalp. There was some frustration. In fact, he can't be blamed for this, there are some conceptual things. You've been immersed in it for a long time, and you really won't notice the irrationality of it. In China, both the official and the non-governmental sector feel that food is the lifeblood of the country, and they dare not hand it over to others, but few people will do the math and think about whether this threat really exists. ..., "Brother Lin, there's one more question. Huang Gang finally thought of a little more, "If we import grain and leave the land fallow, then how will the original farmers who grow grain live in their lives?" ”

Lin Zhenhua hated iron and said with hatred: "Huang Gang, Huang Gang, I think when you were studying, you seemed to be quite sensible, why did you become a bit of an official and make a fool?" These farmers are no longer farming, they can move to industry. We import grain from the United States, stabilize the US Congress, and let them not make it difficult for China's industrial exports, which can create more manufacturing jobs for China, and we are worried about not being able to accommodate these surplus farmers? ”

"But not all peasants can come out to work?" Huang Gang raised the bar, and in his heart, he already vaguely agreed with the plan proposed by Lin Zhenhua, but he still had to consider some difficulties in many aspects, which was the instinct of an official of the Planning Commission.

Lin Zhenhua saw Huang Gang's thoughts, so he pretended to be vicious and said, "I don't care about this, I really can't do it, you Planning Commission will pay to compensate them." When you return farmland to forests, don't you also have ecological compensation funds? Don't think I don't know this. ”

Lin Zhenhua learned about these conditions during his inspection in Jingxi, and in order to let the peasants in the mountains return farmland to forests, the state has to give a sum of money every year to subsidize them, and those peasants who have returned farmland to the mountains can get more income than they used to farm by planting trees and protecting forests every day, and this money itself is the state's environmental protection expenditure.

Huang Gang smiled, he had already thought about the whole thing in his heart. Importing U.S. wheat is indeed a good idea to kill multiple birds with one stone, and internally, it can relieve the pressure on land and agricultural water, and restore the severely overdrawn land and water resources. Externally, powerful American agricultural associations can be co-opted to become hardcore supporters of China. Huang Gang is not as optimistic as Lin Zhenhua, so he naturally can't imagine that there will be too much foreign exchange reserves to be used up in the future, otherwise, he would also think that this is also a good way to find a way out for the extra dollars.

Even the question of how to subsidize the fallow farmers on the land he raised himself, he already had a full plan in his mind, and in short, it was an ecological compensation plan. The average price of water in rural areas in North China is about 1 cent per ton, while the price of water for urban residents is 2 yuan per ton. If the water saved in agriculture could be resold to urban dwellers, the difference in price alone would be enough to feed the farmers who grow food. Of course, the specific operation must be implemented by the relevant departments, which is not a difficult task.

"How's that, have you figured it out?" Lin Zhenhua saw that the expression on Huang Gang's face gradually became relaxed, and knew that he had been persuaded by himself, "Now we can go and talk to the Americans, right?" ”

Huang Gang nodded and said, "It's okay, but I can't do anything about this matter, so I can only talk to the other party about a general intention first." It is estimated that the central authorities will have to hold a meeting to discuss and decide on changing the country's grain import policy. ”

The two of them returned to the conference room, Lin Zhenhua smiled apologetically at several Americans, and said, "I'm sorry everyone, just now I went out with Director Huang to discuss the issue of importing agricultural products from the United States, and Director Huang talked about his hardships, but I have already persuaded him." Out of the overall situation of Sino-American friendship, he promised to persuade his leaders to agree to import more than 20 million tons of wheat from the United States, as well as corn and other crops. ”

"Oh, that's great, thank you so much Mr. Huang." Radka and Sleet stood up at the same time and thanked Huang Gang ecstatically.

Huang Gang waved his hand, pointed at Lin Zhenhua and said, "Hehe, you still want to thank Chairman Lin." The import of grain will have a very big impact on our country's agriculture, and our government will also be under great pressure because of this. Fortunately, Chairman Lin said that his company is willing to contribute some money to help the government resettle farmers who have lost their jobs because of imported grain. Radka and the two turned their heads to thank Lin Zhenhua, but Lin Zhenhua also hurriedly waved his hand, pointed the focus on Ford, and said: "You don't have to thank me, if you want to thank you, just thank Mr. Ford, if it wasn't for him coming to China thousands of miles away, how could we reach such a consensus?" ”

This is the sedan chair everyone carried, Lin Zhenhua put the credit on Ford, Radka and Scott naturally knew what they should do. Ford is a member of Congress, and he has made such a big cake for the agricultural association, can the agricultural association not return the favor? With the support of the agricultural associations, Ford's voice in parliament could be expanded by dozens of decibels.

"Ok, ok, I guess it's a win-win, right?" "You promised to import U.S. agricultural products, and we managed to persuade Congress to open up the Chinese industrial network, so that we could communicate with each other without friction over the trade deficit," Ford concluded. I think this is an outcome that everyone would like to see. ”

"The United States has abundant land and water resources, we have abundant labor resources, and we exchange industrial products for agricultural products in the United States, which is in line with Adam Smith's doctrine of absolute superiority, and this can be regarded as a return to the Smithian tradition." Huang Gang happily dropped his bookbag.

"Yes, yes, as early as 20 years ago, I told Lin that the United States is a developing country and China is a developed country, and now it seems that my prediction is really accurate." Ford laughed.

"Uh...... Mr. Ford, are you mistaken about the tense? It should be said that the United States is a developed country and China is a developing country. Huang Gang corrected. In English, developed countries are developed_country, developing countries are developing_country, one is the perfect tense and the other is the continuous tense, so Huang Gang thinks that Ford must have mistaken the tense.

"No, no, no, I'm not mistaken." Ford said proudly, "I am indeed saying that China is a developed country and the United States is a developing country. You must know that it has always been developed countries that sell industrial products to developing countries in exchange for agricultural products. Now that the United States has become a country that produces agricultural products for China, isn't it a developing country? ”