Chapter 1361
Making a fortune growing cotton, but trouble is on its way.
By mid-October, the cotton picking work gradually decreased. Except for the cotton plants that grew more vigorously and could be picked three times, the rest were basically just for picking the bolls and cutting the stalks.
Some cotton plants grow very vigorously and flower and set fruit later. By the time the weather cools down, the fruit won't open, but the cotton fibers inside have already formed. In this case, the fruit has to be pulled back and peeled slowly.
This time, the cooperative brought back more than two thousand bags of peaches—each family received some, and the rest were taken by some families in the team who did not grow cotton.
These families didn't grow cotton, but they wanted to get some to make netting, but they didn't want to pay for it, so they picked peaches from the cooperative's fields.
In the end, Xie Yundong discussed it with the other commune members and decided that anyone who wanted to take the peaches left on the cotton plants could do so; they didn't need them anymore.
This year, cotton prices rose, and the cooperative made money. Of course, the other two cooperatives also made money.
But this cooperative makes the lion's share of the profits, after all, it has more than a thousand acres of land, and there are quite a few people eyeing it.
Even though the work in the fields isn't finished yet, gossip has already started spreading in the team. Some people are saying sarcastic things, and others are having complaints behind the scenes.
Therefore, it's not a bad thing to throw out some small benefits and let the team members taste a little sweetness.
After all, those two cooperatives took advantage of the high cotton prices and harvested all the cotton and peaches that could be picked, selling them all before the cotton and linen company was even buying cotton.
According to Xie Yundong's observation, all the staff in those two cooperatives are now peeling peaches, and even the students have to do this work after they get home.
I've finally made some money, I can't miss this opportunity.
When Li Long learned of this situation, he was speechless, but he deeply sympathized with it.
Because many middlemen knew that Li Long and his group farmed in the village, growing cotton.
Cotton prices have risen this year. Although private individuals are not allowed to buy cotton yet, these middlemen are quick and accurate in their intelligence gathering. Li Long thinks that if cotton purchasing is liberalized, these people will definitely be the first to go to the countryside to buy cotton.
These middlemen also greatly envy those who grow cotton, because almost everyone who grows cotton has made money this year.
Li Long simply listened without offering any explanation. When Li Qingxia tried to explain something, Li Long blocked her from speaking.
In some situations, trying to defend yourself puts you in a vulnerable position, and the more you defend yourself, the more likely people are to believe it's true.
If you don't participate in the discussion, the hype surrounding this issue will gradually die down.
Moreover, Li Long had never really been involved in growing cotton.
Besides dealing with the situation in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic with Liu Shanmin, I focused most of my energy on drip irrigation farming that year.
However, even though he didn't intend to participate, others weren't going to let him off the hook. Li Long himself didn't know that his reputation in cotton cultivation was much greater than he imagined.
On October 22, Liu Gaolou came again to deliver cars and crude oil, and then left with canned goods and sugar. Three days later, Huang Xinping and Wang Caimi arrived at the purchasing station.
There weren't many people in the yard of the purchasing station, only seven or eight. Three or four of them were regulars, former middlemen who came just to chat—it's the off-season now, and they've made most of their money in the first half of the year, so now they just come to chat and ask around for any money-making opportunities.
When Huang Xinping and Wang Caimi arrived, Li Long was arranging for Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng to sort out the hides and antelope horns that Liu Gaolou had brought over.
When the team members came over, Li Long led the two into the reception room.
When Liang Shuangcheng came over to pour water, he joked with Wang Caimi:
"Old Wang, when it's time to make money plowing the fields, why are you here? Aren't you making money anymore?"
Wang Caimi glanced at Li Long, then glared at Liang Shuangcheng and said, "What, can't I take a break? Besides, now that the team has Old Li's big horse, my tractor has to retire!"
Wang Caimi's life in the last two years has indeed not been as good as it was in the first few years.
In those years, he was the only tractor in the entire team. He plowed, harrowed, and leveled the land, and he made a lot of money.
Although he never seemed to wear new clothes during those years, and his work clothes were covered in oil and mud, his family was once the wealthiest in the team.
But once the Li family bought back the tractors, especially the high-horsepower tractors later on, those days were gone forever.
New machines are less prone to malfunctions when plowing, and high-horsepower tractors plow quickly, deeply, and effectively.
For these two reasons alone, the team members are willing to use Li's machines—especially since Li's agricultural machinery and equipment are relatively complete, and the price of the whole set is not expensive.
In other words, Wang Caimi was good at handling things and didn't hate the Li family because of it. On the contrary, he would actively help the Li family whenever they needed it.
So, given Li Jianguo's personality, he left some land belonging to people in the fourth team who were familiar with Wang Caimi for Old Wang to plow, while he focused on expanding the area outwards with his high-powered tractor.
This is enough to allow Lao Wang to barely maintain a net worth of 10,000 yuan per year, or at least a near-10,000 yuan net worth.
For a period of time, Wang Caimi devoted himself entirely to agricultural machinery, leaving most of the farming to his family.
When the plowing work wasn't so heavy anymore, he wondered if he should change his machine, get a new Dongfanghong 75, or grit his teeth and go for a high-powered one.
But they backed out after finding out the price of a high-horsepower tractor.
Later, Li Long and his group established a cooperative to grow cotton. Wang Caimi was somewhat surprised by this, but he didn't pay much attention to it, neither gloating nor joining in the fun.
Once the cooperative started making money from cotton, Wang Caimi felt that plowing the fields wasn't enough to feed him, so he started thinking about growing cotton. After being persuaded by Huang Xinping, he joined his cooperative.
Their cooperative now has more than 500 mu of land, half of which is cultivated land and half of which is newly reclaimed land, making it the second largest cooperative in the village.
The cooperative made money growing cotton this year, and although dividends haven't been distributed yet, it's predictable.
This year, I'll receive at least 20% more money than last year!
That's quite a lot!
Logically, they should be finishing up in the fields now, preparing for the division of land and next year's planting. Why are they here?
Huang Xinping and Li Long weren't very close, but Wang Caimi was quite familiar with them. After criticizing Liang Shuangcheng, he took a sip of water and said to Li Long:
"Xiaolong, we came here to ask about drip irrigation farming. Is it really not feasible?"
Huang Xinping chimed in, "Yes, I've inquired. The experimental drip irrigation field in the township yielded 387 kilograms per mu this year. Based on this year's cotton prices, the gross income per mu can reach 1,000 yuan!"
Li Long thought to himself, "He's another person who only sees the income and not the investment."
He poured himself a glass of water, added some to Wang Caimi's glass, put down the teapot, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then said:
"We can grow it, but you can't, and it's too late for you to grow it even if you want to."
"How can we not have enough time?" Huang Xinping was a little unconvinced. "I don't think it's that difficult for the people in the township to set up drip irrigation. They have a pump house and a filter bed. They have wells there, but we don't need wells. We have canal water—your cooperative uses canal water, right?"
“It’s using canal water,” Li Long nodded and said. “You do know a lot of details, but you can’t do it right now.”
Huang Xinping was about to argue when Wang Caimi stopped him, saying:
"Don't worry, listen to Xiaolong. He's not the kind of person who won't let us get rich together. He has his reasons for saying that."
Li Long smiled.
There's a reason why Wang the Money-Grubber has been able to stay in the fourth team and maintain a good reputation. He does all kinds of work, and although he's a bit of a money-grubber, he earns his money honestly, and he's quite knowledgeable. He's also genuinely helpful when others need him.
More importantly, one should understand the principles and not be impatient.
Huang Xinping fell silent. Although he was in charge of the cooperative, without Wang Caimi's support, there were times when he really couldn't manage it all.
Li Long then said:
"In order to implement drip irrigation farming, I specifically applied for a support project from the autonomous region, and the investment in this project alone amounted to several hundred thousand yuan."
Upon hearing that the support projects applied for alone amounted to hundreds of thousands of yuan, Wang Caimi was shocked. Huang Xinping, however, was thinking that if he were given those hundreds of thousands of yuan, wouldn't he become rich overnight?
“However, this money is still not enough to improve our land. For example, the job of laying cement slabs for the team's irrigation canal was paid for by me on my own,” Li Long said casually. “That alone cost nearly ten thousand yuan!”
This time, both Huang Xinping and Wang Caimi frowned.
They had all heard of the autonomous region's support projects; these projects didn't provide funding, but the funds were directly used for renovation projects.
But the money Li Long pulled out was real. Given Li Long's current situation, he wouldn't lie about this.
"Moreover, my project started in the middle of the year and it's still not finished. After the cotton stalks are removed, the land needs to be leveled, and after that, the main and branch pipelines need to be laid."
"With just these things, you definitely won't have enough time to finish them now."
At this point, Huang Xinping and Wang Caimi exchanged a glance, but still hadn't given up. Wang Caimi asked:
"Putting aside the project's progress, if all these things can be done well, wouldn't it be possible to grow cotton using drip irrigation and achieve high yields?"
"If you can really make it work, high yields shouldn't be a problem. But if you want high income after high yields, that will be a bit difficult."
I won't go into the rest; I'll just talk about the expenses for drip-irrigated fields.” Li Long ignored their reactions and continued:
"Just for drip irrigation tape alone, you need more than 1,000 meters per acre. The current market price for one meter of drip irrigation tape is more than one yuan!"
"Even if we only calculate it as one yuan, that's over a thousand yuan for more than a thousand meters. How much cotton would you need per acre to break even? Besides, there are other costs associated with growing cotton. Haven't you considered those?"
Wang the money-grubber has completely given up hope; he can't afford to grow it!
Huang Xinping was still somewhat skeptical and asked:
"And what about you? We're all in the same boat. You must use over a thousand meters of drip irrigation tape per acre, right? How do you make a living?"
“I run a drip irrigation tape factory,” Li Long said with a smile. “I produce drip irrigation tape for my own cooperative, so I won’t use the market price; I’ll just use the cost price.”
Huang Xinping wanted to ask about the specific cost price, but Li Long ignored him.
This person keeps asking questions!
Huang Xinping was still unconvinced, but there was nothing he could do. Who could argue with someone who had the money to buy drip irrigation equipment? Who could afford to produce drip irrigation tape?
Arriving full of confidence, only to leave dejected in the end, is not a good feeling.
"But don't rush. If you can get the project done well, in a couple of years, when drip irrigation tape isn't so expensive, you can use drip irrigation to grow cotton."
Before leaving, Li Long gave them a final reminder.
Whether he believes it or not is not his concern.
The cotton market is huge, and Li Long had no intention of monopolizing it, nor was it possible for him to do so. So, he offered a gentle reminder, mainly out of consideration for Wang Caimi.
Li Long then spoke privately with Wang Caimi, saying that his old-fashioned Dongfanghong 75 tractor should be inspected in the next few days. He said there was land leveling work on his project, and although the money earned after completion wouldn't be much, the government was quick to pay at this time, and he would be paid as soon as the leveling was finished. He asked Wang if he wanted to do it.
"Go for it! I'm not doing this!" As soon as he heard there was work to be done, Wang Caimi immediately perked up and urged Huang Xinping to hurry up and leave, as he needed to go back and fix the machine!
Wang Caimi and Huang Xinping left, leaving behind two kilograms of apples, which were ostensibly a gift to visit Li Qingxia.
Li Long didn't refuse; he said it out of consideration for the villagers. But if he said those things outside, not everyone would necessarily tell them.
If they are unaware of the truth and blindly rush in, the losses will be considerable.
Thanks to Huang Xinping and Wang Caimi's actions, Li Long knew that the prospect of making money by growing cotton this year had definitely tempted many people.
In the afternoon, he drove back to the team and found that his older brother and the others were not there.
Sister-in-law Liang Yuemei was peeling cotton bolls in the yard when she saw Li Long arrive. She told him that her older brother Li Jianguo and the others had gone to plow the fields.
Li Long suddenly realized. Liang Shuangcheng's teasing words about Wang Caimi from that morning still echoed in his ears; it seemed that Wang Caimi really couldn't do the plowing work in the team anymore.
He recounted what had happened that morning, then went inside and chatted briefly with his mother, Du Chunfang. By the end of October, the stove in the east room had already been lit ahead of schedule.
My mother, Du Chunfang, prefers warmth and dislikes cold. Now that the wind outside is quite strong, she stays inside.
Li Jianguo bought a single sofa and placed it next to the stove against the wall. Du Chunfang would usually lean on the sofa, warming herself by the fire. When no one was around, she would be half asleep, lost in thought.
Seeing Li Long come over, Du Chunfang was still very happy. She slowly stood up, took out a bag of sponge cake from the cupboard and gave it to Li Long. Then she asked about the children and said that the children hadn't come to see her.
"It's not Sunday yet, so I can't come," Li Long explained. "Mom, when was this sponge cake made?"
"I think it was during the Lunar New Year or something?" Older sister Du Chunfang couldn't remember.
Li Long hurriedly checked the expiration date, and lo and behold, it had expired half a month ago!
He tore open the packaging and smelled it. The smell was alright, no drooling. It seemed to use a lot of oil, and since it was sealed, it should still be edible. He said:
"Mom, I've taken this sponge cake. I'll buy you a new one tomorrow. Do you have any food in your cupboard that's been stored for a while? I want to check if it's gone bad. You can't eat it if it's expired, or you'll get a stomachache."
"That's all." The old woman shook her head.
Li Long didn't believe it, so he took the sponge cake to check, and then he saw a lot of food in the cabinet.
There were still several packs of sponge cakes left. Li Long looked them over and saw that some had a production date similar to the pack in his hand, while others had a slightly newer date.
There were about ten mooncakes. These things can be stored for a while. Li Long squeezed them and found that some of them were already quite hard, so he took them away.
There were seven or eight cans of food. The meat cans were fine, as they had a long shelf life, but some of the fruit cans had already expired.
"Eat it all, don't waste it!" Du Chunfang said with concern when she saw Li Long picking and choosing. She knew he thought the food was spoiled.
"Don't throw it away, it would be such a waste!"
“I won’t throw it away,” Li Long said while inspecting the items. “I need it.”
Although Du Chunfang was a little reluctant, she didn't stop him after hearing Li Long say that the snacks would be useful. While watching Li Long inspect them, she explained how the snacks came about.
Li Long found it amusing; he hadn't expected his mother to remember the origin of every single bag of snacks.
My older brothers, sisters, and I all contributed, as did I.
"Won't the wine spoil?" After picking out the snacks, Du Chunfang remembered the liquor stored in the room and asked.
“No,” Li Long said. “Mom, don’t be stingy with these things. Eat them as soon as you get them. They’ll spoil if you leave them for too long, and then you won’t get to eat them. It’s okay now, most of them are packaged. The ones without packaging attract bugs, and those things are hard to kill completely, which is a real hassle.”
Old Lady Du Chunfang was afraid of insects, and upon hearing Li Long's words, she immediately said:
"I'll eat it every day from now on!"
Li Long knew his mother would change her mind tomorrow; she couldn't do it every day. After going through so many hard times, he habitually saved some of the good things he had now.
Even so, the elderly couple often say to others, "We've already enjoyed all the blessings from our previous lives..."
When Li Long heard this, he thought to himself, "This is just the beginning! There's much more good fortune to come!"
My mother was still a little reluctant to see me carrying a bunch of expired food, so she followed me out.
Sister-in-law Liang Yuemei laughed as she looked at him: "Hey, old lady, only Xiaolong can get those things from you... Xiaolong, aren't they a bit expired?"
“Yeah, it’s been expired for days,” Li Long said. “I’ll use it for something else. I’ll buy some more tomorrow to replenish it… Mom, remember to eat it.”
"Don't buy anymore, don't buy anymore," Du Chunfang hurriedly waved her hand, worried that Li Long would spend money. "There's enough food in the cupboard. Your father doesn't eat either, and it's just me; I can't eat that much!"
Liang Yuemei was used to her mother's habitual favoritism towards Li Long. She even found the old lady quite adorable, as she didn't hide her bias at all.
Now that life is better, she doesn't care about that little bit of favoritism—most of her family's good life is thanks to her brother-in-law, and she's too grateful to even think about it!
After leaving his elder brother's house, Li Long drove to Xie Yundong's house.
Several cars were parked in front of the Xie family's house, which told Li Long that the other members of the cooperative were also there.
When he entered the room, he heard Liang Dacheng shouting, "One pair of two! Hehe!" It turned out they were playing cards, throwing down two pieces.
When Li Long entered, he indeed saw the group playing cards. Xie Yundong didn't sit at the table; he stood behind Tao Daqiang watching the game.
Seeing Li Long enter, the group greeted him. Li Long waved and said:
"You may continue."
The game was already nearing its end, but following Li Long's advice, they sped up the process and finished their cards in a few quick moves. Liang Dacheng and Jia Weidong both won.
Xu Haijun said with a smile as he shuffled the cards:
"What brings you to the team, you busy person? What's up?"
“It’s nothing,” Li Long said, pulling up a stool and sitting down. “There’s been a lot of talk about it at our purchasing station lately, saying that cotton prices have gone up this year and more people are making money.”
"That's right, nobody expected prices to rise so much this year," Xu Haijun exclaimed. "We were hoping for a bumper cotton harvest and to make more money, but with the price increase, we'll make even more – quite a lot!"
“Yes,” even the usually taciturn Jia Weidong sighed, “It’s more profitable than growing melon seeds!”
Tao Daqiang said to Li Long:
"Brother Long, you do the fighting."
Li Long waved his hand and said, "I won't fight. You guys fight, I'll just watch."
"Brother Long, do you think cotton prices will rise again in the future?"
"How is that possible?" Before Li Long could speak, Liang Dacheng interjected, "This price increase is unlikely to happen for at least three or four years. If cotton prices rise too high all at once, who will still grow grain?"
“We definitely have to grow grain, otherwise how can we pay the grain tax?” Tao Daqiang retorted.
"Grow cotton, make money to buy grain." Xu Haijun already knew the method, mainly because someone was already using it.
Tao Daqiang was speechless and turned to look at Li Long.
“Cotton prices will still rise,” Li Long said. “They will fluctuate for at least the next few years, but the overall trend will still be upward.”
"Why?" Although everyone habitually assumed that Li Long was right, Liang Dacheng still asked in return, feeling that Li Long shouldn't speak based on his feelings.
"Because several cities are building new cotton mills now," Li Long said. "Some cotton mills in the area are also expanding production, so the demand for cotton raw materials has increased."
There are other reasons, but this one reason is enough to explain the price increase.
"Where did you build the factory?" Liang Dacheng asked, sounding a bit inquisitive.
“Kui City,” Li Long said casually, “and they’re hiring a lot of people now, both men and women.”
After he said that, the others fell silent, which meant they believed him.
In the past, if such news had come out, many people would have gone to Kui City to try their luck and see if they could join the factory as workers.
But right now, at least none of us here want to go.
Earning two or three hundred yuan a month as a factory worker seems like a lot.
But compared to the money they make from farming in their cooperative, it's far less.
"Should we get more land to grow cotton?" Jia Weidong said.
"Not for now," Li Long waved his hand. "Our main task this year and next is to get the drip irrigation cotton planting done well. Let's not expand production yet."
Everyone else had no objections, but Xu Haijun felt that such a good opportunity should not be given up or ignored.
Since they were all on the same side, Li Long patiently explained:
"Think about it, haven't quite a few people been asking you about growing cotton these past few days?"
This was inevitable, so everyone nodded.
"So next year, there will definitely be more people in our team planting cotton. Not just our team, but probably the whole county—everyone knows that planting cotton is profitable."
That makes perfect sense.
"So cotton production will definitely be high next year, but whether prices will rise or not is uncertain. Cotton demand is high, but production is also high, so I guess next year's price will be at most similar to this year's—maybe even lower."
Actually, it's not bad if it's about the same, but if it drops, then it's a bit unbearable.
"Didn't you just say the price was going to go up?" Xu Haijun seized on the loophole in Li Long's words and asked back.
"As for the specific price next year, I can't say based on the trends of the past few years."
Xu Haijun recalled that Li Long was indeed referring to the later years.
“There’s one more thing,” Li Long said. “There’s no more arable land around our cooperative. It’s either someone else’s land or heavily saline-alkali black soil that we can’t cultivate.”
For cooperative farming, it's best to have contiguous plots of land for easier management. Also, next year will be our first year using drip irrigation, which I have experience with but you don't, so let's familiarize ourselves with it first.”
Although Xie Yundong is the manager of the cooperative, Li Long wields considerable influence behind the scenes.
In addition, everyone knows that Tao Daqiang will definitely listen to Li Long, Xie Yundong will most likely do the same, and Jia Weidong is no exception.
Even if others have opinions, they cannot form a majority through a democratic show of hands.
And that's how it was decided.
"Has anyone asked you about drip irrigation for cotton cultivation recently?" Li Long asked again.
"Yes, I have."
"Have."
"Several people have asked this."
Several people said yes, so Li Long knew.
“Either tell them we have a government-supported project from the autonomous region, so they can plant it, while others lose money. Or tell them they don’t understand and to ask me,” Li Long said. “There are a lot of intricacies involved, and it can’t be explained in a few words.”
“That’s what I said,” Tao Daqiang said with a smile. “I said I didn’t understand.”
The others laughed at him, but Tao Daqiang didn't care. In the eyes of the team members, he wasn't very smart anyway.
Following Li Long, Tao Daqiang began to live a good life. He knew he couldn't forget his roots and should do as much as he could. As long as he followed Li Long, his life would only get better and better.
Xu Haijun had already shuffled the cards, but no one was really focused on playing. He asked Xie Yundong:
"Old Xie, how much will each family receive this year?"
Xie Yundong smiled and said:
"This is the third year, and the share conversion per mu has changed again. I roughly calculated that the shares held by Brother Li and Xiaolong's families have increased from 42% to 61%."
It goes without saying that their two families received the largest share.
Of course, although our share is smaller, cotton prices have risen this year, and production has also increased. So, after deducting expenses, agricultural supplies reserved for next year, and some working capital, each family can receive about 30,000 yuan, but no more than 40,000 yuan.
Last year, each family received 24,000 yuan. Even if they receive 30,000 yuan this year, it's still more than 20% more than last year, which is already very good!
Nowadays, an average family can earn several thousand yuan a year by farming, which is already a lot, even if they own a lot of land.
Each household in the cooperative received over 30,000 yuan at once; how many people would be envious!
This makes it clear what Li Long meant. If these people knew how much money they would get, they would definitely plant cotton next year!
Following trends is something that ordinary people, including farmers, are most likely to do.
“If the drip irrigation works well next year, we can harvest at least 300 kilograms of cotton per mu,” Li Long said. “If we can maintain this year’s prices, our income can increase even more. Maybe we can get 40,000 or 50,000 yuan by the end of the year… Just think about it.”
Everyone is looking forward to it.
Of course, he didn't forget that Li Long's statement was based on this year's prices.
Even if they maintain this year's income, that's still impressive!
Although Xie Yundong has only given a rough estimate of the dividends so far, and the money hasn't been received yet, the people present are already very excited.
Li Long also mentioned that the land needed to be leveled soon, and Zhao Shijie had already called him, which would happen in the next couple of days.
Since it's only a little over a thousand acres, Zhao Shijie meant it could be finished in a week, and he expected it to be completed by the end of the month. Li Long naturally had no objections.
Xie Yundong said that there was still some finishing work to be done in the field, and it was almost done, so there was no problem with the transition.
Li Long was about to leave, but Deng Guilan, who had just returned, wouldn't let him go. She went to buy seasonings, planning to cook a few dishes that evening.
After all, these people, including Li Long, rarely get together, and they wouldn't let him leave no matter what.
So Li Long stayed in his own yard that night—he drank, not a lot, but he was a little dizzy, and those guys kept trying to get him drunk—at that point, drinking was just a matter of getting drunk, and since it was getting dark, he simply didn't go back.
When I woke up the next day, I felt the effects of the alcohol had worn off, but I was still thirsty.
After a quick wash, I went to the backyard, where my sister-in-law was making breakfast.
Li Long asked about the plowing process yesterday, since his older brother was also there.
"Those three high-horsepower tractors not only plowed our brigade's land, but also plowed a considerable amount of land in the other three brigades," Li Jianguo said proudly.
"Hey, now I'm finding out that having a lot of acquaintances has its advantages. Once I go to each brigade and find those familiar faces, plowing the fields becomes a breeze."
"Can it be plowed over?" Li Long asked doubtfully. "If all the brigades combined, even just a third of the land, would be over 20,000 mu, right?"
“I told Junhai to bring them over, two people per car, taking turns, and not stopping when they stop.”
This is quite similar to the working mode of the plow in later generations.
A complete set of plowing, leveling, and harrowing for 20,000 mu of land would cost several hundred thousand yuan.
Even if it's not the complete set, just one item, once it's finished, the profit will be equivalent to at least the profit of a high-horsepower tractor.
Monopolizing the market is powerful! Of course, the premise is advanced technology.
Breakfast was ready, and Li Jianguo quickly finished eating before leading his men to plow the fields again. It was already late October, and the snow was not far off, so they had to finish plowing the fields as soon as possible.
When Li Long finished his meal and was about to leave, Liang Wenyu rushed over.
Li Long thought Liang Wenyu was looking for his older brother, so he told him that his older brother had driven away in a tractor.
“I was looking for you. I ran into my brother-in-law on the way,” Liang Wenyu said. “I mainly wanted to ask about cotton planting.”
Li Long smiled. Now everyone was coming to ask about cotton planting. It seemed there was a reason why cotton became a pillar industry in later generations; the farmers had a keen sense of opportunity.
Anyway, he had already explained it to many people in the past few days, so one more time wouldn't make a difference. Therefore, Li Long told Liang Wenyu the specific details.
Before Liang Wenyu could even ask any questions, Li Long told him all the necessary preparations and costs for drip irrigation cotton planting. Liang Wenyu knew immediately that he couldn't pull it off.
He asked a few minor questions, which Li Long answered, so Liang Wenyu had nothing more to say.
"Get your tractor ready in the next couple of days. Our cooperative needs to level the land. You should come over then; you can make a little money."
Li Long has contacted several people, all of whom use the old-fashioned Dongfanghong machine, including his own team's 802.
These machines are usually equipped with bulldozer blades and are very useful for leveling land.
Our own high-horsepower tractor has many wheels, which makes it faster at plowing, but that's not an advantage.
Each has its own strengths.
Li Long also planned to bring Meng Hai's bulldozers into the business so that his own company could make some money.
When Li Long returned to the purchasing station, he could clearly feel that there were more people in the yard.
I took a look and found that most of them were buying agricultural supplies and pesticides.
He understood after thinking about it. This is what farmers who know the news are doing: they plan to plant cotton next year, so they stockpile pesticides, seeds, fertilizers, and plastic film at this time.
After all, many people want to grow cotton, so the price of these agricultural supplies is likely to rise.
My father, Li Qingxia, had already brought in a large batch, which has now come in handy.
It wasn't that he had any foresight; it was mainly because he had money on hand. Li Qingxia felt that it was the off-season for purchasing, so he simply stockpiled more agricultural supplies.
I buy goods every year around this time, and I need to restock in the spring anyway, so I might as well buy more now to avoid prices going up in the spring.
Unexpectedly, luck came my way.
The agricultural supplies sold out in one day, which consumed a third of the warehouse's stock, making Li Qingxia very happy.
Li Long showered his father with compliments, praising his foresight and such. Li Qingxia was dizzy and a little embarrassed.
On the 25th, Zhao Shijie arrived in the county early, found Li Long and went to the fourth team, where the work of leveling the land began.
Compared to the previous quiet construction of pump houses and filter ponds, this time, many members of the team went to see the land leveling.
Zhao Shijie was a little confused. Why were there so many spectators this time?
Li Long quietly explained the reason to him, and Zhao Shijie suddenly understood, thinking that this was a good thing.
The fact that so many people are paying attention to drip irrigation is a good thing, as it promotes the awareness of drip irrigation farming.
Some people were bold enough to go and ask Zhao Shijie about the project, and Zhao Shijie explained the application process.
Mandarin.
Everyone listened with great interest, and some said they would apply next year as well.
Li Long thought to himself, "Then I'll apply." He had said something similar before, but it didn't have the same effect on others as it did on Zhao Shijie.
It's true what they say, "A monk from afar chants scriptures better!"
He, tui! (End of Chapter)