Chapter 1157 The Proper Meaning of Science

When Sergei Edmund heard his minister's request, he felt a black screen before his eyes.

The trade in agricultural products is constrained by the difficulty in shortening production cycles and the products' relative inability to store. Even physical transactions generally require orders to be placed a year or more in advance.

In other words, the batch of crops that will be harvested in September and October this year actually had their orders signed last year.

If there is a problem with this part of the delivery, the grain merchant will have to pay a huge penalty to Party A, which has already paid the money.

So what they are currently hyping is actually the market in the next two years.

The most perfect way to implement the plan would be that China's downstream companies, because of concerns about further increases in futures prices, would enter the market at a precise high level before next summer, preferably in early spring, and grab a large amount of supply.

Then they can "just in time" announce after spring sowing that the impact of the disaster is not as great as expected, and will not affect soybean production, and may even have a good harvest.

Thereby pushing down the prices in the futures market further.

You know, the prices of final products, whether feed or oil, fluctuate with the futures prices of raw materials.

As a result, China's downstream companies either have to use high-priced raw materials to produce low-priced finished products, the more they produce, the more they lose, or they can only bite the bullet and breach the contract and return the products, and then pay a huge penalty.

Except for a very small number of people with large fortunes or strong backing, the results of these two choices are basically the same.

It's just the difference between jumping from the 30th floor or jumping from the 20th floor.

At that time, it is time for grain traders to enter the market and buy at low prices.

This method is not new. It has been tried and tested in many emerging markets and has been proven to be effective.

Almost all of South America's agriculture has been taken over by American companies using the same method.

The only problem is that the control of the time nodes requires very precise control.

This time, he obviously encountered a more difficult opponent.

Maybe he really saw through the key at a glance, or maybe he was just lucky.

In short, the harsh task of "directly reclaiming millions of acres of land" really hits the crux of the whole matter.

After all, their land is there, and we can tell at a glance whether we can grow anything on it next spring. Moreover, such a big fuss has been made now, with all-round publicity on TV, newspapers and radio. It is definitely not something you can fool by just saying a few words to the media.

With this million-ton production base, even if downstream companies still go overseas to buy goods, they will definitely be more cautious in the number of contracts.

If the above combo only makes the opponent bleed but cannot kill him directly, it is basically a waste of time.

Just working for the bankers at the top of the food chain.

Thinking of this, Edmund couldn't help but curse in his heart:

"Fxxk, what a bunch of blood-sucking parasites..."

Of course, he dared not offend the bank boss, so he could only follow what Minister Veneman said just now:

"Mr. Minister, if we let them reclaim the land, then it will be too late for us to do anything. We must take advantage of this period of time to deal with it in advance..."

To be honest, Edmund didn't have any good solutions now.

However, Veneman, as the first female Secretary of Agriculture in U.S. history, does have something.

After such a short while, I have already prepared a draft:

"I remember that China has been making a lot of noise about environmental protection in the past two years, especially the increasingly severe sandstorms faced by large cities in North China... It just so happens that the IPCC is about to start its fourth round of assessment, so we can send a delegation over to put some pressure on them..."

"Also, find a few Chinese media outlets that have received sponsorship from our foundation, and have them exert some pressure in China as well..."

Edmund quickly wrote all of this down.

But after checking it again, I felt it was a bit thin.

So I asked tentatively:

“Relying solely on environmental issues… even with pressure from international organizations, isn’t that a bit unsafe?”

Facing the doubts from his staff, Veneman seemed quite at ease.

As the most typical beneficiary of the revolving door mechanism, she had worked as a senior executive at Monsanto for many years before becoming Secretary of Agriculture.

They are familiar with how to ruin agricultural production in a region, and it can even be said to be path-dependent:

"This is just the first step... the real killer move is coming later."

She shrugged, then picked out two pages from the report in front of her and placed them back in front of Edmund:

"Since 2000, China has been planning to restore farmland and pastures to grasslands in some areas, one of the key areas being the eastern part of Meng Province. Now they are suddenly reclaiming land in this area for farming... We can take advantage of the potential agricultural and animal husbandry conflicts, or even ethnic issues... Compared to environmental protection, this is a real problem for China."

"Also, find a way to find someone to conduct an on-site investigation... There's no rush for this matter now, let's wait until next spring. It would be best if we could get some of their bean seeds back to see what the situation is..."

"..."

……

It is early morning in Eastern Time in the United States, but it is already evening in China Time.

At this time, Chang Haonan also saw Luan Wenjie and his group who came to investigate. He was standing on a high ground with them, and the on-site person in charge of this area was introducing the situation.

In just ten days since the start of construction, this degraded sandy land, which was originally covered with yellow soil, has not yet been transformed into fertile black soil in one step, but some lush green has already emerged.

It is really a scene of vibrant life and all things competing with each other, which is still before our eyes.

"It seems that Academician Chang is not only passionate about the military industry, but his contributions to people's livelihood are also not inferior..."

Among Luan Wenjie's generation, nine and a half out of ten are of peasant origin. Even if their research direction and jurisdiction have nothing to do with agriculture, they always have a special feeling for the land.

Therefore, this statement is not entirely a compliment.

Chang Haonan was preparing to respond in the normal way, but a sentence suddenly popped up in his mind.

So he spoke almost subconsciously:

"I don't like weapons, I love peace... It's just that for peace we need weapons."

This sentence is certainly not his original one.

But no one will bother about these things.

At least Luan Wenjie didn't expect that the original casual greeting would develop in a philosophical direction, and he was stunned for a moment.

After a few seconds, he spoke stiffly:

"Yes... science, in the final analysis, should be used to benefit mankind..."

Seeing that the topic was beginning to go off track, Chang Haonan took the initiative to return to the main topic:

"Come to think of it, Director Luan...why are you suddenly interested in agriculture?"

Luan Wenjie didn't beat around the bush and immediately waved his hand:

"I'm not interested in agriculture, but in your methods and theoretical basis for studying geotechnical dynamics and composition..."

As he spoke, he squatted down, grabbed a handful of modified sand from the ground next to him, and examined it in his palm.

Although the barrenness can still be seen at a glance, at least it is no longer the almost elusive discrete state of the past, but has formed a rheological state with viscosity and agglomeration.

That is, it is close to the state of soil.

After a few seconds, he threw the sand in his hand back to the ground, and then slapped his palms back and forth a few times:

“If sand can be turned into soil, then does the weathered layer after the rock is weathered also have the potential to be modified?”

Chang Haonan thought for a moment and then replied:

"In theory, it depends on the specific conditions of the regolith... After all, the prerequisite for sand to become soil is that they are similar in chemical properties."

"But considering that some of the soil on Earth is the product of weathering rocks, I personally think it shouldn't be a big problem... As long as it doesn't contain any outrageous organic or heavy metal components..."

In fact, this is already a fairly optimistic answer.

It was only out of caution that I didn't say it for sure.

However, Luan Wenjie's next question still made Chang Haonan feel fortunate for his previous caution:

"What if... the regolith isn't on Earth?"

"???"

Chang Haonan almost subconsciously turned his head and glanced at the other person.

He vaguely remembered that when he first started this project, he and Ding Gaoheng had inadvertently talked about a similar topic.

But because it is too far away, I just mentioned it casually.

But Luan Wenjie now had a serious look on his face and didn't look like he was joking.

"Moon?"

"No...it's Mars."