Chapter 528: Evolving Rice Blast
In the empty conference room, the picture on the big screen had finished playing, and Guo Yang was sitting in a chair in the middle, still savoring the experience.

After a long while, he exhaled and arranged: "Start comprehensive publicity. Let's make public what we have done in recent years. The Northwest is already changing."

"it is good."

Qi Ziwen responded with emotion, and then asked: "Boss, do you want to see the group's business situation?"

Guo Yang pondered and said, "Let's take a look. Because of the environmental governance, the entire group has been delayed for three years. Now is the time to make another effort."

"Okay, everything is ready."

"Okay, let's go then."

The two men left the conference room and went up to the top floor. Guo Yang used the rest of the day to get a general understanding of the business situation.

Overall, growth has stagnated.

Some sectors even experienced business shrinkage.

This is because Jiahe has placed all its focus on environmental governance in the past three years.

After listening to Qi Ziwen's introduction, Guo Yang said, "Make arrangements for each company to hold a management meeting. I want to attend."

"Yes."

Guo Yang added: "In addition, the publicity cannot stop and the momentum must be huge."

"clear."

After explaining everything, Guo Yang returned to the manor.

Pavilions, lawns, gardens, waterside pavilions, and a small vegetable patch have been carefully maintained over the years, giving the manor a richer atmosphere.

Lin Keqing’s cooking skills also improved. Guo Pengye was also in kindergarten. The family of three had dinner and then took a walk together.

Guo Pengye was having fun in the front, while Guo Yang and Lin Keqing followed behind. "I may be busy with company matters for some time to come."

Lin Keqing took Guo Yang's hand and asked, "Will it take a long time?"

"I will be busy for at least a few years." Guo Yang pondered, "These few years will be crucial. I should be able to relax after I'm done with the work."

"Okay." Lin Keqing smiled and said, "The Northwest has changed so much now, and you have to take the main credit."

Guo Yang laughed out loud, "We are only halfway through the Long March. Wait a few more years, and when the Hongqi River is flowing, the Northwest will see big changes."

"It should be soon, right?"

"It will take some time." Guo Yang pondered, "But the southwest region is almost open. The subsequent difficulty is not in the engineering, but in the subsequent resettlement of immigrants and the development of energy forests."

"Well, keep going, national entrepreneur."

After taking a short walk, Lin Keqing went to tutor Xiao Pengye with his homework, while Guo Yang watched the news on TV on the sofa.

Many channels are introducing the achievements of environmental governance, with the seven major water systems and air pollution being the focus because they are all in economically developed regions.

There are relatively few reports from the Northwest.

However, the changes in the seven major water systems alone are enough to make the Chinese people excited.

Local officials and many citizens appear in almost every report.

There are not many nationwide events like the Haihe Jinmen grandpa diving incident, but they also have their own hot spots.

Although the economy has slowed down a bit, the living environment has improved.

At the same time, domestic manufacturing is also making breakthroughs in high-end areas, such as automobiles, engineering machinery, precision instruments, mobile phones, etc., repeating the trajectory of the original time and space.

Even better.

For example, among new energy vehicles, in addition to electric cars, there are also biodiesel cars. Although they are still fuel-powered, they are also squeezing out the living space of European and American forces in the market.

In some sanctioned areas, such as chips, Guo Yang feels that the work is better than in the original time and space, and this is also due to the contribution made by Jiahe's biological materials.

In addition, some subtle changes have also occurred in the military field, which Guo Yang focuses on.

The upper class is hiding their incompetence!
However, even if they were concealed, the weapons that appeared were powerful enough.

As for those that did not appear, Guo Yang didn't dare to imagine.

After watching the news for a while, Guo Yang went to the study again, turned on the computer, and started reading various news information.

Compared with traditional media, the Internet is much more lively, with all kinds of information such as environmental transformation, advanced weapons, international situation...

Guo Yang also watched with great interest.

He hadn't paid attention to these things for a while.

During these three years, because the natural energy and productivity are as high as those of sows, in order to make the new breed take effect as soon as possible, he was always thinking about how to breed.

Even when I get home from get off work, I mostly read various animal and plant science books, or science fiction novels.

Because among the varieties that can be cultivated in seed stores, there are very few plants that are beyond his knowledge.

This forced him to cram up on relevant knowledge, and his limited entertainment time was mostly spent on fitness and spending time with his family.

There are few occasions like tonight when I am surfing the Internet.

After witnessing the quarrels between various parties on the Internet for a whole night, Guo Yang was even more looking forward to the upcoming attack.

The next day,

Jiahe then fully launched the publicity of the results of the work done over the past three years.

A large number of videos were uploaded to major channels and quickly swept across the country under the deliberate promotion of Jiahe and the country.

Guo Yang also took the time to pay attention to the situation. The people were still very enthusiastic, hiding the economic crisis brought about by the impending downturn in the real estate market.

After just a quick look, Guo Yang quickly moved on to the next task: dealing with agricultural companies in various countries and weakening their agricultural strength.

To this end, he attended meetings of various companies one after another and found out the situation of his main competitors.

Originally, Guo Yang wanted to start from the geographical location and solve the nearest opponents: Marubeni, Itochu, and CJ.

They represent the island country and South Korea respectively.

Guo Yang had already laid the groundwork for these two opponents.

But after understanding the situation, we found that some things have a ripple effect. If the island countries and South Korea are affected, other regions cannot but be vigilant.

So, let’s go together.

...

Island country, Chiba Prefecture, Isumi City.

Inoki Takenori from the Agricultural Experiment Station was standing anxiously by the rice field in the scorching heat, watching the drone spraying pesticides in the field.

If you look closely, you will find that the rice ear necks, ear axes, stalks and grains have all turned dark brown.

Next to him, there was another person named Yoshino Yuu, also a rice farmer. He squinted his eyes at the situation and said disdainfully:
"Don't count on it. If spraying pesticides worked, my rice wouldn't have been damaged."

Inoki Takenori said: "We can't just sit there and watch the harvest go to waste!"

Yoshino Yuu sneered: "The loss outweighs the gain. The disease is too fast and the loss recovered is not enough to cover the investment!"

As a technician at the city's agricultural experimental station, Inoki Takenori still holds out hope, "The pesticides this time are different."

Yoshino Yuu sneered: "I've seen them all, what's the difference, it's still the same stuff."

Inoki Takenori was also very nervous.

Not long after, the pesticide was applied, but the owner of the rice field, Kato Nobuyuki, did not look relieved at all.

"If it's still like this next year, we won't be able to grow crops on this land."

In the next day or two, Kato Nobuyuki, Inoki Takenori and Yoshino Yuu were all paying attention to the situation of rice blast.

However, I can't control it.

As Kato Nobuyuki looked at the dark brown spots, a feeling of despair surged in his heart.

Yoshino Yuu was still finishing off the enemy from the side,

"It's hopeless. The yield will drop by at least half, and the quality of rice will also deteriorate. Now we can only grow rice when we have nothing else to do."

Compared to Yoshino Yuu, who already has gray hair on his temples, Kato Nobuyuki is considered to be relatively young among the island nation's farmers, at only 56 years old.

Kato Nobu said, holding back his grief: "If the government and the agricultural cooperatives don't find a solution, I won't be able to grow rice anymore. Even with insurance and subsidies, the income is too low."

Inoki Taketoshi has become numb to this situation.

The Agricultural Cooperatives are the biggest support for farmers, but they may also be the evil hand that pushes the island's agriculture into the abyss. The reason why the Agricultural Cooperatives have sufficient voice is closely related to the island's electoral system.

The election is a system in which a certain number of constituencies are divided across the country, with 2 to 5 members of parliament elected from each constituency.

The population is gathering in large cities, which account for more than half of the total population but can only elect one-fifth of the members of parliament.

Relatively speaking, there are more favorable constituency divisions in rural areas.

This provides an incentive for politicians to protect agricultural populations.

The Agricultural Cooperatives concentrated the power of farmers, and legislators who were inclined towards agriculture won the votes of farmers under the organization of the Agricultural Cooperatives.

In return, these lawmakers will influence national policies in areas such as agricultural subsidies and resistance to agricultural product liberalization.

This is the political foundation for farmers to obtain higher political status and policy rewards.

It turned the economically weak agricultural group into a politically powerful group.

However, in the context of high industrialization and urbanization, low-efficiency small-scale agriculture is difficult to produce.

In order to protect the interests of farmers, those in power can only continue to increase food prices, subsidies and tariffs.

Farmers are the same. Once they encounter a problem, they will think of putting pressure on those in power.

For example, Yoshino Yuu now.

Inoki Takenori looked at him and wanted to say something, but his lips moved and he didn't say anything in the end.

Isumi City is located in Chiba Prefecture, close to the Tokyo metropolitan area, and has advantageous geographical conditions.

However, even though large areas of land have been abandoned in Yiyu, one can imagine how serious the situation is in other remote villages.

If we don’t save him, it might really be the end, but how else can we save him?

With doubts, Inoki Takenori returned home. As soon as he entered the door, his wife came towards him with the bill.

“Rice prices have risen again.”

Thinking of what he had seen and heard in the past few days, Inoki Takenori smiled bitterly and said, "The price will go up later, so try to stock up as much as possible now."

"But..." His wife looked at him in embarrassment, "We don't have much money left."

"I still have some left. Use it to buy more rice. If you buy later, you may not be able to buy rice."

Inoki Takenori saw the scenes on TV that farmers in another region had launched a demonstration, calling on the government to increase agricultural subsidies, raise tariffs, and raise rice prices in order to protect the interests of local farmers.

After giving the money to his wife, he sat on the sofa and changed the channels with the remote control.

I switched through more than ten channels in a row, and more than half of them were related to agriculture.

He stopped when he saw an authoritative agricultural professor appear on the screen. The person on the screen was Noda Asa, an agricultural professor at Nagoya University.

And he is also a student at Nagoya University.

Three years ago, Professor Asahi Noda announced in the online version of a famous journal that he had found a rice gene that could significantly increase rice yields.

And in the following year, this gene was applied to the 'Koshihikari' rice.

In order to cope with the global food crisis, Noda Asa distributed the new 'Koshihikari' variety free of charge.

Since the end of the war, 'Koshihikari' rice has been deeply loved by the people of the island and is the largest variety.

However, young Japanese people tend to choose harder rice, while Koshihikari is relatively soft.

The new Koshihikari variety not only has a higher yield, but also has better edible quality.

This is an amazing achievement!
Unfortunately, the yield increase brought about by variety improvement cannot offset the yield reduction caused by rice blast.

On TV, Noda Asa was still promoting the new Koshihikari rice to his farm audience, while Inoki Takenori switched to the next channel.

“We islanders must have good relations with other countries, especially China.

Because many of the things on our table are imported, and most of them come from China, such as the vegetables and prawns we eat every day, and the clothes we wear, etc. ”

This is another professor from an island country giving a lecture in front of thousands of listeners.

After just listening to two sentences, Inoki Takenori knew that this person represented Keiretsu, an organization composed of various large companies in the island country.

Advocate active participation in global and regional trade and export the island nation's industrial products to the world.

However, the island country's agricultural product protection policy means that the Economic Association cannot obtain equal trade treatment abroad.

Inoki Takenori sneered: "It's ridiculous that these guys attribute their failure to agricultural product trade...

"Island countries are extremely poor in natural resources and rely on imports for many products. If they don't maintain good relations with other countries, the islanders may not be able to survive."

The professor's final warning on TV stunned him.

He couldn't imagine, if the rice planting situation this season was like that in Isumi City, would rice still be available in supermarkets in the second half of the year?
"Xingyin, let's go to the supermarket."

"Ah, but it's so late."

Inoki Takenori said firmly: "Go buy the rice first. The current situation is very difficult."

When they arrived at the supermarket, Inoki Takenori's perception became even stronger. Not only had the price of rice in the supermarket increased again, but there was also a purchase limit!

He could only buy a few 5-kilogram bags of rice with a little regret.

It turned out that he was wise, because the supermarket raised the price of rice again the next day.

The reason is that the impact of rice blast has begun to spread. Large areas of rice blast have occurred in many regions, dealing a fatal blow to rice production.

Even so, the Agricultural Cooperatives are still adhering to the policy of reducing rice production that has been implemented since the 70s, by limiting the area of ​​rice cultivation and artificially creating a supply shortage to maintain rice prices.

More than half a month later, the island countries' rice entered the harvest period.

The islanders are looking forward to eating new rice.

However, an expected report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries dashed this expectation.

A widespread outbreak of rice blast has reduced rice production across the island nation by more than 40%!

As soon as the news came out, the rice supply was initially tight in some areas, and supermarkets in major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka were out of stock and limiting purchases.

The "rice shortage" quickly became the focus of social attention across the island nation and even the world.

The signs on supermarket shelves saying “temporarily out of stock, restocking time to be determined” are proof of the severity of the crisis.

"Put out the reserve rice!"

“Increase imports.”

Similar slogans are heard from time to time in the island country. In the early days of the rice shortage, governors from all over the country repeatedly called for the release of government reserve rice.

However, there is still a voice for farmers’ cooperatives in this society.

Ultimately, the government refused to release the reserve rice, citing concerns that it would affect rice circulation and market prices.

In fact, it is also responding to the demands of farmers.

However, the country's reluctance to release reserve rice has caused market confidence to collapse, aggravated the island country's rice shortage and caused panic among the people.

Many people believe that the rice shortage crisis can be solved by releasing reserve rice.

Some people have also realized the fragility of island nation agriculture. Aging, fragmentation of arable land, and agricultural cooperatives’ monopoly of distribution channels are all restricting the development of island nation agriculture.

Behind this, many people overlook a common disease: rice blast.

Niigata Prefecture.

This is the birthplace of the Koshihikari rice variety and the most famous producing area of ​​Koshihikari rice.

There is also a special place. To the west of Niigata Prefecture is Fukushima Prefecture, where the level of nuclear radiation once reached 2 to 4 times the normal standard.

Bi Qiang had his final exchange with the rice experts here in a harmless manner.

“Has rice blast appeared in Hokkaido as well?”

"Yes, we need to breed varieties that are more resistant to rice blast. The parent resources brought by Tianhe are very useful to us. Thank you for your generosity!"

"It's just a small contribution."

Now that rice blast has appeared in Hokkaido, the main rice producing areas of the entire island country have been wiped out.

There is no need for him to stay here any longer.

The continuously evolving rice blast fungus will bring unprecedented surprises to all rice growers on the island nation.

(End of this chapter)