Agricultural giant since 1983

Chapter 439 Network Public Opinion
Yu Jingshu is now a number one figure in the domestic literary world, and she quickly found information on several young authors for Li Lei to read. After reading through them, Li Lei read their representative works, and then selected one of them to invite him to Heyang for an interview. , The results of the interview were good. This young writer named Zhang Xiu did not have the kind of stubbornness that people think of as a writer, and the habit of insisting on torturing human nature and digging depths in his works.

Moreover, he has good writing skills and knows how to use words to mobilize readers' emotions. It is a pity that the golden age of literature has passed, otherwise he can live a good life with a pen. People are also willing to take the job of writing articles.

"Let's talk about this work, all I want is to write this work, so the authorship and the right to profit from this work are all yours, and I will also pay for some additional touch-ups, and I will also help you with marketing Promote it, and try to make this book a bestseller!" Li Lei disdained to put his name on it, and it was inappropriate to do so.

Hearing this, Zhang Xiuma showed joy. For an author, authorship is still very important. Now that the richest man in the country is helping him to promote it, it is hard to think whether this book will be popular!Could it be that after so many years of hard work, luck finally came?If this book becomes popular, I can turn over!
Seeing that Li Lei was indeed not lying, and he was thinking about how he was a billionaire, he seemed to really despise the little money for writing a book, so he felt relieved, and then asked, "Mr. , what do you want me to write?"

"The name of this book is called "Food Wars." Li Lei plagiarized the title of "Currency Wars" unceremoniously. Can the word "war" be used to arouse readers' interest? The title of the book is attractive. Be more forceful, this is also the routine routine of later generations of online literature. As the saying goes, if the title of the book is good, there is no trouble in recommending it.

"The main content is to write about how some large agricultural companies in Europe and the United States use food to stir up the world situation! Business giants, political elites, come on stage, spy wars, financial scandals, and history; in the world of the 20th century, what is hidden behind it? What, are those companies controlling the world, and how did the Soviet Union fall?" Li Lei said a bunch of very attractive prefaces, and he felt that printing these words on the cover would definitely attract people. desire to read.

"The first paragraph can be written like this. Which company has the greatest influence on the world? From a historical point of view, it should be the British East India Company, but in the 21th century and the future [-]st century, there are new answers; Some people take it for granted that it is General Motors, which ranks first in the world's top [-] list. Some people talk about BASF, and some people mention Boeing and Lockheed Martin. They either think that chemistry is the foundation of modern industry, or They think that arms companies have the greatest impact on the world. But these answers are all wrong! The four companies that really have the greatest impact on the world should be the four companies ABCD!"

"ABCD?" This touched Zhang Xiu's blind spot of knowledge. To be honest, it's not just him. In today's China, even practitioners in the agricultural field, few people have heard of the names of the four major grain merchants, ABCD.

"This means that today there are four multinational companies that control the global grain distribution; the four Fortune 4 companies, namely ADM, Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus, according to the initials of their company names in the industry, They are called the ABCD four major grain merchants." Li Lei explained.

"These four major grain groups, which occupy a major share of the world's grain trade, act in a low-key manner. There are not many news about them, but no one can underestimate their role in the world's grain environment. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once warned the world : If you control food, you control human beings; it is somewhat a joke to say that the four major grain merchants control human beings, but the control of food is an indisputable fact.”

"So powerful?" Kissinger gained a huge reputation in China because he promoted Nixon's visit to China. It can be said that everyone knows everyone. Zhang Xiu, as a cultural person, naturally knows him, and Kissinger is like this Zhang Xiu was very surprised by admiring these companies, and at the same time he grasped the key points keenly, "I think Kissinger's words can also be printed on the cover, which must be very attractive to readers!"

"Okay, you can write this down, and let them add it when the cover design comes out!" Li Lei also thought so, and then continued to give him knowledge about popular science, "These four companies control more than [-]% of the world. Do you think it’s scary or not? They occupy most of the international grain market with absolute advantage, control the grain trade of many countries, and maintain inextricable ties with the governments of many countries. The most dangerous thing is that the four major grain merchants operate in a one-stop group, from production links such as seeds and fertilizers to distribution links such as establishing their own transportation channels, and control the entire chain..."

"Moreover, with the acceleration of my country's opening up to the outside world, these four companies will enter China sooner or later. Although China's food control is very strict, these four companies can still use seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. to deepen their intervention in China. If we are not alert to this, it will be too dangerous!" Li Lei told him how the United States used food to defeat the Soviet Union.

There have been three food wars between the United States and the Soviet Union in history. The first was in the era of Maizeshoff. Due to wrong agricultural policies, the Soviet Union’s food production was greatly reduced. For milk and bread, Maizeshoff had to use gold reserves to import grain. Naturally, the United States did not They would miss such a good opportunity and force the Soviet Union to sell oil at a low price in exchange for food, resulting in a sharp drop in energy revenue for the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union was defeated in the first "food war" between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The second time was that the Soviet Union took advantage of it. In the 70s, the Soviet Union’s grain production decreased again. However, they learned the lesson from the previous time and kept the real situation secret. It is a golden wheat field", which confuses the United States and eventually triggers a grain sell-off in the United States, while the Soviet Union successfully buys enough grain.

Dramatically, the Soviet Union bought 3000 million tons of grain, which caused a food shortage in the United States, and the price of agricultural products skyrocketed. Secretly, it successfully survived the food crisis in 1977 and won the second "food war" between the United States and the Soviet Union.

This reminded Li Lei of China's response to the failure of the soybean war in the future, which was also to use diversified import channels to get rid of its dependence on American soybeans.

The third challenge was Reagan and the map leader. Reagan launched "grain trade liberalization" and allowed free trade in grain, thereby strengthening the Soviet Union's dependence on American grain and making it further ignore domestic agricultural production reforms. It believed that international trade could Solve the domestic food problem; secondly, continue to suppress the price of crude oil, so that the Soviet Union cannot make money exporting oil. Because of the Afghan issue, this strategy has won the support of OPEC.

Therefore, the food shortage in the Soviet Union continued to exist, and it could indeed be resolved through international trade. However, the problem was that although the United States did not restrict the purchase of grain by the Soviet Union, due to the sharp drop in crude oil prices, the Soviet Union did not have enough money to purchase food, so it had to keep borrowing money. Grain purchases lead to more and more debts.

At the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s, there was a global grain harvest failure, which led to high food prices, and many countries also restricted food exports. At this time, the Soviet Union’s debt was as high as 670 billion U.S. dollars, so the Soviet Union could not get loans and could not afford food. Without enough food, a serious "food crisis" broke out in the country, which indirectly led to the collapse of the empire. The Soviet Union was completely defeated in this third "food war".

These materials are not available to many people in China at the moment. Zhang Xiu listened with great concentration, and then thought of Li Lei’s reminder just now, he even gave birth to a sense of responsibility. The food issue is really too important. I have an obligation to remind the Chinese people. Let them know the history, "Dong Li, you are so right, we should really be vigilant about this issue!"

"Yeah, if we react after they start to act, it will be too late!" These four companies really entered China in the future; Louis Dreyfus became China's largest cotton supplier, and Cargill was China's corn supplier. The largest buyer; and ADM almost controls the edible oil in China, Yihai Kerry already occupies 60%-70% of the domestic edible oil market, and this company is a joint venture between Wilmar International and ADM, otherwise a Where did Singapore companies get so much soybeans?

"This book can be divided into several chapters. At the beginning, the three food wars between the United States and the Soviet Union were written to attract readers; then the readers will be introduced to the four major grain merchants of ABCD and other related agricultural giants, such as Monsanto , United Fruit Company, etc..” You can also include the case of the banana war, and at the same time, all kinds of bad things that other agricultural giants have done, so that readers can see the fierce side of European and American agricultural giants.

"Then there is the process of building the world food order!" This process is closely related to the WTO. At the beginning of the negotiations, European and American countries were unwilling to lower tariffs in order to ensure strategic food reserves. Until 1992, the United States and the European Union signed the Blair Palace Agreement. An agricultural support system has been formulated to continue to subsidize domestic farmers, and other countries have also signed. However, the United States and the European Union have the ability to provide subsidies, and other countries may not be able to. The cost of agricultural production in these countries is originally higher than that of the United States. Coupled with subsidies, their agricultural products cannot compete with Europe and the United States at all.

Coupled with tools such as the World Trade Organization and the World Bank, the United States has achieved its goal of controlling the world with food. They have the ability to influence a country through food at any time. The food security systems of most countries are extremely fragile in front of the United States. However, it would be fine if the country has been acting in accordance with the orders of the United States. The United States will provide them with food at a lower price to help the government of the country maintain political stability.

But once the country violates the interests of the United States, then a combination of punches will come immediately, or a ban on the sale of grain will be introduced to cause a food crisis in the country, and then public opinion will be used to blame all the reasons on the then government. Inciting the people of the country to rise up and overthrow the government, isn't that how Egypt fell?

If the country's agriculture can be self-sufficient to a certain level, it is another routine. Using free trade as an excuse, import a large amount of food into the country whose price is far lower than their own cultivation costs, and let the farmers of the country work hard to grow it. The food that cannot be sold goes bankrupt in large numbers, and they give up growing food, and wait until the food grown in this country cannot meet the needs of the people of the country, and then resort to a combination of prohibition and incitement.

Coupled with the control of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, agricultural machinery, and even purchase and sales channels, few countries in the world can resist the combined punches of the United States. Even China has suffered a big loss in front of this set. The soybean war Afterwards, many domestic farmers gave up planting soybeans, resulting in the pricing power of soybeans falling into the hands of the United States.

Of course, the Americans have not suffered a lot. After taking advantage of soybeans, they still want to use this method for staple food. In 2006, the four major grain merchants of ABCD used natural disasters as an excuse to spread wheat and corn production reduction everywhere. At that time, the international price of wheat increased by 3.4 times, and the price of corn increased by 3.2 times. At that time, our domestic food prices were also ready to move. Wheat rose from 1400 yuan to 2000 yuan, and corn from 1200 yuan. It has risen to 1800 yuan. Although the increase is not very large compared with international grain prices, it is enough to cause panic in the market.

Fortunately, there is another company in China called Sinograin. Sinograin chose to enter the market to sell national grain reserves at a fair price, stabilize supply and demand, and stabilize grain prices. At first, the four major grain merchants wanted to eat all the grain thrown out by Sinograin, but Sinograin did not. Don't panic, from selling once every 10 days, to once a week, to once every 2 days, as long as you dare to buy, I will dare to sell.

Finally, he said, "China's grain reserves are [-] million tons, which is enough to feed all Chinese people for a year. Whoever dares to speculate on grain should first consider whether he can eat [-] million tons."

Regardless of whether this is true or not, the market has already believed in the massive sell-offs of China Grain Reserves, and there is no way to trigger looting by creating panic. The ability of ABCD alone is far from enough to absorb so many sell-offs, so they threw out their stocks. Grain has retreated sadly, and China Grain has taken the opportunity to buy it at a low price, which not only protects food security, but also makes a fortune.

"In addition to the chapters on the responses of various countries, the environmental protection conspiracy, and the challenges China is facing, it is almost enough! I have prepared all the relevant materials for you. You can stay in Heyang and write well during this period. You can ask me any questions anytime!"

"Okay, I'll start preparations today, and strive for a year to write and publish this book!" Zhang Xiu said.

"You don't have to wait for the book to be finished before publishing it. If I think there is no problem after finishing a chapter, I can post it online first!" Li Lei thinks it's better to warm up first.

(End of this chapter)