Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1605 Pampa (V)

"Now the cattle catching industry on the Pampa Grassland, to be honest, has had a lot of adverse effects on the existing domestic agricultural system, right?" In a "luxury" house built of bricks and stones in Niuzhuang Town, a person from No. Li Zemin, Lieutenant Commander of the First Fleet, was casually chatting with his old friend He Yuan: "If the three-crop rotation system is disintegrated, you must be blamed!"

"Your accusation is too severe, and I can't bear it." He Yuan, the mayor of Niuzhuang Town and deputy department-level cadre, laughed and said, "The three-crop crop rotation system in the countryside has been implemented for decades, and now the newly developed The region is still developing, how could it be so easily disintegrated, you are worrying unnecessarily."

In fact, what Li Zemin just mentioned is not completely moaning for nothing. The bison hunting industry in Niuzhuang, Yinhai and other places has indeed had a certain degree of impact on the rural ecology of the East Coast. It's not particularly obvious yet, but it's already showing signs of it, and it's causing concern among some knowledgeable people.

They believe that the rural areas on the east bank have not kept pace with the country’s development in a strict sense over the years. This can be seen from the fact that the average income of the peasant class has gradually lagged behind that of the working class—in fact, many years ago. There are signs of this, but it has only become more and more obvious in recent years. The income from growing food is decreasing day by day. Many farmers in the suburbs of big cities have begun to switch to cash crops such as vegetables, fruits, sesame, peanuts, sunflowers, and castor, and vigorously develop nursery gardening. There are fewer and fewer people engaged in the traditional grain planting industry. To put it bluntly, this is also the choice of the market, just because of the situation.

In these so-called big cities and economically developed areas, the traditional three-crop crop rotation system per household has long since collapsed. Farmers had no choice but to start to form cooperatives to reduce production costs and enhance their ability to respond to market changes. .Moreover, with the improvement of social development, this situation began to spread to other places, such as Shangcheng, Jingjiang, Yong'an, Tieling, Daxing and other places are also in the process of rapid degeneration, but in other vast inland areas, The three-crop crop rotation system of small households is still a typical ecology of the east coast countryside, affecting the livelihood of tens of thousands of rural people.

After the opening of Niuzhuang Port and the great development of the bison industry, this situation has now shown an unfavorable trend, that is, a large number of surprisingly cheap bison has been introduced into the country, resulting in a huge increase in the market prices of live cattle, beef, and leather. Diving has greatly affected the income of farmers.

As we all know, in areas where the three-crop rotation system is strictly implemented, farmers generally raise several head of cattle in their families.The feed for cattle mainly comes from alfalfa grown on fallow land (alfalfa can fix nitrogen to fertilize the field), and the manure produced by it can be used to fertilize the field, which is quite cost-effective.In addition, old cattle can also be sold in the market. Horns, cowhide, tendon, tongue, and tallow can all be sold at a good price, of course, beef.And if you raise dairy cows and happen to live in the suburbs, you may be able to sell some milk to city residents on weekdays—of course, the milk girl who was once popular in Meilin County, who was an Italian prostitute, has already been confirmed from the side. It is true that some farmers are engaged in this industry.

Therefore, large-scale livestock such as cattle used to be a very important part of income for owner farmers on the east coast, and they were also an important commodity that they relied on to exchange goods with the outside world and maintain a certain standard of living. It was an important part of the three-crop rotation system. component.However, as a large number of cattle catchers from the east coast flooded into the Pampa Plain, and gradually began to import into the country incredibly cheap live cattle, corned beef, cowhide and other commodities, this fragile rural economic ecology was immediately broken , the income of farmers dropped to a certain extent almost immediately, and gradually affected the living consumption.

In addition, as the grain contractors operating large farms have gradually stepped out of the difficult period in recent years, the huge early wasteland development costs and labor recruitment costs have been effectively diluted. In the activity range, and gradually approaching the lower edge of the range, it is also very helpless.

The income from growing food cannot increase, and the income from raising livestock has dropped sharply. This is undoubtedly a very difficult period for farmers.Their income has not risen substantially in recent years, and the good times when it once surpassed workers’ income in the early days have long gone. Now that raising livestock has even made people see the risk of loss, so what should they do in the future?Lu Lu has always been the spokesperson of the peasant class. Faced with this predicament, what should they do?The society on the east coast has indeed entered a new stage. As the so-called old revolution has encountered new problems, with changes in productivity and the external environment, some of the original policies and systems have become less suitable, and it is time to carry out changed.

"Am I unfounded? You know it in your heart." Li Zemin picked up a bottle of Xiangshan Dry Red, poured half a glass for He Yuan and himself, and then said with a smile: "The army is not doing you any favors now. Evaluation, most of the grassroots soldiers and junior officers of Qiu Ba are from the countryside, and the decrease in family income is a visible fact. It’s already considered good that they didn’t gather troops to rush over and arrest you in the Army’s No. [-] Prison. Watch it , someone will definitely ask for an increase in the import tariff of pampa bison, Mayor He Da, how should you respond?"

"Isn't this nonsense?" He Yuan was also a little nervous when he heard it, and after thinking about it for a while, he looked at Li Zemin with a suspicious look, and asked: "The members of the executive committee won't change their minds so quickly, will they?" ?It was said earlier that it supported the cross-border reclamation in the Pampa area, and also dispatched the first batch of exiled prisoners to establish a state-run farm. Later, the second and third batch of prisoners will be exiled to come to labor reform. It is impossible to repeat so soon. I don’t believe that all the guilds of the executive committee will do such things. Old Li, you are bored and come here on purpose to amuse me, right?”

"How dare I entertain a promising political star like you." Li Zemin said lazily, "To tell you the truth, my brother-in-law Guo Handong told me about this. But don't be nervous. At present, there are only some complaints within the army. Although Boss Mo is over 60, he still firmly controls the army. With him, the army is just complaining. It’s nothing serious. However, in their impression, you must It’s okay, it’s true.”

"Why do I want to make a good impression on those Qiu Bas?" He Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a smile: "But let me tell you, although our Niuzhuang exports a large number of live cattle and related products to China every year, it is also very expensive. It is true that it has impacted the domestic market to some extent, but how should I put it, this is a normal business behavior, okay? You farmers want to increase the import tariff of pampa bison for their own benefit, but you have thought about other people in the country. Benefits? Let me tell you, there is no permanent system. The rural economic system may have been suitable and correct in the early years, but it may not be suitable when the social productivity has developed to this day? Eastern coastal counties The ordinary people in rural areas are doing very well. Only some of them are still growing food, and the others quickly began to transform. Farmers, and set up a cooperative organization for this purpose to actively carry out mutual assistance in production, I think this is very good.”

In fact, the cooperative that He Yuan mentioned is indeed a way, and it is becoming more and more popular in the rural areas on the east coast, especially in the economically developed areas along the eastern coast.This kind of cooperative helps farmers buy seeds, rent machines, sell commodities, buy insurance, etc. It has very comprehensive functions and is basically a professional service organization. It has helped many farmers solve their big troubles and at the same time has indeed increased their income. ,very popular.

Especially for cooperatives in Brazil, thanks to the help of Brazilian Rural Financial Cooperatives, many farmers who have transformed into nursery, horticultural, aquaculture and other industries have obtained a sufficient amount of low-interest loans, which has effectively released their financial resources. At the same time, it has played a very good demonstration role, allowing more and more farmers to benefit from the organization of cooperatives.

It can be said that for those farmers who are closer to developed areas and are the first to be impacted by the market, rural cooperatives are their last talisman, and at the same time, they are also a booster to help them make a difficult transformation.Otherwise, it is conceivable that the lack of bargaining power of "overcharged" in the old continent will also happen in the rural areas on the east coast, and then they will fall into the hands of rural usury merchants due to reduced income and rising production costs. (This is very common in continental Europe, such as the Jewish businessmen known as vampires) in the debt trap, and finally fell into their control step by step and was dominated by others.

Of course, there is another situation, that is, they are selling the last bit of family property - such as selling houses, furniture, and permanently leasing the farmland to others (because the East Bank government does not allow a natural person to hold more than [-] acres of arable land )——After that, they had nothing but to enter the city, providing extremely cheap labor for the city's industrial production, which is undoubtedly what many business owners would like to see.

Fortunately, all of this will not happen on the East Coast for the time being.The existence of the arrogant and domineering army objectively makes any malicious policy against farmers carefully weighed before it is introduced, and the emergence of rural cooperatives has added a life jacket to farmers in the tide of the market economy. .Even recently, rural cooperatives in many villages—such as Qingdao County, which is the most economically developed on the east coast—are planning to merge to better improve farmers’ bargaining power and force agricultural product purchasers and agricultural product deep-processing business owners to make profit concessions. Not to be exploited too badly.

Therefore, when He Yuan heard that the pampa bison had greatly impacted the domestic market on the east coast and affected the income of a large number of farmers, his first reaction was that domestic farmers should undergo positive transformation.Forming rural cooperatives, with each family as the unit of production, but the unified purchase of production materials, sales of goods, and insurance is a new way for farmers to increase their income, rather than trying to maintain the old production system—in fact, the local East Coast There is a basis for the establishment of cooperatives in rural areas. The scenes where all villages jointly invested or more than a dozen households jointly invested in leasing agricultural machinery can still be vividly remembered. It only needs to carry forward this model, and there is no essential difficulty.

"Rural cooperatives are indeed a good way, but factory owners and businessmen see them as a thorn in their side. Alas, to put it bluntly, it's all about the ass. Traders have to deal with farmers who have increasing bargaining power. If you don’t give up profits, the factory owners are going crazy thinking that farmers will become workers. They wish that farming in every village will be unprofitable, and they will go to the cities to help them work. It’s all a matter of interest.” Li Ze* Min shook his wine glass, took a sip, and said comfortably: "Don't talk about that! Tell me about your place, the bison industry is really popular. When I came here in the morning, I saw firecrackers in the city. I took a closer look. It's really impressive that the Cowhide Merchant Guild, Meat Merchant Guild, and Cattle Merchant Guild were established at the same time. It's only been a few years since such a situation has come about. Niuzhuang Niuzhuang, really It is a city born of cattle!"

In fact, what Li Zemin didn't know was that there are more and more downstream businessmen stationed in Niuzhuang Port and investing in the establishment of enterprises.For example, businessmen who invest in the establishment of soap workshops (using beef tallow as raw materials), intending to compete with Baoyi County, a major soap-producing county on the east coast (the soap industry in this county was promoted by the county magistrate Zhao Ke a few years ago); for example, the production of kraft water Now the European market demand is extremely strong, after all, the war has begun to show its signs again; for example, workshops or handicraft craftsmen who make cowhide shoes and boots, because of the diving price of cowhide, there are more and more people wearing leather shoes on the east coast. More and more, so this industry began to develop rapidly.

Together with the upstream cattle catchers, cattle dealers, leather dealers, and bacon manufacturers, these merchants share the profits of the entire industrial chain, and at the same time form the basis of Niuzhuang Town's economy.Regarding this point, He Yuan is naturally clear, and he has been working hard to maintain this industry over the years, and gradually guide its development and growth, and it is finally on the right track.As for his own efforts in this process, the gentlemen of the Executive Committee and the Government Administration Council are not blind, so they will naturally keep it in their hearts, and the future promotion is simply a certainty.

(End of this chapter)