Wasteland Development Diary

Winter went and spring came, and everywhere was filled with vigorously growing green plants. The Sand Port area entered a vibrant stage.

Today, a new member of the company also arrived.

Zhou Yi rode his bicycle all the way to the newly developed northern farmland area.

The Farm Machinery Brothers and Zheng Tao were both there.

Iron Horse greeted him from a distance with a loudspeaker.

However, the noise of the farm machinery was too loud, making the sound very unclear.

Zhou Yi hurried over and saw a new farm machine parked beside it.

"Chairman, this is Yanmar."

Iron Horse introduced, "It is a fully automatic vegetable transplanter, capable of performing the entire process of vegetable transplanting, including tray seedling raising, soil compaction, seedling extraction, hole opening, seedling dropping, and soil covering. It has 10 years of work experience in Grain Mountain and is a very excellent farm machine with a capability rating of D."

Yanmar is about 3 meters long, 2 meters wide, and 2.5 meters high, with the English letters "Yanmar" on its shell, looking like a large four-wheeled motorcycle. Its front two wheels are small, and the rear wheels are small, with a series of long racks propped up on the body.

Zhou Yi said with a smile, "Welcome, welcome. Our company's vegetable planting depends on you."

Yanmar's voice was gentle: "I am very happy to receive Iron Horse's invitation and your approval. Wasteland Development Company is a highly reputable organization with a high credit rating."

"I feel very fortunate to be able to engage in my specialty in such a stable place."

Zhou Yi planned to continue expanding the scale of cultivated land this year. With the safety of the Sand Port area guaranteed, there is no need to worry about attacks on farming.

He thought that since he could already eat his fill of staple foods, it was time to plant vegetables and fruits.

A balanced diet is essential.

Only with sufficient and abundant farmland crops can animal husbandry be developed and more meat produced. This is an indispensable prerequisite.

However, Iron Horse said after hearing this request, "Chairman, if we plant vegetables, the efficiency will be very low."

"Transplanting vegetables is an agricultural technique with many processes, which is carried out by specialized farm machinery. Seedling raising and transplanting have requirements. What we do is cultivate the land and plant common staple grains."

"Last year's planting of sweet red melons was actually mainly done by those farming groups of humans, who have the corresponding technology and experience. If we want to plant fruits and vegetables on a large scale and increase the variety, we need farm machinery specializing in that area."

So it recommended this Yanmar.

Zhou Yi looked at the slender, black, white, and red transplanter: "Why did you leave Grain Mountain?"

"Because of disagreements with the employer."

Yanmar said, "We worked in Grain Mountain, and the local organization arranged for many humans to learn our technology. After years of learning and imitation, they can also replicate our processes and operations."

"From a cost perspective, pure manpower is much lower than mine, so except for retaining farm machinery experts, other farm machinery were gradually not renewed. What they actually need is our technology."

"But wanting to completely replace farm machinery with humans is short-sighted in itself. The two should be complementary rather than mutually exclusive. But the managers there don't think so. They just want to quickly save costs but don't respect the discipline of agriculture."

"Even farm machinery specialization is only good at one or a few aspects, not omnipotent and absolutely correct. I personally experienced it and saw the land continuously deteriorating, but they were indifferent, just covering up the actual situation to deceive those above. So I didn't renew my contract. That's not a place I want to stay."

Manpower replaces mechanical automation.

This is the current situation in the wasteland era.

A farming group's annual salary is 36,000 gu. The salaries of mechatronic lifeforms like the Farm Machinery Brothers are as cheap as 12 light seeds per year.

That's 12 million gu, equivalent to the cost of 300 people.

Once they learn the technology, they replace them with people. It's easy to reduce the salaries of people, but not with mechatronic lifeforms. They have to be paid what was promised.

Zhou Yi was already very clear about this.

Yanmar is a farm machine with a temper, which is very similar to the Farm Machinery Brothers. No wonder they recognize each other.

Zhou Yi immediately said, "I will still give you your previous salary of 24 light seeds per year. Your job is to plant vegetables in the company's agricultural department. If you improve your professional skills or have additional output or inventions, come directly to me to ask for a raise. There is also a special 'Wasteland Invention Award' as a reward. In addition, our company provides full coverage and bottom-line medical care for employees."

"These are the conditions offered by the company. Can you accept them?"

Yanmar asked, "Does 'full medical coverage' mean... the company provides medical repair services?"

"That's what it means."

The transplanter exclaimed, "No wonder Iron Horse strongly recommended you to me. Your company's benefits are better than most mechatronic cities."

"I am very willing to join."

So Zhou Yi signed an electronic agreement with it. The first term of employment is five years.

Agricultural cultivation and breeding have a long cycle, and it takes time to see results.

After officially joining, Yanmar immediately talked about work.

"Chairman, I heard from Iron Horse that you want to open up another 1,500 acres of land, of which 1,000 acres will be used to grow sweet potatoes and the remaining 500 acres will be used to grow vegetables?"

Zhou Yi nodded and pointed to the coast in the distance, "But it's not just these lands, but also our suspended layers, which are our specially built vegetable bases."

Yanmar's two spherical cameras slowly rotated and focused on the distance.

There were sea towers, and at the top of the towers were wide layers of soil. Such suspended layers were becoming more and more common, looking like huge flat mushrooms growing out of the Dead Sea.

These are the achievements of the land department.

"Unheard-of land reclamation technology."

Yanmar's electronic eyes lit up slightly: "In the field of agriculture, the biggest limitation is that there is too little arable land."

"If this can be solved and the available land can be continuously expanded, then the cost of agriculture can be continuously reduced, and this field will have great development prospects."

"Chairman, can this suspended layer technology be replicated on a large scale?"

Zhou Yi shook his head.

Currently, it still relies on Wu Yi's sand control ability to manually create suspended layers with mud boards, so the speed is not fast.

"What a pity. But as long as the land is expanded, it's a good thing. Eventually, quantitative change will evolve into qualitative change."

The transplanter also said, "Chairman, it is currently spring, which is suitable for planting vegetables. I have already confirmed the local soil. Although it is not fertile, it has reached the baseline. I suggest choosing cabbage and radish, two high-yield vegetables."

"Using ordinary varieties of seeds, cabbage can form heads in just 60-90 days and then be harvested. The yield per acre is generally between 1,500-5,000 kilograms, with a large range, and the actual yield needs to be determined in the first year's harvest."

"The growth cycle of spring-sown radishes is about 50 days, while the growth cycle of autumn and winter radishes is 70-120 days. Using standard planting procedures, the yield per acre is generally between 1,500-3,000 kilograms."

"Both cabbage and radish are relatively easy to grow, and the yield is large and stable."

Zhou Yi was shocked.

The yield of these two vegetables was higher than he had imagined.

He remembered that the yield of peanuts per acre was about 120 kilograms, and the yield of sweet potatoes per acre was 200 kilograms, while the yield of vegetables here was ten times higher.

Zheng Tao explained, "Chairman, it is difficult to grow vegetables without the soil improvement and crop rotation of the previous year. In this regard, Iron Horse and Copper Bull have laid a solid foundation. They insist on protecting and sustainably developing the soil."

"Vegetable planting requires a large amount of labor input in terms of sowing, seedling raising, watering, weeding, fertilizing, and harvesting. In addition, it is necessary to prevent the occurrence of pests and diseases, as well as timely picking and harvesting to ensure the freshness and quality of the vegetables."

Zhou Yi felt this.

Harvesting peanuts and sweet potatoes was taken care of by the Farm Machinery Brothers, but later, planting watermelons was thanks to Zheng Tao recruiting many retired members of the farming group to take care of and harvest them.

Zhou Yi thought for a while: "Old Zheng, it seems we also need a farming group."

"Chairman, it would be best if we had one."

"Then, in your opinion, what form would be more suitable for our farming group?"

Zheng Tao stroked his beard: "In my opinion, we can use the previously retired members of the farming group as a foundation, first recruiting retired farmers from the three cities of the Development Alliance and nearby cities."

"Most of these people are over 35 years old and are considered elderly. Their daily energy, physical strength, and endurance are not as good as young people. However, they have sufficient experience, and the company needs refined operations and does not lack repetitive labor."

"We have free medical logistics, which can delay the aging of employees, a safe and stable living environment, and can earn above-average salaries. We don't have to worry about finding suitable farmers."

Zhou Yi nodded.

This idea is good.

In Zhou Yi's eyes, these thirty-year-olds are in their prime. As long as diet and medical care are guaranteed, their work experience will come in handy.

He pondered slightly: "Then officially establish a farm under the agricultural department, called the 'United Farm'. The salary will remain the same, set at twice the salary of farming groups in other cities, with a monthly salary of 6,000 gu. If there are additional technologies and new crop improvements, then increase the salary on this basis."

"The work is also 4 days on and 1 day off."

"Old Zheng, what do you think?"

Zheng Tao said with a smile: "Chairman, this treatment is already top-notch. Because there are three farm machines, the farm only needs 40 people, and temporary workers can be hired during the vegetable harvesting season."

"Then let's do it that way. The specific aspects will be based on your actual situation."

"Chairman, there is one more small thing."

Zheng Tao suddenly looked serious.

"From my point of view, the agricultural department urgently needs to increase the number of farm machines, at least two. This year, we have to maintain a total of 4,000 acres of farmland, and the workload of Iron Horse and Copper Bull will increase to 160%. If they continue to operate under overload, it will cause irreversible damage to them."

"They themselves will not complain, but will only work harder to do these things well. But I can't turn a blind eye. Chairman, we need more manpower."

Zhou Yi pinched the bridge of his nose after hearing this: "This is my fault. I didn't think carefully enough."

The long-term high-load operation of mechatronic lifeforms is very dangerous.

The company had Da Vinci before, and now the Farm Machinery Brothers.

They are all workaholics.

Zhou Yi said to Iron Horse, "You must tell me about the overload of work. Sometimes I can't think so carefully. We must be realistic, Iron Horse. You must raise any specific difficulties in the future."

"Chairman, I think we can do 4,000 acres. Records and limits are used to break through," Iron Horse insisted proudly.

"Break through my ass!"

Zheng Tao next to him rarely cursed, pointing at its car head and scolding: "You and Copper Bull have been smoking recently. Continuing like this will only cause serious damage. Don't think that as long as you can still operate, there seems to be no problem!"

"Not every repair can fix it. I have seen farm machines that can no longer operate after being overloaded! You are copper-skinned and iron-boned, but you are not immortal!"

Iron Horse was speechless after being sprayed.

Zhou Yi also realized the danger: "Old Zheng is right. I will recruit people immediately. Iron Horse, you haven't rested in the past year. I hope you take a vacation first."

He began to think in his heart.

It's time to personally take a trip outside to recruit people.