Different God of Cooking [Rebirth]

Water has given birth to the origin of all human culture.

This sentence is indeed true. Any place lacking water sources cannot provide a suitable living place for human beings, let alone breed civilization.

There is a very famous river in the country of Lighthouse, named Midongdongbi River. The river is wide and has sufficient water source, which is suitable for irrigation.

Texas and Arkansas on both sides of the strait are well-known grain provinces in the lighthouse country, and they are also major producers of soybeans, cotton and other crops.

The destination of the Huaxia delegation this time is these provinces.

It has been a few days since Zhao An and the others arrived in the Lighthouse Country. From the beginning of pure excitement, the inspection team has mixed feelings in their hearts.

Since ancient times, China has a vast territory and natural treasures. Even though China has been bullied frequently in the past 200 years of history, there is always a kind of pride in the bones of the Chinese people. They are proud of their thousands of years of brilliant civilization and proud of the vast number of historical greats. .

Especially in the past ten years of China's economic take-off, all Chinese people have become more and more confident.

What they saw and heard in the past two days made all the members of the inspection team feel a little uncomfortable.

Most of the members of the inspection team present were in their forties or fifties, and they all had experienced the youth sent to the countryside.I have personally experienced rural production and life in the countryside of China.At the same time, as the decision makers of large food companies, they are very clear about the current situation of Huaxia Agriculture.

Every time we see the fertile fields in the Northeast Plain and the Yangtze River Basin, everyone will be proud: this land of riches and treasures is indeed enough to support the survival of hundreds of millions of people!

After all, it is the result of countless farmers watering it with their own sweat.

But when they saw the agricultural land in the lighthouse country, it was as if a stone had been swallowed by all the people, and it was difficult to make a sound.

It is already December at this time, and the soybeans of the second season have also been harvested.On the empty field, only endless bean stalks are left messily on the ground, covering the brown land with a layer of yellow.

The off-road vehicle is galloping on the wilderness, and the boundless yellow tells about the bumper harvest of the Lighthouse Country a month ago, making all Chinese people envious.

What's more important is that on this flat field, the distance between each farmer is several miles apart, which means that each farmer manages at least dozens of hectares of land.

This is simply unimaginable in China.

One hectare of land is equivalent to 1.35 mu of land, while the average Chinese farmers own only 40 mu, which is less than [-]% of the world's average cultivated land area.

Although there is a certain understanding of the vast land and sparse population of the Beacon Country, every observer who understands the current situation of China's agriculture can't help but think about it: the per capita cultivated land gap between China and the Beacon Country is so big ?

And when they walked into a farm to continue their investigation, they realized that it was not only the differences in population and land, but also the differences in science and technology.

The latest sowing and harvesting machines can reach a distance of about six meters when the robotic arms are deployed. Only one operator is needed to complete a hectare of sowing, harvesting, fertilization, and various daily farming tasks within an hour.

In addition, there are irrigation vehicles, dryers, threshers and other large agricultural equipment.With these devices, a farmer can manage dozens of acres of farmland by himself.

Some large farms with hundreds of hectares only need to employ a few professional agricultural workers.

Moreover, these farmers don't have to think about crops, fertilizers, and technology choices at all. They will plan their annual planting crops in a specialized agricultural company, and provide fertilizers and planting guidelines.

Unless there is a huge change in the entire international market, these farmers are in a state of ensuring harvest due to drought and flood.

Different from the surprise and admiration of most of the inspection representatives in the same industry, Zhao An has long understood the deeper institutional problems.

Behind such a modern agricultural production model is a more scientific and systematic agricultural and commercial system.

Now in the agricultural market of the lighthouse country, the oligopoly effect is very obvious, and a few large enterprises have mastered more than 80% of the domestic sales channels.

At the same time, they also have in their hands the best, highest-yielding, and most disease-resistant seeds in the world, as well as various advanced feeds, fertilizers, equipment, and production technologies.

According to the patent law system in Western countries, farmers cannot use these seeds and technologies without permission.

Of course, big companies will not directly sell seeds publicly, but will only provide relevant materials and technologies to farmers who sign agreements.

If you don't rely on these big companies, you can't compete with the big companies in the market with ordinary seeds and technology alone, let alone these big companies have mastered most of the sales channels.

This has led to more than 90% of the farmers being controlled by these companies. Even if they have the land as a factor of production, they still belong to the exploited and controlled class.

It can only be said that the big farmers in the Lighthouse Country and the small farmers in Huaxia have their own involuntary choices.

These are not insignificant knowledge or news. Only by knowing enough about the agricultural system of the qualified lighthouse country can we find a way to break the situation. These contents are clearly recorded in the materials compiled by Zhao An's dormitory.

It is also because of the characteristics of the lighthouse country's agricultural system that the last stop of the delegation was not farmland, farms, or the Ministry of Agriculture of the lighthouse country, but the "ABC" of the United States.

The so-called "ABC" refers to the three companies that belong to the lighthouse country among the four major grain merchants "ABCD" recognized in the world.These four companies occupy a major share of the world's grain trading market, but because the four major grain merchants act in a low-key manner, there are few reports about them in the financial market.

At the same time, the four major grain merchants all belong to group companies, and their business not only covers all aspects of grain, but also involves various related fields such as finance, real estate, biology, health care, medicine, and materials. It is not unreasonable to say that they are the four major empires of the grain world Pass.

It's just that because of the scattered and concealed ownership, rankings like Forbes are also difficult or dare not disclose the actual controllers behind the four major grain merchants to the public.

After all, Kissinger, the former Secretary of State of the Lighthouse State, once said: "If you control the food, you control the human beings."

Isn't this a warning to the government and grain merchants?

So in the past few decades, these major grain merchants have been working hard to get better with the government, just because they are afraid of attracting the government's jealousy, which will lead to anti-monopoly investigations.

Once the entire production chain of agricultural products is split, their control over the entire agricultural product market will be greatly reduced, and they will no longer be able to enjoy the high profits brought by monopoly.

Zhao An has also considered whether to break the situation from the government level - if the three major companies can be split, then Huaxia will not have to worry about a group of medium-sized companies' financial wars, and various strategies of anti-interference and policy separation can be used.

However, Zhao An directly dismissed this idea when he saw the relationship between the executives of the Ministry of Commerce of the Beacon Country and the three major grain merchants at the last trade meeting.

It is obvious that the Beacon State government/government and the three major grain merchants have reached an agreement, and they have made a unanimous decision on targeting Huaxia.

If you think about it, three of the four major grain merchants are companies in the Lighthouse Country. It can also be said that the Lighthouse Country controls more than half of the international grain transactions.

Such powerful market weapons, if the lighthouse countries cannot master them, how can they allow them to dominate under their noses.

After seeing through this relationship, Zhao An has a deeper understanding of why the Beacon Congress warmly received the Chinese business delegation this time, the source of the financial war in the field of crops, and even why the Beacon State has the courage to launch a trade/war more than ten years later.

All these are the national interests of the lighthouse country. The lighthouse country has always tried every means to ensure its detached status in the world, no matter whether it uses political means, financial means or even war means.

It seems that there is no way to avoid the financial war this time. Thinking of this, Zhao An took a look at Professor Song Qiao who had remained silent throughout the investigation.

As a top financial scholar, the representatives also wanted to seek the opinions of Professor Song Qiao, but Professor Song Qiao did not express his views from the beginning to the end, and said modestly: "I don't know much about agricultural products."

It was only at this time that Zhao An knew how far-sighted Professor Song Qiao was. When considering countermeasures, Professor Song Qiao had already reminded Zhao An not to pin his hopes on the lighthouse country that talked about "fairness, justice, and economic freedom."

He also suggested that Zhao An make plans for countries and regions that the four major grain merchants have not yet controlled, and prepare as much cash as possible. Presumably, Professor Song Qiao had already seen through the essence behind the trade friction at that time.

Without the instigation of the Beacon Government/government, Quantum Fund will not have been in the international market for many years without any scruples.

Next, we can only see the tricks.

The people from the three major grain merchants first took the delegation to visit the warehouses of soybeans and cotton.

We often say "grain is full of warehouses" to describe the harvest of grain, but this description is always empty, not specific and shocking enough.

When the inspection team saw through the glass that the yellow soybeans, like a sea of ​​sand, could engulf them at any time, they really felt how exaggerated the grain production capacity of the lighthouse country is.

The so-called engulfment is not an exaggerated rhetorical technique. It is a very scary thing to have only soybeans in the granary.

In the history of the Lighthouse Country, many workers accidentally fell into the ocean of soybeans during the process of temperature and humidity testing.

This soybean ocean has no buoyancy, once a person falls into it, it will sink continuously like falling into the legendary river Styx.

Soybeans are still undergoing weak respiration, so the oxygen concentration at the bottom of the soybean seabed is extremely low.

If the accident cannot be discovered in time, and the entire granary is immediately opened for dumping, the workers will die in the "seabed" within 10 minutes.

It is conceivable how many soybeans there are in this warehouse.

The same is true for the cotton warehouse. It is like cutting off the whole white cloud in the sky and putting it in the warehouse, which is shocking.

There are more than 20 large warehouses of the same size in this storage base alone, and the three major grain merchants have nearly a hundred storage bases across the country, even if they are not fully filled, it is a very scary number.

The even more frightening figures are the prices given by the three major grain merchants:

400 lighthouse coins/bushel

1500 lighthouse coins/ton

Because there is a province in the inland of China that is particularly suitable for cotton, and the cotton density is small, and it needs to be treated with moisture, which leads to higher transportation costs of cotton, so it is not particularly attractive to the delegation representatives.

The real exaggeration is the price of soybeans!

It is cheaper than the domestic soybean price of 415 lighthouse coins per bushel in the lighthouse country this year, so how can you not be tempted?

Representatives of the three major grain merchants also immediately stated that this year's weather is too suitable for the growth of soybeans, so soybean production is two to three levels higher than last year, and the domestic market in Lighthouse is basically saturated.

The reason why the price of soybeans is lower than the domestic sales price is because the Lighthouse Country has been running a trade deficit during the Huadeng trade. In order to reverse this trade deficit, the Lighthouse Country lowered the income tax on products exported to China.

Based on various considerations, the three major grain merchants offered such favorable prices.

The Huaxia inspection team, including Director Ma, also found such a low price inconceivable.

Before coming here, they also collected the price of agricultural products in the Lighthouse Country. Even at the price of 415 Lighthouse Coins/bushel, these inspection groups would buy a large number of orders.

Faced with such a price, they hesitated instead.

So Director Ma came forward and proposed to inspect the quality of soybeans again, and was not busy discussing procurement issues for the time being.

The Beacon Country immediately stated that it would provide a corresponding inspection report within two days. If the Huaxia representative did not trust it, he could conduct the inspection by himself and write the corresponding clauses into the contract.

In any case, the investigation on soybeans has also been temporarily suspended. The delegation returned to the hotel that had been booked in advance, and while testing each other's attitudes, they were inquiring about the situation of the soybean industry in the Lighthouse country.

When the Eight Immortals crossed the sea and each showed their magical powers, it really allowed them to collect some information.

It turns out that before 1999, the price of soybeans in the lighthouse country continued to rise, and reached its peak in 1999.

Therefore, a large number of farmers chose to replant soybeans. However, who knew that the weather was good in 2000, and soybean production exceeded market demand.

However, the three major grain merchants are unwilling to see the price of soybeans drop, so they still sell soybeans at the price of 1999 lighthouse coins per bushel in 415.

And the excess soybeans are destroyed!

That's right, it's the destruction process.

Overproduction has always been an inherent limitation of the capital market, and overproduction will occur in cycles.Once it is not handled well, inflation may appear, which will lead to economic crisis.

How to deal with excess capacity has become a problem that modern capitalist society must solve.

Some people may ask why these companies don't donate their products to the refugees in the world. The reason is very simple, because giving also requires costs, and these companies are not kind people.

Therefore, the way many modern enterprises deal with excess capacity is to destroy it.

Even if they are all destroyed, they will not be allowed to flow into the market and disrupt the market price of the entire market.

Dumping of milk, burning of textiles, tomato fight... Many actions are actually aimed at preventing inflation.

At the beginning of 2001, the Beacon Country destroyed a batch of surplus soybeans from last year by burying and incinerating them. In order to save storage costs, it was also to make room for warehouses and markets for soybeans harvested in the first season.

However, who knows that the soybean harvest in the Beacon Country is another bumper harvest this year, once again surpassing the domestic market demand in the Beacon Country.If nothing else, the soybeans in storage now will be destroyed again early next year.

And now the sudden appearance of the Huaxia delegation has undoubtedly become the hope of the three major grain merchants.

No matter what price these soybeans are sold at, it is pure profit for them, after all, all planting costs have sunk.

This discovery made the Huaxia delegation very excited. They felt that they had discovered the plight of the lighthouse country, and they didn't have to worry about the lighthouse country being cheated.What needs to be discussed now is how much soybeans to buy and whether to continue to negotiate prices with the three major grain merchants in the lighthouse country.

Although this price is already quite profitable, who would not want to make more profits?

In the hotel, in the room of Professor Song Qiao.

"I thought you guys would not be able to sit still."

Professor Song Qiao took a sip of water, pure water without any special features.

"Now that the investigation team has come to a rough conclusion, they may have formal discussions with the merchants of the Lighthouse Country in the next two days. I have been waiting for their conclusion."

As the decision maker of the food safety company, Zhao An said.How to choose and make decisions about food safety in the future depends on Zhao An's ideas.

"Tell me what you think."

Regarding the results discussed by the representatives of the delegation, Professor Song Qiao didn't ask at all.

As long as you are familiar with human nature and the rules of the economic market, you can easily draw a conclusion, nothing more than: bargain and buy.Now Professor Song Qiao just wants to hear Zhao An's thoughts.

"I believe that the soybean production capacity in the lighthouse country is indeed surplus this year, but the choice of such a low price by the three major grain merchants is not purely for clearing inventory, it should kill two birds with one stone.

The price of 415 lighthouse coins will have an impact on domestic soybean growers in China, but there should be profits to be made.

But the price of 400 can cause a devastating blow. Except for some edible soybeans, most soybean farmers will choose to grow other cash crops.

At that time, the entire Huaxia market will be the voice of the lighthouse grain merchants. They will increase the price if they want to increase the price, and control the export volume if they want to control the export volume. This is their goal. "

The essence of cheap soybeans is a means of dumping, which destroys a relatively weak market in a country through dumping, and then invades this market to gain a monopoly position!

This is not only Zhao An's conclusion, but also the ending that Zhao An is trying to avoid.

"Then what are you going to do? Are you going to use futures?"

Zhao An and Professor Song Qiao had already discussed the issue of whether to tell other delegations the specific situation before coming to Lighthouse Country, and the conclusion was obviously negative.

First of all, in the face of such a low price, almost no businessman can keep his bottom line.Even if these big companies have a national background and refuse to purchase, it is impossible for those small businessmen in Huaxia to insist.

As long as you buy soybeans from the lighthouse country and return home, you will definitely make money. Countless money advocates and opportunists will choose to buy soybeans from the lighthouse country.

The only solution is to set high tariffs to continue to protect domestic soybean farmers. However, with the constraints of the WTO, this is the answer that has been ruled out at the beginning.

Instead of letting countless small and medium-sized enterprises purchase soybeans, it is better to let domestic leading enterprises do this, at least it is convenient for statistics and management, and at the same time, there is a certain guarantee for safety issues.

Secondly, the Beacon Country is bound to win China's agricultural product market. Even if China rejects the dumping this time, the Beacon Country still has more means to attack the China market.

Instead of turning an open gun into a hidden arrow, it is better to take the "pour" first, and then find a way to deal with this matter.

Obviously, the fewer people who know about it, the better. Who knows if it will be leaked, and if there will be shameless speculators who want to make a profit from it?

In every financial war at the national level, there are never a few speculators seeking personal gain.

So Zhao An finally decided not to tell other companies about it.

Of course, the most important point, which Zhao An and Professor Song Qiao decided not to tell the country, is that this matter was actually acquiesced by the country.

At the beginning, Zhao An simply believed that the country acquiesced in allowing the domestic soybean market to be impacted in order to successfully join the WTO and allow the country to have more development opportunities.

That is the so-called give up the small and take the big.

However, under the guidance of Professor Song Qiao, Zhao An collected some domestic data in China and found that the complexity of this matter was far beyond his imagination.

It has been mentioned before that China's soybean demand is increasing, so the soybean market urgently needs cheaper soybean sources.

However, after understanding the domestic planting situation and consumption situation, Zhao An discovered that the demand for rice and wheat in Huaxia is actually rising rapidly.

It's just that the price of soybeans has risen faster, but the owners of land suitable for planting soybeans are more willing to plant soybeans.

In the final analysis: China's available arable land area is too small, and now it can no longer meet the planting needs of soybeans, wheat, and rice at the same time, so a trade-off must be made.

In the absence of guaranteeing that all crops are self-sufficient, the decision of the Huaxia government/government is to throw out relatively unimportant fields, and then make every effort to ensure the self-sufficiency of basic crops.

Obviously, the final choice of the country is wheat and rice, because these two are the most important food crops in China.

Even if a violent international conflict occurs one day in the future, Huaxia will have no way to import any crops from abroad.As long as the self-sufficiency rate of rice and wheat is high enough, there will be no real food crisis in China.

Soybean, which mainly provides soybean oil and soybean meal, has become a victim of the choice of the Chinese government.This is already the most appropriate choice that the government can make under the current situation.

Do not underestimate the choice and wisdom of the government at any time. There are countless reasons and far-reaching contexts behind every decision.

It's just that the government didn't anticipate the changes in the soybean financial market in the next few years, and even Professor Song Qiao couldn't guarantee that he could fully cope with the financial methods of the three major grain merchants.

After figuring this out, Zhao An decided not to tell the government about this matter for the time being, but to operate independently as a businessman, and then tell the government after the war officially kicked off.

He is also a little selfish, because he doesn't know how to explain to the government, he is so sure about the future changes in the market.If it is just a guess, the government will not pay special attention to it.

Professor Song Qiao has already told Zhao An that Shi An's family fortune may be damaged in the next war, and he will bear all kinds of infamy, so Professor Song Qiao must personally ask Zhao An about his final choice.

This question is no less than the choice facing Hamlet: To be or not to be?This is a problem.

"Well, I've already thought about it, and I have to do this."