Chapter 73: The Harvest Before Winter
"3 tons of struvite… According to the average use of 15 kilograms per 666 square metres, the actual cultivated land area is definitely more than 66600 square metres, which is much larger than I expected."
On the way back, Chu Guang spoke his thoughts out loud while writing in his notebook with a pen.
"It seems that my speculation is correct. They should have applied some soilless cultivation techniques, and this part of the production capacity accounted for 15% to 30% of the total production capacity... or even more."
Brown Farm would make some manure itself and buy a little from other merchants. The actual cultivated area was probably larger than Chu Guang thought.
Before coming to this world, Chu Guang heard of a pipe-type soilless cultivation technique that could maximize the use of space and water resources. As long as the fertility was sufficient, the actual production could be ten times more than that of the usual land cultivation.
In the pre-war era of this world, there seemed to be a similar technology, and the use of space had been maximized. There were "skyscrapers" that integrated automatic seeding, cultivation, ripening, harvesting, assembly line transportation, and packaging and distribution being developed regardless of energy costs. Those facilities could really achieve more than tens of thousands of kilograms per 666 square meters.
It was called the computer numerical control (CNC) farming tower, which was regarded as the ultimate body of industrial farming technology.
Very cyberpunk.
Brown Farm’s energy was certainly not that luxurious, but since part of the electricity could be used for food, their electricity resources should not be in short supply.
In addition, they had been farming for at least a century, so they should've inherited a part of the technology and improved it to adapt to the wasteland environment.
At this moment, Chu Guang suddenly had an idea.
"Could it be… that they’ve planted some kind of energy crop?"
Brown Farm did not only grow green wheat. It was said that this stuff would ripen very quickly. After the harvest, there would be a chance to plant a round of shofar potatoes, beans, fruits and vegetables or other crops.
Perhaps the latter was the one that needed more fertility?
At the end of the 20th century, some people had used cash crops, by-products, or artificially cultivated special crops to produce ethanol and biodiesel. With the gradual maturity of this technology, these crops were sometimes specifically classified as "energy crops" depending on their uses.
Logically speaking, in the pre-war world that had mastered controllable fusion technology, similar technologies may be more advanced than he imagined.
However, in the era of major breakthroughs in nuclear fusion technology, the actual use of this energy crop should not be for the production of fossil fuel substitutes.
It was used as an industrial raw material.
"... Brown Farm itself did not have industrial capacity. Some of the cash crops it produces are used as fuel and partly sold to merchants from Boulder City to supply Boulder City's factories as industrial raw materials."
"The product is probably some kind of rubber, crude oil analogues or other hydrocarbons."
"Moreover, the consumption of fertility by this crop should not be small!"
Chu Guang wrote this line in his notes.
The gain from this transaction was greater than he had imagined.
Not only did they acquire the grains and tools in the wagon and the "order" for 3 tons of struvite in the spring of next year, but also the intelligence collected indirectly through transactions.
Especially since this information was impossible to collect when he was a scavenger.
After he went back, he could publish the background information on the official website for the players' reference.
While Chu Guang was analyzing the information, the players next to him were also whispering quietly.
"One kilogram of struvite can be exchanged for 10 kilograms of grain? I'm not mistaken, am I."
"You are wrong, it is 12 kilograms."
"I don't understand, is this green wheat too cheap, or are the stones we picked from the lake too valuable?"
"Maybe both? Maybe not... Wait, for how much do we buy the food from the warehouse?"
"It seems like 1 kilogram of green wheat costs 1 silver coin. I know what you want to say. 1 kilogram of struvite can only be exchanged for 2 copper coins, right?"
"Yes! Is this reasonable?"
"Relax, although there is no farming system now, I bet that NPC’s buy-in price of green wheat will definitely not exceed 1 copper per kilogram. Does it sound reasonable now?"
"Hmm, that does sound a little bit reasonable… My ass! When they sell it to us, it’s 1 silver per kilogram!"
"Calm down, which game isn’t like this? Besides, in reality, the price of food also fluctuates, does it not? In the future, we can sell it to the players first, and if no one wants it, then we can sell it to the warehouse."
Having said that, the player whose ID was [The_Escaping_Mole] sighed and said with pity.
"It would be great if the merchant system could be rolled out in the future. If 1 kilogram of struvite can be transported to Brown Farm and sold to them, it will be 12 kilograms of grain. Even if all the grains were sold to the NPC, it would be more than 2 copper coins! That’s 12 kilograms, it would be at least 1 silver! The details of this game are really scary."
Although Chu Guang didn't raise his head, he glanced at this guy and smiled in his heart.
You are right.
But you are still too short-sighted.
If you take the struvite stone to Brown Farm for food and then take the wholesale food to Boulder City to exchange for guns, you can get at least five or six guns back with a hundred kilograms of bird droppings without any problems.
But don't worry.
When the spring starts next year, your great administrator will do this for you. The chips you earn are the foreign exchange reserves of the base, and they will be divided and given to you.
What?
Do you want to settle your pay in Boulder City currency?
Why? Do you still want to buy a house in Boulder City and marry a wife there?
In fact, Chu Guang didn't intend to "exploit" his little players, and compared to the master of Brown Farm and the old leech of Bett Street, this was not an exploitation at all.
In the blueprint planned by Chu Guang, at the latest until the fifth-generation currency, the currency issued by Shelter No. 404 would replace the chips issued by Boulder City and become the hardest currency in Qingquan City and even the surrounding areas.
To suffer a little bit now was also for the benefit of everyone in the future.
"Administrator, there seems to be people up front."
‘??’
‘Again?’
The notebook was slid back into his pocket, and Chu Guang reflexively stretched his right hand to the sledgehammer behind him. However, as soon as he touched the handle of the hammer, he found that the so-called people were only two people.
He saw the brawny man who had met him at the gate before pointing a shotgun against the slave who had been brought out earlier.
The latter hugged his head with his hands and knelt on the ground shivering.
The group stopped.
Chu Guang looked at the brawny man, and the brawny man stared at him in a daze.
"Is there a problem?"
"No."
Chu Guang glanced at the poor man who was pointed at by the gun and dared not move, then looked at the brawny man, and asked with a strange expression.
"This is?"
The brawny man didn't want to explain, after all, it was their own personal business, but seeing that this group was not easy to provoke, he said cautiously.
"... He is the master's slave. He is old, and his leg is suffering from arthritis. He can't do any work. He even broke a plate yesterday. So, the master asked me to take him outside and take care of him."
After listening to the strong man, Chu Guang remembered that every winter, Brown Farm would dispose of a few slaves who couldn't do heavy work and couldn't be sold. They would wait for the next year to buy new ones from the slave merchant.
As for where did these slaves come from?
Who knows.
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