Chapter 448: The Dilemma of American Cotton "Lambert's farm closed down and I lost my job." There are dilapidated houses, bumpy roads, and a group of idle black people wandering on the streets. In the farmlands in the distance, large areas of unharvested beans were covered with heavy winter snow. Apparently, the farmer had abandoned the harvest. Upon hearing the news of Lambert Farm's closure, several middle-aged and elderly black people sighed heavily. "Even Lambert can't hold on any longer?" In Greenville, Lambert Farm is definitely a super large farm with a long history. The entire farm covers an area of ​​more than ten thousand acres. From planting, transportation, processing and sales, Lambert Farm employs dozens of farm workers. Its closure means Greenville will become even more depressed.

"The Lamberts moved away and abandoned the farm assets," sighed Tabwell, who had just lost his job. "Greenville is hopeless." "The entire Mississippi Delta is hopeless. Louisiana and Alabama are also in decline. Come on, you are still young and can go to the big cities to make your own living." Tabwell, 61, served in the Marine Corps for 17 years, traveling to Texas, South Korea, Germany and other places. After retiring, he found a job driving farm machinery at Lambert Farm in his hometown of Greenville. For more than ten years. However, even a strong farm like Lambert Farm eventually collapsed. Greenville is a city on the Mississippi River. It once prospered due to its developed river shipping industry, but now it is just a dilapidated city. Mississippi is also the poorest state in the United States. But before the Civil War, Mississippi was one of the five richest states in the United States due to its prosperous plantation economy. However, starting in the 1940s and 1950s, the agricultural mechanization movement put the region in trouble. In the past, a plantation required two hundred people to work, but now only two or three people are needed, and many farmers have lost their jobs overnight. Young people began to leave and the city began to decline. But white farmers in the delta benefited from agricultural mechanization and became richer, building tall and beautiful estates on their farms. In an area where the proportion of black people is as high as 80%, private schools have been built where more than 98% of the students are white. Everything seems like two different worlds, and the gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger and bigger. But even such wealthy farmers went bankrupt in large numbers within just two or three years. Tabwell is old and he doesn't want to leave again.

"Damn fire ants! Damn weeds!" Another black man, Bowen Dean, asked, "The soybeans on the farm are growing well, why don't you want them?" Tubwell shook his head and said, "They can't be sold. Lambert has been going crazy in the past two years trying to find a place to store soybeans. Otherwise, the soybeans wouldn't have been covered by snow because most of the barns in Mississippi were blown up. Grain bins are bursting in states including Arkansas and Alabama.” Bowen Dean didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Although he was secretly happy about the white farmer's misfortune and bankruptcy, it also meant that it would be more difficult for black people to find jobs. I can barely make ends meet by relying on the unemployment benefits I receive from the government every month after paying the rent. Tubwell and Dean returned to their cabin, lay on the bed and began to drink. Gradually their eyes became straight and they became half drunk. Although they are now impoverished, they were once full of vigor and vitality. The walls of the Greenville Historical Museum are covered with photos of graduates of local schools, including those of Tubwell and Dean. White farmer Lambert also came to the state capital, Jackson, with his family. Although it is called the capital, there are only a few tall buildings such as the municipal building and casino hotels to prove that this is a "big city". Lambert completed all liquidation formalities and left the Delta region with his family. Farming? Not only is the farm riddled with holes caused by red fire ants, but the products grown there are becoming less and less sellable every year. Even dogs wouldn’t grow on a farm like this! ... Cotton Incorporated was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Greenville. Mississippi is also the core area of ​​the Mid-Southern Cotton Region, one of the four major cotton producing regions in the United States. In addition, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee in the delta region are also part of the Central South Cotton Region. The cotton in this region is mainly supplied for domestic consumption in the United States, and it is also an important textile industry area in the United States. However, in today's Central and Southern cotton-growing areas, not only is the local textile industry on the verge of collapse, but even cotton sales have become a big problem. "There's too much cotton to buy. I'm sorry, Neil, I can't help you." Cole Wiggins, purchasing manager of Cotton Company, hung up another phone call tiredly and hurriedly. Then he looked at the white man in his fifties or sixties sitting opposite the sofa. He had a big belly, was tall, and had some gray hair on his temples. This is Belin Wells, the general manager of the Cotton Company. Wiggins said: "Fifth of the day." "I can't do anything about it. There's too much cotton." Wells sighed. "In the past, the central and southern cotton regions had a lot of soybeans and corn in addition to cotton. Now everyone is rushing to grow cotton, and the warehouses have already been blown up." “Why do you all come here to grow cotton?”

"Because the Chinese no longer import soybeans and corn, and even snatched away part of the soybean and corn export market, we can only grow cotton." Wiggins asked, "What about cotton exports?" "Haha, the cotton people in the West are busy taking care of themselves." Wells looked out the window. It was a bleak scene. In Grenville, even a decent demonstration could not be organized. Neither is the capital city of Jackson. Farmers can only go to big cities like Washington, Memphis, Chicago, etc. to organize a decent team. "My biggest fear is that the city will sink because this small place doesn't interest politicians at all." ... Washington, . Department of Agriculture. A meeting is in progress. "This week, another 231 farms filed for bankruptcy, and in the past two years, there have been nearly 4000 bankruptcies. If emergency agricultural aid is not implemented, agriculture in the entire South will be destroyed.” Ed York, the new director of the Farm Service Agency, announced the latest data with a frown. The meeting was attended by the Minister of Agriculture and seven deputy ministers. But now they all looked grim. “We saw that the South was able to barely contain the red fire ants and produce large quantities of cotton, soybeans and corn, but it lost its competitiveness in the international market.” Ed York mused: “Without more subsidies, not only will a large number of farms go out of business. What's worse is that no one is willing to buy these lands now, even the super rich do not recognize the current value of the land. Large tracts of land in the south-central and southwestern parts of the federation will be left barren, which will be a disaster for the entire country." The conference room became increasingly quiet. The problem of red fire ants invading the southern part of the federal state has been around for a long time, but in recent years it has turned into a nightmare that has frightened all farms. Tom Vilsack, who is nearly 60 years old, was born in Binzhou and is the current Secretary of Agriculture. He asked, “What about Monsanto and DowDuPont? Don’t they have strong technical solutions yet?” Someone replied: "Monsanto provides some solutions that can barely control it, but it is difficult to cure it completely and the cost is high." Someone else asked: "Is the federal government no longer able to provide subsidies?" “The subsidies we have given are already quite a lot.” Vilsack groaned, “Although it is emergency aid, it is actually far beyond expectations. However, it is not competitive enough.” Everyone understood the reason. Whether dealing with red fire ants or removing weeds, production costs are raised.

Coupled with the sharp decline in yields, the unit production cost of agricultural products can no longer make up for the cost gap with South America with the existing subsidies. Even the international market is shrinking. Because the Chinese no longer import soybeans and corn. "Damn Chinese!" “What is needed now is a solution!” "Monsanto is acquiring Syngenta, and DowDuPont is about to complete its merger. A solution will be available in a year at most!" "We need to solve the current problem now. Grain storage bins across the United States are about to burst." "And cotton. People from the Cotton Association complained to me that Chinese cotton is being exported to the Federation." Vilsack knocked on the table and asked in surprise: "Chinese cotton? Have they also achieved self-sufficiency in cotton?" Freya Carey, who is in charge of overseas agricultural services, murmured, "It's high-end cotton. The Federation has imported a lot from China in the past month. The president and secretary general of the Federal International Cotton Association have contacted me, hoping to impose restrictions on Chinese cotton. Otherwise, the western cotton-growing areas will also be severely hit. Because the quality of cotton from Xinjiang Province of China may be better than that of SJV Acala cotton.” Vilsack found it incredible that SJV Acala cotton was the best quality cotton in the United States. It grows in the San Nuquin Canyon that runs through central California, and its average length, strength, fineness, uniformity and other indicators are all of extremely high quality. People at the Cotton Association always claim that this is the highest quality cotton in the world. Now, the Chinese, who have always produced low-end cotton, have actually produced such high-quality cotton... "is this real?" "The threat from the Chinese is too great. The Federation must restrict them as soon as possible. We can't delay any longer." "Our current policies are too conservative and we should take immediate measures to protect the interests of domestic farmers." Listening to everyone's discussions, Vilsack also felt the difficulty of the situation. He actually doesn't care much about the interests of farmers in the central and southern parts, the central and northern parts, and even the southwestern parts. Giving subsidies is already the most we can do. These areas are the Republican base and are home to traditional industries such as oil, agriculture, and mining. The Democratic Party's financial backers come from the Internet, finance, technology, and media... Therefore, no matter how severe the weeds such as red fire ants and thorns are, and no matter how well the ruling party does on the surface, it does not really care about them deep down. But the Western Cotton Region represents a different meaning. It is the production base of federal high-grade cotton. California has also always been the Democratic Party’s largest base of support. These two factors combined are enough to attract Vilsack's attention.

What's more, they are Chinese and their industry is Chinese. Since the financial crisis, this has become the biggest threat to the Federation. Today, even China’s most dependent agricultural product imports have not only gotten rid of external dependence, but have even turned the tables and exported cotton to the Federation. After the meeting, Vilsack contacted the President. However, the situations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria have taken up too much of the White House's attention. Even if we want to deal with the big country across the ocean, we are unable to do so. In the end, after much wrangling, CBP could only temporarily detain a ship carrying cotton imported from China. ... "It's ridiculous, ridiculous." In a small courtyard in Tsinghua University, plum blossoms are in full bloom and loud laughter can be heard from the house. Guo Yang and Mr. Liu talked about the incident of CBP seizing Xinjiang cotton. This incident has spread and caused quite a stir in the country. However, CBP did not give a clear explanation for this, only saying that the matter was under investigation. Naturally, there was protest in the country. But it was not as intense as Guo Yang had imagined. For this purpose, Guo Yang also went to the Ministry of Agriculture to inquire about the information, and as a result, the Ministry of Forestry called him personally. “It’s just a temporary detention. Are you also thinking of exporting cotton to the United States? The agricultural sector in the United States is in bad shape, so we should not add fuel to the fire at this time, but just focus on developing domestically..." Guo Yang naturally agreed. Fortunately, Jiahe's cotton has not yet been exported because the high-end JCIP cotton has been monopolized by Huafu and Youngor. But the United States still needs to make money, but it doesn't necessarily have to rely on exporting agricultural products. I heard that Monsanto is about to develop a new pesticide to deal with red fire ants and tribulus terrestris. Coincidentally, Quanwang Biology has also made initial progress in the Great Plains of central America. After finishing his company affairs in Jiuquan, Guo Yang came to Beijing. At this time in the room, besides him and Old Liu, Lin Keqing was also sitting on Guo Yang's right. Opposite the two of them were two middle-aged people, a man and a woman. Judging from their faces, they both resembled Lin Keqing. These are Lin Keqing’s parents, Lin Zijin and Liu Haian. After listening to Guo Yang's account of the causes and consequences of CBP's seizure of domestic cotton, Mr. Liu laughed heartily. This laughter contained both gloating over the weakening of American agriculture and relief over the great strides made by domestic agriculture. Guo Yang knew that Mr. Liu had worked in Long Province for more than ten years and had deep feelings for the local area.

So, he always talks about the good things. He is good at this. Whether it is agriculture, industry or biotechnology, Jiahe has made great achievements in the local area. Some ecological improvement projects and desert control projects have won constant praise from the elderly. Seeing Guo Yang chatting happily with the old man, and his daughter sitting next to them without any hesitation, Lin Zijin and Liu Haian could only watch. I've heard about it a long time ago, and I've seen and talked about it in the past two days. He was educated, wealthy, had a successful career, and was valued by many people. He was also polite to them, and the two of them were attracted to each other. There is really nothing to be dissatisfied with. Mr. Liu sighed: "In the end, what the Northwest lacks most is still water, especially the Hexi Corridor and the Tarim Basin. Your Red Flag River is quite interesting, but it’s a pity that I, the old man, can’t see it.” (End of this chapter)