Chapter 159: Drought (Medium Cup) (Ch 819175579)

After the pandan strawberry powder tasting session, the sales department did not receive too many orders at once.
However, many high-end Western pastry shops and restaurants have said that if the effect of pandan strawberry powder can be comparable to that of pandan pods, they will place orders from Hailufeng Company.
However, they also made a small request, which was that they hoped Hailufeng Company could produce small packages of pandan strawberry powder.
This is actually very normal.
5 kg of pandan strawberry powder is equivalent to 50 kg of vanilla paste. Even if you want a strong vanilla flavor, you only need 1 gram of pandan strawberry powder to make one kilogram of vanilla ice cream. 5 kg of pandan strawberry powder can make 5 tons of ice cream with extremely strong vanilla flavor.
It is difficult for high-end western restaurants, high-end western pastry shops or bakeries to consume 5 kilograms of pandan strawberry powder in a short period of time.
Therefore, launching small packages is a must.
After receiving feedback from the sales department, Xie Guangxia, director of the strawberry processing factory, immediately started the small-package production line.
This small packaging production line can produce three specifications of small packages: 50 grams, 200 grams and 500 grams.
Moreover, the small packaged pandan strawberry powder is not only in powder form, but also in granular form.
The granulated Pandan Strawberry Beans are a standard 1 gram each, which is designed for easy use.
Since April, the production capacity of the Pandan strawberry greenhouse and strawberry processing plant has been arranged step by step, and an average of about 100 tons of Pandan strawberry powder can be produced each month.
Even if only 100 tons are produced each month, at a wholesale price of 3.5 million per ton, the company can generate revenue of 350 million yuan each month.
This is the power of luxury goods and monopoly industries.
The typical top luxury goods industry is characterized by low cost, small scale, high revenue and high profit.
Currently, Hailufeng Company owns a total of three similar industries, namely white truffle, eel fry, and pandan strawberry powder.
However, things like feed, fish products, and fruit all require large-scale operations to achieve high revenues, and their gross profits are still low.
at the same time.
Qin Xingzu, the network manager of Hailufeng Company and the previous head of the APP development office, is checking the internal testing status of the Hailufeng specialty store APP.
Li Yu, the person in charge of the APP testing office, took a sip of vanilla lemon tea and said, “Manager, we have initially completed the rectification of the 17 issues that were reported during the internal testing process.”
“The scale of internal testing needs to continue to expand.” Qin Xingzu instructed after looking at the report.
Li Yu replied in embarrassment: “Expand it? But all the company’s employees have downloaded it, so is it going to be a small-scale public beta?”
However, Qin Xingzu did not think this was difficult: “Let the human resources department help and mobilize employees to recommend our app to their relatives.”
“Is that so? It should be possible.” Li Yu also thought this was a good idea.
Now the employee size of Hailufeng Company has expanded to a new level.
There are currently nearly 500 people (including reserve management) in the more than a dozen departments of the headquarters, plus more than 100 trainee clerks, a total of 674 people.
Major business units: 488 people in the Aquaculture Business Unit; 994 people in the Planting Business Unit; 275 people in the Feed Business Unit; 312 people in the Physical Business Unit; 124 people in the E-commerce Business Unit; and 187 people in the Technology Business Unit.
Branches: Qiongzhou Branch has 249 employees, Gannan Branch has 3281 employees, and Mo’nan Branch has 755 employees.
Wholly owned subsidiary: Yingxiong Dairy, 857 employees.
Joint ventures: Hailufeng Real Estate has 177 employees; Xinlekang Pharmaceutical Company has 206 employees; United Mining has 143 employees.
The total number of employees in the entire Hailufeng system is 8,722
Just on labor costs, Hailufeng Company spends over 100 million yuan every month.
The reason why the Gannan Branch has such a large number of employees is mainly because there are too many farm workers. With more than 200,000 acres of oil tea plantations, plus the supporting alfalfa planting industry, forage processing industry, etc., and more than 3,000 employees, it can barely maintain normal operation under the premise of using a large number of machines for assistance.
Sometimes when we encounter a task that needs to be completed in a short period of time, we have to temporarily recruit local farmers to do short-term labor.
This is the helplessness of tree crops.
Therefore, there is absolutely no problem for Qin Xingzu to ask the Human Resources Department for help in recommending the company’s APP among employees’ relatives.
The relatives and friends of more than 8,000 employees add up to at least tens of thousands of people. With so many people participating in the internal testing, we can discover as many system loopholes of the APP as possible and provide reference for subsequent rectification and optimization. In addition, the user experience is also very important.
The previously shelved version of the fruit phone system has also been developed, mainly because the network department currently has sufficient staff.
The shopping software used as a reference for Hailufeng Company’s exclusive store APP is Pinxixi.
It focuses on being simple and clear, and occupies very little system memory, even smaller than Pinxixi.
This is also very normal.
The Hailufeng Specialty Store APP only sells Hailufeng Company’s own products. The company currently sells eel fry, white truffles, morels, Egyptian catfish meat products, eel products, tomatoes, ginseng fruit, strawberries, feed, fish oil, honey, and various pre-prepared dishes.
Next are pineapples, mangoes, lychees, longans and jackfruits produced by the Qiongzhou branch.
Gannan Branch produces tea seed oil, tea seed cake and various extracts; alfalfa hay and other forage grasses, etc.
Hero Dairy produces bulk milk powder, cream, whey protein powder, butter, yogurt, pure milk, discarded dairy beef, fermented cow dung soil, etc.
The Mo’nan Branch produces soybeans, beef, small-tail Han sheep meat, cattle and sheep dung fermented soil, artificial nutrient soil, leguminous forage, etc.
These are all Hailufeng’s own products.
Therefore, there is no need to consider connecting to other merchants’ accounts. You only need to consider the customer’s account and the company’s product interface, etc., which naturally makes the APP very small.
Jiang Miao had no plans to do any financial work on the specialty store APP, just make it a pure shopping APP.
With the theme framed by the boss, the network department led by Qin Xingzu took the attitude of slow work and fine work, and it took only about four months to get the first version of the APP.
Of course, considering that it is their own APP and there are only dozens of products in the store, the art office of the network department has designed a lot of exquisite interfaces and product introductions.
Jiang Miao was also worried that the people in the Network Department would not be able to write a good product introduction, so he specifically instructed the Technology Division, Market Research Department, and Legal Department to strengthen cooperation with the Network Department and carefully study every detail.
After all, the company’s product introduction must be legal and compliant, taking into account reasonable product testing data, product ingredient lists, and beautiful advertising slogans. These are not things that the network department alone can handle.
For example, advertising slogans that exaggerate the efficacy of a product and promote its medical effects cannot be used in food advertisements.
All of these require the cooperation of professionals.
In addition to developing the exclusive store APP, the Network Department is also gradually advancing other APP projects.
Although Jiang Miao was paying close attention, he did not point out the various loopholes in the franchise store APP immediately. After a while, he sent the various loopholes in the franchise store APP to the Network Department in the identity of “Jiang Miao’s friend.”
This can not only train the team, but also ensure that there will be no major loopholes in the APP.
However, Jiang Miao was not in the mood to care about the affairs of the network department at this time because the company encountered an unexpected trouble.
drought!
After the Qingming Festival, there was still no rain in Lingnan, or in the entire southern region there were only a few rains with a depth of more than 10 mm.
Jiang Miao looked at the data collected from meteorological departments of various countries, frowning: “It seems that this year is another El Nino year.”
“El Nino?” Shu Ya, who was also helping Jiang Miao with documents in the office, looked up and said, “Didn’t it happen last year?”
“Yes! The sea water temperature of the Peruvian cold current this year is still higher than in previous years. Although not as extreme as last year, it is still not conducive to sardine fishing in Peruvian fishing grounds. The extreme weather in recent years has become more and more strange and unpredictable.” Jiang Miao rubbed his temples: “I originally thought this year would be a La Nina year, but I didn’t expect it to be an El Nino year.”
“Will it have any impact on the company?” Shuya asked while lowering her head to deal with the matters of Xinlekang Pharmaceutical Company.
“It definitely has an impact. El Nino will not only cause a decline in fish catches in Peru, but will also cause widespread rainstorms and floods in South America, while southern East Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia will experience widespread droughts.”
Bang bang…
Jiang Miao saw his brother-in-law at the door, so he smiled and shouted, “Come in! Brother-in-law, sit down.”
“A Miao, it’s a good thing you had foresight, otherwise it would be troublesome.” There was a trace of fear on my brother-in-law’s face.
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Miao poured him a cup of tea.
As soon as my brother-in-law sat down, he told me about the current situation of the farm: “The water level of fish ponds in several surrounding villages has dropped significantly. Our farm has solar panels, part of it is an indoor farm, and the water recycling equipment you arranged last year, so our water supply can barely maintain its status.”
Regarding this, Hailufeng Company encountered the impact of drought last year and had to apply to the local authorities for groundwater extraction to maintain normal water levels in the farms.
Therefore, after learning from this lesson, he introduced solar panels to reduce the evaporation of water in the open-air fish pond. At the same time, instead of changing the water in the open-air fish pond every half a month, he used filtration equipment to inject the clean water after filtering and treatment back into the fish pond.
Reduced overall water consumption.
At the same time, the breeding methods are being improved. For example, of the 1,000 acres of open-air eel breeding ponds, currently only 200 acres are freshwater breeding, and the remaining 800 acres are directly farmed by pumping seawater.
After all, eels can grow in seawater as long as the feed formula is slightly adjusted.
This will reduce the fresh water consumption of 800 acres of fish ponds.
The Egyptian catfish breeding farms are all indoor farms. As long as the internal water purification work is done well, the fresh water consumption can be basically reduced by 95%.
But Jiang Miao knew very well that Hailufeng Company had no way of remaining immune to this large-scale drought.
Because Hailufeng Company needs to purchase Egyptian catfish, and the farmers of Egyptian catfish raise them in open-air fish ponds. In addition, their open-air fish ponds have neither solar panels to reduce evaporation nor water recycling equipment installed, which will be seriously affected by the drought.
Of course, many fish farmers have already reacted and quickly purchased black shade nets to cover their fish ponds, reducing some of the evaporation.
But that’s not enough.
Jiang Miao made a phone call and informed Fang Yi, the head of the feed business department, to come over.
Half an hour later.
Fang Yi hurried over: “Boss.”
Jiang Miao poured him some tea and said, “Sit down, Manager Fang. The drought is severe in various parts of the south right now. We have no way of predicting when the rain will come, so we must make some preparations.”
“Boss, what does this have to do with our feed division?” Fang Yi was confused.
“It’s a little bit related. On the one hand, we must be prepared to reduce production. On the other hand, take out No. 14 eel feed! This formula can allow eels to maintain a normal growth rate in a seawater aquaculture environment.”
“Feed No. 14? It turns out that this feed formula has this use.” Fang Yi previously thought that the hundreds of formulas for eel feed and Egyptian catfish feed were just to block other companies from imitating them.
Jiang Miao continued, “Also take out the No. 36 feed formula for Egyptian catfish. This feed formula can ensure that Egyptian catfish can be raised in salt water. As long as the salt content of the water does not exceed 12‰, it can ensure the rapid growth of Egyptian catfish.”
Fang Yi quickly asked: “Salt water? Do we need to license it to other companies?”
“Of course, our company does not produce ordinary feed. This formula is licensed to the feed association, and feed manufacturers are required to pay 100 yuan per ton in patent fees. The same goes for the formula of seawater feed for eels.”
“I understand.” Fang Yi is the head of the feed business unit and also the contact person for Hailufeng Company in the Feed Association. Jiang Miao does not have the time to deal with such matters all day.
Haida Group, which was originally worried about the drought this year, received the notice from Hailufeng Company and the Feed Association. Its chairman Xue Hua looked relieved: “Jiang Miao is really a timely rain for my Haida.”
“Mr. Xue, do we need to start full production of the new formula feed now?” the head of the feed production department asked quickly.
Xue Hua came to his senses and did not procrastinate. Time waits for no one, so he quickly assigned tasks: “The feed production department starts producing new feed, but the production volume must be controlled.”
“OK.”
“The sales department immediately became familiar with the technical manual of the new feed formula, which facilitated communication with farmers.”
“Yes, Mr. Xue.”
“I personally led people to conduct tests at the breeding farm.”
Xue Hua didn’t doubt Jiang Miao, but he was just taking precautions. This was related to the production of billions of raw materials, and he couldn’t afford to be careless.
Haida Group at a breeding farm near Nansha District.
Xue Hua and others who started the test looked at the fish pond in front of them. After switching to salt water with a salinity of 5‰, the Egyptian catfish in it became less active. It was obvious that they were not very adapted to salt water, and their faces looked a little solemn.
However, he still chose to believe in Hailufeng Company and Jiang Miao.
He plans to stay at the farm for the next few days.
Because saltwater breeding of Egyptian catfish is not something that can be achieved overnight, it must be carried out in stages. Use a salinity of 5‰ in the first week, transition to 8‰ in the second week, and then increase to 11‰ in the third week.
As for why it is not the limit of 12%, it is mainly because we are worried that the salt content will increase after the water evaporates, so we must leave some room.
In the technical manual provided by Jiang Miao, it is recommended that large-scale breeding bases with technical conditions such as Haida Group can adopt a critical salinity of 11‰.
For ordinary farmers, it is recommended that they first purchase a salinity meter and use salt water with a salinity of 10‰ for breeding. At the same time, they should test the salinity of the breeding water every day. If the temperature exceeds 35 degrees Celsius, they are required to test the salinity twice a day to ensure that the salinity of the water does not exceed the standard and be prepared to replenish fresh water at any time.
Of course, this only applies to farms near the sea. If it is an inland farm, then you can basically just leave it to fate.
When using saltwater aquaculture, if it is close to a river estuary, water can be taken directly from the river estuary. Generally, the salinity of saltwater at a river estuary is between 2.5 and 12‰.
If seawater with a salinity of 33‰ is used, at least one-third of fresh water can be saved; if salt water from river estuaries is used, fresh water may not even be needed.
For example, the farms of Haida Group in Nansha District are close to the mouth of the Pearl River, so they only need to pump salt water with a salinity of 10‰.
Several online stores selling salinity meters have been very puzzled in the past half month, because they usually sell less than one or two salinity meters a month, but suddenly they received hundreds or even thousands of orders.
Merchants selling sunshade nets also made a fortune.
Especially for the Leizhou Peninsula, which was originally very dry, everyone in Hengxing Group was very worried before, but now they can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Because their company’s Egyptian catfish breeding model is somewhat similar to that of Hailufeng Company, which is a combination of self-breeding and free-range breeding by farmers.
If something goes wrong, it will not only be a matter of loss, but will also cause heavy losses to the farmers.
Now the timely rescue of Hailufeng Company has given them some buffer time. The use of seawater can reduce some of the fresh water, and the temporary pumping of groundwater can allow each farm to support itself for a few more months.
In fact, the Feed Association is more anxious than these companies.
Because with the large-scale production of Egyptian catfish fish meal, the domestic cost of fish, shrimp and crab farming has dropped by nearly 20%, and the cost of poultry and pig farming has dropped by 2.3%.
If the production of Egyptian catfish meal is greatly reduced due to drought, it may cause the market prices of aquatic products, chickens, ducks, geese and live pigs to rise again. Since the Chinese New Year, the prices of domestic meats have been steadily declining, except for the meat of large herbivores such as cattle and sheep.
Among them, the retail price of white shrimp fell the most, by about 16%.
The price of pomfret fell by 12.7%, lemon fish fell by 11.3%, sea bream fell by 10%, and yellow croaker fell by 5.7%. The price drops of these marine farmed aquatic products were very obvious.
The decline in prices of other freshwater fish, on the contrary, was not obvious. The main reason was the drought in various parts of the south this year, which led to varying degrees of production reductions in freshwater fish farms across the country, making it impossible to suppress prices.
As for eels, although the price has dropped a lot, it has also been affected by the drought.
Fortunately, the eel seawater aquaculture feed authorized by Hailufeng Company to other feed factories has been rapidly produced and put on the market.
Eel farmers who have received new feed and whose farms are close to the sea can directly pump seawater to replenish the water level in the fish pond.
As for the eel farms in inland areas, they can only find a way out themselves. After all, their farms are not near the sea and there is no way to obtain almost free seawater.
Fortunately, there are not many eel farms in inland areas, so the impact is not too serious.
However, this incident will also lead new farmers and companies to prefer setting up eel and marine fish farms in coastal areas so that they do not have to worry about water problems.
It is not impossible to raise fish in inland areas. For example, some farms are indoors, and with complete water circulation equipment inside, they can basically withstand the impact of drought.