Great Power Reclamation

Chapter 2812 Food Chip

At present, Liu Neng still has a concern, that is the seed problem. As we all know, China is a big agricultural country with a 5000-year history of civilization.

But such a country faces an embarrassing problem, that is, most seeds have to rely on imports.

There is no way around it. Although traditional Chinese seeds are highly adaptable to the environment, they have low yields and a series of problems. They cannot be compared with Monsanto seeds at all.

Once upon a time, the seeds of Chinese tradition thrived on this land. They were like children of this land, perfectly fitting in with the local climate and soil, and able to grow tenaciously even in harsh environments.

However, under the wave of modern agriculture pursuing efficient production, the disadvantages of traditional seeds have gradually become apparent.

Its output lags far behind the needs of modern agricultural production, and it is susceptible to diseases and pests, making its cultivation and management difficult.

Seeds from foreign seed giants such as Monsanto have quickly captured China's seed market with their advantages such as high yield and disease and pest resistance.

Nowadays, most of China's crop seeds rely on imports, which not only puts the local seed industry on the verge of shrinkage, but also gradually makes the initiative in agricultural production fall into the hands of others.

Seed prices are firmly controlled by importers. Once the international situation changes or trade frictions occur, China's agricultural production will face huge risks.

Liu Neng knows very well that the seed problem is like a sword of Damocles hanging over his head. Only by cultivating high-quality seeds that can compete with foreign ones can Chinese agriculture be revitalized on this ancient land and the foundation of food security be protected.

Fortunately, China has Yuan Longping, and hybrid rice technology continues to lead the world.

The super hybrid rice bred by Academician Yuan Longping and his team has broken yield records time and time again, providing a "Chinese solution" to solving the global food problem.

Independently bred varieties of staple crops such as wheat and corn are constantly being innovated. They not only have the characteristics of high yield and high quality, but also excel in disease resistance and stress resistance, effectively ensuring the stability of domestic grain supply.

In fact, the wheat seeds in Northern Xinjiang are all cultivated by themselves. However, due to the unique geographical environment and climate, they cannot be promoted domestically.

Liu Neng never thought of himself as someone who could save the world, but he also knew that he was the son of a military reclamation army, and the word "reclamation" meant he was destined to do something.

As we all know, modern imported seeds are mostly cultivated using cutting-edge biotechnologies such as molecular breeding and gene editing, and the transformation of their genetic material is delicate and complex.

For example, some genetically modified seeds embed specific insect-resistant and herbicide-resistant genes into the crop genome. This gene editing technology requires professional equipment and precise operation.

In addition, the seeds may have undergone special processing, such as coating technology, in which the outer layer contains not only nutrients but also special ingredients that inhibit seed germination or change their growth characteristics, making it difficult for ordinary farmers or institutions to replicate by simply planting and preserving seeds.

In order to protect their research and development results, imported seeds are mostly protected by strict intellectual property laws.

Take Monsanto as an example. After the seeds it cultivated were patented, they were protected by law in many countries around the world.

If you keep or propagate seeds without authorization, you will face heavy fines or even criminal prosecution.

This legal restriction eliminates the random copying of imported seeds at the root. Even if someone masters the copying technology, they dare not easily cross the legal red line.

Some imported seeds have the phenomenon of "hybrid vigor", that is, the hybrid seeds obtained by hybridizing two parents with different genetic traits are superior to both parents in terms of growth potential, yield, and stress resistance.

However, the offspring of hybrid seeds will show trait separation, resulting in reduced yield and quality.

For example, in the case of hybrid corn, if farmers plant and harvest the first-generation hybrid seeds and then keep the seeds for further planting, the second-generation corn plants will be uneven in height and the ears will be of different sizes, thus greatly reducing the yield and losing the production value.

Therefore, it is impossible to reproduce seeds with the same performance as imported seeds by saving seeds.

Imported seeds are cultivated based on the climate, soil, light and other environmental conditions of a specific place of origin.

When seeds are introduced into new areas, even if they are successfully replicated, their excellent traits may not be fully displayed due to changes in the ecological environment.

For example, if high-quality vegetable seeds originating from tropical regions are planted in temperate regions, even if the seeds are cloned, the differences in accumulated temperature and light duration will cause the crop growth cycle to be disrupted and the fruit quality to decline, making it difficult to achieve the production effect of imported seeds in their place of origin.

Therefore, the only way to solve these problems is to develop something that we have complete independent intellectual property rights over.

No one will not understand the importance of seeds to a country. They are the "chips" of food. Since Uncle Ye has mastered semiconductor chips, why can't Liu Neng master food chips?

But he also understood that this problem would be difficult, even more difficult than Uncle Ye’s semiconductor chip.

But things always need people to do it, even if he spends his whole life, even if his sons and grandsons are included...

The water problem in Junken City and its surrounding areas has been basically solved, and Ye Yuze and his team have also helped solve this problem in most areas of the Corps.

The only pity is that the issue of Tibetan water entering Xinjiang has not been approved.

Liu Neng did not complain. After all, at the national level, there were too many issues to consider, which were beyond his level of understanding.

Now that there are so many talented people and abundant funds in Junken City, why not give it a try?
Since the decision had been made, Liu Neng went to the city first and reported his ideas to the newly appointed mayor Jingjing.

After a long silence, he said earnestly:
"Are you ready? Do you know what your choice means?"

Liu Neng nodded: "I know, and I don't regret it!"

Jingjing nodded: "Okay, the city can provide 5000 million in funding support, and you have to figure out the rest on your own."

Jingjing is more steady in her work. The reason why she only took out 5000 million is that this is the amount she can decide on her own without having to report to anyone or hold a meeting to discuss it.

Liu Neng originally wanted to call Ye Yuze again to tell him about his plans, but after thinking it over he gave up.

The thing hasn't even been done yet, but it's already caused a sensation. It might as well be set up by myself. Now that I have 5000 million from the city, plus several hundred million in the head office account, it's enough to do something.

So he gathered the young people who had returned from Ye Yuze's farm in California and formed a research and development team.

Liu Neng stood in front of the whiteboard in the conference room and circled key words such as "gene sequencer" and "artificial climate chamber" with a red pen.

The sunlight slanted in through the glass curtain wall of the military reclamation city's scientific research building, casting alternating light and dark shadows on the excited yet slightly nervous faces of the young people attending the meeting.

Most of these technicians, who had just returned from California farms, were majoring in agronomy or biotechnology. Their notebooks were already filled with densely written nouns, but no one dared to speak easily to break the slightly solemn silence.

"Let's solve the hardware problem first." Liu Neng tapped the whiteboard. "We have to bite the bullet and buy the CRISPR system and high-throughput screening platform needed for gene editing."

He pulled up a quotation from an overseas instrument manufacturer, and there were gasps in the conference room - just one imported gene sequencer cost 20 million, not to mention the matching low-temperature centrifuge and clean workbench.

Technician Xiao Lin pushed his glasses and said, "Boss Liu, these devices are blocked by Europe and the United States. Even if you have money, the customs clearance procedures are difficult."

Before he finished speaking, Xiao Zhang in the corner suddenly stood up and said, "I know a Chinese man in California who deals in second-hand instruments. He said he can get retired laboratory equipment at a price that is 60% of the market price!"

Everyone's eyes instantly focused on this usually taciturn young man. Liu Neng's eyes lit up and he immediately took out his phone: "Give me your contact information, we can talk via video tonight."

In fact, Ye Yuze is fully capable of doing this, and he will definitely do a better job than Liu Neng could do by himself.

But Liu Neng still decided to do it himself, not because he wanted to show off, but because these things were too sensitive. Once investigated, it would bring trouble to the Warrior Group.

If the Warrior Group was sanctioned because of this incident, it would be more trouble than gain. So, he decided to do it himself.

At ten o'clock that evening, Liu Neng was sitting in front of his computer in his office, and the morning light of San Francisco was already breaking on the screen.

Chinese businessman Chen Qiwen is wearing gold-rimmed glasses, with a warehouse full of instrument boxes behind him:

"Lao Liu, these devices were discarded by Stanford. They are still in good working order, but they look a bit old. However..."

He paused, "Recently, customs inspections have been strict, so we have to go through special channels."

Liu Neng gripped the mouse tightly, his knuckles turning white. “As long as we can ship it in, the cost is negotiable.”

Finally, the two parties agreed to purchase the core equipment in a package at a price of 30 million, and Chen Qiwen promised that the equipment would be delivered within two weeks.

At the same time, the location of the artificial climate chamber became a problem.

Liu Neng and his team traveled all around the military reclamation city. The humidity in the abandoned agricultural machinery warehouse exceeded the standard, and building a new site would take too long.

Until one day when he passed by an old cotton mill, the dusty pipes in the dilapidated factory building suddenly gave him inspiration - this factory building, built in the 1980s, has a height of eight meters, and the ventilation system can meet the needs of constant temperature and humidity with a slight modification.

"All the cotton spinning equipment on the second floor was removed, and the walls were treated with antibacterial treatment."

Liu Neng stood in the workshop full of cobwebs and gestured to the construction team leader:

"Smart temperature-controlled glass will be installed on the roof, and ten water circulation pipes will be buried."

The workers watched as the big boss of the head office climbed up the scaffolding himself to measure the dimensions, not even noticing his safety helmet scraping off the wall.

The funds were being consumed faster than expected. When Liu Neng saw the number "4200 million yuan has been spent on equipment purchases" on the financial statements, a cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck.

He gritted his teeth and called the financial director of the head office:
"Unfreeze the idle 200 million yuan in liquid funds and transfer 50 million yuan to the special account for seed research and development."

The other party hesitated for a moment: "Mr. Liu, the board of directors."

"I'll take responsibility!"

Liu Neng hung up the phone. Outside the window, the Gobi Desert was howling with strong winds, and the blown sand and gravel were hitting the glass, just like his tense nerves at the moment.

While waiting for the equipment, the team was not idle. The technicians spent every day in the library, translating a large number of foreign documents.

A laboratory assistant divides the experimental field into sections for sowing and records growth data for comparison between traditional seeds and imported seeds.

Liu Neng specially invited three retired experts from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In a makeshift shed, the white-haired old professors, wearing reading glasses, taught the young people step by step how to identify the early symptoms of wheat rust.

Two weeks later, the container loaded with equipment finally arrived at the port. Liu Neng drove 800 kilometers overnight with the official seal and waited in the customs hall for a full 36 hours.

When the last gene sequencer passed security check, he fell asleep leaning on a bench in the corridor, still holding the release document tightly in his hand.

On the day of equipment installation and debugging, the entire R&D team crowded into the artificial climate chamber.

Watching the temperature curve on the display screen stabilize at 25℃±0.5℃ and listening to the uniform wind noise coming out of the clean bench, technician Xiao Wang suddenly choked up:

"Boss Liu, our 'food chip' finally has a delivery room."

Liu Neng patted the young man on the shoulder, turned around and spread out the yellowed family planting notes on the experimental table - those were the records of crop habits written by his grandfather with a pen when he was reclaiming wasteland in the Gobi Desert.

The morning light penetrated the cuffs of the dust-proof suit, casting tiny spots of light on the densely packed handwriting, like the first seed sown in a field of hope.

Lin Shen, Shen Xinghe, Emily, Zhou Nian'an, and David, these young people have now become the backbone of the company.

At the beginning, Liu Neng did not plan to include these Americans into the group, after all, the relationship was of great importance.

But after their repeated assurances and having already submitted his application for naturalization, he finally agreed.

After all, they are all daughters-in-law or sons-in-law of the Military Reclamation City, so they are not really outsiders!

Although the equipment is not complete, it is ready to work.

Several senior scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences were overjoyed when they saw the equipment; one even shed tears while stroking the equipment.

Therefore, a research and development team consisting of several senior scientists and a group of young people began to work.

R&D is a money-burning business. Huge amounts of money are invested but sometimes there is not even a splash in the results.

However, once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Although Liu Neng does not understand these things, he is a good logistician and takes care of these treasures better than babies.

I do the shopping myself every day to make sure everyone has good food and drink, but the only thing I can’t do is that these people work so hard that they risk their lives.

Liu Neng is fat and sleeps a lot, so he really can't stand them. However, while they are working day and night, he, who can fall asleep as soon as he lies down, suffered from insomnia for the first time.

I lay in bed at home until midnight, then simply got up and went to the R&D room. After serving some coffee, I fell asleep as soon as I sat on the sofa.

So, he simply set up some beds in the R&D room so that anyone who felt sleepy could sleep on them at any time.

You can't set a time limit for these people because, apart from sleeping, they basically just roll around here.

Some even sleep, just lying on the table for a while and taking a nap.

Liu Neng begged everyone to eat and sleep every day, which made him very tired.

After a month, he actually lost more than ten pounds. This made his wife happy. She had spent a lot of money to help him lose weight, but in the end she had failed. Now he succeeded.

I want a guaranteed monthly ticket at the beginning of the month