My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 14 Oil Mill
"Peanuts! Peanuts for sale! This year's fresh peanuts, anyone want to buy some? Come and take a look!"

"These are fresh peanuts from the greenhouse. Even if you don't buy any, come and try them!"

Chen Ling found a spacious spot in the grain area, parked the donkey cart, and started shouting at the top of his lungs.

At this time, the number of people in the miscellaneous grain area has just begun to increase.

Chen Ling's shout immediately attracted a lot of people.

I grabbed a few, peeled them open, and saw that they were indeed freshly dried peanuts, which I found quite rare.

Upon asking, Chen Ling said that they were grown in a greenhouse.

The crowd immediately became even more lively, constantly asking Chen Ling all sorts of questions.

Some people inquired about which village Chen Ling was from, others asked him if greenhouse farming was easy to manage, and how much it cost to build a greenhouse...

They asked all sorts of questions, and during this time they all tried Chen Ling's peanuts.

They all thought it tasted better than regular peanuts.

However, it didn't sell as quickly as Chen Ling had imagined.

It's not that no one is buying, but rather that few people are buying.

They usually buy two or three pounds at a time, and if they buy a little more, it's five or ten pounds.

The largest purchase was only fifty kilograms, made by the owner of a grain and oil shop in the farmers' market.

I told Chen Ling that peanuts are delicious, but I don't know if they will release oil. I'll buy about 50 pounds to try first.

If it doesn't produce much oil, I'll just eat it myself.

This left Chen Ling feeling quite helpless.

I wondered if I had overestimated the purchasing power of this era.

Chen Ling kept calling out to customers, and there was a constant stream of people buying peanuts.

Upon seeing that the peanuts were new and hearing from Chen Ling that they were grown in greenhouses, everyone was willing to buy them.

But the problem remains the same: we don't buy enough.

Around 11 o'clock, there were still about 100 jin of peanuts left on the donkey cart.

"Tsk, I was complaining that 500-plus catties of peanuts was not enough, but after shouting all morning, there's still so little left."

Chen Ling shook his head, feeling quite helpless.

He actually understood that these things couldn't be rushed.

Whether in this era or in the future, it is not easy to quickly open up market channels and attract a large number of customers.

It was just that Chen Ling's expectations were a bit too high because of the Sun and Moon Grotto.

"And this is based on market prices, without much of a price increase."

The current market price for peanuts in their shells is 8 cents per pound, but that's last year's peanuts. Chen Ling used the gimmick of fresh peanuts and greenhouse peanuts to raise the price by 1 cents, selling them for 9 cents per pound.

People can still accept it.

But if the price increases by another 1 cents, making it 1 yuan per pound of peanuts, that won't work.

Money was still quite valuable in those days.

Moreover, the price difference for grain is relatively small; sometimes, even if it's five cents higher than the market price, it still won't sell.

The price difference between wheat, rice, corn, and rice was only a few cents. A price increase of 1 cents was considered a very good market.

It was almost noon, and the grain section was slowly emptying out.

Chen Ling sold another ten or so catties of peanuts, but there were still about seventy or eighty catties left on the donkey cart, which he just couldn't sell.

So he decided to have a meal to fill his stomach first.

Then we need to figure out how to get rid of the remaining peanuts in the cave as quickly as possible.

The yield per mu is about 600-700 jin. The day before yesterday, we harvested one mu, and yesterday we harvested two mu, for a total of more than 2,000 jin.

At this rate of sales, it will probably take several days to sell out.

After all, the market is deserted in the afternoon, so you can only buy things for half a day in the morning.

For lunch, Chen Ling ate he luo noodles at the farmers' market.

Spicy red soup with minced pork, served in a large, steaming bowl, with an extremely generous portion.

Chen Ling ate to his heart's content. After paying, he drove the donkey cart out of the market and found a place to feed and water the donkey.

Even a donkey can't stand not eating or drinking for a whole morning.

To reward the stubborn donkey, after feeding it water, Chen Ling also gave it some peanut vines and leaves that had been left for the chickens in the cave.

This really whetted his appetite.

It stopped on the side of the road and wouldn't move, yelling "Er er er" at Chen Ling and nudging him with its mouth, asking him to keep eating.

"You son of a bitch, with that attitude of yours, you still dare to ask for food..."

"Don't even think about it."

With a dark expression, Chen Ling cracked the whip forcefully, urging the stubborn old donkey to continue heading towards the county town.

He planned to visit various oil mills or grain and oil stores in the county town to see if he could sell more peanuts.

Then, to Chen Ling's surprise, he had to reload the donkey cart completely before crossing the road.

As a result, after going to the first oil mill, they unloaded 300 jin (150 kg).

Moreover, this oil mill is not very big.

The owner tasted it and found it to be fresh peanuts. Although the soil on the outside was fresh, the peanut kernels were very dry and could be pressed for oil directly.

Hearing that it was grown in a greenhouse, they readily weighed it and then exchanged money for goods.

Finally, he told Chen Ling to leave 300 jin to test the oil extraction process, and if it worked, he would send more oil here next time.

Chen Ling was quite confused after hearing this. Why did the owner of the farmers' market only keep 50 jin of the oil they bought to try pressing, while this small oil mill kept 300 jin?

I later found out that although the oil mill looked smaller than the grain and oil shop, it catered to a different type of customer.

The customers supplied by the oil mills include restaurants, supply and marketing cooperatives, department stores, and grain and oil shops. Even small oil mills have a wider sales network than most people imagine.

Meanwhile, the soybean cake and peanut cake left over from oil pressing also sell very well.

Selling to feed mills can sometimes earn just as much as pressing oil.

Grain and oil stores, on the other hand, mostly cater to ordinary individual consumers.

The shipment volume is relatively small.

Chen Ling then realized that he had gone in the wrong direction from the very beginning.

Now, based on the information I've gathered, I can easily figure out what's going on after a little thought.

In his previous life, he had little contact with these things and had not deliberately tried to understand them, so he could not distinguish the difference between an oil mill and a grain and oil shop.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have made such a basic mistake.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Ling took the opportunity while inquiring about the oil mill to ask a few more probing questions.

Then I learned about it.

Peanuts are still in short supply at this time of year, and the peanut reserves stored by oil mills before the Lunar New Year are gradually running out.

The new peanuts have not yet been planted.

So as long as the peanuts are of good quality, they will keep some for themselves whenever they go to the oil mill.

The minimum weight is 200 jin (100 kg).

Lingyun County is not a large county, but it still has quite a few oil mills.

So Chen Ling spent most of the afternoon throwing out over a thousand catties of peanuts.

Including what I sold at the farmers' market this morning, I've already got about 1,500 jin (750 kg).

The thick stack of blue banknotes in his hand showed that he had made a good harvest that day.

"Um……"

"Once these oil mills test the oil production, we won't have to worry about peanut sales for the time being."

Chen Ling was confident in the peanuts irrigated by the Dongtian Creek.

Of course, even if the entire Lingyun county is saturated, you can still visit the oil mills in the surrounding towns.

If all else fails, we can go to the neighboring county.

None of this is a problem.

After counting the money in his hand again, Chen Ling went to buy a plow and a seed drill.

He bought several bags of various kinds of rapeseed, as well as other miscellaneous seeds, before driving the donkey cart home.

They hadn't even left the county town when they ran into Liang Hongyu and Qin Rongxian, the couple they had seen at the farmers' market.

The two men were still dressed the same as before, sitting on two small stools, fishing by the river.

It's only the tenth day of the second lunar month, and the weather hasn't even started to warm up yet. I don't know where this leisurely mood comes from.

"Young man, have you sold out of peanuts?"

It was Liang Hongyu who greeted them first, and then Qin Rong, who was fiddling with the bait, looked up and noticed that it was Chen Ling.

"Yes."

Chen Ling got off the donkey cart, shook his head and smiled: "After all this time, from morning till now, we've finally sold out..."

"Young man, I've always wanted to ask you, why did you choose to grow peanuts in a greenhouse? Shouldn't you grow some vegetables and fruits in a greenhouse?"

Qin Rong asked first, "I've seen mushrooms, watermelons, and vegetables grown in greenhouses in other places, but I've never seen peanuts grown in them before."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ling smiled and replied, "I just built this greenhouse. I've planted a little bit of everything—vegetables and fruits—to see what sells well."

"As a result, after we finished planting, there was still a vacant spot left, so we just planted two rows of peanuts."

That was, of course, just an excuse.

Actually, I didn't have any suitable seeds on hand a couple of days ago. All I had at home were dried fruits that are easy to preserve, such as red dates, walnuts, melon seeds, and peanuts.

Among them, peanuts are the easiest to manage. The others, planted in wasteland and watered with some Dongtianxi water, will grow into trees, which are hard to hide.

Peanuts are convenient to use, and as an essential ingredient for oil extraction, their price won't be low, which is perfect.

(End of this chapter)