Chapter 381 - The Agricultural Supply Store

They finally agreed on using in-kind micro-loans—more convenient to operate and easier for farmers to grasp.

Poultry chicks would be provided on credit to farmers—minimum five, maximum ten. Farmers would sign exclusive purchase agreements for eggs, repaying principal and interest through egg delivery.

"I propose twenty eggs total per chick for principal and interest—" Ye Yuming began.

"That's practically giving them away! Far too few." Wu Nanhai felt shortchanged. "We're not giving farmers newly-hatched chicks—these are eighteen-week-old mature pullets, raised with considerable labor and resources. And all the laying breeds we brought, whether light-type white-shell layers or medium-type brown-shell layers, average two hundred twenty to two hundred eighty eggs annually. Each hen lays for two to three years. Even fifty eggs as the chick cost feels like a loss."

"At the start of promotion, let's take a loss," Ye Yuming said. "Keep it at twenty eggs."

Lingao's so-called middle peasants, rich peasants, and minor landlords all possessed limited economic capacity. Given farmers' frugal, suspicious mentality, initial promotion needed to demonstrate sufficient profit incentive—yet the conditions couldn't be too favorable, or farmers wouldn't believe them either.

Wan Lihui sided with Ye Yuming, arguing that fifty eggs was actually excessive. That annual egg yield was achieved through intensive commercial poultry farming with ample compound feed. Under traditional farming conditions—farmers providing limited, monotonous feed while poultry spent more time foraging—egg yields wouldn't approach those figures. Loss and death rates would also be considerable.

"I think several of those five to ten chickens dying from various causes is highly likely. You may have studied agriculture, but you don't truly know farmers' hardships." Wan Lihui spoke from experience. "Rural poultry farming—one mishap and you lose everything. A few chickens might seem trivial to modern people, but for farmers here they represent substantial property."

After extensive discussion, they accepted Ye Yuming's proposal: twenty eggs per chicken as principal and interest for the laying hens provided. Repayment due within six months from the start of farming.

After principal and interest were repaid, the Heaven and Earth Society would exclusively purchase all eggs and eventually buy back non-laying hens. Everyone agreed that with proper care and no unexpected losses, the benefits from this plan were obvious.

"This is also an excellent opportunity to expand Circulation Voucher use among county farmers," Yan Ming observed. After over half a year of issuance, vouchers had established creditworthiness among county merchants, but farmer acceptance of paper currency remained stubbornly low.

Paying farmers in paper currency for purchases, combined with policies incentivizing voucher use at East Gate Market—all transmigrator-operated stores offered five percent discounts for voucher purchases.

Precisely because farmers instinctively distrusted vouchers, once they possessed them they'd spend them quickly at market—further stimulating circulation and avoiding the hoarding behavior that occurred with metal currency payments. True monetary circulation at last.

"We're not promoting—we're practically subsidizing," someone remarked.

"Most countries in the world subsidize agriculture. Otherwise no one would farm anymore." Ye Yuming was unfazed. "Consider this our version of agricultural subsidy policy."

"Short-term, we'll take some losses, but building trust with the people first is essential for promotion," Ye Yuming concluded. "With trust as our foundation, future Heaven and Earth Society initiatives will proceed far more smoothly."

The poultry initially provided to farmers would be laying hens only. Wan Lihui recommended White Leghorns—this light-type white-shell layer breed had already fallen out of fashion in the twenty-first century, but possessed characteristics ideal for farmer free-range conditions: tolerance for rough feed, high conversion efficiency, and adeptness at foraging.

"One more point: we need to provide feed and technical farming services," Wu Nanhai added. "We can't just hand over chickens to farmers and walk away—we must follow up."

Feed issues were especially critical. Free-range methods could greatly reduce the chances of chicken plague, but farmers in this time-space obviously wouldn't provide as much feed as twenty-first-century commercial farmers did.

Laying hens required particularly precise compound feed. According to modern animal husbandry standards, raising layers involved thirty-nine different nutritional indicators. Beyond adequate protein, sufficient fiber and calcium were essential.

"Looking at local farmers, they barely have enough grain for themselves. Can they even afford to raise chickens? Won't the birds starve?"

Raising chickens required grain. Though farm households traditionally raised chickens to supplement income, scale was universally small.

"Even if farmers have enough grain, we must provide formula feed—especially protein and calcium. These greatly affect egg production. Otherwise our promotion would be meaningless," Wu Nanhai said.

"How do we provide it?"

"Feed loans—also repaid with eggs."

"All these consecutive loans—farmers will end up shackled with endless debt..."

"As long as our feed increases production, they should be willing." Wu Nanhai seemed confident. "Farmers used to spend money in town buying manure and household waste, buying soybean cake and peanut cake from workshops... They possess investment awareness—they understand that high inputs bring good harvests. We won't interfere with ordinary feed. We'll specifically provide formula feed—primarily supplementing protein and calcium, plus various nutrients easily deficient in free-range farming."

No one objected. Details would be handled by the Agricultural Committee. Lending would be managed by Delong. Internal settlement between the Heaven and Earth Society and Delong would proceed separately. The Finance Committee hoped to quickly implement monetary settlement between departments for better financial accounting—rather than hard-to-value in-kind accounts.

As a supporting project, Delong Grain Store would also launch "Farmer-Aid Loans"—small cash loans specifically for farmers to purchase formula feed, folk veterinary medicines, disinfectants, and other agricultural supplies. This would support farmer production while expanding Grain Circulation Voucher circulation.

"I have an idea," Ye Yuming proposed before adjournment. "Lingao is desperately short of iron farm tools—not only of poor quality but extremely expensive, seriously constraining productivity. The Metallurgy Department can't yet fully meet county demand. Can we give Heaven and Earth Society member farmers special discounts? Perhaps promote new tools at reduced prices?"

"That should be possible." Wu Nanhai nodded, turning to Planning Committee representative Dai Xie. This man had directed materials distribution on D-Day. As institutions matured, he'd maintained a lower profile, focusing on Planning Committee administration—mainly project approval and review—frequently appearing at construction sites.

"Approximately how many?"

"The Agricultural Committee needs to expand farm workers and replace some worn tools, plus this Heaven and Earth Society promotion..." Wu Nanhai pulled a notebook from his pocket. "At least fifty pieces monthly." Apparently fearing outright refusal: "I'll still return damaged tools to the Planning Committee for remelting."

"Not a major problem," Dai Xie said. "Current metallurgy daily steel production can support this volume. But tools provided to outside farmers will be difficult to recover. Factor that loss into your calculations..."

"Trade-in program. Have farmers return old ones, pay a small price difference; we sell them new ones."

"That should work." Dai Xie agreed.

"Why don't we just open an agricultural supply store?" Wan Lihui had a sudden inspiration, recalling that rural agricultural supply dealers in his time had grown quite wealthy. "New farm tools, formula feed, folk pesticides, crude fertilizers, seeds... So many quality products—no shortage of eager buyers."

Everyone liked the idea. They decided the Heaven and Earth Society would open an agricultural supply store at East Gate Market selling "Heaven and Earth Society" brand agricultural products. Initially, these products would only be available to landlords and small farmers participating in the promotion program—no external sales.

"Besides iron tools and seedlings, which can't yet be widely promoted, formula feed, folk pesticides, crude fertilizers... those should be freely available soon," Wu Nanhai said.

After the meeting, Yan Ming enthusiastically discussed agricultural supply pricing with Ye Yuming, Dai Xie, and others. The "Farmer-Aid Loans" issued would mainly purchase these products. While they debated pricing, Wu Nanhai headed back to the farm with Wan Lihui.

Wan Lihui asked Wu Nanhai what exactly this "formula feed" would be made from. Wan Lihui knew the farm's grain reserves were rather thin—insufficient grain for large-scale feed-making. They'd have to rely heavily on seafood processing plant scraps: fish bones and scales.

Wu Nanhai entered a special warehouse and emerged with a wooden box: "This is the main component of my formula feed."

"What on earth is this?"

"Earthworms." Wu Nanhai smiled. "Ever raised them in the countryside?"

"No—" Wan Lihui suddenly understood. "But someone in my area did—mainly supplying commercial chicken farms!"

"Exactly. Besides earthworms, I'm also planning maggot farming—I haven't done that myself, and we lack sufficient substrate material. Let's start simple with earthworms."

"You're planning to use earthworms as the primary ingredient for formula feed."

"Plus some plant-based ingredients, fish-offal powder, and shell powder—all essential for laying hens."

Wu Nanhai's planned main feed formula consisted of: dried earthworm powder, fish-offal powder, and shell powder. Without corn—the most common feed grain—he could only produce supplementary formula feed.

(End of Chapter)