On the northern fields of Nanhu Farm.
Lü Weibin was with a few farm employees and a dozen villagers, discussing the matter of leasing farmland.
"Uncle Jianshe, what do you think of the price?"
The old man nodded. "It’s acceptable. We don’t make much money from planting rice on this land anyway, so you might as well take it. The rent can be the sa as for the strawberry greenhouses."
Another middle-aged man, smoking a cigarette, asked, "Manager Lü, is the packaging plant still hiring? My wife doesn’t have anything to do lately."
Lü Weibin smiled and shook his head. "Hiring is handled by the HR departnt. You can have your wife submit a resu to our company."
"That’s so much trouble! She doesn’t know how to do that."
Lü Weibin quickly added, "Brother, you can have a younger person write it for her. But I’ll be upfront with you, if she’s over forty, don’t bother submitting a resu to the company. The most I can offer is temporary piece-work. A full-ti position is impossible."
"Forty? That’s fine, then. My wife is only thirty-eight this year."
The age limit was due to considerations of working years. If soone was over forty, they would retire in less than fifteen years, and they wouldn’t have the stamina of younger adults.
Hailufeng Company was a legitimate business, and all full-ti employees had to receive a full benefits package, including social security and a housing fund. A woman over forty couldn’t work for a full twenty years, which would create complications with her social security contributions down the line.
"Manager Lü, can I raise eels in my fishpond over by the reservoir?" another young man asked, offering him a pack of cigarettes.
Lü Weibin didn’t take them. "Thanks, but I don’t smoke. You want to raise eels? By the reservoir? I can’t answer that for you. If you’re serious about it, you can go ask at the Salt Town Farm."
"I was just asking."
"Da B, what’s wrong with raising grass carp?" the old man from before advised. "I bet more and more people will be raising eels in the future. The competition will be too fierce, and you don’t have the skills. Don’t bite off more than you can chew."
During the conversation, other villagers gradually arrived on electric scooters and motorcycles.
Lü Weibin continued to discuss the details of leasing the farmland with them.
The company had once again approved a budget for Nanhu Farm, requiring him to expand the farm to 600 mu, which would encompass nearly all the farmland in Nanhu Village.
The local villagers didn’t make any exorbitant demands, as everyone knew the current market rate for leasing farmland. In fact, the residents of Nanhu Village were eager for soone to co and rent their fields.
After all, many of the local young people had gone to work in the Pearl River Delta, the city proper, or Hai City. Fewer and fewer of those who remained in the village were still farming.
Currently, only five households in all of Nanhu Village specialized in growing crops, vegetables, and fruits. The other villagers either went out to sea to fish or left to find work elsewhere.
Even the rice cultivation in the village was semi-contracted out to a large-scale chanized farming operation from Xinxiang. This company handled the seedling cultivation, transplanting, and harvesting each year. The villagers only needed to apply fertilizer, spray pesticides, and manage the water.
However, while this was convenient, it just wasn’t profitable.
After the annual harvest, once they paid the chanized farming operation from Xinxiang and deducted their own costs for pesticides and fertilizers, the average cost of their rice ca out to nearly 1.5 yuan per kilogram. And that didn’t even factor in their own labor.
anwhile, the local retail price for the cheapest variety of rice was only about four yuan per kilogram.
On the surface, it seed like there was still a profit margin of two yuan.
In reality, there was no profit margin at all.
This was because between the production cost and the final retail price, there were also the procurent price and the wholesale price.
The farrs could do the math in their heads.
This was the fundantal reason why more and more local farrs were choosing to let their land lie fallow. Planting rice simply didn’t make money. The main reason many still did it was to grow food for themselves, not to sell.
The price Hailufeng Company was currently offering to lease the land was 1,600 yuan per mu per year.
With 1,600 yuan, you could buy 400 kilograms of ordinary rice at 4 yuan per kilogram, and 400 kilograms of rice was enough to feed a family of four for over half a year.
That being the case, why bother with the hard work of farming it yourself?
Aside from a dozen or so households that still wanted to plant their own rice and the five that fard for a living, all the other villagers in Nanhu Village chose to lease their farmland to Hailufeng Company.
After more than a week of negotiations, contract signings, and boundary marking, they secured a total of 372 mu of paddy fields and 133 mu of dry fields. All these fields were contiguous; Lü Weibin naturally had no interest in the scattered, fragnted plots.
The lease term for all this newly rented farmland was 15 years.
However, since so of the fields already had rice planted, Lü Weibin, with Jiang Miao’s approval, allowed the villagers to harvest this season’s crop before the farm improvent work began.
Work on the unplanted fields would begin soon.
The total plantable area of Nanhu Farm had now expanded to about 600 mu.
The plan was to cover all these fields with greenhouses and install the necessary supporting facilities.
Inside the small office building made of shipping containers at the farm.
Li Wenna was organizing the recently signed land lease contracts. The contracts were all in triplicate: one copy for the farr, one to be kept in the Nanhu Farm archives, and the third to be sent back to the company headquarters’ archives for record-keeping.
Lü Weibin took a sip of tea. "Wenna, once you’re done organizing the contracts, take the copies that need to be filed back to headquarters when you head back this afternoon."
"No problem."
Putting down his teacup, Lü Weibin took a few docunts and headed over to the experintal greenhouse.
Jiang Miao was there, cross-pollinating Tomatoes.
After a while, he noticed Lü Weibin standing not far away.
"Old Lü, what’s up?"
"Boss, there are a few things I need to report to you. I can’t make the call on them."
"Go ahead," Jiang Miao said, pulling off his plastic gloves and mask as he walked outside.
Lü Weibin opened a file. "Boss, so of the villagers want to work for us, but they’re a bit older—middle-aged, in their forties and fifties. I made a list; there are about 57 of them."
Once outside the greenhouse, Jiang Miao took a deep breath. "All right. We’ll definitely need a lot of packers in the future. Set aside so of the unskilled work and hire them as temporary workers. But don’t skip the mandatory orientation and pre-employnt physicals. We’re in the food industry, after all. We can’t risk soone having a contagious disease."
"I understand."
It wasn’t that Jiang Miao was heartless; it was just the reality of the situation.
These middle-aged farrs, in their forties and fifties, generally had limited education. Combined with other factors, hiring them as full-ti employees was simply out of the question.
The better companies wouldn’t even hire security guards or janitors over 40, and they required at least a high school diploma.
Lü Weibin continued, "Second thing: a few of the village elders asked about sponsoring an opera."
"Sponsoring an opera?"
"Yes. The Lord Prince temple at the village entrance has been renovated. They’re holding the consecration ceremony next month."
Jiang Miao thought for a mont, then agreed. "Then let’s sponsor one. After all, we’re neighbors and see each other every day."
"Third thing: the owner of the cardboard box factory we used to work with passed away. His sons are now fighting over the inheritance. The eldest son wants to sell the factory. Should we consider buying it?"
Jiang Miao’s eyebrows shot up. He thought back for a mont. "The box factory owner? Oh, Old Lin! Didn’t I warn him about that? I told him to get to a hospital right away. His aortic dissection was already very serious."
"It seems he didn’t go," Lü Weibin said with a helpless look.
Good advice, it seed, was truly lost on a man determined to die.
Although they had only t once, Jiang Miao had told the man about his condition, hoping to do a good deed.
Unfortunately, so people’s stubbornness is beyond imagination; they won’t shed a tear until they’re staring at their own coffin.
Jiang Miao shook his head in regret, then said, "Cardboard box factories like that are a di a dozen. His sons are at each other’s throats now. There’s no need for us to get involved and risk getting burned."
"What about our box orders?"
"Find another factory to order from."
Lü Weibin nodded. "Understood."
By the faucet, Jiang Miao washed his hands and said, "By the way, it’s good you’re here. Let’s talk about the crops the farm will be planting next."
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