Chapter 336 - 166: Heading North

Chapter 336: Chapter 166: Heading North

"We’re here."

Their car arrived at the main gate of Hailufeng Company’s Nanhu Experimental Zone.

Jiang Miao was just returning from the Nanhu Salmon Experimental Breeding Base and spotted Professor Wang and the others right away.

He smiled and called out, "Dean Wang, Dean Xiao, everyone! Didn’t you say you were coming tomorrow?"

Professor Wang explained, "We had originally planned to come tomorrow, but I have a forum to attend in Shanghai the day after, so we came a day early. I’ll be heading back to Yangcheng tomorrow."

"I see. Please, come in."

They were in the same reception room as last time.

After taking a sip of vanilla coconut milk, Xiao Jieshi smiled and offered his congratulations. "This vanilla coconut milk... I presume it uses the Vanilla Strawberry Powder your company produces? The vanilla flavor is quite excellent. How are sales at the moment?"

Jiang Miao didn’t hide anything and stated frankly, "They’re not bad. We sold 100 tons of Vanilla Strawberry Powder in May."

"One hundred tons? If I remember correctly, your company’s Vanilla Strawberry Powder sells for 3,500 yuan per kilogram, right?" Xiao Jieshi’s eyes widened.

"That’s right. 3,500 yuan per kilogram."

The others were utterly shocked as well.

Even though Professor Wang and the others had seen projects worth hundreds of millions, or even billions, Hailufeng Company’s Vanilla Strawberry Powder was different.

This was 100 tons sold in a single month.

This meant that Hailufeng Company had generated 350 million yuan in revenue from Vanilla Strawberry Powder in one month, and the gross profit margin was extremely high.

After all, everyone present was an expert or scholar in the field of agriculture.

Take Xiao Jieshi, for example. Despite looking like a white-collar office worker, he was actually a Ph.D. in agronomy. His main research focus was on sweet potato varieties and scientific cultivation. Even though he had been in a management role for five or six years, he still retained some of his specialized knowledge.

Although they didn’t know the exact cost of strawberry cultivation, they could still make a rough estimate.

Even with Hailufeng Company using greenhouses and precision management, the cost to produce those 100 tons of Vanilla Strawberry Powder wouldn’t exceed one million yuan.

That gross profit margin was astounding.

Professor Wang also chimed in with his congratulations, "Congratulations, General Manager Jiang, on taking your business to the next level."

Jiang Miao smiled and shook his head. "It’s all due to the technological advantage. Other companies will likely develop similar products in the future. Who knows how many years this high profit margin for Vanilla Strawberry Powder will last."

"You take what you can get. After all, this is a lucrative industry worth billions a year. The future of the Shanmei Region’s economy will depend on you, General Manager Jiang." Xiao Jieshi quickly took another gulp of vanilla coconut milk to calm his shock.

Everyone exchanged a round of pleasantries and praise.

Only then did Professor Wang bring up the matter of the Immortal Soybeans. "General Manager Jiang, this Immortal Soybean you’ve developed has truly enormous potential. However, planting hundreds of thousands of *mu* all at once at your base in Monan... isn’t that a bit too much?"

Professor Wang was clearly concerned about Jiang Miao, worried that Hailufeng Company might stumble because of this.

"Indeed! General Manager Jiang, the scale of your planting experiment in the Monan Region is too large. After all, whether the Immortal Bean series can adapt to the climate in the North is still an unknown," the bespectacled researcher also cautioned.

Jiang Miao shook his head, replying with complete confidence, "There’s no need to worry. The Immortal Bean series are all short-season varieties. Even if they can’t survive the winter, it won’t affect summer planting."

"It’s true that Monan’s summer heat and moisture are not an issue." Professor Wang realized, then asked curiously, "General Manager Jiang, I almost forgot. The yield per *mu* you mentioned last time—was that referring to the yield under a low-maintenance management model?"

"Yes." Jiang Miao then gave them a brief overview of the three varieties in the Immortal Bean series.

After listening, Professor Wang and the others realized they had been careless last time, jumping to conclusions without understanding the full details.

"No wonder General Manager Jiang dared to contract hundreds of thousands of *mu* of desert in Monan. It seems these three varieties are highly adaptable to desert environments." Xiao Jieshi now also understood the immense potential of these soybean varieties.

Professor Wang thought for a moment before asking again, "General Manager Jiang, based on your planting results in the simulated experimental fields, it seems almost the entire desert area of Monan could be planted with Immortal Soybeans."

"If the planting in Monan is successful, then even the Badan Jiling Desert and the Tengger Desert, which receive only about one hundred millimeters of rainfall per year, could be cultivated with Immortal Soybeans!" Xiao Jieshi was equally excited.

The reason for his excitement, naturally, was that Shanmei might produce an academician in the agricultural field. As the head of the Shanmei Agricultural Research Institute, this was a major boon.

Jiang Miao didn’t make any guarantees. Instead, he smiled and explained, "That’s still an unknown. After all, there’s a difference between a simulated lab environment and real-world conditions. Besides, the main purpose of this planting experiment in Monan is to verify the overwintering perennial capabilities of the Immortal Soybeans."

"Overwintering perennials?" Something immediately clicked in Professor Wang’s mind, and a look of delight appeared on his face. "That is an excellent research topic. If they can truly survive the winter as perennials, then given that the Immortal Soybean’s root tubers can resprout, there would be no need to replant the following year. No, no, that’s not even the most important part..."

"Not the most important part?" The doctoral student, Xiaosong, was flabbergasted.

After all, in Xiaosong’s view, achieving perennial overwintering and eliminating the need to replant soybeans the next year was already a monumental research achievement.

Professor Wang had already connected the dots on the various characteristics of the Immortal Bean series. "General Manager Jiang, if I’m not mistaken, is the ultimate goal of the Immortal Bean series to achieve two harvests a year in the Monan Region?"

"Dean Wang, your insight is as sharp as ever." Jiang Miao nodded, confirming this goal.