Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 734 - 368: This Kind of Returning Farmland to Forest_2

Chapter 734: Chapter 368: This Kind of Returning Farmland to Forest_2

Things were now neatly sorted, striking two birds with one stone and tied up with poverty alleviation funds, ensuring proactive participation.

Compared to other townships in Tanghe County, Sancha River Township is relatively forward in all aspects. Everyone was eager to plant fruit trees initially, so there were fewer arable fields for the cultivation of poplar trees now. Places that have fewer fruit trees are all somewhat remote—the Heap hillock and Huangtuwa, for example, which Yan Fei had his eyes on. Were they to grow fruit trees, should they do so on the mound or in the pit? Growing a few sparse trees, which are hard to manage, might as well not be grown at all. One mound and one pit are also similar to flipping a small hill.

What troubles Mayor Chen is that these places are too remote. If they were forced to plant trees, without anyone supervising, some would be too lazy to water, and others would ignore the disease when they saw it, and all the trees would die in no time. After all, it would take several years to mature, and timber isn’t considered expensive now, unlike fruit trees, which bear fruit quickly and effectively.

Although it seemed like a good thing initially, it could become a cause of labor and waste of money. The township can only focus on the present, as long as the poverty alleviation funds are on hand. Mayor Chen, however, didn’t want to go about it this way. He always wants to do some practical work during his term. He can’t just leave without leaving a trace, because you haven’t left a trace either...

Once Yan Fei mentioned his intention to plant grass, Mayor Chen had an idea.

No one in the whole county is planting grass, even if we plant very little, it will still be solidly grown in arable fields. It’s certainly better than the few trees they’re planting? Besides, who knows how many of those trees will survive in two years!

To be blunt, there are cases where people plant tree branches in fields and pretend they’re trees. However, let’s not talk about this. Some things don’t need to be said too explicitly, it’s not very nice.

As for the tree planting issue, that will not be abandoned either. The township will encourage it as much as they can, those who wish to plant can do so since individuals usually take things they initiated themselves more seriously. Some things are just like that; when you force them to plant, they resist and dislike it. When you don’t apply pressure, they tend to follow suit whenever someone takes the lead.

The rest of the matters can be easily discussed. Old Chen and Comrade Yan started discussing in the office, mainly featuring clever and cunning ideas from Old Chen. After chattering for a while, they both went about their own business, satisfied.

Yan Fei didn’t need much land; ten, twenty acres were fine and fifty acres were not too many either. He would need to do a site survey later to determine how much contiguous suitable land is available. It seems to be not a lot right now, which is why he’s taking the trouble to choose a good place, as a precautionary measure in case of an increase in the planting area in the future.

It’s the same with Mayor Chen, if he had twenty to thirty acres, he would just be able to produce them, boldly declaring in the county that their township has retired farmland and reclaimed grass—if it’s too little there could be called a demonstration of returning farmland to grass. When that poverty alleviation fund is refunded later, depending on the situation, there could be a bit of allowance for Yan Fei’s side.

Actually, the money that could be demanded was pitifully small, and it was totally insignificant to Yan Fei. Whether he wanted the money or not didn’t matter, but there was one item that he must have. That was, despite there being no explicit rules for reclamation and grass return, there had been mention of tax relief for farmers in the documents sent down—only mention, not formal regulation.

Currently, Mayor Chen was seizing every opportunity at hand and interpreting the call-to-action as Shangfang’s treasure sword. The plot of land isn’t a lot, it’s just a trial, to set up as a fait accompli first. Of course, once it’s done, the higher-ups would definitely support it. Tanghe County is a large agricultural county, exemption from this few dozens of acres won’t count for much.

For Yan Fei, saving a little now could lead to significant savings in the future, if he continues to plant.

After discussing with Mayor Chen, Yan Fei went to check the melon fields, made arrangements to eat lunch together at the cattle farm and then returned to wait for Xiaohei and the others to come back with the cattle. Once the cattle were examined and fed.

The cold mating technology equipment was already in use, and Zhang Hui, the professional vet, finally had a chance to utilize his skills. Heizi was most relieved.

Heizi had always been in charge of the breeding area, because it was him who initially dragged the breeding bulls to the Cattle Market for promotional tours. Later, when people mentioned him, they called him the one who mates cattle at the cattle farm. When the others at the farm learned about this, they teased him for being a breeding bull—this nickname was quite apt, considering that he just got married and his wife was already a few months pregnant, causing many to envy and resent him!

However, no matter how appropriate the nickname was, Heizi didn’t like it. So, he was quite cheerful when they started using this cold mating technology.

Once things at the farm were arranged, Yan Fei drove his motorbike straight to the village of Huangtuwa in the afternoon.

Of course he didn’t go alone. He took Heizi along. Initially, Mayor Chen also wanted to go, but Yan Fei said he could go alone. Eventually, Mayor Chen arranged for two young men who were familiar with the local villages to go with them—this was to prevent the villages from making excessive demands and negotiating with a different village, there must be some who are willing to cooperate.

Four people on two motorcycles arrived and were greeted by the villagers from afar. The village head himself had personally come out to welcome them.

Once they entered the village head’s house and started sipping tea, many people started gathering in the courtyard. People like Tian Dafu and Big Zhuang didn’t need mentioning; when they heard Yan Fei was coming, they instantly dropped their chores and hurried over. Among the crowd were also some cheerfully nosy folks, but those standing at the front were the local farmers raising cattle for the ranch.

The village head, named Tian Yuejin, had a name filled with the stamp of an era, and one wouldn’t need to ask his age. Before Yan Fei’s arrival, Mayor Chen had already called him, advising him to carefully consider. After a few polite words, Tian Yuejin woke up and asked, "Mayor Chen called this morning, but he wasn’t very specific. I want to ask Boss Yan, do you have any requirements for this land lease?"

"Not much about the land, it could be a dry patch or waterlogged, it doesn’t need to be prime farming land, poor soil will do. My only condition is that the place should have good accessibility, too remote won’t work. As for crop farming, you only harvest twice a year. When I plant pasture, there will be several crops a year that needs transportation to my ranch. If it’s too remote and my transportation cost is high, it won’t be cost-effective for me." Yan Fei pondered.

Yan Fei was very familiar with the local geography, having spent plenty of time chasing rabbits and hunting wild chickens around these areas. He knew very well that the lumpy terrain would take half a day to traverse, even though it looked like a quick flit from the sky.

Upon hearing this, Tian Yuejin hesitated.

Yan Fei was no longer the simple-minded youth he once was. He was now acquainted with more people and had become more adapt. Seeing the village head’s demeanor, he sensed that his original notion might have been to find him a remote piece of land. The remote parts of their village weren’t towards the city but further away. One would have to pass their village to reach the city.

If it were a flat road it wouldn’t matter, but the terrain here was comparable to hill tracks, which would be troublesome. To transport a load of grass over a ten-mile mountain road to the village and then another ten or twenty miles to the town? How much would he have to shell out before anyone was willing to do it?

"Old Tian, you better think it through before speaking." A young man from the township government spoke out. "Boss Yan is considering some land here. It’s only to your benefit. If you can’t find a suitable place, we’ll just look in another village!"

"Exactly!" another young man chimed in. "Your lands here are already not bad at fifty yuan per mu per year, but Boss Yan plans to offer one hundred and fifty. Think it over carefully!"

After being urged twice, Tian Yuejin hesitated, his eyes flickering. He gritted his teeth and stood up, "Why doesn’t Boss Yan come with me to have a look? There’s a piece of land behind a hill."

Upon hearing this, Yan Fei didn’t want to go anymore. He could understand if you were unwilling to give me the flat land to the south, there are still the lands across two hills to the west!

What he had his heart set on was in the west. Because on the furthest west, you can continue going west just by crossing a not-so-high hilltop, and you can directly reach the town from the road on the other side. Anyway, he’d be planting grass, they would just need to harvest and deliver it to him. He had a grass cutter and everything at his place, there was no need for them to transport it back to the village for processing.

If they were to plant something themselves, they definitely would have to haul it back over two hilltops, no matter what kind of crops they had. So as per Yan Fei, giving him the land in the west was most appropriate, it was not so close to the village, offering some land to him would mean fewer people would have to travel such distances.

Who thought this village head actually mentioned checking out the north?

But at the moment, refusing to go see it was also inappropriate, so he stood up to tag along.

Upon leaving the house, Tian Yuejin shouted at the crowd in the courtyard: "Everyone go home, Boss Yan is here on important matters, what are you crowding around for?"

A young man from the crowd casually asked, "What does Boss Yan want to do in our village? Is he going to give each household of our village a couple of cows to raise?"

The crowd broke into laughter immediately, and standing nearby, Heizi laughed and said, "No cows are being given today. Brother Fei is here to rent land to plant grass for his cattle feed. If you’re hoping to get cattle from him, just be patient. In a couple of years, every household will have a cow to raise!"