Chapter 174 - 174 Greenhouse Rice
174 Greenhouse Rice
Since the family had agreed to let Gu Qingming farm, the parcel of land was left to Gu Qingming.
However, just as Eldest Uncle was about to hire a master to build a greenhouse, he thought of a problem.
Rice was planted on that piece of land not long ago.
Gu Qingming looked at the green rice in the field and made a call.
“Wenwen, you usually go to the countryside. Have you seen anyone planting rice in a greenhouse?”
Gao Wenwen said, “Yes. It’s not rare to grow greenhouse rice. Not only can greenhouse prevent insect diseases, but production is also high. Oh, girl, why are you suddenly asking about this?”
Gu Qingming smiled and said, “I just saw my eldest uncle’s rice and suddenly thought of this. Wenwen, do you have any experts in this area to introduce it or any books on this?”
“Alright, I don’t know any rice experts. Why don’t I ask them later? If you want books in this area, I’ll get someone to send them to you when I find them! Ah, girl, I’m very busy now. I’ll talk to you later!”
Then, Gao Wenwen hurriedly hung up.
Gu Qingming felt a little helpless against Gao Wenwen’s energetic personality.
Gu Qingming looked at her eldest uncle and said, “Eldest Uncle, let the master who built the greenhouse come over.”
Eldest Uncle was listening to Gu Qingming and Gao Wenwen’s call.
Eldest Uncle said in surprise, “Are there really people who grow rice in greenhouses? I’ve only heard of greenhouse vegetables, but I’ve never heard of greenhouse rice.”
Gu Qingming smiled and said, “Yes, there should be. It’s probably not as common as greenhouse vegetables.”
The main reason was that rice required too much land and the cost of building greenhouses was too high. No ordinary farmer would be willing to build a greenhouse to plant rice.
However, Gu Qingming, who had never even held a hoe, actually wanted to plant greenhouse rice for the first time.
The Shi family and the Gu family let Gu Qingming do whatever she wanted. They would just treat this as play for Gu Qingming.
Soon, Eldest Uncle contacted a greenhouse builder.
The master said, “The greenhouse we make is definitely of good quality.”
Eldest Uncle smiled and said, “Yes, yes, we believe in you. That’s why we invited you!”
“We’ve built a lot of greenhouses for planting vegetables, but we’ve never seen one for planting rice.” The master followed his eldest uncle to the field and looked at the plot of land with seedlings growing in the water. He said, “You’re still planting rice here. The land is small. Does this land belong to your family?”
“No, it’s someone else’s.” Eldest Uncle said.
“Are you guys close? When we’re building the greenhouse, we might hurt some of these seedlings.” The master said, “Although this land is small, there are many materials. No matter how careful we are, we might not notice.”
Eldest Uncle smiled and said, “Master, don’t worry. I’ll just inform them.”
After looking at the land and measuring it, he went home.
The driver asked, “What materials do you need? Our company now has three types: glass greenhouse, PC board, and film. The price of glass is 30 dollars per square meter, 20 dollars for PC board, and 8 dollars for film.”
“Just install glass!” Gu Qingming said. “It’ll be brighter!”
The master looked at his eldest uncle in confusion.
Why was it a girl making the decision?
“Ahem, Master Ding, let’s just install glass,” Uncle said. “When can we start?”
“We can start installing it in the afternoon!” Master Ding said.
“How long will it take?” Eldest Uncle asked. “Will it take long?”
“Your family doesn’t have much land, but you guys want to install glass, and there are things planted in the water. It will definitely take more time. It’s estimated to take three days. If it’s dry land, a day is enough,” Master Ding said. “Boss Shi, your family’s land is planted with rice. Why do you suddenly want to build a greenhouse?”
He had never even taken on such a job building a greenhouse where rice is planted.
This was the first time, so he was definitely curious.
This family was so rich.
“Ahem,” Eldest Uncle explained, “My family just wants to try and see if the greenhouse rice has a better advantage.”
“Haha,” Master Ding laughed and said, “I heard that your family is rich. You’re really rich. You want to build a greenhouse just to plant rice.”
Eldest Uncle did not respond.
After Master Ding left, Eldest Uncle said to Gu Qingming, “We haven’t planted greenhouse rice before, but we’ll still try it the usual way.”
When news circulated that Shi Lichun had hired someone to build a greenhouse for the land, it attracted the curiosity and discussion of the villagers.
“Qiuxiang, haven’t you already planted rice on your land? Why do you suddenly want to build a greenhouse?” a villager asked his aunt.
“Yeah, I’ve only heard of greenhouse vegetables, but I’ve never heard of greenhouse rice.”
“Haha, Qiuxiang, your family is really rich. Other people grow vegetables and build greenhouses to earn money, but your family grows rice and builds a greenhouse. Could it be for money too?”
As farmers, they all knew that cultivating rice did not yield much money.
An acre of land produced more than 1,000 catties. The highest yield was only 1,500 catties. The rice itself only weighed 110 catties, and the real estate value of an acre was only more than 1,000 catties.
However, the cost of planting one acre of land was very high.
Apart from manpower, they also needed to buy seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides, not to mention hire people to work, plow the land, and harvest. All of these cost at least 700 dollars.
After calculating, there was no profit at all. Moreover, one had to work hard all year round.
Of course, farming could not make a lot of money, but one would not starve to death.
Now, most of the young people in the family had gone out to work.
Young people who didn’t go out could earn money at home.
“Qiuxiang, haven’t you already planted your seedlings? Why are you thinking of building a greenhouse now?”
The villagers asked curiously one by one. Eldest Aunt smiled and said, “My family will try to plant greenhouse rice now. If the effect is good, it will probably become greenhouse rice cultivation in the future.”
“Your family is so rich that you’re burning money,” a villager said sourly. “The price of greenhouse vegetables can still fluctuate. If it sells well, you can even sell it at a high price. But this rice has been at a price of around 100 dollars for a few years. It doesn’t increase at all. Building a greenhouse to grow rice doesn’t have much value at all.”
Eldest Aunt said coldly, “We know very well whether it’s valuable or not.”
“Hmph, I’m just advising you out of goodwill.”
“Then I thank you for your kindness!”
The Shi family planted rice and built a greenhouse. Not only did they arouse the curiosity of the villagers, but even the surrounding villages were discussing this matter.
This was the first time they had heard of greenhouse rice.
If it was planted well, they would probably compete to emulate it in the future.
If they did not plant it well, the Shi family would definitely be mocked.