boyutpedia Chapter 1437 The Broom Cooperative Fails, but the Cleaning Machine Makes the Difference
Chapter 1437 The Broom Cooperative Fails, but the Cleaning Machine Makes the Difference
When Principal Yang saw the large patch of cotton that the cotton harvester had spat out, his face darkened.
He pointed to the cotton and said to Li Long beside him:
"Are you sure you can clean this cotton properly? It's even dirtier than the shoddy cotton sold by those unscrupulous guys on TV!"
By this time, the term "tainted cotton" had already emerged. Locally, there were instances where boarding students, when buying bedding, encountered unscrupulous vendors selling work safety supplies who sold mattresses filled with several layers of unknown materials.
It's said there's also medical waste from hospitals, which is quite alarming.
"Don't worry, it'll be cleaned up." Li Long wasn't surprised at all by the cotton that the cotton harvester had spat out onto the ground. He had seen much dirtier things before, so he was immune to it.
Besides, this is nothing at all.
Thirty years from now, people will still be going to the fields to pick up the cotton that has fallen to the ground and is so dirty it's unrecognizable.
Even cotton like this will still find buyers. In cotton-growing areas, almost every day, cars with loudspeakers drive around the villages shouting "Buy cotton!", regardless of winter or summer.
With improved cotton cleaning technology, even the dirtiest cotton can be cleaned—oh, but don't bother with those cotton swabs that Wang Caimi used to wipe diesel engine cylinders, those don't count.
Seeing that Li Long seemed completely oblivious to the dirty cotton, Principal Yang couldn't help but ask, "Little Li, can this cotton really be cleaned?"
"Yes, don't worry." Li Long waved to the cotton harvester that was turning the corner. The operator adjusted the position and stopped. Li Long called out to him:
"Master, could I have a go at it?"
The master didn't refuse. He let Li Long go up and explained how to operate it, so Li Long gave it a try.
Anyway, he didn't plan to sell the cotton for the time being; he would take it back and clean it himself. Li Long thought he would drive it around a few times to test it out.
The cotton harvest from the twenty acres yielded a substantial amount. Although the use of flowering promoters resulted in the first crop of cotton not being very heavy, the final harvest was still a solid seven tons. After all, the land itself was of good quality, and the agricultural extension school had been bringing students over to manage the cotton crop since sowing.
The output is very high.
After the cotton harvester finished, Li Long found a large truck from the purchasing station to haul it back and put it in the warehouse of the drip irrigation tape factory. There was no other way, as students were living in the cooperative's warehouse, and this year there were more students brought in than there were students who went there.
Because the flowering promoter was applied in a timely manner, the cotton in the experimental field did not even need to be harvested a second time; it was almost harvested in one go.
All that's left is to hit the poles and plow the land.
After Li Long had the truck haul away all the cotton, Principal Yang remarked with a sigh:
"If you don't look at how clean the cotton is, this is really efficient."
"It's cheap too," Li Long said with a smile. "If we calculate based on 350 kilograms per mu, and the current average price for picking flowers manually is 50 cents, then it would be 175 yuan per mu."
If we use a cotton harvester, we get 10 cents per kilogram, which is 35 yuan per acre. Which is more cost-effective?
"The problem is that the cotton and linen company won't accept it," Principal Yang said, not considering the financial implications.
Li Long continued calculating: "We'll collect it sooner or later. Even if we don't collect it now, I can use the cleaning equipment to clean it, but the cost plus the amount of impurities is relatively high."
The first batch of cotton, picked manually, sells for 3.5 yuan per kilogram. My machine-picked cotton is selling for 3 yuan per kilogram, a discount of 0.5 yuan per kilogram. How about that? Isn't that a low price?
“If it were the first batch of flowers, the price wouldn’t be this low,” Principal Yang said hesitantly. “Two or three cents less would be about right.”
"Let's say it's 50 cents, plus 10 cents for picking up, that's 60 cents. Comparing the two, isn't it 10 cents cheaper than manual picking? But machine-picked cotton is convenient. It can be harvested all at once, and you don't have to worry about the workers' meals, accommodation, etc. After harvesting, you can clear the land directly without dragging it out for so many days. All things considered, machine picking is still more cost-effective."
Principal Yang naturally knew that Li Long had pushed the price down. If the cotton company could clean up such dirty machine-picked cotton and accept it, then even if the price of manually picked cotton was 3.5 yuan, the price of machine-picked cotton, no matter how dirty, could not be lower than 3.2 yuan.
Overall, machine-harvested cotton still has the advantage.
Of course, the premise is that they can be sold.
At noon, the cotton harvester operators were invited to lunch in the village. It was said to be for the trainees to have noodles, but actually each table had a big plate of chicken, including Li Long and the others.
At this point, talking about seven dishes or eight bowls is just empty talk. One large plate of chicken and four servings of wide noodles are enough.
During the meal, the master praised Li Long for his talent in operating the cotton harvester, saying that he was able to operate it without skipping rows and harvest very well on his first try.
Li Long thought to himself that as long as there was no rush, anyone who could drive a tractor could drive this. In his previous life, some cotton harvesters were good at harvesting clean cotton, leaving no white cotton behind after the machine passed by; while others were not good at it, leaving the cotton stalks covered in white cotton after the machine passed by.
The problem lies in mindset and speed. Some people want to make money; harvesting a few more acres a day means a few hundred more dollars, so naturally they won't be slow.
Slowing down allows the cotton harvester's gripper to steadily pull the cotton into the bin; if it goes too fast, it simply can't pull it in time.
However, he didn't say it out loud. This technician was used as a cotton harvester experimenter, not someone who made money, so he had nothing to do with this.
The cotton harvester operator finished his meal, rested for a bit, and then went home. Li Long had originally thought about leaving the machine at the team, but then decided against it; it would be useless sitting there for a whole year.
Instead of wasting time on this, we should figure out where to sell these seven tons of cotton. If we really can't sell them, we'll just have to clean them ourselves.
After seeing the cotton harvester off, Li Long returned to the purchasing station in the afternoon, called Lao Du to let him know, and then planned to buy a set of cotton cleaning equipment. Lao Du had no objection to this, saying that his place produced some.
After they copied this thing, only a few sets were purchased by the military corps; the rest are still sitting in the warehouse.
They themselves promoted it to the Kui City Cotton and Linen Company, and last year they also tested this cotton cleaning equipment on the cotton harvested by their cotton harvesters, and the cleaning effect was very good.
Unfortunately, Kuishi Cotton and Linen Company said they didn't need it because machine-harvested cotton isn't widely used locally yet, and buying the cleaning equipment would be a waste of resources. Besides, their current cleaning equipment is still usable, so there's no need to purchase it again.
So we had no choice but to leave it for now.
Now that Li Long wants it, just send it over directly.
After hanging up the phone, Li Long prepared to receive the device. He was pondering where to put it. The cooperative definitely didn't have the space; it was full of students, so it wouldn't work.
If all else fails, we can temporarily leave it at the purchasing station and build a temporary cotton ginning plant there. Although we had this idea before, we hadn't put it into practice until now, and it seems we have no choice but to start it.
Before he could even come up with a plan, his phone rang. It was Li Xiangqian looking for him.
Li Long drove to the supply and marketing cooperative, and Li Xiangqian stood in the shade of the courtyard.
After he got out of the car, he walked over with a smile and asked:
"Director, what's the matter? Why did you call me over in this heat?"
"What else could it be? It's about the brooms." Li Xiangqian said while smoking, "The state-run organization suddenly called and said they want to increase the number of brooms they originally planned for by five thousand. How's it going on your end?"
Li Long thought for a moment and said:
"It shouldn't be a big problem."
When I talked to Wang Mingjun last time, he mentioned that his employees weren't very enthusiastic about growing cotton, but they really enjoyed making big brooms, since that was a job that paid for directly.
"The main reason is that the price of bamboo brooms has gone up this year. Bamboo brooms are used for a relatively short time, while reed brooms are used for a longer time, so they think this one is pretty good," Li Xiangqian explained. "We can't touch the quotas in our county; they'll be very useful in the winter."
“I’ll call them when I get back and tell them,” Li Long said. “However, the delivery time might be delayed a bit, as we probably didn’t prepare that many materials.”
"That's alright," Li Xiangqian said. "How about postponing it for ten days?"
“Okay, ten days is enough.” Li Long thought for a moment and said, “Director, you’re familiar with the cotton company, right? Can our county’s cotton and linen company get new cotton cleaning equipment, the kind that can clean cotton harvesting machines?”
"I remember you mentioned this before. I brought it up with Lao Luo from the cotton and linen company, and he just chuckled and brushed it off," Li Xiangqian said. "So, do you grow a lot of machine-harvested cotton?"
"Not too much, just 20 mu this year as an experiment. We plan to see if we can plant more next year," Li Long said. "Director, do you know? Our cooperative has already hired five or six hundred students this year alone. If we open up new plots next year, it might be over a thousand. If this continues, we won't be able to afford to hire any more people."
“How could we not be able to find someone? There are so many people in the gig market… Do you think those people are hard to manage?” Li Xiangqian saw through Li Long’s thoughts immediately and said, “Students are easy to manage, they won’t cause trouble, and they have teachers to look after them, so it’s convenient, right?”
Li Long smiled, showing no embarrassment at being exposed: "Yes, that's exactly what I think. Having gotten used to students, I'm really reluctant to take on odd jobs again."
"Okay, okay, I'll ask around for you again and see if we can get that cotton cleaning equipment you mentioned. But don't get your hopes up too high. This guy is cunning; he won't act until he sees the results. If there aren't many machine-harvested cotton plants, he won't waste money on that equipment."
Same excuse, looks like I'll have to figure it out myself.
Li Xiangqian saw through Li Long's thoughts and said with a smile, "You can set up your own cotton ginning plant, produce your own cotton, and then sell it to the cotton and linen company."
"Isn't the government currently prohibiting private individuals from buying and selling cotton?" Li Long asked, puzzled.
“It’s not like we’re allowing private trading,” Li Xiangqian said. “Why don’t you just clean up the machine-harvested cotton and sell it to the cotton and linen company? Anyway, the cotton and linen company doesn’t just buy seed cotton, they buy lint cotton too. That way, you can keep the cottonseed to make oil or something, isn’t that great?”
Li Long thought Li Xiangqian's idea was good. Since they were already planning to do it themselves, they might as well go all the way. Of course, the prerequisite was that the cotton and linen company would accept it.
"Don't worry," Li Xiangqian said with a smile. "It's hard to come up with a budget for him to buy cotton cleaning equipment, but it shouldn't be a problem for him to collect some qualified cotton."
Li Long was relieved.
Back at the purchasing station, he called Wang Mingjun, who answered after several rings.
"Old Wang, what are you doing? Why are you taking so long?" Li Long joked.
"What else could I be doing? Checking the brooms." Wang Mingjun said, panting. "I ran to the office as soon as I heard the noise, and I made it just in time. I thought it was a call from the regimental headquarters. If I had known it was yours, I wouldn't have answered. I would have called you back later."
"Hey, you're really dedicated to your duty. You can refuse to take on tasks from the regimental headquarters if you want," Li Long said half-jokingly. "I was even planning to give you some extra tasks." "What do you mean?" Wang Mingjun asked, a little confused.
"We need to increase the amount of work with the big brooms. Can we handle it?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Wang Mingjun immediately smiled. "Xiaolong, you're so good to us. I'll make you something delicious when you come over. How much?"
"I've added another five thousand. I'm planning to give you three thousand and Old Zhao two thousand. Is that okay?"
"Just give them all to us," Wang Mingjun said. "Three thousand isn't easy to divide."
"Hey, you're really asking for too much," Li Long said. "If you're going to do it this way, have you ever thought about starting a broom-making cooperative, just for that?"
Li Long had had this idea for a long time. After all, he had been cooperating with Wang Mingjun for many years, and their reputation for making large brooms had always been good. They had built up a good brand and reputation. If they really set up a cooperative, they shouldn't have to worry about selling their products.
Unexpectedly, Wang Mingjun immediately shook his head and said, "No, no, our status is what it is, we can't do this. We're different from you, employees are generally not allowed to do business or these things."
Li Long forgot about this.
Or rather, after the reorganization of the military corps in the previous life, these rules and regulations were no longer in place. In the early 2000s, the companies or regiments sold or rented out tractors and other machinery to farm machinery operators, similar to the land distribution to individual households in the 1982 local area.
At that time, farm machinery operators could take on their own plowing jobs. Other workers were also largely freed from the land, and could contract out their land to others to cultivate, making things much more flexible.
It's just not the right time yet.
Li Long asked Wang Mingjun in detail if he could get 5,000 guns done within ten days. Wang Mingjun thought about it and decided against it, accepting 3,000 guns instead.
The main reason was that he had some unfinished work and was afraid that if he couldn't finish it, it would delay Li Long's business.
Li Long then asked him to inquire whether they would buy machine-harvested cotton in their area, as he had already harvested seven tons of cotton. Wang Mingjun said he would call right away and told Li Long to wait for news.
After hanging up the phone, Li Long called Zhao Zongming again and told him about the extra two thousand yuan he wanted. Zhao Zongming readily agreed.
After Li Long finished speaking with Zhao Zongming, he hung up the phone. Wang Mingjun then called to tell Li Long that the cotton harvesting in the Corps was still in the experimental stage, so they would not accept cotton harvested from outside.
Li Long wasn't too disappointed, and Wang Mingjun felt a little embarrassed for not being able to help.
Li Long decided to do it himself. He called Meng Hai again, mainly to find someone to build a factory.
Meng Hai's team has already started making highway guardrails, which is currently their biggest project. Because of their steady progress over the past few years, he has also taken on another project: building construction.
Yes, Meng Hai and his team are going to build a building. Although it's not a particularly tall building, a three-story building is still one of the larger projects they've taken on so far.
Of course, even with two major projects in hand, Meng Hai readily agreed to help Li Long build the cotton ginning factory, considering it a small matter.
Since it's a single-story house, the technical requirements are relatively low, and it's easy to build.
Li Long was relatively free, so when Meng Hai sent people to build the factory, he followed along and provided guidance.
After all, if you really want to run a cotton ginning factory, you can't just have cotton cleaning equipment; you also need workshops for stripping and processing, as well as various warehouses.
Cotton processing plants require very strict fire prevention standards and equipment, so Li Long has to keep an eye on everything.
Compared to building this cotton ginning factory, applying for land was actually the simplest thing. Li Long just gave Xu Chengjun a heads-up, and the land was approved.
Xu Chengjun said with some pride that only the fourth team in the whole township has a relatively large number of small businesses. There aren't even as many in the township itself, let alone in other villages and teams.
That's not an exaggeration, it's the truth.
There aren't many businesses in the whole township, or even the whole county, and even fewer that are truly outstanding.
In late September, with all the brooms delivered, Li Long focused his attention on the cotton ginning factory. Other matters were being overseen by others, so he didn't need to worry about them.
By the end of October, the cotton harvest was complete, the drip irrigation tapes were removed, the stalks were knocked down, and plowing began. Li Long's cotton ginning plant was also completed. Technicians sent by Director Du were guiding Li Long's cotton cleaning work.
Seven tons of cotton may not seem like much, but it was of great significance to Li Long.
Since he started growing cotton, he has been waiting for the large-scale promotion of machine-harvested cotton, which he considers the final step in his vision of agricultural mechanization.
Although this matter may be stuck for a few more years, as long as the cleaning work can proceed smoothly, the rest will be easier.
Li Xiangqian had already spoken with the manager of the cotton and linen company. As long as Li Long completed the cotton cleaning work and the cotton quality met the standards, they would accept it.
In addition to the cotton cleaning equipment, Li Long also has a complete set of delinting equipment. After cleaning, the fibers can be delinted to form lint, which is then spread out and packaged.
Xie Yundong and the others were all present when the cotton cleaning process officially began. Li Long had told them that from now on, the cooperative's cotton would be planted with varieties adapted for machine harvesting.
Even if large-scale machine harvesting of cotton is not carried out in the short term, the preparatory work should be done first.
In other words, this year the cooperative will purchase a batch of new seeders adapted to cotton harvesters, and next year all cotton will be planted according to the machine-harvested cotton model.
Anyway, no matter how you sow the seeds, it won't affect manual cotton harvesting.
They also saw the cotton in the warehouse, which was so dirty it was practically unusable; in their eyes, the cotton was practically worthless.
But they also knew that Li Long's goal was to clean up all the cotton.
The technicians directed the people Li Long had called to help to start the cotton cleaning machine, and then stuffed the dirty cotton into the machine in clumps.
These people all wore masks as Li Long had requested, since the dust from this stuff had a huge impact.
Xie Yundong and others who were watching from the doorway also wore masks as Li Long had asked.
Liang Dacheng originally didn't want to wear it, but Li Long said that if he didn't wear it, he might get pneumoconiosis and cough for the rest of his life, so he immediately put it on.
He didn't want to end up like those people in the village with lung disease, whose heart-wrenching coughs were unbearable for them, let alone for him.
With the roar of the machine, clumps of cotton were "eaten" into it, and then the cleaner cotton was spat out.
This is actually quite easy to understand. In the netting shops that make netting, there are similar small devices that clean the dirty cotton that needs to be netted and then remove the fluff. The resulting lint is then used to make netting.
However, those devices are relatively small, unlike the ones here, and while those cleaning devices are good at removing ordinary impurities, they are not good enough for cleaning cotton picked by cotton harvesters.
"Hey, this dirty cotton is cleaned up so easily?" Xu Haijun exclaimed as if he had discovered a new world. "This is so convenient! If this is how it works, it won't matter if our cotton gets a little dirty from now on!"
"It's better to be cleaner," Xie Yundong said. "If we really do what Xiaolong said, we can clean our cotton and sell it to cotton and linen companies. Wouldn't the cleaner the cotton, the higher the price?"
Several people were talking, but Li Long didn't participate. He carefully looked at the cleaned cotton, thinking about what he had seen when he went to process netting in his later life, and felt that there were still slight differences.
This cotton cleaning equipment does not completely clean the cotton.
The technicians also discovered the problem and instructed them to stop feeding cotton into the machine. After the cotton was completely emptied, they shut it down for inspection.
After several adjustments, the cotton coming out of the cleaning equipment was basically free of impurities.
The next steps are processes such as peeling, which Xie Yundong and his team don't need to oversee.
Li Long called them over mainly to reassure them and let them know that even if machine-harvested cotton is not clean, it can be cleaned up using cotton cleaning equipment.
However, the cotton ginning mill's cleaning equipment has limited capacity, so it's impossible for the cooperative's several thousand acres to be harvested by machine. Li Long's idea is that if the cleaned cotton can be sold at a reasonable price, then planting several hundred or even a thousand acres of machine-harvested cotton next year is still feasible.
He had already calculated the costs for Xie Yundong and the others, just as he had told Principal Yang. A comparison of the two makes it immediately clear to anyone with eyes to see which is more worthwhile.
The seven tons of cotton were cleared out in a short time, and then the fibers were removed.
After finishing this task, Li Long looked at the huge pile of cotton seeds and was troubled.
According to everyone, this stuff can be pressed for oil, but Li Long heard in his previous life that cottonseed oil causes cancer. Later, it seems that someone debunked this rumor, so the truth is uncertain, but he doesn't really like this stuff.
We simply handed it over to Uncle Luo, who stir-fried it and used it as animal feed.
In a few years, there will be cotton linter factories, and the short fibers from the cotton seeds will be removed and used as raw materials.
However, the cotton linter factory was extremely polluting and reportedly had a foul odor, so Li Long thought it was better not to operate it.
However, seeing the piles of white, cloud-like cotton, Li Long's mood instantly improved.
The packaging is standard, 180 kilograms per package.
But before it was packaged and compressed, this cotton looked really nice.
Cotton in the field, on the plant, is a beautiful sight, bringing farmers the joy of a bountiful harvest; here, it looks pure, simple, and white.
Here, another major hurdle has been overcome.
We're just a few small steps away from realizing our ultimate wish! (End of Chapter)