China's soybean strategy not only resulted in successful exports to Argentina, but also generated substantial profits in the futures market.
Subsequently, the futures team of Huaguo Seed Company repeated this operation for seawater rice and also made a considerable profit in the futures market.
At the same time, both super soybeans and highly adaptable seawater rice can be exported overseas in large quantities, while also being popularized domestically.
Those in the lower and middle classes of the financial market may not understand why the previously weak Huaguo Seed Industry suddenly launched a series of attacks and developed seeds that are far better than those developed by Monsanto's research team.
China's breeding industry used to lag far behind that of foreign countries. Monsanto alone has a research team of more than 20,000 people and 106 R&D centers worldwide.
As for domestic R&D teams, at the end of 2019, ten A-share listed companies mainly engaged in seed industry, including Longping High-Tech and Quanyin High-Tech, had a total of 1,048 R&D personnel.
(Data sourced from the combined issue of China Economic Weekly, March and April 2021)
The gap between the two countries is huge.
Some might argue that the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences primarily undertakes this task, but according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs' official website:
From 2012 to 2017, China invested a total of 3.28 billion yuan in agricultural technology.
Monsanto's investment in 2017 was 1.6 billion US dollars, which is more than China's total agricultural technology investment over five years.
It should be understood that not all of China's agricultural technology investment is directed towards the seed industry; only a small portion actually flows into it.
"I need to know the Chinese people's technological roadmap. Have they made any fundamental changes to their technological approach?" Monsanto's president, Grant, was furious. Super soybeans could prevent them from selling their genetically modified soybean seeds for three years.
Because the price set by China Seed Group is very low, the export price is not high either, and the domestic price in China is even lower.
The price of super soybean seeds is almost the same as that of Monsanto's best-quality genetically modified soybean seeds.
Three years is a conservative estimate, because the three-year estimate is the most optimistic estimate within Monsanto, as they want to develop super soybeans.
"We invest far more than China every year, so why was it China that first developed super soybeans and seawater rice?"
“I can understand seawater rice because the Chinese have a foundation in this technology and started researching it a long time ago. But how do you explain super soybeans?”
"We have purchased super soybeans from the Chinese at our R&D center in Argentina, and the planting results are very obvious. Now I need to explain why the Chinese have suddenly taken such a big lead over us?"
"Actually, seawater rice is also unacceptable. You confidently asserted that the seawater rice route had no potential; it was theoretically wonderful but practically impossible to implement. Why did the Chinese people successfully implement seawater rice?"
The more important significance of seawater rice lies in improving the ecological environment of saline-alkali land, which is especially significant in today's world where environmental protection is so highly valued.
Fureli had anticipated Grant's accusations.
When the news about China's super soybeans broke, Grant sent him a series of emails the following morning.
After the super soybeans were approved in Argentina, Frederick knew this day would come.
He is Monsanto's Chief Technology Officer, a position he has held for over ten years, having seen countless ups and downs. He reassured everyone:
"No one could have imagined that the Chinese would be where they are today. I have already inquired and found that although Syngenta is now part of China Seed Group, super soybeans and seawater rice have nothing to do with Syngenta."
"Syngenta's people haven't participated in projects in China, probably because they're not trusted."
Syngenta is a Swiss seed giant. After it was acquired by China National Chemical Import & Export Corporation, Syngenta was also transferred to China Seed Group when it was spun off from China Seed Group.
By mentioning Syngenta first, Fureli implied that although we failed to produce it, Syngenta also failed to produce it, so the fault did not lie with us.
He continued, "This whole thing is strange from beginning to end. The first thing we did after receiving the genetically modified soybean seeds from China was to sequence their genes in the lab using a current-type gene sensor."
Current-type gene sensors are a recently invented technology that uses PNA probes fixed on carbon nanotube printed electrodes to sequence genes.
"China has a large number of genetically modified super soybean sites, many of which have never appeared in our database. We do not understand how these sites function, nor do we know the underlying technological logic of the Chinese."
“As you know, our previous research focused on how single gene segments function in soybean seeds, but from China’s super soybeans, I have a vague feeling that super soybeans involve the combined action of multiple genes.”
"If what I think is true, this technology is generationally ahead of what we currently use. This simply cannot explain how a seed company on Earth could have technology that is a generation or even several generations ahead of Monsanto!"
Frederick has great confidence in Monsanto. He is very knowledgeable about industry trends and cutting-edge technologies, saying, "China's seed industry could not possibly be this developed."
"And what's equally strange is that China's previous seawater rice technology route was clearly hybridization, and Yuan adopted the third-generation hybrid rice breeding technology."
"But the seawater rice we obtained was produced using genetically modified technology, and there are many traces of edited gene fragments in it."
"This is not something our technical department didn't anticipate; I'm sure none of the seed companies around the world anticipated it. The technology of the Chinese is highly questionable."
"The compound gene editing technology is not only unavailable at Monsanto, but also at other seed companies. I suspect that China has figured out how some genes work in combination, or even the underlying logic."
"Either they obtained alien technology, or the technology of the Chinese cannot be explained."
Grant asked, "If we obtain the technological principles from China, how long would it take you to develop super soybeans, or even more super crops?"
Fureley: "At most one year."
Grant: "Okay, make preparations. I will personally visit China to discuss cooperation. If cooperation doesn't work, we have other options."
Unfortunately, his trip was fruitless. Even with the help of industrial spies, Monsanto could not get what he wanted.
The breakthrough of Chinese people in the seed industry is based on the "Magic Brain," but no one in the Chinese seed group knows about the existence of the Magic Brain.
Not to mention that even if Monsanto knew about the existence of the Demon Brain, they still wouldn't be able to get their hands on it.
It was now September of 2022. China and Russia each had obtained three magic coins, while America had obtained four, temporarily leading the other two countries.
The alliance of Japan, England and Australia received two magic coins, while the Europa League received three.
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