A strong laborer eats one and a half jin of grain a day, an elderly person and a woman eat one jin a day, and a child eats less than one jin a day.
Assuming Bai Jianmin's family consists of five people and two children, totaling seven people, and they eat only 80% full each month, they would consume 140 jin of grain per month, totaling 1880 jin per year, or roughly 3000 jin. 5000 jin of grain can yield at least 3500 jin of rice, so buying 5000 jin of grain per year is sufficient for Bai Jianmin.
One pound of milled grain costs two cents, so five thousand pounds would cost one thousand dollars.
Bai Jianmin has a thousand yuan in hand right now, and much more than that.
Bai Jianmin plans to sell clothes with Qiao Jiuru. Since there's only one person in the family currently doing this, the remaining four family members won't be idle. They've been allocated over fifty mu of land; if they grow a dozen mu of grain for their own consumption, they won't need to spend money buying grain.
This calculation was done long ago; it's impossible to stop family members from farming. Ordinary people have a natural love and dependence on the land. Farming may not make you rich, but it certainly won't make you starve.
Therefore, Bai Jianmin had already decided that his family would grow enough grain for their own consumption, and the rest of the land would be rented out. Whether it was rented to people in the production team or to his uncles and aunts, there would be no rent required; they would only need to help him pay the grain tax.
After Bai Jianmin told these accounts and ideas to the guys, many of them were incredibly excited.
We all know that our families won't agree to not farming; even if we don't farm everything, we'll still have to farm some.
After Bai Lianshan and Bai Jianmin left, they went to find Uncle Jiu. In recent years, Uncle Jiu had aged a bit, but he was in good health and didn't have any major ailments. He usually took the health-preserving Chinese medicine pills that Qiao Jiuru and Su Huaiyuan had found for him in Beijing.
“Uncle Jiu, I can’t make up my mind about this. If he hasn’t seen better work, hasn’t been to such nice places, and hasn’t traveled far, then he’ll stay at home and farm. If he’s not going to be rich, at least he’ll be able to make a living.”
Bai Lianshan couldn't answer Bai Jianmin's question about whether they wanted to rent out their land instead of farming, nor did he know if the commune would agree. If they didn't agree, their plan wouldn't work.
"Food and clothing?! Is what you call food and clothing?! In the past, we might not even eat meat once a week, let alone once a month. Our production team here is considered good; there's plenty of land and few people. If you're willing to work, you can definitely have enough food. But even if you have enough food, you can't eat meat often. Fortunately, you've done a good job as team leader these past few years, emphasizing education, and the children all have access to school. But you're satisfied with this kind of life? What about the children?! Will they still be living like this ten or twenty years from now?!"
After hearing the whole story, Uncle Jiu couldn't help but give Bai Lianshan a good scolding. Now that the country has clearly reformed and opened up, and even distributed land to individual households, this mindset should also change.
Bai Lianshan: "..."
No, I didn't think that way. Of course, I hope the children of the production team will have a better life than my generation. Not only will they eat meat every meal, but they will also have white rice, steamed buns, dumplings, and more—preferably more than they can finish.
“Uncle Jiu, you don’t understand my worries. First, although it’s said that the land is distributed to individual households, and now everyone manages their own allocated land, if you don’t farm it and rent it out, will the government allow you to do so?! If not, will they take back the land you’ve been allocated?! Second, and this is also very important, if you don’t farm it, who will farm it?! If no one farms it, wouldn’t that be a waste?!”
Bai Lianshan helplessly voiced his concerns. "Is he the unreasonable kind of person?! He's worried about his family and the land."
After hearing what Kim had said, Uncle Nine glanced at Kim with disdain, feeling worried about the guy's intelligence.
"You have another mouth below your nose. Isn't it only for eating, for speaking, for asking questions?! Why don't you go ask people about these two issues you're worried about?! Why don't you ask Su Huaiyuan and Qiao Jiuru?! Why don't you ask your son?! Why don't you ask the commune?!"
There are people in the production team of the commune, so if you ask them, they won't do anything to you.
As the saying goes, "For every policy from above, there's a countermeasure from below."
Can't you be a little more clever?!
Bai Lianshan: "..."
I was speechless.
I'll definitely ask, after all, people are making hundreds of thousands selling clothes these days. I wonder how many years it would take to farm to earn that much!
So, Su Huaiyuan and Qiao Jiuru in Beijing received a long-distance call from Bai Lianshan.
The long-distance call fee was actually raised by Bai Jianmin and a dozen others after they heard about it, so that they could slowly explain and find out more.
After understanding Bai Lianshan's meaning, Su Huaiyuan and Qiao Jiuru immediately understood the worries in their hearts.
"Captain, to be honest, we don't know if we can rent out the land openly this year, but we can in the future, and the higher-ups don't interfere with this. As for whether we can do it this year, it doesn't matter. We've already planted the land. This year, we'll just have to work a little harder, planting while helping out. If we're really too busy, we can hire people. We can pay relatives to help, which will help both ourselves and others."
"As for the fear that the production team's land will be abandoned, I think that's unlikely. Because not everyone can do business, and not everyone is willing to do business. Many people actually prefer to play it safe. Besides, some people don't have the capital, ability, or skills to do business. Most people are afraid to try things they don't know, and even if a very small number of people are willing to try, they may not succeed."
"Finally, those who rent land to farm are definitely looking to make money. The more land they rent, the more grain they can grow. If they can't finish it all, they can sell it to the commune or to the city, which is also a source of income. As for how to sell it? Jianmin and his colleagues often go to the city and can help find buyers. Then they can hire a car or a tractor to transport it to the city. The transportation fee is one cent or five cents per pound. If the grain is good, many people are willing to buy it."
Currently, Bailianshan is afraid that if they rent out their land, the government will find out and take it back. However, in a few years, more and more people will leave the land or go south to work, so renting out the land will become quite normal.
In fact, if the land is inhabited and not left uncultivated, the government won't interfere so much.
Bai Lianshan suddenly understood, and his worries lessened by half. The phone call lasted almost ten minutes and cost more than ten yuan in phone bills. However, it was well worth the money.
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