“Isn’t this difficult to call a cruise ship?”
“According to Park Jong-il, it’s a fake cruise.”
Park Youngsun held his sides with laughter.
After wiping tears from his eyes, he expressed opposition to Jong-il’s idea, saying that the current business conditions could not support such a venture. Since there was a risk to jump into an untested business, he emphasized that enough market research was needed before deciding to start the business.
Youngho expected him to agree with Jong-il’s idea at once, but he was somewhat defensive at the new business proposal. Since he did not have to rush the business, he decided to accept Park Youngsun’s opinion.
The ship that was already made would not go anywhere and it would be used as a wine delivery ship until a new freighter that Youngho had requested was completed anyway. The size of the car-ferry ship was perfect to go through a canal to reach the Black Sea.
Jong-il was sullen that his idea was rejected by Park Youngsun.
“Why would Dr. Park disagree with me?”
“I was appealed by your idea, but now Dr. Park has a point. It’s too premature to start a travel business. Let’s do some market research first.”
“Man, I thought it was a valid idea.”
Jong-il was still in denial.
“Dr. Park is not just rejecting it without a reason. He just wants us to take more steps before starting a new thing.”
“You’ve always started a business with your gut feeling, don’t you think? Have you ever done a thorough market research before?”
Youngho had been extremely lucky until now. Everything he had started went pretty well.
“That’s why I’m saying we’ve been lucky. Don’t get personal about this. I just think we should do things more properly from now on.”
“I’m not getting personal. I have a big heart, you know.”
Jong-il was saying that, but his face was saying the opposite.
The two had started many things if they agreed to until now, but now that the organization grew big, many other opinions were in the way.
Since people had different perspectives, it was not easy to just push through with an opinion, but this was why Youngho had hired many talented people, was to make as fewer mistakes as possible.
It was great to expand the business area, but careful caution was needed many times. There were now so many people depending on Youngho’s decisions that it was better to maintain and develop what he had now, rather than starting something new as he used to.
In a way, he had lost his adventurous spirit, but Park Youngsun’s view that defense was more important than the offense was could not be ignored, since Arirang Farm still had a long way to go until it was well established and settled down.
In the field, ten large tractors were harvesting wheat while making a great noise.
Wheat usually took about 110 days to grow from seed. Since it was the late August now, it was the perfect timing to harvest it.
Everyone was looking forward to the crop since it was Arirang Farm’s first cultivation. However, great expectations could lead to great disappointments.
The results of pre-surveying the yield were much lower than expected. Although wheat could grow in a barren land, the land’s vitality had been almost exhausted due to desertification.
Initially, Youngho had calculated the yield to be about 6,000 tons since normally on average, 8,000 tons of wheat would grow in 5,000 acres of land. Since it was the first crop, Youngho had expected less than the average amount of wheat crop, but it was way fewer than his expectation.
Where he had turned over the grassland had produced some crop, but the area where it was deserted already was a total failure.
“Chairman, Lee. Don’t get too disappointed. It’s only the first crop.”
Kim Sungchan talked to him in a consoling tone.
“2,000 tons of wheat from this area is only about one-fourth of the usual crop. I didn’t have a high expectation, but this is a little disappointing.”
Although Youngho could not show his disappointment to everyone, since everyone’s efforts were put into wheat farming, he was greatly frustrated.
“There is something called fertility of the soil. If we strengthen the soil, it would have a better result next year. Don’t feel disappointed.”
“I’m not disappointed. First of all, it would be a priority to increase the area of cultivation, so that the land can come to life. The straw left over in the field would act as manure. This much crop was only possible because there was an irrigation canal. I feel less bitter since the farm products cultivated in inland areas are fewer than this.”
It was comforting to hear that farmers in Kazakhstan’s western inland areas without irrigation had to be satisfied with fewer yields, than what Arirang farm had produced.
People consoled each other with the fact that they produced about 1,500 tons of wheat to be exported on top of a year’s consumption of Arirang Farm’s residents. Wheat prices were expected to exceed eight dollars for each bushel this year, so about a profit of 400,000 dollars were expected. It was only the amount that could pay 460 dollars per household. Although Youngho had invested in farming of the barren land to secure a large amount of land, he could hardly help, but feel disappointed. The residents did not show their disappointments, but it was obvious that they felt the same as Youngho.
The conference room’s atmosphere was heavier than ever.
No one was smiling looking at the paper that had the amount of the yields and the amount of export.
Youngho forced himself to act calm as he suggested a solution to stop the land’s desertification.
“You’d like to start a reforestation project?”
Jong-il asked back as if Youngho was being absurd.
“Yes. We didn’t expect a lot for grain production anyway. It was just a way to secure a large area of land to prepare for the future.”
“Let’s just leave it as it is for a while, then. We’re wasting our money on the deserted land.”
“The government won’t allow the ownership of land if we did not develop it. We have to make grassland at least. The government already knows that the land is not suitable for farming and that was why it gave us permission for development. So, I’m saying I’m going to submit an alternated business proposal to develop land to raise livestock. Once the field turns green, the land will be fertile again.”
As Youngho gave him many reasons, Jong-il began to nod to his idea.
It was not a total failure since there was some crop.
However, the amount of the crop was just too little, compared to how much money was put in for farming. Although it was only the first crop, Youngho could not help to be disappointed.
He had expected to make about 1.3 million dollars for this year’s crop, but it was only about 400,000 dollars. It was a failed project from a management perspective if it was not a strategic measure to secure land.
Kim Chun, who could not be unaware of the atmosphere, quickly reversed the mood. He submitted the report of Arirang Farm’s overview that showed what had been invested in the farm field of 49013 acres and the total amount of yield of the past and this year, and he lobbied the regional government of Atyrau to accept the development of grassland.
The land was already deserted and the government admitted the fact that it was an impossible mission to develop farmland in the wasteland. Therefore, the government agreed to give ownership of land to Youngho if he could establish grassland. Since grassland could stop continental sandy dust, there was no reason for the government to reject Kim Chun’s suggestion.
“Boss. This is almost our land. Next year, we’ll increase the area of farmland twice than what we have this year and plant fruit trees that can grow well in a dry climate. And it’s going to be more economical for us to develop grassland and begin a large-scale livestock industry.”
His suggestion was to begin a livestock business aside from farming since wheat farming did not make enough money.
“It’s going to take a long time to make irrigation canals to the site where grassland is going to be. I guess we should focus on developing underground water resource now.”
Although Arirang Farm’s business plan would have to go through a great modification, Youngho could not disagree with Kim Chun’s suggestion. It was because the immigrants welcomed the new since most of them had been in the livestock industry in the mountains.
Especially, Niksic’s face was bright. Saying that he could not stop Youngho who was forcing wheat farming, he began to explain different businesses that would follow raising livestock.
“Prince Consort. Sheep are more useful than cows.”
“And why is that so?”
“With the amount of fresh grass that a cow needs, we could raise four to five sheep. Sheep give us meat, skin, milk, and byproducts such as cheese and wool carpet. Raising sheep is a more versatile business than raising cows. Also, cow’s muck is used for fuel, but sheep’s muck just goes to the earth which will strengthen the fertility of the soil. If the grain price skyrockets in the future, we can then focus on farming grains and we’ll have great fertility by then.”
“Niksic, why didn’t you tell me earlier? I wouldn’t have insisted on farming wheat then.”
Youngho complained that Niksic was sharing opinion now when he had just experienced failure.
“I didn’t want to be an obstacle to your plan and also, I didn’t expect the yield to be this small.”
“Please share your honest opinion from now on, if I insist on do any major decisions. I don’t want any more trial and error.”
Since Arirang Farm’s site was only permitted to Youngho for agricultural development, there was no other alternative. The regional government had permitted developing grassland only because it was afraid that Youngho would give up the land due to small yield. Now that Youngho thought about it, the first failure of harvesting a large crop might lead to a better outcome in the future.
The failure was bitter, but he was now more open to others’ opinions for his future business decisions.
Many say that it never rains, but it only pours and it was exactly what Youngho felt like.
It was already a bummer that the number of wheat yields was disappointing, but wild wolves began to show up in the residential towns at night. It seemed that plant-eating animals had dried up in the land due to the desertification of the land and wolves had nothing to feed on.
Although the towns were protected by dogs, they still invaded the area and killed three to four sheep a night. The town watch had been unprepared and could not handle the situation in advance.
The appearance of the wolves in the late summer was a serious issue since they usually showed up in the winter when there was nothing to eat in the field.
To continue the high stonewalls built to prevent northern winds, the construction of lower walls that surrounded the whole towns was resumed. In the beginning, Youngho was going to surround the towns with barbed-wire fences, but they did not seem to be appealing as stone walls.
Instead of that, in order to avoid damaging the city’s beauty to the fullest extent, the fences around the places where roads met, were designed more carefully and beautifully, so that fence could become a sculpture itself.
Nikolaevich Min, the construction director of Arirang Farm escorted Youngho who showed up at the construction site in a long time and began describing his achievements.
“Boss. This wall will pass through the sheep ranch and connect to your palace under construction.”
“Wait, is there a need to make the wall that long?”
“This place not only has the northern winds from the Ural Mountains but also the continental winds of the northeast. The walls will also act as a barrier from wolves in the field, so I’m making them longer and thicker.”
“Well, it’s like we’re having a war with nature. If I knew this ahead of time, I wouldn’t have jumped into this. After seeing the results of wheat farming, I regret that I began the business too prematurely.”
“Boss. This place did not use to be like this in the past. This is the result of a random development of farmland and negligence afterward, but I heard that this used to be a beautiful place with trees and meadows.”
“If only we could turn back time… but I guess we should just accept the reality and cope with the environment.”
“Once the irrigation canals are connected and we water the land regularly, the land will come back to life again in a few years. I guarantee.”
Director Min’s confidence comforted Youngho’s distressed mind.
