I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 498 - 496 Memories

Everyone is satisfied with the current situation at the farm.

Although the farm’s output is not yet substantial, as the surrounding land is continuously cleared, both the number of greenhouses and the volume of harvested grain will keep increasing.

The current eco-friendly greenhouses are just the beginning. As the nation invests more in food production, new eco-friendly greenhouses will proliferate, resulting in a much larger yield.

Like the old saying goes, "A single spark can start a prairie fire," these greenhouses are the flickering sparks that yield crops even in the extreme cold and darkness of winter.

After inspecting the farm’s greenhouses and helping the workers resolve some issues they encountered in maintaining the greenhouses, Chen Xin and the others finally concluded their inspection and returned to the Research Center after spending almost a whole day.

"The fully automated mechanization in the eco-greenhouses costs too much. I just talked with those workers; six people can manage twenty acres without being overwhelmed. That’s really significant!" Chen Xin was discussing the eco-greenhouses with another research staff member while sitting in the car on the way back. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The research staff member nodded in agreement with Chen Xin’s comments. "Fully automated harvesting does save a lot of manpower and makes the operation more scientific and efficient, but the investment is still too high. Two fully automated greenhouses could build three non-mechanized greenhouses of the same size."

"Even so, we still need mechanized greenhouses. If we don’t go fully automated, we can try semi-automation." Chen Xin understood that fully automated mechanized eco-greenhouses were too costly, but he still felt that mechanization shouldn’t be abandoned.

The research staff member agreed with Chen Xin, understanding his point. "I also agree with increasing automation to a reasonable degree. After all, twenty acres requiring six people and eight during harvesting still involves significant manpower costs!"

Even though current labor costs aren’t high, a single acre can approximately support three to five people, maintaining twenty acres with six people is still a situation where input exceeds output.

However, using a large workforce means the supporting logistics must be in place as well.

Because people have various needs, such as food and sanitation, even if conditions are tough and needs are relatively simplified, maintaining these thousands of acres of eco-greenhouses also requires a few thousand people.

Additionally, workers around the area are clearing snow and continuously building new greenhouses, which means the labor force required here will only continue to grow.

Before the catastrophe, with the help of modern agricultural machinery, one person could farm 50 to 100 acres. Now, six people manage just twenty acres. Even though eco-greenhouses use vertical planting which greatly increases yield, the manpower input still seems too dense.

Therefore, in the views of Chen Xin and this research staff member, reducing the number of people maintaining the eco-greenhouses is something they must consider.

The reason why eco-greenhouses need so many people to maintain them is that they contain a wide variety of crops that require daily tasks to ensure normal growth.

Moreover, to maintain the symbiotic relationship of the ecological system, crop maturity cycles are deliberately staggered, thereby necessitating periodic harvesting of ripe fruits and vegetables, which increases daily maintenance work.

At the Research Center, the eco-greenhouses are experimental and use the fully automated machinery provided by Chen Xin, which greatly reduces the human resource input required.

Making it possible for three to five people to manage a 100-acre eco-greenhouse, completing all daily maintenance without needing extra manpower for harvesting.

However, the corresponding increase is in construction cost.

Thus, comparing the two, Chen Xin believes they should appropriately increase the mechanization level of the eco-greenhouses to avoid both the high cost of full automation and the human resource burden of full manual maintenance.

By moderately enhancing mechanization, one person can handle more work, thus reducing human input and increasing labor efficiency.

After all, human labor involves a learning curve; maintaining an acre of eco-greenhouse with many different crops requires workers to understand each plant’s characteristics and harvest timing and method, which also demands high professional skills.

So by increasing the degree of mechanization, allowing machines to perform some tasks originally done by humans, reduces human labor intensity while better completing the work.

Settling his thoughts, Chen Xin was planning how to improve things upon returning when he suddenly noticed Mo Qingyan beside him staring out the window absent-mindedly, with a hint of sadness in her expression.

Noticing this, Chen Xin asked her with concern, "What’s wrong? Daydreaming all by yourself?"

"Ah?" Hearing Chen Xin’s voice, Mo Qingyan snapped back to reality and quickly forced a smile at Chen Xin. "It’s nothing, just reminiscing about some things."

"Some things?" When Chen Xin heard Mo Qingyan say this, he was taken aback for a moment before realizing, "About the past? I remember Xin’s little sister once said you and she used to live near the farm, right?"

"Yes, we did live near here when I was a child." Mo Qingyan nodded, her face showing nostalgia.

Seeing Mo Qingyan like this, Chen Xin raised an eyebrow, feeling he might have said something wrong.

After all, he clearly recalled that Mo Qingxin once told him that the two sisters did not have a good childhood; their mother neglected them, and their father died early, so they studied hard to escape a home where they felt no happiness at all.

Thus, Mo Qingyan began boarding at high school, earning her tuition through her own efforts, eventually escaping the shadows of her unfortunate past.

The reason why the two sisters became wealthy is that their father left them the family land and house when he passed, and later there was a relocation compensation.

After leaving enough money for their mother to live comfortably for the rest of her life, Mo Qingyan used the remaining funds to start her own business, quietly enduring many hardships to build her enterprise.

Recalling these details, Chen Xin hugged Mo Qingyan to console her without saying much, offering his embrace for comfort.

Mo Qingyan leaned into Chen Xin in response.