In the blink of an eye, it was November 15.
Jiang Miao came to the Canned Food Factory for an inspection.
"Boss, this is the new Soft Pack Canned Food production line we purchased..." Li Xinhua, dressed in protective clothing and a respirator hood, introduced the production line to him.
This production line did not have much automated equipment. Its core consisted of sterilization and packaging equipment, while the rest was operated manually.
It was not that Hai Lu Feng Company could not afford automated equipment, but that such equipment was not cost-effective. Besides, the size of the workforce could sometimes be an advantage.
Jiang Miao also wore protective clothing and a respirator helmet. He picked up a bag of Unagi Kabayaki. It contained an entire eel and was mainly supplied to sushi shops and Japanese Restaurants.
"Is this the first batch of officially produced products?"
"Yes. I arranged for 2,000 portions for the first batch, just to test the market response."
Jiang Miao nodded. "Fine. Coordinate with the Online Store Department. By the way, how is the eel inventory?"
Li Xinhua immediately explained, "At present, the farm culls 5,000 White Eels every half month. The Tinplate Canned Food production line can process 1,000 eels per day, and the Soft Pack Canned Food line can also process 1,000 per day. The inventory can only last two or three days. To save costs, I first arrange production on the Tinplate Canned Food line, then halt it and move the workers over to the Soft Pack Canned Food line. That way, we can guarantee ten production days every month."
Jiang Miao was actually aware of this.
Li Xinhua's strategy was not a problem either. After all, some employees on the Canned Food Factory production lines were paid for two weeks at a time. Once the line had operated for a full month, they would receive a full month's wages.
At present, the canned food production line workers were basically D1-level employees, with a monthly salary of 3,500 yuan, meals included but not accommodation.
For two weeks of work, they were paid half a month's salary, or 1,750 yuan. The company paid their social insurance contributions on their behalf, without deducting them from their base pay.
It did not seem like much, but quite a few locals still flocked to the jobs.
The main reason was that meals were included, and the company covered the social insurance. If they could work a full month, many production line workers were willing to do so. It was simply that the farm did not have enough culled eels, so they could only produce for one week and rest for another.
After inspecting the Canned Food Factory, Jiang Miao got into the car and headed straight for the farm.
The New Breeding Base was still under intensive construction.
Meanwhile, the leased Open-air Fish Ponds were gradually being put into use. Mature eels purchased from various places were restocked into the ponds for customized feeding.
His brother-in-law and father had been managing these matters, so he went straight to his Seed Laboratory.
The first batch of planted strawberries had gradually begun to flower. Some early-ripening varieties had already started bearing strawberries.
A middle-aged employee responsible for the greenhouse's daily operations saw him arrive and hurriedly set down his watering can.
"Boss."
"Lao Lin, how are the strawberries today?"
Lao Lin quickly replied, "Boss, some strawberries should be ripe today."
Jiang Miao went to the container room and took out a sugar meter and a record book.
Li Wenna also helped carry a plastic tote containing small boxes, labels, scissors, and tissues.
Inside the greenhouse, the seedlings of thirty-five strawberry varieties had been separated into individual sections with plastic film partitions to prevent cross-pollination and preserve the genetic purity of each variety.
Through continued runner propagation, each variety had now been cultivated into seven or eight plants.
The fruits ripening this time all came from the original mature plants. The newly propagated offshoots would need at least another month before they flowered and bore fruit.
"Boss, it's this variety."
Jiang Miao looked at the label inserted into the grow bag: C12.
Six strawberries hung from the roots of the strawberry runners, three red and three green.
One of the red strawberries was indeed ripe, because he could see the data on the Appraisal Panel.
He picked it with scissors, washed it briefly, and then cut it into five portions. He kept one portion as a seed sample, then took another, squeezed out the juice, and dripped it onto the sugar meter.
The sweetness level was 14.8. That was decent. Although it could not compare to top-grade Dandong Strawberries, Jiang Miao valued its fruit shape more, since this variety's strengths were large fruit and good storage resistance.
"Give it a try."
The three of them tasted it carefully.
"It's very sweet, but there's a slight acidity to it, and the flesh is fairly firm," Li Wenna shared her impression.
"Mm, it really is sweet." Lao Lin ate it like Zhu Bajie eating a Ginseng Fruit, swallowing it whole without much thought.
Jiang Miao held the flesh on his tongue and carefully savored its various flavors.
First came the sweetness, followed by a faint sourness, then the strawberry's distinctive fragrance. The aroma resembled a blend of Hami melon and jasmine, though it was rather subtle and could only be detected through careful tasting.
He wrote down the flavor evaluation results in the record book one by one.
After that, he found eleven more varieties with ripe fruit and similarly preserved samples, measured the sugar content, tasted them, and recorded the results.
Based on this real-world evaluation, he directly eliminated three varieties. Their flavors were simply too strange: one had a faint rotten mud taste, one had a distinct bitterness, and one was as bland as water.
The more valuable ones were C22 and C26.
C22's flavor closely resembled that of Zhang Ji Strawberries, but its creamy notes were more pronounced. It was also heat-resistant, capable of enduring Lingnan's summer temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius, thereby maintaining its sweetness, disease resistance, flavor, and yield.
C26's flavor was quite different from ordinary strawberries. This variety had a unique vanilla taste blended with something similar to passion fruit. Its only weakness was that it could not withstand temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius, so it could only be planted during Lingnan's winter.
Of course, the remaining seven varieties also had their own strengths.
For example, C12, which they had tried first, bore relatively large fruit that could reach the size of a duck egg. Its yield was also extremely high, with an estimated greenhouse yield of around 4.5 to 5 tons per mu.
Combined with C12's decent flavor and sweetness, as well as its resistance to Lingnan's summer heat and its storage durability, this variety also had commercial potential.
After tasting the varieties from the first harvest and recording the relevant evaluation data, Jiang Miao had already begun formulating a plan.
First of all, the farm's greenhouses were definitely not enough.
After all, a mature strawberry contained 150 to 200 seeds. Combined with runner propagation, a huge number of strawberry seedlings could soon be cultivated.
Based on an average of 5,000 to 6,000 strawberry plants per mu.
There were currently at least five or six varieties in the greenhouse that needed to have their planting scale expanded, and each variety required at least five mu of land.
That meant at least thirty mu were needed.
Fortunately, Yan Cun Village had plenty of abandoned farmland. He planned to lease one hundred mu of vegetable fields nearby and establish a strawberry greenhouse base.
With a planting base in place, whether they sold strawberries directly or supplied strawberry seedlings in the future, it would be a good business.
However, Jiang Miao did not intend to hand this matter over to his brother-in-law and father. An Eel Farm alone already kept them busy enough. Adding a strawberry base on top of that would make it easy to lose sight of one thing while focusing on another.
Therefore, he planned to find another manager specifically to oversee the strawberry base.
Fortunately, the company was gradually becoming more established. Jiang Miao directly instructed Li Wenna to notify Jiang Haibo from the Human Resources Department to recruit an outsider with farm management experience.
At the same time, he had Li Wenna notify Wang Feng from the Purchasing Department to lease around one hundred mu of vegetable fields in Yan Cun Village or several nearby villages in Ma Gong Town for use as a strawberry planting base.
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