Wang Yan made a special trip to the agricultural PhD researchers studying seeds. He followed them to inspect the experimental fields and learned in detail about the current figures for every type of crop. This was naturally the highest priority.
Wang Yan did not know what Liu Bei thought of it, but a little shock was certainly unavoidable. The superiority of the seeds was plain to see. From 200, when the seeds had been recovered, to the present year of 208, eight years of research had raised yields from roughly those of China's native grains to more than double. If the research continued, they would double again in the future.
With sweet potatoes and potatoes, they could make up for the shortfall in food for people. Potatoes could also be made into many dishes, while both could be processed into vermicelli and the like, enriching the people's tables. The surplus yield could also greatly alleviate the feed shortage for poultry and livestock. They could lavishly feed grain to cattle, horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese, further developing the raising of meat animals and supplementing the people's meat supply.
Corn went without saying. Though its yield was not as high as that of sweet potatoes or potatoes, it was still higher than that of current grains. Most importantly, corn did not demand much of the soil, and many poor, inferior plots could grow it. Moreover, corn was more valuable as feed than potatoes or sweet potatoes, and further processing could even turn it into beer.
In Liang Province, after more than a decade of development, cotton cultivation had spread completely, and yields were quite good. Although the distance was great and transportation costs were high, Wang Yan had still pushed the price down to a level ordinary people could afford. By