With so many people crowding around the high-horsepower tractors, asking questions and commenting nonstop, Jiang Zhiyu walked south with Li Long, interviewing him as they went.
"Look at your yard. Now you've got these extra-large, high-horsepower wheeled tractors-oh, right, what brand are they, and where were they made?"
"John Deere, made in the United States, 150 horsepower," Li Long explained. "Plenty of power."
"Mm, you've got these John Deeres, a Dongfanghong 75 Crawler Tractor, and a small four-wheel tractor. Besides plows, harrows, and seeders, your implements include a cultivator and the spraying machine you mentioned before.
"With all that equipment now, doesn't this count as mechanized farming?"
To Jiang Zhiyu, with all those implements at Li Long's home, this was definitely mechanized farming!
"We're nowhere near that yet." Li Long shook his head. "This is only the beginning."
Jiang Zhiyu turned to look at the implements filling the Li family's yard and parked outside, then looked back at Li Long. Once she was sure he wasn't talking nonsense, she asked:
"You're saying this is only the beginning? Are you sure you aren't deliberately being modest?"
"Modest? There's no need." Li Long waved a hand. "Here in Northern Xinjiang and the Northeast-oh, and many parts of North China too-the land is flat and suitable for large-scale farming, so the basic conditions for mechanized cultivation are there.
"Take our area. It's perfectly normal for one household to have dozens or even a hundred mu between their ration fields and contracted land. That's unimaginable in some parts of inland China where there's little land and a lot of people.
"But it's nothing unusual here. The trouble is, the more land you have, the harder it is to farm. Don't let all this machinery I've bought fool you. Even using it just on my