The tractors leveling the fields lined up abreast, their bulldozer blades sweeping over the uneven ground, pushing down the rises and filling the hollows.
Normally, when they flood-irrigated, they only needed to build ridges along the slopes so the water could pool and overflow across them.
The fields were large and had originally formed naturally; plowing had done little to change their contours.
That was fine for ordinary farming, but not for farming with drip irrigation tape. The water pressure in the tape was low to begin with. If it ran over a rise, the water might not make it across, leaving the cotton farther along without irrigation.
So before laying drip irrigation tape, or converting the fields to drip irrigation, they had to level the land.
Zhao Shijie not only supervised the quality of the work but also promoted the advantages of drip irrigation farming.
So when the villagers asked him questions, he was happy to answer.
The Team 4 villagers spoke with all sorts of accents, some of which he struggled to understand. At those times, he would pull Li Long over to interpret.
Though Li Long grumbled inwardly, he still had to dutifully translate. After all, it benefited both sides. The more people understood drip irrigation farming, the less explaining he would have to do.
Otherwise, people who didn't understand might think he was stopping them from adopting drip irrigation because he didn't want them getting rich.
During a break in the explanations, Xie Yundong came over and asked Li Long, "Once we finish leveling this before winter, can we leave it alone?"
"How could we leave it alone?" Looking at the freshly bulldozed land, Li Long shook his head. "Every winter and spring, our flood irrigation washes away some of the alkali. But what we wash