Holy Roman Empire

The impact of the agricultural crisis is not limited to the European continent, and the Americas have not been able to escape.

Grain prices in Europe have plummeted. Naturally, some capitalists have sold grain for sale, and grain prices in the Americas have been hit.

The development of shipping technology has lowered the cost of shipping, and 10,000-ton ocean-going carriers have increased.Under this shareholder style, the grain dumped by Austria also crossed the ocean and entered the Japanese market.

Of course, this is just incidental. Specially transporting grain to Japan for sale, the profit is still too low, and everyone hasn't had this leisurely.

Affected by the Meiji Restoration, the number of machinery and equipment imported by Japan from Europe has increased significantly in recent years, and trade has become more prosperous.

It was first born in Austria with a 10,000-ton shipping vessel. While reducing freight costs, there is also an embarrassing problem-the cargo is often dissatisfied.

This problem is hard for the capitalists. With a little souvenirs, they can fill up the warehouse. No matter how small the mosquitoes are, they are meat and cannot be wasted.

The Vienna government ’s appeal is somewhat effective. The major exporters of grain have all announced production cuts, and it is unknown how much effect they have.

Anyway, in Franz ’s view, the measures adopted by various countries are full of loopholes. Whether they can suppress production capacity depends on the consciousness of farmers.

Just after the autumn harvest, a large wave of new grains went on the market, and international grain prices continued to fall.The capitalists know that they are so powerful, and everyone else will be finished if they fall like this.

In order to maintain the stability of food prices, the capitalists united with the large farmers and began to pressure the government.As of the end of 1872, most European countries have increased agricultural import tariffs.

These measures are not enough. In order to stabilize market prices, capitalists have to endure the destruction of some agricultural products.

The food importing countries are okay, tariffs have been raised, and some of the excess agricultural products have been destroyed, and the market has quickly returned to stability.

Just to maintain "stability" and want food prices to return to normal levels is still not possible overnight.

Grain exporting countries are miserable, except for slow sales.This year's trade disputes broke out in continental Europe, more than the sum of the past five years combined.

Among them, the four countries with the most heavy losses are Russia and Oppo.To alleviate the crisis, in October 1872, the Vienna government announced the acquisition of 2.7 million tons of wheat, 4.8 million tons of rye, 3.8 million tons of corn, and 1.9 million tons of soybeans for strategic reserves.

Of course, this is subject to additional conditions. The agricultural products purchased this time are limited to the new grain produced locally, and are purchased at the minimum food price protection price prescribed by the government.

First went to inventory, and now began to resume inventory without any problems.Stimulated by this positive news, food prices in the Austrian local market finally stabilized.

The international grain market is still not improving. Now that grain is not a price issue, but the market is saturated, and many grain importing countries have suspended grain imports.

Seeing that the Vienna government acquired grain as a strategic reserve, the Junker nobles couldn't sit still and jumped out to make suggestions and asked the Prussian government to increase the grain strategic reserve.

In the Royal Palace of Berlin, a meeting on this issue has already begun.William I had no opinion on increasing the strategic food reserves. The only problem was that the Prussian government had no money.

Austria's purchase of grain is still in exchange for dumping grain in stock.After a brief calculation, the Vienna government lost millions of tons of grain for such an entry and an exit.

It is difficult to calculate the specific loss. It is also necessary to take into account the difference between the new grain and the old grain, as well as the cost of the reserve grain purchased by the Vienna government before that.

"Prime Minister, what do you think?"

The pressure on Mao Qi increased greatly, on the one hand was the shrivelled purse of the government, and on the other was the interests of the Junker nobility, which made him very embarrassed.After a little hesitation, reality still made a decision for him.

"Your Majesty, the war between Russia and Russia does not know when it will break out. How long this war will last. No one can guarantee that it is very necessary to increase strategic food reserves.

But now the government has no money and wants to increase its strategic reserves, which requires at least hundreds of millions of marks, which is far beyond our ability to bear.

If farmers can accept credit, we can eat part of the grain, but when the money can be paid, the government has no way to guarantee it."

This answer is irrefutable. It is not that the government is unwilling to increase its strategic reserves. The problem is that the government has no money to buy it.

If you want the government to collect grain, you can do it with white bars. When the government has money, you will pay it back. If you have no money, you will continue to owe it.

In terms of class interests, Mao Qi's words still dissatisfied many people.It's just that there is no reason to refute it. To put it bluntly, the government still has no money.

"Prime Minister, I'm afraid it doesn't work like this. Growing food also comes at a cost. The government must at least pay the cost, otherwise there will be a lot of farmers going bankrupt."

Agriculture Secretary Melanie Griffith hurriedly persuaded him that he would have no way to explain to the nobles of Juncker if he really played white.

Mao Qi shrugged, made a helpless expression, and spread his hands.

"Where does the money come from? Our finances have always been tight. Even if the price of food is very cheap now, it can be bought for less than 100 marks per ton of rye, and 100 million marks for one million tons.

As long as your Ministry of Agriculture can solve the problem of money, it is not a problem to receive much. I guarantee that no one in the government will object."

The Kingdom of Prussia has long been heavily in debt, and the domestic financial community has no ability to provide loans to the government. If it wants to continue borrowing money from the outside world, it must betray national interests.

Who dares to put forward such a proposal, we must first consider whether they will be shot black by patriotic youth.

This year, the Kingdom of Prussia is also flooded with second-year teenagers. These people are the guarantee of the combat effectiveness of the Prussian army, and they are also the bombs of the Kingdom of Prussia from time to time.

Melanie Griffith has not lived enough and does not want to be the target of a patriotic youth. This kind of death is impossible for him to do.

"Sorry, Your Excellency. This is not my job scope. You have to ask the Ministry of Finance. If the government cannot stabilize food prices, is it always possible to formulate a more active agricultural policy?"

Mao Qi: "Of course! As long as it has nothing to do with money, we can try our best to solve other problems."

Melanie Griffith: "That's best."

Melanie Griffith, who had been preparing for it, took out a document and stepped forward to William I.

"Your Majesty, this is the Ministry of Agriculture's plan to reduce food production capacity. We have learned the experience of the Austrians and are preparing to implement the Land Fallow Law."

This proposal surprised everyone, and the Berlin government discussed this issue before, only because the Ministry of Agriculture controlled by the Junker nobility strongly opposed it, and finally it came to nothing.

At first glance at the document, William I looked downcast.The same is the land fallow law, Prussia this land fallow law may be much more explicit.

On the surface, the problem is not big. If you study it carefully, you will find that many problems have been taken by an ambiguous stroke. After a little analysis, you will find that this is just considering the interests of the Junker nobility.

The nobles have a lot of land, and even with the strict land fallow law, they still have enough land to rotate their farming, and it is the self-cultivating farmers who lack the real interests.

According to the above regulations, because of the emergence of rotation techniques, the land fallow time has been reduced, and ordinary farmers who have just passed a few days of good days will soon be unlucky again.

If it were implemented, a new round of land mergers would take place in Prussia, and a large number of self-cultivating farmers would go bankrupt.

"Merani Griffiths, are you sure that the above content is realistic, has the Ministry of Agriculture not considered the consequences of doing so?"

Faced with the challenge of William I, Melanie Griffiths did not change his face and answered calmly: "Your Majesty, after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the market will inevitably conduct a round of elimination of the fittest.

Whether or not we implement the Land Fallow Law, a wave of bankruptcy will erupt.If we take the initiative to take measures, we can get through the crisis as soon as possible, so as not to involve more people."

This is a fallacy and a fact.Self-cultivation competition is not enough for big farmers, it is an inevitable result.According to the current situation, grain prices have collapsed, and self-cultivation farmers will persist for up to a few years because of high debt.

This is not something manpower can change, but nothing more than the time of the outbreak.Junker nobles changed their minds and agreed to cut production capacity. In addition to keeping food prices, they still wanted to merge land and expand their family business.

Ordinary people may think that food prices have fallen sharply and the land has become worthless, but Junker nobles who have the rights do not think so.

The population is growing, but the land has no way to continue to grow.From this perspective, the price of food will rise sooner or later.

Even if the international food prices cannot be restored, they can artificially raise the prices of domestic agricultural products by modifying the rules.

In the original time and space, the German Empire had insufficient food production, and the Junker nobles dared to set restrictions to prevent foreign agricultural products from entering the domestic market.

The bankruptcy of farmers is what Capital Junker wants to see, they can get more cheap labor.As long as the benefits are analyzed, this plan can no longer be stopped in the Kingdom of Prussia.

...

After the Kingdom of Prussia introduced the "Land Fallow Law" which meant the merger, European countries soon began to follow suit.

The big farmers and big capitalists jointly promoted this feast, the farmers got more land, the capitalists got cheap labor, and the two sides cooperated seamlessly.

Austria has not been able to protect itself, except that there is also a "Land Merger Prohibition Law".This is a bill issued by Franz after the outbreak of the Vienna Revolution in 1848.

The above clearly stipulates that private land transactions are prohibited and can only be sold to local governments at market prices.(Specifically, less than 200 hectares)

These reclaimed agricultural land can only be sold to farmers whose cultivated land area is less than 50 hectares, or retired soldiers with cultivated land area less than 100 hectares, and military aristocrats with cultivated land area less than 200 hectares.

(Note: After the purchase area reaches this upper limit, you cannot continue to purchase)

If these purchased lands want to be sold again, they can only be sold to the government and cannot be dealt with directly by individuals.

To put it simply, small farmers can buy it. Large farmers want to expand, and they can only buy farms with an area of ​​more than 200 hectares.

From the perspective of the development of productive forces, the economy of small farmers is bound to be washed down, and the mainstream of agricultural production in the future is farms.

This kind of land merger helps increase the competitiveness of agriculture. Franz cannot naturally prevent it, but he did not want to see domestic agriculture being monopolized, so he issued this bill that restricts the arbitrary expansion of the nobles.

Fundamentally, this law stipulates that more than 80% of the cultivated land in Austria is locked and can only be circulated in the hands of ordinary people.

Nobles want more land or go to colonies. As long as the cultivated area exceeds 200 hectares in the local area, they can only buy it from the big farmers if they want to expand.