As we enter July, the drought that has lasted for almost half a year shows no sign of easing, whether at home or abroad.
By this time, many people were vaguely aware of the seriousness of the matter. This was definitely not a simple natural disaster, but a big problem on the earth.
Starting from July 10, the world's major grain-producing countries, including Daxia, have successively announced grain export bans.
Affected by this news, international grain prices rose in response, increasing hundreds of times. However, spot grains were no longer available in the market, and there was no market for them.
Severe drought has worsened the economic situation of various countries.
According to projections by the International Monetary Fund, the global economy is expected to shrink by 64.9% in 2022, and the global unemployment rate will reach a record high of 68.5%.
Daxia has not released economic data for the first half of the year, but it is certainly not much better. People's livelihood is in decline, and all industries are in depression. It is also not optimistic.
Bad news comes one after another, but there is also good news.
On July 12, the long-delayed greenhouse project of Lao Xu’s family finally took shape. With Wang Xiujuan’s introduction, the construction team finally gathered a sufficient amount of insulating tempered glass.
This kind of glass adopts a two-layer tempered glass structure, which has good heat insulation, heat preservation and windproof properties, and is very energy-saving and environmentally friendly.
Taking advantage of the weekend break, Xu Dong invited the designer from the construction company to his home.
A greenhouse is not a simple vegetable greenhouse. It needs an irrigation system, a ventilation system, a constant temperature system, and an insulation system. It can be said that although a sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs.
"Mr. Xu, in order to match the automatic irrigation system, I suggest you build a small water tower here. After all, water is tight now, and the water may suddenly be cut off one day." Designer Sun said.
"Can't we water it with our own hands?" Yang Lina interjected.
"Of course you can, but there is a complete set of intelligent control systems installed in the greenhouse. Manual control is definitely not as accurate as sensors, and it also wastes more water."
Xu Dong didn't want his wife to work too hard, so he advised:
"Everyone has a complete system. No link is missing. So don't come up with random ideas. You should listen to Xiao Sun!"
Yang Lina rolled her eyes and stopped insisting.
"Xiao Sun, we have a big water tank at home. Do you think we can get water directly from the water tank?"
After speaking, Xu Dong took Designer Sun to the concierge to look at the water tank.
After looking at it, Designer Sun shook his head and said: "No, our irrigation system adopts an integrated design of water and fertilizer. For safety reasons, it is better to separate it from drinking water."
"Okay, then let's build another water tower." Xu Dong said simply.
Next there is the issue of heating.
"Mr. Xu, you can only use air conditioning for heating here, but you must have a backup power supply in case of a power outage in the future..."
Xu Dong waved his hand to interrupt the other party, "You don't have to worry about this. We have a backup power supply at home and the power will not be cut off."
Designer Sun nodded in disappointment and did not sell the generator. The profit from this order was much less.
"Okay then, Mr. Xu, I will give you the renderings right away. Can you take a look and see what needs to be modified?"
"OK!"
Half an hour later, the renderings came out. The entire greenhouse was made of light steel skeleton, with a square appearance, high transparency, and full of technological beauty. Both Xu Dong and Yang Lina were very satisfied.
In the afternoon of that day, the construction team began to work, and a total of eight workers came. Xu Ma specially cooked a large pot of mung bean soup to relieve everyone's heat.
By evening, the main frame of the greenhouse has basically taken shape, leaving only the equipment to be installed.
The next day, the construction progress obviously accelerated a lot. By about four o'clock in the afternoon, the entire project was completely completed. The workers left quickly, leaving only the technicians still debugging the equipment.
Xu Dong and his wife followed the technician, and while helping him, they also became familiar with how to manage the greenhouse.
"This computer is equivalent to the brain of the entire greenhouse. You see, this is the control page, which can monitor the temperature, humidity and soil moisture in the greenhouse 24 hours a day.
When the external environment changes, the system will immediately make the optimal choice.
For example, when the temperature drops at night, the thermostat system will automatically start to ensure that the greenhouse is always at a suitable temperature."
Xu Dong kept nodding. This highly intelligent planting model is very similar to the plant factories of the future. In a nutshell, computers are responsible for planting the land, and people manage the computers.
It cannot be said to be in charge, it can also be said that people cooperate with computers. The "farmers" do some auxiliary work. As for how to plant, it is completely decided by the computer and "people".
"So, from now on, we don't have to go to the fields and can grow vegetables at home?" Yang Lina was not very happy. There was no fun in growing vegetables like this.
"That's more or less the case, but things like sowing, tilling the soil and harvesting still require manual labor."
"That's pretty much it." Yang Lina then said worriedly: "Master Liu, what should we do if the computer crashes?"
"Just restart it. The data in the greenhouse is not large, and crashes are rare." Master Liu reassured.
"This system of yours is specially used to grow flowers. As you can see here, it is a vegetable garden. Will it be affected?" Xu Dong suddenly grasped the core of the problem.
"Please rest assured that our company is constantly updating the vegetable database. As long as we download it online in time, there will be no problem no matter what vegetables we grow in the future."
Under the drought, the social demand for greenhouse glass houses is getting stronger and stronger. Of course, the greenhouse construction company will not turn a blind eye and has already conducted relevant preliminary research.
With the technician's detailed explanation, Xu and Dong gradually mastered the operation mode of the greenhouse.
It's very simple to say, you just need to understand the relevant data, and leave the rest to the computer, you can learn it as soon as possible.
After the debugging was completed, Xu Dong personally sent the technician out of the door. The greenhouse cost a total of more than 800,000 yuan, which was seven or eight times more expensive than usual.
But it's money well spent, at least old Xu's family will no longer be short of vegetables, and the dehydrated vegetables Xu Dong hoarded will become redundant.
"Honey, I'll plant a variety of other vegetables this time, a little of each type." Xu Dong said with a smile.
"I know, do you want to plant some more watermelons? It's too hot today, and Coco and the others like to eat watermelons the most."
Xu Ma came over and interrupted: "It's good to grow watermelons, it doesn't take up much space anyway."
"By the way, when will Aunt Wang's strawberries be planted?" Yang Lina asked.
"I heard from Lao Wang that the strawberry seedlings haven't been grown yet, and it will take about a week." Xu's mother replied.
"Thanks to Aunt Wang this time!" Yang Lina said with emotion.
Xu's mother took the opportunity to teach Xu Dong: "Er, you have to live up to your expectations. Look at what others have done. In just one sentence, our family's big problem has been solved."