The impact of El Niño is global. Perhaps in a sense, global climate abnormalities also had a huge impact on the process of the world war.
In 1943, rainfall in the Soviet Union (including the occupied areas) was low. This was actually the case across the entire Northern Hemisphere.
Rainfall in 80% of the Soviet Union is less than 500 millimeters. Due to this era, the grain-producing areas of the Soviet-controlled areas were mainly from Moscow to the Ural region, as well as parts of the vast Siberia. Development efforts in these areas were limited.
In addition, the construction of water conservancy projects in most cultivated areas has been suspended due to the war.
Agriculture in the Soviet Union once again relied on the weather. As a result, the grain output in 1943 was nearly 5 million tons lower than in 1942.
Please note that the autumn harvest of 1942 was a mess from the Don River in southern Russia to the Volga River Basin, another important production area of the Soviet Union. The war destroyed the harvest. Even if the Soviet Union organized manpower to rescue the harvest, the Germans were not fools.
, they directly ordered the Russians under their control to harvest wheat, and then "bought" them all with worthless exchange coupons like ppk, or directly expropriated them for free.
In the early spring of 1943, the German forces were driven away from most areas of southern Russia. Spring plowing operations in this area began immediately. The Soviet Union, which regained another grain-producing land, saw its annual grain output plummet by seven-sevenths.
one.
1943 was truly a disastrous year.
During the harvest season of 1942, the Soviet army requisitioned 12 million tons of grain as military rations. Of course, it was not enough. Before the decisive battle in the Kursk region began, almost all the wheat stored in grain warehouses in various places was requisitioned.
So in the harvest season of 1943, Stalin's heart was broken when he looked at the mere 29 million tons of wheat.
This situation brought about a series of reactions.
The grain shipped by the allies in the past six months is only 1 million tons. It is unrealistic to expect the grain transported by the Americans to survive the crisis.
The alliance's logistics is gradually collapsing. Not only that, the Soviet Union's mobilization of manpower is about to reach a bottleneck. The Soviet Union needs more and faster food transportation from its allies, as well as the transportation of other strategic materials, but the Soviet Union has not gotten what it wanted.
Especially after the Battle of Kursk, the Soviet Union itself vomited three liters of blood. After a tragic victory, the Soviet Union was unable to launch a new large-scale battle. Especially with the arrival of the autumn rain season and winter, large-scale decisive battles are no longer possible.
.Only limited tactical breakthroughs have been implemented in some areas.
Due to the critical situation, Stalin and his close comrades have been urging the United States and Britain to open a second battlefield to share some pressure on the Soviet Union.
On this issue, the United States and Britain are evasive because they actually have their own agenda.
Britain does not need the post-war European continent. The power has changed from Germany to the Soviet Union or traditional France. It is best for them to collapse on the European battlefield so that the British Empire can continue to maintain its power.
The United States has a more cunning idea. It is said that there should be no great powers in the European continent. It is best for the glorious British Empire to fade away from its final glory in the constant consumption. The United States needs allies to defeat evil enemies, but what the United States needs is after the war.
Not enough to threaten your old allies or new enemies.
Of course, the Soviet Union will continue to help. As for letting its young men counterattack Europe now? No! The Russians and Germans will have to fight several more bloody battles. When their most effective forces have exhausted each other, they are the Western Allies.
Time to counterattack!
Is the Soviet Union just stupid and unable to understand the unkind thoughts in the hearts of its allies?
Stalin knew this, he would not take the initiative to show weakness to the invaders and make peace, and it was impossible for the invaders' chariots to stop.
Therefore, the winter of 1943 was the most painful winter that the Soviet people had experienced, and the most severe spring famine in 1944. This trend was probably the fate of the Soviet Union.
Because it is not only cold, but also the 80 million people who are subject to the food rationing system. Except for the military, whose security is better, the rationing power of others has been comprehensively reduced, and the entire alliance has fallen into a terrible state of hunger.
Is there some mysterious force that wants to starve to death the Soviet people who are fighting in the ruins?
No!
I'm afraid this is the magic bottoming out.
Everything is the general trend, and climate change cannot be shaken by human efforts.
After experiencing the disaster of reduced agricultural production in 1943, the Soviets persisted until the harvest season of 1944 amid chronic hunger.
By 1944, the agricultural situation in the Soviet Union had undergone tremendous changes. With the end of the Battle of Kursk, the Soviet Union recovered most of the Ukrainian areas east of Kiev. After regaining its grain-producing land, the Soviet Union immediately began rescue planting in the spring of 1944.
They sowed seeds on land that had been damaged by shells, and in the fall they reaped a bumper harvest.
In 1944, the entire Soviet Union had a bumper harvest, or rather, the entire Northern Hemisphere had a bumper harvest.
Although a large amount of the Soviet Union's land was still occupied, grain output actually reached 50 million tons, and hunger disappeared.
However, how many people in the Soviet Union in 1942 could predict the impact of climate on agriculture in the next few years?
Even a master like Lysenko was a little worried about 1943, like Stalin, who was full of hope for the future.
Lysenko still doesn’t know that he must have been feeling very uncomfortable in 1943, and doubts about his scientific research results would have been overwhelming. Then the scientific community would start another struggle. The dramatic result was the amazing harvest in 1944. Is this possible?
Isn’t it because of the success of applying for the “vernalization breeding operation”?
The fact that these all happened in another plane will now happen in this plane with great probability.
Yang Mingzhi had a clear understanding of the process of the war, but his understanding of Soviet logistics was quite superficial, especially the Soviet Union's most basic food supply, which he had almost no understanding of.
Once, after he accidentally obtained a batch of "luxury" goods supported by the United States, he thought that aid from allies had become normalized and large-scale.
As a result, he was able to understand the detailed data. With only 100,000 tons of grain supply per month, how could it satisfy the Soviet Union's huge appetite?
Lysenko expressed a lot of his worries, and after venting his unhappiness, he naturally expressed his sincere gratitude to Yang Mingzhi.
Why? In his opinion, General Berekov who went to Moscow was really an auspicious person.
It is impossible for Lysenko to lick his face and make a phone call to Stalin's security office and leave a message asking Stalin, "Do you still support me as always?" This kind of operation is really stupid and mindless.
He needed to find out what he wanted to know through some side channels, and the best thing was Stalin's whispers behind his back, which showed Stalin's true view of himself.
Today, Lysenko suddenly felt much better. Although he was still worried about planting next year, that would be after winter.
Besides, will there be less rainfall and bad weather next year? Lysenko hopes that his estimates are all wrong.
Yang Mingzhi also had other ideas. He suggested to Lysenko: "Dear Comrade Dean, maybe we can try greenhouse cultivation. Well... that is to build a greenhouse to lock in the heat of the sun. Even if it is severe winter outside, the greenhouse will still be the same.
It's warm. In this way, I believe the crops will continue to grow."
"You...you mean growing wheat in a greenhouse?"
"That's pretty much it. We can simulate spring and summer in the greenhouse, regardless of the cold winter outdoors. I believe we have this technical strength." Yang Mingzhi said confidently.
Yang Mingzhi's words really made Lysenko's heart beat. Everything lies in the "greenhouse".
Greenhouses are nothing new in this time and space. The Dutch began to build "greenhouses" in the modern sense as early as the 18th century.
Rather than saying it is a "greenhouse", it is better to say it is a glass house.
Lysenko was pleasantly surprised. After praising Yang Mingzhi for his insight in agriculture, he explained his concerns about "greenhouses".
"Now we build a large number of glass houses, but the cost is too high. Just processing the glass is very problematic. Even if we build one or two, how big will it be? We have consumed a lot of manpower and materials to build them.
How much more food can be produced using a greenhouse? I heard that the Dutch did this and they used it to grow flowers."
Yang Mingzhi was startled: "Huh? Why a glass house? I thought it was a greenhouse with brick walls piled with soil and plastic film instead of glass. I actually didn't think it would cost much."
"What? Brick walls, soil, and plastic?" Lysenko's eyes widened. At first glance, his face looked like a skeleton wrapped in skin, and his sharp eyes made the whole person a little scary.
Yang Mingzhi didn't care anymore. He was even more surprised by Lysenko's attitude, "What? You think it's strange."
"What is the plastic film you are talking about?"
Yang Mingzhi used two words here, merging the Russian words "plastic" and "membrane" together. No wonder Lysenko was confused.
Yang Mingzhi then explained that "plastic film" is one of the by-products of the petrochemical industry. It is actually polyethylene in the form of a film. He also explained it by the way.
Even so, Lysenko still found the idea unbelievable.
"General Berekov, do you think this method is feasible? You plan to use a pile of rocks, soil and ethylene separated from petroleum to make a so-called greenhouse? Is this feasible?"
"Hey! How can we do it if we don't try it? Do you think this is a waste of money? I don't think you think so," Yang Mingzhi said.
The "plastic greenhouses" that Yang Mingzhi understands are "Chinese-style plastic greenhouses." When it comes to admiring pragmatism, the Chinese are more capable of refined operations than the Russians in this regard.
The Chinese, who are accustomed to intensive farming, began to develop cheap greenhouses not long after the end of the humiliation era. Clay bricks and soil are the cheapest high-efficiency insulation materials. As for the production of polyethylene films, as long as there is oil, they will strive to produce polyethylene.
The process is not complicated, and the processing into thin films is also not complicated.
"I think since our chemical industry department can produce plastic products, is it difficult to produce some simple transparent vinyl films? Just like paraffin for making candles, they are all additional products of the petrochemical industry, and I am afraid they also play a very important role.
Limited. Transparent films can completely replace glass, and I’m afraid our ally the United States has already started to do so.”
After all, Lysenko was the president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Although his academic achievements in agriculture were not very good, he at least had to understand the cutting-edge development of agricultural science and technology in the contemporary world.
However, when Lysenko thought about it carefully, he did know that the Americans and the Dutch had built greenhouses, which the Americans used to cultivate some special crops, while the Dutch mainly cultivated flower bulbs.
It is unheard of to completely replace glass with ethylene film, a by-product of petrochemical industry, and to create huge greenhouses to grow wheat.
Lysenko could not think of any country that had ever engaged in such an agricultural production case. Could it be that this was a fantastic idea of Berekov's that had not been proven to be effective?
From a purely theoretical point of view, if you build thick earth walls, build a frame, and the ceiling is completely covered with vinyl film, its thermal insulation performance should be no problem.
Lysenko is not a person who rejects new things, but that new scientific theories cannot conflict with his own ideas. He has no control over those people abroad. If any biologist in the Soviet Union dares to question himself, he will hit him with a big stick.
Now, after thinking about it for a short time, he did not feel that Yang Mingzhi's idea was absurd or unfeasible at all, but that it was highly feasible.
Lysenko became more and more restless in his heart. On the outside, he still had an old face and said seriously: "No! General Berekov, farmers in those capitalist countries do not have such operations. They still build glass houses as greenhouses to produce
Almost all of them are flowers. I know you mean to build some particularly cheap greenhouses for long-term food production. Are you sure this is feasible?"
"Oh? Don't we have this kind of technology in the West?" Yang Mingzhi asked in surprise.
"I am an expert in this field, and this is the first time I understand your suggestion."
"Wow! Really? Maybe we should develop this technology, which will reflect the superiority of our Soviet system. Of course, the very real result is that it will give our fragile logistics more food supplies."
"So what do you want to do?"
"I……"
"Wait a moment." After saying that, Lysenko quickly took out a notebook and pen from his coat, "Just tell me, and I will record it truthfully."
Haha, the atmosphere became very subtle. Yang Mingzhi suddenly felt that he had become a teacher. Lysenko, a person who was criticized for being headstrong, actually humbly became a student?
Yang Mingzhi deliberately showed a very humble attitude: "Okay, the following are my naive opinions. The thermal insulation of soil is very good, we use it to build walls.
The top layer of the house is covered with polyethylene film, and we have to cover it with several more layers for thermal insulation.
It also needs to be equipped with a shading cloth on the top layer to adjust the lighting time.
It requires a top drainage system and ventilation system to avoid waterlogging and regulate indoor temperature.
It also requires an artificial heating system and can directly use our central heating system.
Including the underground of the greenhouse, we also need to install an insulation layer."
Yang Mingzhi listed these key points. He himself did not know how to make a traditional plastic greenhouse in the Chinese sense. He listed these necessary elements based on his own understanding. Originally, the birth of Chinese-style plastic greenhouse technology was basically
Because someone abroad proposed this concept, the Chinese found suitable materials based on this concept. After a period of exploration, the technology became more and more mature, and finally it became a system.
But its original principle is not complicated, and it has no limitations of the times in today's Soviet Union.
Even in that dimension, China was able to master the ethylene film blowing technology in the 1950s, largely due to the technical support of the Soviet Union's "Project 156".