Chapter 612: The Achievements of France
After two years of vigorous promotion, "Stone Fertilizer," also known as Phosphate Fertilizer, has been widely adopted by French farmers.
After all, this product genuinely increases wheat yields by more than 10%, and its price is not high. Phosphate ore, at its source, is essentially just rock, costing almost nothing. All costs are incurred during transportation, making it very inexpensive.
Furthermore, with the strong advocacy of the Agricultural Services Consulting Company and the Church, almost every French farmer has adopted new composting methods.
Phosphate Fertilizer combined with composting led to an approximate 14% increase in France's wheat and potato yields last year compared to the year prior. This figure would have been even higher if not for a significant portion of land being repurposed for sugar beet cultivation.
At the same time, soil fertility has significantly improved, extending the fallow period from three years to four.
However, Vergniaud seemed to feel that this growth rate paled in comparison to Mirabeau's astonishing industrial data, so he glossed over it in just a few sentences.
In reality, after French farmers gained the right to redeem their land, their willingness to improve cultivation techniques greatly increased, and various new agricultural tools and fertilizers were rapidly introduced with the help of the Agricultural Services Consulting Company.
After enduring several years of natural disasters and repeatedly facing the threat of severe famine, French agriculture has now completely stabilized.
Vergniaud then began to discuss the olive plantations in Tunisia.
However, Vergniaud, the Minister of Agriculture, was quite diligent. In early last year, while promoting composting methods in Tunisia, he unexpectedly took notice of the olives there.
Tunisia was truly an olive paradise. The trees grew rapidly, suffered almost no pests or diseases, and yielded an exceptionally high output.
Yet, these olive trees were almost entirely untended, growing wild among shrubs and weeds, with monkeys and birds even allowed to feast on the ripe fruit.
This led him to consider implementing the olive plantation model in Tunisia.
Upon reviewing his proposal, Joseph immediately approved it, even offering additional tax reductions and seedling subsidies as policy incentives.
Initially, Joseph had merely intended to use this to develop Tunisia's economy, but unexpectedly, Vergniaud performed exceptionally well, resulting in an Unexpected Harvest.
In Tunisia, olive trees were ubiquitous. One only needed to spend a small amount of money to fence off large areas of olive trees, and it essentially became a plantation.
When accounting for government subsidies, the investment was almost negligible.
Consequently, many French immigrants in Tunisia, as well as local nobles, eagerly established olive plantations.
Nearby Tunisian tribes provided ample labor for these plantations, with even women and children from the tribes earning a small income by performing tasks like weeding and watering.
Driven by Vergniaud, Tunisia established hundreds of large and small plantations in just one year.
Under the meticulous care of the plantation owners, olive yields saw a massive increase compared to previous years. Last year, the total volume of olive oil shipped from Tunisia to France surged by 190%!
Meanwhile, with Mirabeau's support, Vergniaud also encouraged investors to build four large oil pressing factories in Tunisia, directly pressing and barreling the oil at the source, further reducing transportation costs.
As a result of these measures, the price of olive oil on the French market has now dropped below that of sunflower oil, and French people are becoming more liberal in their use of oil for cooking.
A popular new dish in Paris, "Pan-Seared Beef with Asparagus," is cooked with olive oil and is considered a "petit bourgeois" delicacy for the common people. Even discerning bakeries add a touch of olive oil when making dark bread to improve its texture.
Vergniaud mentioned in his report that three more oil pressing factories would be built in Tunisia this year. Coupled with the expansion of the plantations, the price of olive oil is expected to drop by another 15% after the olive harvest in October.
Moreover, what Vergniaud hadn't anticipated was that the good returns from the olive plantations—the Crown Prince had offered a 60% tax reduction—attracted even more French people to immigrate to Tunisia to run these plantations.
Last year, the number of immigrants approached 100,000. Currently, over 250,000 Tunisian immigrants are officially registered. Many more traveled independently by boat from Italy, Spain, and other places, estimated to be an additional twenty to thirty thousand individuals.
At the same time, the olive trade also spurred urban development in Tunisia. Currently, several oil pressing factories have become centers for gradually developing towns, with two even beginning to raise funds to build wooden tracks leading to the Port of Bizerte.
It could be said that Vergniaud's "Olive Strategy" had put Tunisia's development on the fast track.
After the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Trade and the Minister of Population also delivered their reports.
However, their achievements were overshadowed by the brilliance of the preceding three, making them seem somewhat unremarkable.
Bailly's greatest achievement was the Special Trade Association's establishment of sales networks in the Indian Peninsula, the Caribbean Sea, and Brazil, but this was not something that could be discussed in a cabinet meeting.
Therefore, he could only emphasize the growth in exports to Germany and Italy.
Thanks to the unique promotional methods of the Trade Alliance caravans, slogans like "Not 999" and "Invite Friends to 'Slash the Price'" had become well-known across half of Europe, driving booming sales.
Coupled with the continuously falling production costs of French industrial goods, key products such as wine, paper, and chemicals virtually dominated the markets of South Germany and Italy, while market shares for steel, machinery, and furniture were also rapidly increasing.
Even in Russia and the Ottoman Empire, French goods were steadily eroding the market share of British products.
The Minister of Population, on his part, cast a wistful glance at Vergniaud.
His greatest achievement, the large-scale immigration to North Africa, had just been "spoiled" by the latter. He ultimately spoke about the census conducted in Corsica and the promotion of Identity Cards.
Even the Marquis Castelli, the Minister of Navy, who had long maintained a low profile in cabinet meetings, uncharacteristically rose to introduce the new Steam-Powered Battleships under construction and the status of the naval academy.
Queen Mary listened to the brilliant accomplishments of the ministers, her heart stirring with excitement. France had achieved such astonishing development in the past year.
She couldn't help but look at Joseph, thinking, 'It seems all these achievements appeared after the Crown Prince took over the cabinet... My son is indeed the Son of Divine Favor; his political talent truly surpasses my own, no, he can even rival his grandmother!'
Queen Mary's mother, Maria Theresa, was the former ruler of Austria and the person she admired most.
Queen Mary couldn't help but feel a little wistful, perhaps she should have let her son govern earlier.
But a smile soon reappeared on her face. 'My son is so outstanding, isn't it because of my meticulous guidance? In the future, I will offer even more support to Joseph from behind the scenes, making France even stronger!'
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