Chapter 618

Developing South Africa was also one of Austria's measures to deal with the agricultural crisis. The new jobs were just right for the bankrupt farmers to avoid unemployment.

European people had always been very interested in gold. Gold mining was the easiest way to get rich in this era. As long as one was lucky enough, one could get rich.

Austria was the first country to immigrate to Africa. Five out of ten started from gold mines, and two out of the remaining five worked as logistics for gold mining.

In this era, there was a shortage of immigrants in the colonies. To stand out in the competition, publicity was the key.

A beautiful picture was essential. As for whether one could find a gold mine and make a fortune there? Franz could say with certainty that 99% of people couldn't make a fortune.

There was a good joke: Two brothers went to find a gold mine, only to find out that they didn't know how to explore at all.

This was the truth. Unless it was an open-air gold mine, and the gold content was particularly high, ordinary people wouldn't be able to find it even if they encountered it.

Now that the gold mine had been discovered, there were many exploration teams in South Africa. The rich and powerful in the country were also organizing exploration teams. Most of the gold mines belonged to these people.

If it wasn't for the Government of Vienna opening the gold acquisition function, ordinary people could directly sell gold mines to the government. Otherwise, even if they found a gold mine, they wouldn't be able to mine it. It might even cause a disaster.

Seeing that everyone was so enthusiastic, Franz didn't want to do anything. Others wanted to find a gold mine and make a fortune, but he invested in local farms and plantations.

It turned out that transmigrators weren't omnipotent. A point on the map was thousands of square kilometers, and a slight deviation would be a hundred and eighty kilometers.

Whether or not they could find a gold mine depended on luck. Although the gold mine in South Africa was large, it wasn't large enough to have a deposit of tens of thousands of square kilometers.

Relying on paper to find a gold mine was not much different from relying on luck. The famous gold mine in the future didn't even have a name in this era.

Even if a name appeared, after Franz's butterfly effect, only God knew how big the error would be.

Since that was the case, it was better to be lazy. Gold diggers might not be able to make money, but the logistics would definitely make money.

Investing in nearby farms and plantations, selling bread, cheese, fruits, vegetables, meat, and other necessities would definitely not lose money.

Although the agricultural crisis broke out and agricultural prices plummeted everywhere, this had little impact on the inland areas of Africa.

Food could be transported from the outside, but cheese, fruits, vegetables, and fresh meat couldn't be transported from the outside, right?

Although canned food had appeared, not many people could stand eating canned food every day.

If they were lucky, there might be a gold mine under the farms. Who could say for sure? When they were in West Africa, the royal plantation established by Franz was discovered more than once.

Needless to say, the gold mines in South Africa were all piled up. It was a good idea to buy land near the gold mine. If there was a gold mine underground, you could make a fortune. If not, you could still make a small profit.

The news of the discovery of a large number of gold mines in South Africa was still circulating in a small circle. The outside world was still in a state of panic over the agricultural crisis.

After the agricultural crisis in Berlin, the Government of Prussia became with the crisis. This was related to his own interests, so he couldn't afford to be careless.

No one knew when it started, but Austria had become the wind vane of Europe's agriculture, and William I also kept a close eye on the government in Vienna.

He watched as the Government of Vienna introduced a fallow law, limiting the area planted and calling for all countries to reduce their production. William didn't feel relieved, instead, he got a bigger headache.

Reducing food production isn't just a matter of a few words, it also involves the interests of many parties. Most importantly, it involves the interests of the Junker nobles in agriculture.

Times were different now. Prussia was a food importing country, so they naturally didn't have to worry about these problems. But now, they had become a food exporting country.

If Russia was said to be the craziest in farming, followed by Austria, then the Kingdom of Prussia was ranked third. In recent years, the Kingdom of Prussia's arable land had increased by half.

Everyone was very enthusiastic about farming. The land that was originally wasted by Russia was now being efficiently used by the Juncker nobles.

Now, the problem came. Food overcapacity. This wasn't just a little bit of overcapacity. According to the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, Europe's food overcapacity rate was over 21%.

No matter how much food there was, the importing countries couldn't reduce their own production. It was the exporting countries that needed to reduce production.

Even if a part of the food was wasted due to various reasons, the production that needed to be reduced was still not a small number when distributed among the countries.

The main culprit for this was the Russians. According to Russia's agricultural area, if all the food could be transported out, even if all the other exporting countries stopped exporting, Europe wouldn't lack food.

Reality was cruel. The international market was too small.

As the agricultural population of each country increased, the amount of land cultivated also increased. With the improvement of agricultural technology, the food production of each country was increasing, but the market's growth rate was far behind.

Take France as an example. Because of the increase in France's food production, it was estimated that imports would drop by 2% this year.

This data was released by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture. It would be announced to the public once a year, and its reputation had already been established. William didn't doubt its accuracy.

It wasn't the first time that the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture called for all countries to reduce their food production. Since 1870, the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture had issued a warning about food overcapacity.

However, it didn't work. Even Austria couldn't reduce its production, let alone other countries.

"The agricultural crisis is really coming. The Austrians have taken practical actions to reduce production. Today, I called everyone here to discuss whether we should follow up."

From the bottom of his heart, William the First agreed with reducing food production. If the market wasn't restored to normal, no one would have a good life.

"Your Majesty, Austria is the world's largest agricultural exporter. After the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, they were also the most affected.

Reducing production now is actually a last resort. The price of food in the international market has collapsed. Now, the more they export, the more they lose.

On the surface, it was the Anglo-Russian agreement that triggered the agricultural crisis. In fact, Russia's food had just entered the international market. It was Austria's dumping in the first half of the year that led to the collapse of food prices.

According to the data we collected, up until now, Austria has sold about 34.2 million tons of agricultural products to the international market, including more than 30 million tons of food alone.

This is already more than 81% of the total amount they traded in the international market in 1871. If the Government of Vienna doesn't restore their strategic reserves in the second half of the year and purchase food from the market, then the price will continue to collapse.

It seems to be to stop the Russians from returning to the international market, but in fact, this is an excuse to drag everyone down.

If no measures are taken, the international food prices will continue to be low for the next two to three years. During this period, the more food we sell, the more we lose. If we don't sell, we won't be able to recover our capital.

Our share of international food exports is only 6.6%. Even if we reduce production, we won't be able to save the situation. Unless the Russians are willing to reduce production, this crisis won't end in a short period of time.

The top priority is to protect the local market. I suggest reducing agricultural taxes and agricultural export taxes, and increasing import tariffs on agricultural products. If necessary, we can follow Austria's example and adopt a minimum purchase price to protect farmers' profits. "

Mao Qi's opinion was very clear. The government can't interfere with everyone's freedom to grow. The reason was very simple. If Prussia reduced production, and the Russians didn't, then they would be helping the enemy.

"Prime Minister, it's easy to increase import tariffs on agricultural products, but the chain reaction has to be considered.

The relationship between Prussia and Poland is at a critical moment. If we increase import tariffs on agricultural products, what will the Poles think?

If they raise import tariffs on our industrial and commercial products, then the agricultural crisis will also affect the industry.

Don't forget, our financial situation is already very bad. If we do this, this year's financial deficit will increase significantly. Maybe it won't be long before we declare bankruptcy. "

It wasn't that Golman didn't want to protect agriculture. The problem was, as the Minister of Finance, he was very clear about the financial crisis of Prussia.

Just the reduction of agricultural taxes and export tariffs on agricultural products would reduce the revenue of the Kingdom of Prussia by more than 56 million marks. This was already very dangerous.

If the increase in import tariffs on agricultural products caused Poland to increase import tariffs on industrial products from Prussia, then Prussia's fragile industry and commerce would also be hit hard.

This would cause a chain reaction, and it might even cause an industrial crisis. The final loss would not be a small figure.

Prussia didn't have a colonial market, and its products couldn't compete with the UK, Fao, and the other three countries. The Polish market was very important to them.

Mao Qi smiled faintly and explained as if nothing had happened. "It's not that serious. The Poles don't dare to turn against us.

It's easy to deal with them. We just have to encourage the Polish radical group and let them make territorial claims on Austria. We will come out and deal with the aftermath.

After offending two powerful neighbors, does the Polish government have any other choice? "

This explanation made Golman speechless. There was no other way. Poland was not a normal country now, and it was very chaotic.

This trick was not very effective on other countries. No one would be so arrogant, but Poland was an exception. They could do this kind of thing.