Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 702: Chapter 611: The Achievements of France

After two years of vigorous promotion, “phosphate rock” fertilizer had been widely accepted by French farmers.

After all, this stuff really could increase wheat yields by more than 10%, and the price was not considered expensive—phosphate rock was just stones at the place of production and was basically free, with all costs arising from transportation, so it was very cheap.

Furthermore, with the strong promotion of agricultural service consulting companies and the Church, almost every French farmer had adopted new types of composting.

The combination of phosphate fertilizer and compost led to an approximately 14% increase in wheat and potato yields in France over the previous year, which could have been even higher had not many lands been converted to beet cultivation.

At the same time, soil fertility had also seen noticeable improvement, with the fallow period extended from three to four years.

However, Venio seemed to think this growth rate was somewhat unimpressive compared to Mirabeau’s astonishing industrial data, and so he only briefly mentioned it.

In actuality, after French farmers obtained the right to redeem land, their willingness to improve cultivation techniques had markedly increased, with various new types of farming tools and fertilizers quickly spreading with the help of agricultural service consulting companies.

After experiencing various natural disasters in the previous few years and repeatedly facing the threat of famine, French agriculture had finally stabilized completely.

Venio then spoke of the olive plantations in Tunisia.

In fact, France had started importing olive oil from Tunisia a long time ago, but due to limited amounts, French people more commonly cooked with butter or sunflower oil.

However, Venio, the Minister of Agriculture, was very diligent in his duties, and while promoting composting methods in Tunisia at the beginning of last year, he unexpectedly noticed the local olives.

Tunisia was absolutely a paradise for olives, with plants growing rapidly, almost no diseases or pests, and very high yields.

However, these olive trees were practically untended, growing alongside brush and weeds and even left for monkeys and birds to nibble on the ripe fruit.

So he came up with the idea of promoting an olive plantation model in Tunisia.

Joseph, after seeing his planning proposal, also immediately approved it and additionally provided him with policy incentives for tax reductions and tree subsidies.

At first, Joseph only wanted to develop Tunisia’s economy with this, but unexpectedly, Venio did very well and achieved surprising gains.

In Tunisia, there were olive trees everywhere; enclosing a vast area of these olive trees with a tiny amount of money was basically a plantation.

If the government subsidies were included, the investment was almost negligible.

As a result, many French immigrants in Tunisia, as well as local nobles, started setting up their olive plantations.

Nearby Tunisian tribes provided ample labor for these plantations, and even the women and children from the tribes could earn a little income by doing weeding and watering.

Driven by Venio’s efforts, within just one year, Tunisia had established hundreds of plantations, both large and small.

Under the meticulous care of plantation owners, olive production had seen a significant increase compared to the past. Last year, the total amount of olive oil shipped from Tunisia to France increased by 190%!

On the other side, Venio, with Mirabeau’s support, had stirred investors to build four large olive oil pressing factories in Tunisia. Directly pressing and barreling the oil at the production site had further reduced transportation costs.

As a result of a series of measures, the price of olive oil on the French market had already dropped below that of sunflower oil, and the French people were increasingly willing to use oil in their cooking.

A dish that had recently become popular in Paris was “Asparagus with Pan-Seared Beef,” which was fried in olive oil and considered a “petty bourgeoise” dish for the common folk.

In his report, Venio mentioned that this year three more oil pressing factories would be built in Tunisia. Considering the expansion pace of the plantations, after the olive harvest in October, the price of olive oil could be reduced by a further 15%.

What Venio hadn’t expected was the satisfactory returns from the olive plantations—with the Crown Prince providing a tax cut of 60%—had attracted even more French people to migrate to Tunisia.

Last year’s migration number had nearly reached 100,000. The registered Tunisian immigrants had already surpassed 250,000. There were also many who had gone there on their own from places like Italy and Spain, estimated to be another 20,000 to 30,000 people.

At the same time, the olive trade had also spurred urban construction in Tunisia. Currently, several small towns had gradually developed around the oil pressing factories, with two of them even starting to collect funds to build wooden tracks leading to Bizerte Port.

It could be said that Venio, with his “olive strategy,” had put Tunisia’s development on the fast track.

After the Minister of Agriculture, Ministers of Trade and Civil Registry, among others, also took their turns to speak.

However, their achievements were overshadowed by the brilliance of the three previous speakers and seemed somewhat ordinary.

The greatest accomplishment from Bailly’s side was that the “Special Trade Association” had constructed a sales network on the Indian Peninsula, the Caribbean Sea, and Brazil, but this matter could not be discussed in the Cabinet meeting.

Therefore, he could only emphasize the increase in exports to regions like Germany and Italy.

Under the Trade Alliance’s unique promotional methods, slogans like “No need for nine hundred and ninety-nine” and “Invite friends and family to ‘make a chop'” had become well-known across most of Europe, and sales were booming.

With the continuous reduction of costs for French industrial products, flagship products like alcohol, paper, and chemicals had almost dominated the markets of Southern Germany and Italy, with the market share of steel, machinery, and furniture also rapidly increasing.

Even in Russia and the Ottoman Empire, French goods were steadily encroaching on the market share of British products.

The Minister of Civil Registry looked begrudgingly at Venio.

Because his greatest achievement—mass migration to North Africa—had just been “spoiled” by the latter. In the end, he talked about conducting a census in Corsica and promoting identity card systems.

Even Marquis Castelli, the Navy Minister, who had long been lacking presence in Cabinet meetings, stood up to introduce the new steam-powered battleships under construction and the situation at the naval academy.

Queen Mary, listening to the ministers’ splendid achievements, was also extremely excited. France had witnessed such astonishing development within this year.

She couldn’t help but look towards Joseph, thinking to herself: It seems that these achievements have all appeared after the Crown Prince took charge of the Cabinet… My son is truly the Son of Divine Favor; his political talents far surpass my own, no, he can even rival his maternal grandmother!

Queen Mary’s mother, Maria Theresa, was the previous ruler of Austria and the person she admired the most.

Queen Mary couldn’t help feeling a bit wistful; perhaps she should have let her son take charge earlier.

But a smile quickly appeared on her face again. If her son could achieve such great success, wasn’t it also due to her meticulous guidance? In the future, she would have to support Joseph even more!