Chapter 100: Pesticide

The reason why pyrethrum was so cheap was, in Bruno's estimation, likely because it already existed in this world.

During the days since his arrival, Bruno had thoroughly observed various aspects of this world—climate, vegetation, soil conditions, mineral resources, and even social culture.

Apart from the presence of magic, the social development trajectory and most biological species in this world were strikingly similar to those on Earth. Although there were slight differences, they were negligible.

This was closely related to the pricing system in the system shop.

For example, items that already existed in this world were sold at extremely low prices.

Common vegetables like onions and beets, which naturally existed here, could be purchased for just a few Glory Points.

Even the most precious magic crystal mines in this world could be directly bought from the system shop for a mere twenty Glory Points.

However, things like blueprints for a three-masted ship, potatoes, and corn, which did not exist in this world or had never been discovered by Bruno, were outrageously expensive.

This indicated that the pricing system in the system shop was not solely based on an item's value and utility, but also on how difficult it was to obtain.

Take pyrethrum, for instance. Since Bruno had already seen a few scattered flowers in the dense forest surrounding the Hanging Garden, the system deemed it a native plant of Idar, making its price exceptionally low.

Even though the vast sea of pyrethrum flowers before him had only cost Bruno five Glory Points, its significance was immeasurable.

With these flowers, the long-standing pest problem in Idar was practically solved.

The flower heads of pyrethrum contained four insecticidal compounds, with pyrethrin I being the most potent.

By extracting pyrethrins from pyrethrum, highly effective natural broad-spectrum insecticides could be produced dozens of times more toxic to insects than organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides.

Its mechanism of action was to disrupt insect nervous systems, causing overexcitement, convulsions, paralysis, and eventually death.

Additionally, since only a small amount of pyrethrins was needed to produce the pesticide, and it was used in low concentrations, it was relatively safe for humans and livestock while causing minimal environmental pollution.

However, it had some drawbacks it was highly toxic to fish, harmful to certain beneficial insects, and pests could develop resistance with prolonged use.

Yet, Bruno was unconcerned about these drawbacks. Compared to the benefits this natural pesticide would bring to Idar, such issues were negligible!

Since Idar's farmland had expanded by more than double this year, most serfs had been tied to agricultural production, creating a shortage of labor for shipbuilding, city expansion, and road construction.

Although Idar's propaganda strategy had attracted a steady influx of new settlers, most of them were drawn by land policies in other words, they came for farmland.

Thus, while the population was increasing rapidly, the workforce available for public projects remained insufficient.

Moreover, Bruno had no intention of immediately forcing these newcomers into construction work. Since they had come to farm, he was willing to let them farm.

After all, they had just moved in they needed time to adjust to Idar, which was vastly different from the rest of the Empire.

Besides, having grain in storage provided security.

If war broke out in the northern frontier, no one could predict how the situation would unfold.

But with an ample food supply, Idar would have the confidence to weather any storm!

However, while Idar's farmland expanded, the number of farmers grew even more!

On Earth, the same land area could be farmed by two people, but here, it required three to five people!

The primary reason was pest infestations!

In this world where magic existed but druids did not the only way to control pests was through manual labor.

In simple terms, the commoners and serfs had to pluck each insect by hand!

Unbelievable? Perhaps.

But this was the reality in Idar!

If it were just a few plants in a garden, Bruno might have tolerated this primitive method.

However, for vast farmlands, such a pest control approach was simply too inefficient!

Thus, the introduction of pyrethrum-based pesticides was Bruno's solution.

Once these pesticides were widely adopted in Idar, a massive workforce would be freed from agriculture!

Perhaps, he might even gather enough manpower to build new wonders!

Of course… that was just a fleeting thought.

After all, Idar's current finances would never allow such extravagance.

Nonetheless, the production of pesticides would undoubtedly propel Idar's agricultural development to new heights.

The pesticide workshop was built directly on the hillside where large quantities of pyrethrum were grown.

From harvesting to production, the entire process was highly streamlined, even eliminating transportation costs for raw materials.

During harvesting, the serfs only needed to collect the flowers and leaves, while the roots remained in the soil to continue growing.

This way, Bruno wouldn't have to re-purchase pyrethrum every year.

Even though it only cost five Glory Points, annual purchases would still be a significant expense.

As for the pesticide production process, Bruno had already written it down and handed it to Shabi.

The key step was to extract pyrethrins and mix them with solvents in specific ratios to create the pesticide.

Thus, as long as they had enough pyrethrum, the rest was relatively simple.

While explaining some key details of pesticide production to Shabi, a beggar's chicken was finally cooked over the fire.

"Sit down and eat." Bruno used a stick to pull out a mud-coated beggar's chicken from the charcoal fire, turning to Shabi as he spoke.

"This… doesn't seem appropriate…" Shabi hesitated.

"I order you to sit down and eat the chicken!"