Three brothers each inherit an acre of land on their 18th birthday. They can use it however they wish. They also receive 10,000 seeds from the Ministry of Agriculture.

There is only enough habitable land for 1 acre per person in the world. There can never be more. And if an individual owns 2 acres, another person owns none.

Within one week, the first brother chooses to sell the land. He wants the money to pay for university fees so he can earn more money in a high-flying job.

The second brother plants the seeds in his land, but the returns are meagre, barely enough to scrape by. The quality of the seeds is not the same as it was. The plants’ yield worsens each year. To top it off, he must pay the government to provide new seeds each year.

However carefully he manages his farm, and however hard he works, the harvest worsens.

He mortgages half of his land to pay for Miracle-Manure to transform his next crop.

Decades ago, their grandparents grew enough to produce surplus grain. They sold it to build their house. Their wealth grew. They even kept some of their best slow-grow, high-yield seeds in a box in the attic. Twenty-four seeds for each acre, says the accompanying note. And unlike the government-issued seeds, these ones regrow with a new crop each year.

Upon finding the seeds, the middle brother says, “We need more grain NOW, not in four years. How will we ever make a profit?” He laughs. “No wonder they invented Miracle-Manure!”

The first brother got his university-graduate job, but he’s never able to send any money back to his struggling brothers. He’s got ever-increasing expenses in the city. He can’t even save up enough to buy a house, so he’s trapped paying rent.

The Miracle-Manure doesn’t help much at all, and the crop remains roughly the same. He needs to increase the amount, so he mortgages the rest of his land to afford a new shipment.

When he turns 18, the youngest brother decides to perform an experiment. He will plant one of the ‘slow-grow’ seeds, clearing 1/24th of the land and sacrificing 4% of his crop for delayed gains. The next year he will plant two seeds, then four, then eight, then the rest. That way, he has time to see if the system works. If it doesn’t, he still has most of his original harvest each year.

By the time the slow-grow seeds are sprouting, the first brother is burned out from working in the city. He needs a higher-paying job just to keep his family on the same level as before.

The second brother has failed to repay his mortgage as the Miracle-Manure didn’t change his fortunes. He now works on another farm, and is paid a low wage.

The youngest brother struggles for years. Other farmers think he is crazy for selling his extra government-issued seed. But as his grandparents’ seeds begin to sprout, the mighty plants produce a much higher-quality grain, and in greater amounts too. His crop goes from poor, to better, to magnificent, as he converts more area to the slow-grow seeds.

Soon, he has a surplus like his grandparents. He expands the house and buys land from struggling neighbours. As he plants more, and harvests his grain each year, his family thrives.

All seems lost for the two older brothers. One has lost years to stress and chasing ever-higher positions, while remaining trapped in the inner city. The other resents working for land-owners who pay him less each year as profits never materialise.

“Brothers,” says the youngest. “Come and live with me. There is room for all of us to live as our grandparents did.”

They eagerly agree.

“Wait,” he says. “There is a condition for you to take control of your own acre of land again.”

His brothers await the catch.

“You may never sell the land, or it could be swallowed by a centralized collective farm — the ones that keep us hungry with their poor nutrition.”

They agree.

“Use the slow-grow seeds. Be patient, and wait for the returns.”

The brothers discuss this, and return with a resounding ‘yes’.

“And the final condition?”

“Never use Miracle-Manure. However many riches it promises, you end up paying for plain old shit.

The brothers agree.

They farm the land into abundance and spread the word of their winning agricultural system.

While most of the world ignores them, a few brave farmers switch over from the government-issued grain.

The seeds of change have been sown.