Agriculture for the elderly: the "semi-ploughing" model in the left-behind village

To facilitate mechanical farming and farmland management is the inherent need of agriculture for the elderly.

At present, the vast majority of rural areas in China have formed a family model of "part-time work and part-time farming based on intergenerational division of labor". This family model is called labor reproduction mode or family reproduction mode, that is to say, for an ordinary peasant family, young children go to the city to work and do business, while old parents stay in the village to work. As a result, the source of farmers' household income has changed from only agricultural income to the sum of agricultural income plus labor income. The income of farmers' families has increased, while the cost of living in rural areas is relatively low, so they will have spare money every year, life will be easier, and family reproduction can be carried out smoothly.

Generally speaking, the area of arable land per household in rural China is relatively small, and in order to achieve fairness, the land is generally divided into several grades, and then each grade is equally divided according to the number of people, thus forming a relatively small area of arable land for farmers. and the land is very scattered small peasant management pattern. In the case of less migrant workers, the disadvantages of scattered plots are covered up by surplus labor, which does not become a significant problem. Farmers are concerned about the size of the operating area and the burden of agricultural tax. After the abolition of agricultural tax, with the massive outflow of rural labor force, the land of farmers in cities is transferred to relatives and neighbors for farming, which further aggravates the long-standing malpractice of farmers' scattered farming land.

In other words, when farmers go to cities to work and do business, the left-behind families retain their agricultural income by farming at home through their elderly parents, but when the elderly parents farm, the demand for convenient land farming becomes strong. How to separate small pieces of arable land into large chunks for continuous operation, so as to facilitate mechanical farming and farmland management, has become the inherent need of agriculture for the elderly.

"Agriculture for the elderly" is mainly engaged in the production of bulk agricultural products and self-sufficient agriculture.

In the structure of "half-work and half-farming" based on the intergenerational division of labor, the reason why the "half-farming" has been maintained is that the elderly parents of the family no longer have the advantage to go to the city to work and do business, there are fewer employment opportunities, and they still have the conditions to engage in agricultural production, so they stay in the village to work. Such a kind of "semi-farming" in which elderly family members stay in the village for farming is different from "full farming" in agriculture. They do not have the ambition of agricultural management, nor do they have the enthusiasm and ability to connect with the market, but are only willing to grow grain and other agricultural products. The reason is that the prices of agricultural products are stable and the production technology is mature, so it is easy to buy agricultural materials or sell products. In addition, they produce for the purpose of self-sufficiency. Therefore, they are mainly concerned about how to reduce labor input in the production process and facilitate field management, especially land management, because it can greatly facilitate mechanical farming, farmland irrigation and field management.

In rural areas across the country, the "semi-farming" structure of "half-work and half-ploughing based on intergenerational division of labor" mainly refers to the production of bulk agricultural products and self-sufficient agriculture, generally excluding market-oriented agriculture. Take "elderly agriculture" as a typical "semi-farming", mainly grow grain, at the same time engage in a courtyard economy to be self-sufficient, and sell the surplus in local markets. On the other hand, the operating farmers who carry out agricultural production facing the market often have to invest a huge amount of money, expand the production scale as much as possible, and make the most effective use of labor to earn profits from the market. This kind of household management is a "full-tillage" structure which is very different from the "half-work and half-tillage" structure that exists in most peasant households in the country.

To put it simply, market-oriented operating farmers are not within the general structure of "part-time work and half-farming based on intergenerational division of labor". And this kind of operating farmers is the so-called new type of agricultural operators strongly supported by the current central policy, mainly including family farms, large farmers and farmers' cooperatives, as well as other operating farmers who make money from the market for market production. especially some cash crops but small-scale farmers.

The "semi-ploughing" we are talking about mainly refers to "elderly agriculture", which grows bulk agricultural products on household contracted land and engages in a self-sufficient courtyard economy in their own courtyards. At present, nearly 1/4 of China's cultivated land has been transferred, and 3/4 of the cultivated land is still managed by ordinary farmers, most of which belong to this kind of "semi-farming", and nearly 1/4 of the transferred cultivated land is also transferred spontaneously among farmers. only a small part of the transfer has been transferred to the so-called "new agricultural management main body". The spontaneous transfer of land among farmers may form moderate scale operation in the village, and these moderate scale farmers may not have to go to the city to work to get no less than the income of migrant workers. We call such farmers "middle farmers".

From another point of view, about 2/3 of China's arable land grows grain, the vast majority of which are grown on a small scale by peasant households, while there are few large grain growers. Because there is no need to face the market and there is no problem of docking with the market, families of small farmers can grow grain more easily. In addition to growing grain, there are also farmers with a very small scale and small investment of cash crops, whose main source of income does not rely on agriculture but rely on young people from their families to work in cities. these market-oriented farmers who grow cash crops still belong to the "half-farming" structure of "half-work and half-farming based on intergenerational division of labor".

As a result, at present, the vast majority of China's cultivated land is cultivated by "semi-tillers" represented by "elderly agriculture", while "full farming" farming only cultivates a very limited part of the country's arable land, far less than 1/4 of the total. Therefore, when formulating policies on agriculture, rural areas and farmers, including agricultural policies, the state must consider the situation of "semi-farming" and cannot assume that all farmers are facing the market for production. "semi-ploughing" people are most concerned about the contradiction between small farmers and large-scale production, rather than with the big market.

"semi-farming" is not only an economic activity, but also a social and cultural reproduction.

The "semi-ploughers" represented by "agriculture for the elderly" grow bulk agricultural products and self-sufficient production, and there is no problem of docking with the market. They carry out agricultural production on their own contracted land, planting in spring and harvesting in autumn. They are a little busy when they are busy and a little idle when they are idle. Between busy farming and idle farming, we should carry out field management and do some sideline business. Their agricultural labor tasks are not full, their employment is insufficient, and their agricultural income is not high. In a year, the model of "farming for three months, celebrating Chinese New year for three months, and leisure for half a year" is carried out rhythmically according to the season. Everything is arranged in any season, and agricultural production can be arranged freely at any time, such as in the morning or evening. In a sense, agriculture has become an activity mixed with farmers' leisure. As long as mechanization can reduce labor input, farming is like planting flowers and exercising. On the other hand, the mutual assistance among the neighbors when the farmers are busy and participating in the human cycle of the village in their leisure time make "semi-farming" not only an economic activity, but also a social and cultural reproduction process.

The young children go to the city to work and do business, and the elderly parents stay in the village for farming, and the more or less income from farming is related to the more or less contracted land. When it is impossible to expand the area of cultivated land, agricultural production carried out with the season will set aside a lot of leisure time, and field management outside the busy season is also a very easy thing. The seasonality of agriculture itself and the difficulty in regulating the agricultural production process make it naturally suitable for family management. Middle-aged and elderly people who lack employment opportunities for migrant workers in cities produce food that does not connect to the market and produce the highest output of agricultural products with the highest efficiency. It is one of their meaningful ways of life to get the highest agricultural income on a given area of arable land and enjoy life in their leisure time. It is also a part of the whole rhythm of production and life.

The development of agricultural machinery, agricultural technology and agronomy makes agriculture for the elderly fully qualified.

Although growing grain on one's own small piece of contracted land may have only two or three months of labor input each year, it seems to be a serious underemployment from an economic point of view, but from the perspective of agriculture alone, because it must be carried out with the season, agricultural labor must be divided into busy and idle. The current large-scale production technology such as mechanization has greatly reduced the labor intensity of busy agriculture, but it can not shorten the cycle of crop production, especially grain production, so it is inevitable that there will be a long period of agricultural leisure. This makes it impossible to achieve full employment in agricultural production, which makes the middle-aged and elderly who are already in a "semi-retired" state most suitable for agricultural production. They half-produce and half-rest, take agricultural production as a means of leisure, and arrange their own time for production in the seasonal rhythm of agricultural production.

There is a key point here, that is, the intensity of agricultural production itself. At present, China's agricultural mechanization is making rapid progress, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides have further reduced farmers' accumulation of farm manure and weeding and other manual labor. The development of agricultural machinery, agricultural technology and agronomy has greatly reduced the labor intensity of agricultural production, thus making agriculture for the elderly fully qualified. This is the reason for the existence of the national universal structure of "half-work and half-farming based on intergenerational division of labor".

Of course, as mentioned earlier, if through land adjustment, small plots and large plots, so that farmers can cultivate in succession, it can be more convenient for farmers' agricultural production and field management, but there is still a lot of work to be done. With "agriculture for the elderly" as a typical "semi-farming" structure, it is still necessary to have a strong village community organization to coordinate the common production affairs beyond one household, so as to solve the "unmanageable, uneconomical and uneconomical affairs" of a single family.

In the "part-time work and part-time farming" structure based on the intergenerational division of labor, middle-aged and elderly parents work in agriculture, and these parents will continue to grow old, so that one day they will no longer have the production capacity and withdraw from agricultural production. but they still have enthusiasm and interest in courtyard economy. As long as you can move, you have to do something. this is no longer economic activity, but a way to keep your life full and interesting. In the village, even if there is no farming, there are still friends and relatives in the acquaintance society, and there are all kinds of things to worry about. They are getting older and older in such a close relationship between people and nature. Finally, the fallen leaves return to their roots and be buried in peace.

By the time the parents of the middle-aged and elderly farmers are old, the young children in the past have become parents again. if they get a decent income and employment in the city, they will settle down in the city, or even send the whole family to the city to live. If they fail to go to the city, cannot stay in the city or are unhappy, they will return to the countryside in semi-retirement to replace their parents in farming. The income from farming is not much, the intensity is not high, semi-production and semi-leisure, it is not only economic production, but also social and cultural production, or the process of rediscovering the meaning of life. They may continue to replicate the new "half-work and half-farming" structure based on the intergenerational division of labor. With the sustained growth of China's economy, it is true that more and more urban farmers will live honorably in the cities instead of returning to the countryside to engage in "semi-farming", but at least in the next 20 years, some migrant workers will find it difficult to live in the cities, and they will probably return to the countryside to continue their parents'"semi-farming".