Profits are rewarded by subsidies and the scale of agriculture becomes a trap.

Can scale agriculture certainly bring economies of scale? In the minds of many people, this is hardly a problem, but this is not the case. Although it is difficult to make too much profit if the planting scale is too small, it may also be a "false profit" if the planting scale is too large. The so-called "false profits" means that these profits do not come from the planting industry itself, but from government subsidies or incentives.

As far as grain production is concerned, scale expansion often does not increase the per unit yield of land, but often decreases. China wants to develop agriculture on a moderate scale, which means that the larger the scale, the better. Some people are keen to do large-scale projects, including some industrial and commercial capital to go to the countryside to encircle land, just to get more resources from the government. Our reporter's research at the grass-roots level has also confirmed this point.

Large households who take the initiative to downsize

Xia Zhipeng is a big grain grower in Heshan District, Yiyang City, Hunan Province. In 2010, he used all his savings to transfer 1300 mu of land to grow rice in partnership with others. "as a result, I lost 300000 yuan in the first year." Xia Zhipeng said.

Xia Zhipeng told the reporter that before he decided to expand grain cultivation, he simply thought that "the larger the scale, the higher the efficiency." in the initial understanding, "large-scale farming" was no different from the way his parents were farming. "it's just a little more area."

"at that time, I also thought that the more area I had, the more subsidies I could get." Xia Zhipeng admitted frankly that at that time, the relevant departments also encouraged everyone to take the road of scale, "starting at 200 mu, but not capping it." as long as it meets this standard, it is very likely to get a reward.

Xia Zhipeng still remembers that at that time, the reward for large families was 3000 yuan per family in the district, 10,000 yuan in the city, and 50,000 yuan in the province. Due to the sudden transfer of 1300 mu of land, I have not only become the inspection object of leaders at all levels, but also become the darling of the local media, and can "show my face" on the local TV station from time to time.

Under this background, several large grain growers with a scale of more than 1000 mu have appeared in Heshan District. "it's funny to say that big families are all very famous, and as a result, they all suffer miserably." Xia Zhipeng said that he is one of them. Reflect on the reasons for failure, nothing more than the following.

First, there is a serious shortage of supporting equipment and facilities, not to mention dryers, there are only one or two rotary tillers and harvesters, and there are no granaries or machine tillage roads.

Second, because the area is too large, the field management is a mess. At the end of July of that year, late rice was planted in other people's fields, and a large area of early rice was confiscated from his fields.

Third, lack of skill in separation and confusion in management. It is very common for workers to "dawdle". "they sit at several tables while eating, but who knows if they can do something?" Xia Zhipeng said.

Today, Xia Zhipeng began to take the road of intensive cultivation, taking the initiative to reduce the planting scale to 500 mu. He plans to spend two or three years improving soil fertility, stabilizing a skilled labor force, establishing financial and management systems, expanding sales channels, and eventually registering a brand for his own rice.

"false profit" induces expansion impulse

Xia Zhipeng is not alone in taking the initiative to reduce acreage. The same is true of Zhang Baohua, a 64-year-old grain grower in Taiping Village, Xiuhui Town, Zhangqiu, Shandong Province. "although my 182 mu of wheat has been threatened by powdery mildew this year, I have harvested an average of 1004 jin of wheat per mu, one or two hundred jin more than when I covered more land two years ago." Zhang Baohua said.

The peak of Zhang Baohua's transfer of land was in 2013, reaching 670 mu. He told reporters: "in the past, when the area was small, the management was very timely, and I could see it myself. Later, when I reached 670 mu, I had to employ a lot of labor. If there were no subsidies, I could not earn much money."

Zhang Baohua said that when he planted less land, he cultivated the land intensively and had a high yield per mu, with a profit of 500 yuan per mu. When he planted more, he only made a profit of 200 to 300 yuan per mu, or even lower. Many big families have the same experience. So where does the incentive for them to expand their planting come from? A subsidy or reward from the government.

After the Central Committee document No. 1 in 2013 encouraged the development of new types of main bodies, Shandong subsidized large grain growers. The stipulation at that time was that those who planted more than 150mu of rice or wheat and less than 4000 mu would have a subsidy of 230yuan per mu, while those with more than 4000 mu would be given a fixed subsidy of 1 million yuan.

In Hunan, some places have also introduced incentive measures to support large households. For example, in some economically developed districts and counties around Changsha, the local government will give bonuses ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan to large grain growers who meet the requirements according to the size of the area. Some counties and cities subsidize the purchase of agricultural machinery by large households through local finance.

In addition, as agriculture-related projects also tend to target large households, many people think that as long as their area is large enough, they have the hope of squeezing into various "project cages" and getting a piece of the pie. Xia Zhipeng told the reporter that he and his partners had argued many times about whether to grow grain steadily or "pull the relationship and run the project".

"the money subsidized and rewarded is a 'false profit'. It seems that more money has been made after large-scale operation, but in fact it is based on government support, not profits derived from production itself." Professor Wang Wei of the Agriculture and Rural economy Research Center of Shandong University of Finance and Economics said.

As a matter of fact, there are quite a lot of scale operators who have made "false profits". In a village not far from Zhang Baohua, a villager surnamed Wang contracted 400 mu of land to develop the planting industry in 2013, and successfully received subsidies from major grain growers in Shandong that year. However, in 2014, he lost 70 yuan per mu due to poor management.

Moderate scale and intensive cultivation should be encouraged.

Wang Wei and other experts said that in China, which has a large population and little land, especially in the North China Plain and other areas, the benefits of a large-scale plot should be measured by land output rather than labor productivity. Scale is not equal to efficiency, and scale operation does not necessarily produce economies of scale.

Experience shows that the per unit yield of large-scale grain cultivation is often lower than that of moderate scale and intensive cultivation, and the benefit is not good without subsidies or incentives. In fact, in view of this situation, Shandong, Hunan and other places have adjusted the subsidy policy for large households, either to reduce the intensity of subsidies, or to focus more on family farms with moderate scale operation.

This is undoubtedly a gratifying trend, but at the same time, there are still many places that have not got rid of the habitual thinking of "the bigger the better," and are still taking various measures to encourage super-large scale, as if only in this way can we show the achievements of local agricultural development.

He Xuefeng, a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said that large-scale agricultural operators or enterprises have low profits and high risks because of their high rents and large scale. In order to keep the scale operators from going bankrupt, the government has to provide them with policy support and financial support. the government has increased the burden, but it may not be able to achieve the desired results.

In an interview with reporters, a number of experts said that China's traditional agricultural areas are densely populated, the per capita possession of arable land is small, the level of urbanization is not high, and the transfer of labor to secondary and tertiary industries is unstable. In order to reserve opportunities for farmers to return to their hometown for employment, so as not to cause social stability and other problems, it is not suitable for large-scale centralized land management.

Liu Tongli, former deputy director of the Agriculture and Industry Office of the Shandong Provincial CPC Committee, said that China should vigorously develop family farms with few or no employees, with a planting area of more than 10 mu, dozens of mu to 100 mu, which is more in line with national conditions. The income from growing grain to peasant households is slightly higher than or equal to the "opportunity cost" of going out to work, which is not only conducive to grain production, but also conducive to increasing farmers' income.

A number of experts said that in the current agricultural support policy, the new subsidies are tilted to a new type of main body, but the operating area of this new type of main body should not be too large, and it is very difficult to produce a demonstration effect with an operating area of hundreds or thousands of mu at any time. subsidies for such groups are also not conducive to the production of more grain, and ultimately only increase the financial burden.

At the same time, many cadres and masses at the grass-roots level have suggested that in China, where small farmers are still the main grain growers, the government should focus on improving agricultural production conditions and promoting the convenience of growing grain, such as increasing investment in infrastructure and social services. instead of blindly pursuing planting scale and land transfer rate.