Family farms should not be registered as individual industrial and commercial households

At present, the registration form of family farms is mainly individual industrial and commercial households, and individual industrial and commercial households are not compatible with the cultivation and development of family farms in many aspects. The business scope of individual industrial and commercial households is only industrial and commercial, while family farms belong to agriculture; the registration scope of individual industrial and commercial households only includes the head of household, and does not include other family members involved in household operation; the property division system of individual industrial and commercial households is also not applicable to the basic means of production on family farms. Therefore, the "family farm" should be given independent legal status.

1. The business scope of family farms is mainly agriculture.

This is the biggest difference between family farms and individual industrial and commercial households. The regulations on individual Industrial and Commercial households clearly stipulates that "those engaged in industrial and commercial operations shall be individual industrial and commercial households." In other words, from the perspective of legislation, individual industrial and commercial households are aimed at industry and commerce at the beginning of the definition. Its business scope is industry and commerce. Accordingly, the various regulations of individual industrial and commercial households are all based on the operators engaged in industry and commerce. Of course, individual family farms because of their large scale and high degree of mechanization will also involve the primary processing of some agricultural products in addition to planting and aquaculture.

Aiming at the question of whether the primary processing operation of farm products attached to this small number of family farms belongs to industry and commerce. The author believes that this part of the primary processing of farm products should be included in the scope of industry and commerce. Agriculture in a broad sense includes agriculture (farming or narrow agriculture), forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries and sideline. The primary processing of farm products attached to the family farm belongs to the handicraft industry, and the handicraft industry belongs to the scope of industry and commerce.

Although it is true that family farms are engaged in some industrial and commercial activities, this is by no means a reason to make family farms an integral part of industry and commerce. Because only a small number of registered family farms, and most of them are concentrated in economically developed areas, will involve handicrafts. In most of the rest of the family farms, farming and aquaculture are still the main industries, not involving industrial and commercial operations. Thus it can be seen that that small number of family farms can only be regarded as individuality in all family farms, and the commonness of family farms should be that the scope of business is mainly agriculture. This is inconsistent with the business scope stipulated in the regulations on individual Industrial and Commercial households.

2. The main body of the family farm is the family as the production and management unit.

The most distinctive feature of the family farm is that it takes the family as the basic accounting unit and the "family members" as the main labor force. The "family members" here should be understood in a broad sense, including not only nuclear family members in the traditional sense of household registration, but also any extended family members who are related by blood or marriage. Having kinship and actually participating in the management of the family farm is a necessary condition to become a "family member" in the family farm, both of which are indispensable. Therefore, the "family member" in the sense of family farm may be different from the common understanding of nuclear family members. For example, nuclear family members cannot be recognized as "family members" because they are not involved in the operation of the family farm. The determination of "family members" can avoid some disputes, such as the dispute over the ownership of the family farm (including the ownership of the means of production), the legal liability of the family farm, the division of property and the dispute of inheritance. Based on the above considerations, the author believes that one of the very important contents of family farm registration should be to clearly define the real "family members" of family farms.

However, according to the provisions of the measures for the Administration of Registration of individual Industrial and Commercial households, family members of family farms only need to be put on record, not registered. Can the validity of filing be consistent with that of registration? The author believes that the effectiveness of filing is obviously not enough. The "family members" of the family farm can be truly determined only after the applicant has applied for registration and the staff has approved it. Of course, in the process, the staff should inform the applicant what is the "family member" of the family farm and the meaning of determining the "family member" of the family farm.

3. Family farms take intensive production as the means and moderate scale operation as the basis.

Family farms are different from individual industrial and commercial households. Family farms need agriculture to achieve an appropriate scale of operation through intensive production. On the other hand, intensive agricultural management requires diligence, carefulness and concentration of farming, which can only be achieved by family agricultural management, and various advanced elements that promote the intensification of land farming, such as improved varieties, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, are highly divisible in nature, so family management and intensive management are compatible. In rural areas, there is a trend of concentration of land and other resources. Only centralization can achieve large-scale production, and only centralization can achieve economies of scale. It is precisely because of the requirements of centralized and large-scale operation that we suggest that the basic means of production of family farms are inseparable.

However, according to the current relevant laws and regulations of individual industrial and commercial households, the basic means of production of family farms can also be divided. If a member of the family farm withdraws from the family farm operation, the member who withdraws from the family farm management may take away his or her share of the property. The property here generally includes the basic means of production in the family farm. This obviously runs counter to the need for intensive and large-scale management of family farms.

Through the above analysis, we can see that there are many inconsistencies between the cultivation and development of individual industrial and commercial households and family farms. It is precisely because there is a great difference between family farms and individual industrial and commercial households that "family farms" should be given independent legal status.