Large-scale grain bankruptcy lost more than 2 million yuan in three years.

Liang, a farmer in Yongchuan, Chongqing, is naturally known as the "king of ten thousand mu of grain". As early as 2009, he contracted more than 10,000 mu of farmland for large-scale planting. Naturally, Liang's contract price per mu is 810 yuan, but the actual payment has exceeded 900 yuan. Over the past few years, Liang not only made no profit, but also made a cumulative loss of more than 2 million yuan, and had to withdraw from all the land of circulation in 2012, and growing grain ended in bankruptcy.

The "half-moon talk" magazine reported on the 9th the story of the bankruptcy of the King of ten thousand mu of grain. In the spirit of the Central Committee's No. 1 document calling for speeding up agricultural modernization and scale, it is worth pondering how to avoid repeating the mistakes of the "king of grain."

The following is the original text:

Editor's note: in the process of land scale transfer in some traditional agricultural areas, some new problems and risks gradually emerge and need to be solved urgently. Under the circumstances of the acceleration of land transfer, the rising prices of agricultural materials and the high cost of growing grain, large grain growers generally feel that funds are tight. Many large families have to borrow everywhere and even rely on usury to farm land. At the same time, the development of agricultural socialized services such as agricultural machinery services, pest control, market information and product marketing matched with land transfer is seriously lagging behind.

Since 2009, Liang, a farmer in Yongchuan District, Chongqing, has naturally rented more than 10,000 mu of grain fields to engage in large-scale operation. In order to improve the efficiency of growing grain, Liang naturally designed a complete intensive production plan: to set up labor cooperatives to solve the problem of unmanned land cultivation; to establish agricultural machinery service teams to improve grain growing efficiency; and to unify seed supply, fertilization, and plant protection to ensure grain quality. However, this seemingly perfect intensive design hit a brick wall in the face of reality, the production cost exceeded the profit of growing grain, and the "grain king" lost more than 2 million yuan, and eventually went bankrupt.

Intensive farming on a large scale, "Grain King" opens up a new farming model

Liang natural is a villager of Shiduowo Village, Zhutuo Town. He went out to work in his early years and set up a rice processing factory after returning to his hometown, with an annual sales income of more than 20 million yuan. He told the Banyue reporter: "in rice processing, the most annoying thing is to buy rice from every household. There is no guarantee of food supply, rice varieties are different, advantages and disadvantages are mixed, and there are many pesticide residues, so it is very difficult to sell rice at a good price. So I came up with the idea of renting land and growing grain. "

In early 2009, Liang Natural leased 47 village groups from 8 villages and 10663 mu of rice fields from 2632 farmers in Zhutuo Town, Yongchuan District, to grow rice and become the largest "grain king" in Chongqing.

In order to plant more than 10,000 mu of land, according to the intensive design, Liang naturally set up 15 labor service cooperatives with the village community as a unit. Liang was naturally responsible for the unified provision of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, improved varieties, and other means of production, and the cooperative completed the labor service contract. responsible for raising seedlings, pumping irrigation, pesticide application, harvesting, drying and other production links of labor needs, naturally paid by Liang for labor services.

In order to improve the efficiency of farming, Liang has also organized an agricultural machinery service team of more than 30 people, which is responsible for unified planting of improved varieties, unified prevention of diseases and insect pests, unified fertilization, unified mechanical harvesting, and so on. Different from the seasonal and part-time workers provided by labor cooperatives, the agricultural machinery service team is a professional team for years, with a monthly salary of more than 1500 yuan per person.

Liang Natural doesn't know how to farm by himself. He specially hired eight agricultural experts as technical guidance with a monthly salary of 1700 yuan. After renting the land, Liang also registered the "Dawson" high-quality rice brand. According to Liang's natural intensive production design, 10,000 mu of grain fields can provide a stable grain source of about 5500 tons per year, and by unifying improved varieties, unifying production standards and establishing brands, the added value of rice can be greatly increased. Liang said: "the market price of ordinary rice is about 1.2 yuan / jin, while the price of high-quality rice produced by me can reach 1.7 yuan / jin." If the standard of pollution-free and green rice can be achieved through intensive production, the price can be doubled. "

Liang natural calculation: after the land transfer, the average input cost of 1 mu of land is about 960 yuan. Through intensive management, we can achieve a balance of income and expenditure in grain production and make a profit in rice processing. Planting more than 10, 000 mu of paddy fields, the annual net income can reach about 2 million yuan.

Intensification and scale run up against a brick wall everywhere, and farming is losing money year after year.

In the process of large-scale farming, Liang's seemingly perfect intensive production plan of ten thousand mu grain fields, on the one hand, failed to reduce the cost of growing grain, on the contrary, due to the sharp rise in labor costs, it constantly squeezed the profit of growing grain; on the other hand, it failed to solve the problem of fine broken fields and high input per unit area. on the contrary, the larger the area of leased land, the more losses.

At the beginning of land lease in 2009, the labor contract price signed by Liang Natural and the labor service cooperative was 810 yuan / mu, but due to the serious shortage of rural labor force and the shortage of supply, the labor remuneration actually paid to the cooperative by Liang Nature has exceeded 900 yuan / mu.

"the thorniest problem encountered in renting land and growing grain is the shortage of rural labor. Most of the labor cooperatives employ casual workers, and if the price is low, they would rather go out to work. The actual labor price often exceeds the contract price, and there is nothing we can do to restrain it. " Liang naturally said helplessly. Affected by the obvious rise in labor prices, Liang naturally lost more than 500,000 yuan in the first year of farming.

In the hilly agricultural areas in the west, the grain fields are highly fragmented and the infrastructure of irrigation and water conservancy is backward, and the function of the agricultural machinery service team organized by Liang nature is greatly reduced, which fails to play the role of reducing costs and improving efficiency.

"the more than 10,000 mu of land I transferred has been divided into more than 8500 rice paddies. Although there are agricultural machinery service teams and more than 2 million yuan of agricultural machinery equipment, it can only solve the problem of mechanized farming of paddy fields." Liang said that the remaining agricultural machinery service teams are of no use and require a lot of manpower to arrange work and work, and the average cost per mu has more than tripled. The cost of each link is even higher than that of retail investors.

At the same time, most of the water conservancy facilities supporting the natural transfer of land in Liang were built in the sixties and seventies of the last century and have been completely abandoned. In order to level the fields and renovate the canals and roads in the fields, Liang naturally invested more than 2 million yuan, but this can only meet the needs of irrigation and mechanical ploughing of less than 30% of the fields.

On the surface, intensive management has not solved the practical problem of production. From 2009 to 2010, Liang naturally invested nearly 1400 yuan per mu of land and continued to lose money on growing grain. In 2011, Liang naturally had to reduce the circulation area to 2900 mu, but in that year he successively suffered frost and drought, and grain production was reduced by more than 30%. As a result, farmers' land rent could not be paid, and more than 200,000 yuan of workers' wages and pesticide materials were owed. By 2012, Liang Natural farming had a cumulative loss of more than 2 million yuan and had to withdraw from all the land in circulation, and grain farming ended in bankruptcy.

Blind investment in agriculture needs to be vigilant, and the policy support system needs to be improved.

During the half-month talk, the reporter followed Liang Nature back to the farmland he had subcontracted, and saw that some fields had been planted with trees, some had been transformed into fish ponds, and a lot of land was barren, and only occasionally one or two old farmers could be seen ploughing and turning fields. Seeing such a scene, Liang naturally sighed again and again.

Why is it that with a complete intensive design, growing grain is still not profitable or even at a loss? After reflection, Liang believes that there are two main reasons for this:

First, the cultivation of land is too large, blind investment, did not really achieve appropriate scale operation. Liang said frankly that it was based on enthusiasm that he did not fully consider the reality of agricultural production and did not conduct a risk assessment. The average annual investment of subcontracted 10, 000 mu of land is more than 10 million yuan, which has exceeded the economic bearing capacity of Liang nature. As long as there is a year of operating loss, it is easy to break the capital chain, and the interests of Liang and farmers will be damaged.

Second, the construction of policy support systems such as government agricultural subsidies, agricultural finance and insurance lags behind, which makes the anti-risk ability of large farmers vulnerable.

Large-scale farming requires a lot of capital investment. Since farming on a large scale, Liang naturally worries about money almost every day. "the standard of government agricultural subsidies is low, and it is often in arrears. Up to the time of bankruptcy, the government still owed me more than 300,000 yuan in subsidy. " Liang said that it was very difficult for him to get a bank loan every three days. Agricultural project investment can not be formed into fixed assets, can not mortgage financing. I can only raise money everywhere and even borrow money at usury.

"since growing grain, I have encountered natural disasters to varying degrees almost every year, but I have to bear the losses on my own." Liang natural also often went to Yongchuan insurance companies to consult with agricultural insurance, but the answer was "agricultural risk is too big, the company does not do related insurance."

Liang naturally believes that investment risk assessment, social services, policy subsidies, agricultural finance, and insurance are closely linked, and if these links can play a role, their own intensive management may not be a complete failure. In the face of failure, Liang was still not reconciled to it, and he planned to go out for an inspection and prepare to cover the land and grow grain again.

There are many risks in building up large families in agricultural projects.

In some traditional agricultural areas, half-monthly reporters go into the village and go deep into the fields to listen to the joys and sorrows of the big farmers. Many farmers reflect that in the process of land scale transfer, some new problems and risks gradually emerge and need to be solved urgently.

In order to develop agricultural production, the central government encourages moderate scale operation through land transfer, but in practice, the standard of "how large is moderate" is relatively vague. In a survey conducted in various places, the half-month reporter found that in recent years, some places have proposed to vigorously promote land transfer, and there has been a trend of striving for greatness and speed, and the phenomenon of "virtual obesity" in some large farmers and family farms is serious.

In a major grain producing county in central China, as of 2013, there were more than 80 large agricultural households with land transfer of more than 1000 mu, 11 households with more than 4000 mu, 3 households with more than 10, 000 mu, and the largest household land transfer area of nearly 40, 000 mu.

In the interview, grass-roots cadres said frankly that large-scale land transfer is seen by leaders as an indicator of agricultural development achievements. Although the agricultural sector does not approve of large-scale land transfer, superior officials highly praise it because "big projects" are visible political achievements.

Coincidentally, a large agricultural city in central China also has a similar problem of too large scale of land transfer. According to the analysis of land transfer projects by the agricultural department, there are more than 400 cases of one-time transfer of more than 1000 mu in this city, covering an area of nearly 800000 mu, accounting for nearly half of the transferred area. In the process of development, many land transfer projects do have some problems, such as "enclosing land and occupying land, too large scale and risk" and so on.

The cadre of the local agriculture bureau told the reporter that if the land transfer area is too large, the investment is large, and the market risk is also large, which does not meet the requirements of appropriate scale operation. Once the market risk is encountered, it is easy to cause production fluctuations and affect social stability.

In addition to "building up" large households by means of administrative orders and setting targets, when some social capital enters agriculture, they are not familiar with operating projects and blindly think that the larger the scale of circulation, the higher the operating efficiency, and the lack of capital, technology, and manpower to keep up with them. it's also easy to create risks. After Liang, a major grain grower in Yongchuan District of Chongqing, went bankrupt, a lot of transferred land was also forced to be abandoned, resulting in a huge waste.

In the view of Zhang Hongsong, president of Chongqing Agricultural Association, the risk of large-scale operation of land is relatively high, and the principles that should be adhered to are as follows: first, whether the land is transferred, how to determine the price and how to choose the form should be decided by the contracted farmers on their own. simplified administrative intervention should not be used to promote circulation. Second, strictly set the threshold for social capital to enter agriculture, and effectively evaluate its operating capacity, project prospects and expected risks, so as to reduce the risk of land transfer.

"if there are professional services, why spend so much money on agricultural machinery?"

In an interview with a half-month reporter, it was found that with the accelerated transfer of agricultural land, large farmers in various places continue to emerge, but the development of agricultural socialized services such as agricultural technology extension, agricultural machinery services, pest prevention and control, market information, and product marketing supporting land transfer lags behind. As a result of the insufficient supply of social services, many large agricultural households have to "operate on their own" and even suffer from "big bag disease".

"the annual profit from farming is only NT $500,000 to NT $600,000. If professional organizations can provide low-cost services, why spend so much money on agricultural machinery and equipment?" When it comes to the fact that he spent more than 700,000 yuan on more than 30 agricultural machinery for farming, he Shisu, a major grain grower in Union Township, Pengshui County, Chongqing, is helpless.

The reason for he Shisu's "self-operation" of agricultural machinery operations is that the development of agricultural machinery service organizations in Pengshui County can not catch up with the growth rate of large households. Luo Yuanjiang, director of the Pengshui County Committee of Agriculture, said that the area of arable land in Pengshui County exceeded 700000 mu, and the number of grain growers increased to 118in 2012. at present, there is only one agricultural machinery professional cooperative in the county, with only 15 agricultural machinery and tools. "it takes 10 big households to share a farm machine equally. What kind of service can they produce?"

In Henan agricultural areas, large agricultural households are faced with similar problems. Liu Xueyou, a farmer in Pengdian Township, Xi County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, has transferred more than 3000 mu of land to grow sorghum. He said: "Sorghum cultivation has high requirements for sowing techniques and the application of pesticides, but there is a shortage of talents in plant protection cooperatives in the county. Most of the employees are idle labor over the age of 55, and many people do not know how to use agricultural machinery and tools, and their mastery of drug proportions and mechanical spraying are not accurate, and pesticide residues often exceed the standard." In order to solve the problem of sorghum plant protection, Liu Xueyou had to organize a plant protection labor team of more than 20 people, raising seedlings, sowing seeds, field management, harvesting, and returning to the warehouse.

At the same time, with the continuous development of agricultural marketization, the demand for professional services of large grain growers has expanded from simple production services to comprehensive services such as capital, information, processing, transportation and so on. Compared with agricultural machinery, plant protection and other social services in production, the construction of prenatal and post-natal service system is even weaker.

Wang Fujun, a farmer in Qiaomiao Township, Wuyi County, Henan Province, has transferred 1700 mu of land, with an annual grain output of more than 1.5 million kilograms. Wang Fujun said: "what big grain growers are most concerned about is professional market information such as grain collection and storage, supply and demand, and forecast of grain price trends. But now this service is basically blank. "

"if you suffer from 'anaemia' in growing grain, you have to rely on usury."

Under the circumstances of the acceleration of land transfer, the rising prices of agricultural materials, and the high cost of growing grain, the demand for funds of large grain growers has increased, and they generally feel that funds are tight. In order to grow grain, many large families have to borrow everywhere, or even rely on usury to farm land.

"in the past, 30 to 40 mu of land was contracted, but the capital investment was not much, but it could be solved on its own. But now our land subcontract area has exceeded 1200 mu, with an annual investment of nearly 1.5 million yuan, and growing grain is already suffering from 'anaemia'. We have to rely on usury! " Wang Mingjie, a farmer in Lu Village, Lu Village, Jieshou City, Anhui Province, said, "it is very difficult to get a loan from a credit cooperative. Farmers have no collateral and no one gives you a loan." Last year, in order to grow grain, Wang Mingjie looked for more than 10 relatives and cobbled together more than 400,000 yuan. The largest family borrowed 100000 yuan, while the rest ranged from 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. Each household had to issue IOUs, sign and seal one by one. Obviously, in the event of natural and man-made disasters, the capital chain is broken, which is likely to lead to bankruptcy.

The reporter of the half-month interview found that the financial "anaemia" suffered by large agricultural households was relatively serious. Just take Chongqing as an example. According to a survey conducted by the special research group of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Agriculture, the financing needs of 17000 agricultural cooperatives in the city are nearly 6.5 billion yuan. At present, only 140 million yuan of loans have been obtained, and the demand satisfaction rate is only 2.15%. In addition to paying interest on bank loans, agriculture-related loans generally have to pay additional guarantee fees, mortgage asset evaluation fees, handling fees and so on. The actual cost of agriculture-related loans is higher than that of urban non-agricultural loans.

At the same time, because of the high risk of agricultural production, agricultural credit projects have high risk and unpredictability, which contradicts the safety, liquidity and profitability of commercial banks' assets. Zhang Gaomin, a big grain grower in Xiwang Village, Zhongzhang Town, Jingyang County, Shaanxi Province, said with a wry smile, "I went to the bank for a loan, and the people in the bank said," what kind of loan is there? "

In view of the difficult problem of loansharking farming, many large grain growers suggest that the benchmark interest rate should be applied to farmers' production loans, and the difference should be partially discounted by the government, so as to stimulate farmers to borrow from formal financial institutions. At the same time, from the point of view of benefiting farmers and ensuring food security, farmers should enjoy benchmark interest rates or even lower interest rates, and the state can give banks a discount policy.