China Needs Farmers 'Professionalization to Promote Agricultural Industrialization and Farmland Intensification

A few days ago, Li Yining, a famous economist, said that in the future, Chinese farmers will no longer be an identity, but a profession, and the agricultural practitioners in the future will be farmers, farmers' cooperatives, agricultural enterprises, and so on, who really understand agricultural technology. Agricultural planting and production will take the road of scale.

In the past few years, "urbanization" has gradually replaced "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" as the mainstream topic, which means that China has taken urbanization as the starting point to solve the problems of agriculture, rural areas and farmers. However, if the land issue is not considered, there will be some problems, such as who will engage in agricultural production? At present, in the vast rural areas of China, most of the post-90s generation are not engaged in agricultural production, nor do they have the skills and interest in agricultural production.

Therefore, the professionalization of farmers seems to be the only choice. Farmers are no longer a political identity in a dual society, but a profession, and agricultural production will also achieve specialization and modernization. However, given that the land is still a household contract responsibility system, that is, the land is still based on the small-scale peasant economy, this prospect is still a long way off. However, in the plains of the north, which are suitable for mechanized farming and harvesting, most areas have already modernized the production of food crops, and those who own mechanical fees for human farming and harvest are also the rudiments of professional farmers.

The modern market economy negates the "small-scale peasant economy", although China's grain cultivation is very stable (because it is uneconomical to grow other crops when the land is very small and labor is expensive). However, the pig industry of small farmers often presents a periodic surplus due to the "cobweb effect", showing a contradiction between small-scale production and large market. If it is said that in the era of planned economy, tillers had their own land because cities could not provide enough jobs, then it is a fact that the large-scale flow of rural population to cities, and this household-based agricultural "contract system" will be dispelled.

The foundation of the small-scale peasant economy is the family. In the process of moving from an agricultural society to an industrial society, rural families gradually disintegrate, and almost every family has people working and working in cities. Therefore, many so-called "farmers" have actually become people waiting for employment, not people engaged in agriculture. In fact, fewer and fewer people are engaged in agriculture, which means that there will be a demand for professional "modern farmers" in China.

The question now is whether China has the ability to arrange rural areas, agriculture and farmers according to the logic of industrial society after the disintegration of the "small-scale peasant economy" of rural families. The biggest challenge is whether the state can provide enough jobs and give them citizenship when farmers become individual workers rather than members of the family economy. At present, a large number of young people in rural areas are doing odd jobs, semi-fixed jobs and unemployment. They do not have the experience, ability and interest in agricultural production, and are in an "unstable" state. Therefore, in addition to providing jobs for them, the most important thing is how to bring them into a new type of social organization, rather than wandering in the fringes of society.

Another challenge is agriculture. At a time when household-based agricultural production is declining and agriculture is in urgent need of industrialization, whether the Chinese government is ready to encourage land-intensive land reform, as well as the technological and organizational challenges posed by large-scale cultivation. At least for now, these questions remain unanswered, mainly at the stage of using financial subsidies to encourage household food cultivation, and land reform has not yet begun.

In addition, the countryside may become the settlement area of the rural weak (the elderly, children). If farmers are further professionalized and farmland is further intensive, then how to organize the rural community as the weak will become a problem. We must not ignore the inevitable decline of the countryside. We must find a solution. In these aspects, Japan has provided us with experience. Japan has long completed its evolution from an agricultural society to an industrial society. However, at present, the number of agricultural employees in Japan is decreasing year by year and accelerating the aging trend. Japan therefore actively takes measures to cultivate professional farmers, establish a complete agricultural education system, and provide various services and assistance to agricultural successors.

China should actively transform to agricultural modernization and farmers' professionalization, and grasp the initiative in order to resolve contradictions and problems. First of all, we should actively promote the industrialization of agriculture and the intensification of agricultural land, lay a good foundation for large-scale agriculture and professional farmers, and further learn from Japanese experience, develop rural vocational education, cultivate new farmers, and attract talents from outside rural areas to engage in agriculture. Secondly, improve the level of social organization of young farmers, help them better employment and a stable life in cities, improve social security for the elderly in rural areas and various public services, do not let rural areas become a lost place.