How on earth should the land circulation not as expected when the food price goes down?

1. Who is farming?

Most of them are still decentralized, the left-behind elderly and housewives are the main force, and young people are unwilling and unable to plant.

The fall in corn prices did not make Zhang Ming give up growing grain. "one wheat and one autumn, corn is not good and wheat is not on your back." Besides, at our age, what else can we do without farming? "

In helplessness, the 65-year-old farmer worried: "according to the current market, I can't do anything in the future. Who will farm?"

"the whole country sees Henan wheat, Henan wheat looks at Xinxiang, and Xinxiang wheat looks at Yanjin." Yanjin is famous for its high-quality wheat. The county has 1.03 million mu of cultivated land and 950000 mu of wheat planting area, including 500000 mu of high-quality wheat, and seed sales radiate more than half of China. Who is farming here?

Pingling Village, Sizhai Township, where Zhang Ming is located, has a population of 550households and 4900 mu of land. "people under 55 can hardly be seen in the fields." Xiao Hongsheng, the village branch secretary, said frankly that the "post-70s" did not want to farm land, the "post-80s generation" did not know how to farm land, the "post-90s generation" did not mention farming, and the land in the village was not transferred on a large scale, and most of them were grown at home by the elderly and women.

With dark skin and protruding veins on his hands, Zhang Ming had just irrigated the wheat field. The five members of the family, their son and daughter-in-law working outside, earn more than 6000 yuan. His wife looks after his grandson, and the 10 mu of land depends on Lao Zhang to take care of it. "I don't expect to farm and get rich, so I can earn two jobs." A situation like him is more common in the village.

Villager Li Cheng, 74, did not go to the field until the year before last after the operation. 12 mu of contracted land was handed over to his son Lee Boon Yang. "it's not that his son wants to grow it, but he's not in good health. He can't go out to work and has no skills, so he can only farm at home." Li Cheng said.

Why are the villagers of Pingling Village unwilling to transfer their land? Xiao Hongsheng said that the village is all seed fields, breeding high-quality wheat varieties from the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, which can cost 20 cents more per jin than ordinary wheat. If the land rent is low, the peasants will not do it; if the land rent is high, it cannot be rented out at the current grain prices. In addition, farmers have a land complex, and they plant land at home, so they don't have to spend money on rations and vegetables for a year.

Unlike Pingling Village, 80% of the land in Dongshigu Village of Senggu Township is transferred and leased to Xinxiang Xinliang Grain and Oil Co., Ltd., a leading enterprise. "1700 mu of land is left in the village under a 15-year contract." Li Minfu, secretary of the village branch, said.

Why are Dongshigu villagers willing to transfer land? Li Minfu said: first, the village is close to the county seat, and it is convenient to work. Three construction classes have been set up in the village, attracting more than 300 people to find jobs. Second, the land rent is high, 1200 yuan per mu a year, which is similar to the income of farmers themselves.

"from the point of view of the whole county, there are, after all, a small number of people like Dongshigu Village." Jia Yong, agricultural economic unit of Yanjin County Agriculture and Forestry Bureau, said that at present, the land transfer area of the county is 384900 mu, accounting for 38.5%, but the operating area of leading enterprises and cooperatives is only more than 67000 mu. The survey shows that in many villages, more than 70 percent of the male labor force goes out to work, and 20 percent take odd jobs while farming. People over 60 years old and housewives are mainly engaged in agricultural production.

The reporter's investigation in Zhangqiu, Shandong Province is similar to that in Yanjin, with 1.04 million mu of arable land and 320000 mu of circulation area.

Liu Yong, deputy director of the Zhangqiu Municipal Bureau of Agriculture, said: despite the large number of migrant workers, ordinary people are not willing to let the land be abandoned. Land rents have risen rapidly in recent years, and what can be transferred has basically been transferred. If it can't be transferred, it will be planted in an extensive way. "take the wheat field in front of us, for example, if we can pour one or two more water, it will be no problem to increase the output by one or two hundred jin." But now that the income of working is more than 80 yuan a day, it is not cost-effective for farmers to take a few days off to go home and irrigate the land.

"farming your own land is more cost-effective than renting it out." Liu Kaisheng, a 53-year-old villager from Wanxin Village, Zaoyuan Street, has six mu of land. last year, the rotation of wheat and potatoes yielded more than 3000 yuan per mu of land. after deducting the cost, the net income was still 1500 yuan, while the circulation rent was only 1000 yuan.

When asked about his future plans, Liu Kaisheng said, "Don't say your son doesn't want to farm the land, even if he wants to." Once he asked his son to water the land, but it didn't work out for a long time. In the end, he came back from work and rushed to the field to get water.

two。 Who can plant the land well?

It is difficult for the left-behind elderly to support modern agriculture, the advantages of new operators are obvious, and new varieties and technologies are popularized quickly.

Can modern agriculture be supported by left-behind elderly people and women?

The reporter learned that from the level of grain yield per unit area, ordinary farmers are not lower than the main body of scale operation.

Take Pingling Village as an example, the average yield of wheat per mu is 1100 jin and corn is 1300 jin, while that of Dongshigu Village's leading enterprise base is 900jin of wheat and 1100 jin of corn per mu.

"it is very difficult for large households and enterprises to do intensive farming one by one." Xiao Hongsheng said: although it is now mechanized from planting to harvesting, a lot of work such as irrigating the land and administering medicine still has to be done manually. For example, machine sowing is cut off, whether seedling replenishment can be made up, and whether watering can be irrigated. Farmers must be more diligent than others in planting their own land.

However, modern agriculture should not only look at the output, but also at the quality and the stamina of development. Behind the high yield and bumper harvest of ordinary farmers in successive years, some problems have emerged.

"the more the land is planted, the more greedy it is, the soil fertility is declining, and it is difficult to reduce the amount of chemical fertilizer used." Guo Peirong, director of the Agricultural Technology Promotion Station in Yanjin County, said: now to promote scientific fertilization, 25 jin of chemical fertilizer per mu of wheat will do, but ordinary farmers are afraid that there will be less fertilizer, and their output will not go up, so they often have to increase 50 jin.

"farming is much easier now, but the technical requirements are higher, so I'm afraid it's hard to keep up with the old style." Guo Peirong believes that Yanjin wheat has been upgraded four times in the past ten years, and each variety has its own emphasis on when to plant, when to administer medicine, and how to support seedlings. For example, pesticides work well on the base of wheat, but many farmers use spray cans and sprinkle them on the leaves.

Xiao Hongsheng has deep feelings about this. In 2005, when the village promoted high-quality wheat, he brought in 50,000 jin of seeds and sent them door to door, but many farmers just did not want to plant them. Seeing that he was going to miss the season, as soon as he was in a hurry, he took the village cadres to pull out other people's land and forcibly planted it. Breeding requires high purity, uniform varieties, six varieties, one for each person, for fear that other seeds will be mixed in. The next year, when people saw the harvest, they lost their mood. "I wouldn't dare to do it now." He said.

In contrast, the main body of scale operation has obvious advantages.

Yan Xizhan, director of the circulation office of Xinliang Grain and Oil Company, said: with the unified management of 1700 mu of land, new varieties and technologies will soon be in place. At present, it takes only a few minutes to spray an acre of land, which is only 15 yuan, which is 10 yuan cheaper than hiring a person. If you buy fertilizer centrally, you can save 10 yuan for a bag of fertilizer. When purchasing orders, the price can be 10 cents to 15 cents higher per jin. You have more say in the market than ordinary farmers.

"if you want to make money, you have to have scale." In the view of Sha Shuxing, a branch secretary of Wanxin Village in Zhangqiu City, "it is not easy to earn 500 yuan per mu, but it is OK to earn 100 yuan. If the scale goes up, the income can be magnified a lot." He has his own "sheep herding theory": four or five sheep have to be herded for a day, and four or five hundred sheep at a time.

"Don't pick it up if it's not cold, don't plug in if it's not hot." Green onion planting is not only a manual work, but also a technical work, so Wanxin Village set up a selenium green onion cooperative, wheat, green onion rotation, the transfer of more than 200 mu of land, 30 members. "only those who plant more than 3 mu, grow strictly according to standardization, and do not indiscriminately apply chemical fertilizers and pesticides can become members." Sha Shuxing said that green onions grown in cooperatives are more stable in quality and better in price.

In Yanjin County, there are 1710 cooperatives, 23000 members and 19 leading enterprises at the municipal level; in Zhangqiu City, there are more than 1000 farmers' specialized cooperatives and more than 300 family farms.

As there are few successors in agriculture, it is really necessary to change the method of farming. New main bodies such as fast-growing grain growers, family farms and professional cooperatives have high hopes.

3. The new predicament of the new subject

Grain prices have fallen, large households have lost money growing grain, and the speed of land transfer has slowed down. Looking forward to the early introduction of the structural adjustment policy

The survey found that the decline in corn prices has put many new subjects in a new predicament.

"if you sell less than a few cents per jin, the risk is concentrated on the large households, and the pressure is difficult to bear." Guo Weifeng, a big grain grower in Shazhuang Village, Senggu Township, Yanjin County, said frankly.

A few years ago, the policy encouraged large families to grow grain. Guo Weifeng and three farmers jointly rented 300 mu of land, growing wheat and corn in one season. By 2014, the circulation area had grown to 600 mu and trust land to 800 mu. In order to adapt to large-scale operation, they bought tractors, harvesters and other agricultural machinery worth hundreds of thousands of yuan. "Grain prices have been good for two years, but when they plummeted last year, they lost more than 90,000 yuan. Originally planned to transfer another 900 mu, the land has been agreed, but dare not rent. " He said.

With the increase of operating pressure, there are signs of land lease withdrawal. Zhao Guofang, chairman of the Yanjin Century Fu Cooperative, said that the cooperative has transferred a total of 1800 mu of land, and the contract has been signed for 10 years. Although it has not yet expired, it is expected that half of the land will be returned by the second half of the year.

The speed of circulation slowed down obviously. Liu Xianghui, head of Senggu Township, said that a few years ago, people often came to lease land, and as soon as they opened their mouth, they said, "how much is transferred." from the second half of last year to the present, no one has come to look for land.

Growing grain does not make money, and bank loans are tightened, making the life of the new main body more difficult. The head of a cooperative said: "in the past five years, we have been looking for a loan from a bank. A sum of money has to pay double interest. After the loan, we will first deposit it back and then lend it out." But money is better than nothing. Unexpectedly, last year the bank heard that growing grain lost money, but this year it will not give loans. "

"now that the bank hears that it is farming, it is basically impossible for the bank to make a loan." Guo Weifeng said frankly that the biggest headache for large families is to pay land rent and get more than 700,000 yuan at once. Pay the money first and then use the land. We have no choice but to borrow usury. No matter how high the interest is, we can't stand it.

Pingling Village set up wheat planting cooperatives in 2005, without policy support, if the funds could not keep up, six seeders and seed mixers would have fallen to the nest long ago. "if the cooperative service can keep up with the unified management of land in the village and the unified supply of seeds, the cost of farming can certainly be reduced a little bit." Xiao Hongsheng said.

It is understood that many farmers' specialized cooperatives have difficulties in operation, and some even have no real name.

In the business predicament, many people are reflecting: "the circulation cost is too high!"

"the rent per mu is 1200 yuan. At such a price, you can't make money growing grain at all." Chen Changhai, a big grain grower in Senggu Township, calculated an account for the reporter: growing wheat and corn for two seasons, the total production cost per mu was 875 yuan, wheat beat 1000 jin, 1.1yuan per jin, corn 1100 jin, 0.75 yuan per jin, excluding land rent, it would pay 150 yuan per mu.

It is understood that small-scale transfer among farmers in Yanjin County costs 600-800 yuan per mu, but between farmers and leading enterprises, cooperatives and large grain growers, the rent per mu is 800-1200 yuan.

In Zhangqiu City, the land rent in 2007 was less than 500 yuan per mu, and now the average has reached 1100 yuan. Recently, it has been even higher, directly to 1468 yuan. Zhang Zhishui, chief of the legal system Section of the Zhangqiu Municipal Bureau of Agriculture, said: "large-scale operation can improve efficiency, but we should be wary of land rent rising too fast."

At present, structural adjustment has become the biggest confusion for the new main body.

"the wheat will be harvested soon. What will you plant after planting the wheat? We are not in the corn subsidy area, what is the policy? When will it come out? " Chen Changhai was not sure. He said, "with regard to this year's market, planting corn must be in vain. This year, we are going to allocate dozens of mu of land to grow peanuts. If not, we will have to return the land."

"now we are very passive. if we don't grow corn, we really don't have the right crops. It's hard for big families to turn around. No one dares to take risks without a policy." Guo Weifeng is waiting for the policy to come out quickly. He said that agricultural machinery cannot be changed. They have bought a lot of special corn machinery. If they do not grow corn, agricultural machinery alone will suffer a lot of losses.

"the urgent task is to help the new main body and farmers tide over the difficulties as soon as possible, so that those who can cultivate land and can cultivate land will not suffer losses, so that there is hope for agriculture in the future." Luo Peng, deputy magistrate in charge of agriculture in Yanjin County, said.

4. Transfer or no transfer?

The development of trusteeship and seed generation to drive ordinary farmers can also achieve large-scale operation, make efforts by both the government and the market, and make up for the shortcomings of social services.

The transfer of land is not as expected. Is it better to transfer in the future or not?

Luo Peng believes that land transfer should let nature take its course, be moderate, and adapt to the non-agricultural transfer of rural labor force. What is the scale of "moderation"? According to a survey conducted in the county, the operating scale of leading enterprises and cooperatives is 500, 000 mu.

"the realization of moderate scale operation is not just a way of land transfer." Luo Peng said: now, relying on the social service system and adopting such methods as land trusteeship and seed generation, we can also promote the broad masses of ordinary peasant households, which can not only give full play to the "intensive cultivation" of each household, but also achieve large-scale and specialized production. It is a direction of development in the future.

In the process of market-oriented reform of grain prices, to solve the problem of "who will farm the land", it is fundamentally necessary to promote the structural reform on the agricultural supply side, give full play to the enthusiasm of the government and the market, and support the development and growth of new business entities such as cooperatives and large grain growers. Make up for the deficiency of agricultural socialized service.

In the survey, large households have the most concentrated opinions on the policy of direct grain subsidy. "regardless of whether they grow grain or not, they can get a subsidy, which seems to have become a kind of 'welfare', while those who are really growing grain have no subsidy." They believe that "who grows grain will benefit", which is the original intention of the state subsidy, and suggest that a special subsidy fund for large grain growers should be set up to grant subsidies according to the grain planting area.

Some cooperatives reported that the subsidies were not paid in a timely manner, and they were not in a hurry: "the subsidy for the purchase of agricultural machinery this year has not yet come down, and the time for purchasing machines in spring has passed." The amount of subsidy is also insufficient. Last year, there were only 280 corn harvesters in the county, and many people could not apply. "

At the institutional level, we hope to implement the policy of financial support for agriculture and arrange a certain amount of agricultural credit funds to alleviate the seasonal and temporary capital needs of the new main body.

Policy support, but also need a new type of main body to face the market to find a way. The century rich cooperative extends the industrial chain and processes grain into stone-ground wheat and stone-ground corn to increase the added value of grain and defuse market risks; the rich farmers' cooperative in Weiqiu Township of Yanjin tries to change the kind of sweet potato to hand-made noodles, which is sold for 15 yuan per jin and an additional income of 300 yuan per mu of land.

How to make money by growing grain on a large scale? In 2014, 1200 mu of land in Songjiabu Village, Longshan subdistrict office in Zhangqiu City was transferred to Lianqing Family Farm, and corn prices fell last year, having little impact on Song Shilian, who has grown more than 700mu of corn. "We all sold green corn to the farm, producing 3 and a half tons per mu and selling it for 475 yuan per ton. Combined, we can earn 1200 yuan per mu of land." According to his research, at present, the straw recycling market is large, and last year he bought 600 tons of straw, earning more than 50 yuan per ton.

Changing the organizational mode of large-scale operation, the Shifu Cooperative has entrusted 700 mu of land, unified planting, unified management, and unified harvesting. "the biggest advantage is that the land is still owned by the farmers themselves, and the cooperative collects service fees. You don't have to bear so much rental pressure anymore." Zhao Guochuan said.

To make agriculture a promising industry and farmers a decent profession, the answer to the problem of "who will farm the land" can be found.