How to develop family farms in China?

Family farm is a new type of management body in China's agricultural production and management in recent years. It takes peasant households as the basic production unit, increases the input of technology, capital and other factors, and implements agricultural specialized production and large-scale operation. We will improve the agricultural output rate and commodity rate of agricultural products, and improve the level of agricultural production mechanization and agricultural management intensification.

In 2013, the first document of the Central Committee proposed to encourage and support the transfer of contracted land to large professional households, family farms and farmers' cooperatives, which has become one of the highlights of agricultural development in recent years.

1 Family farm is the main way to promote agricultural development

In foreign countries, especially in some European and American countries, the phenomenon of family as a unit engaged in agricultural production and management is very common, its development has been more than a hundred years, family farm has become one of the main ways to promote agricultural development. The family farms there generally have vast land, and the matching production and management model is becoming more and more mature, showing the characteristics of high degree of mechanization, large-scale, intensive and so on.

From the existence form of family farms, there are large, medium and small family farms, large family farms in the United States and Canada, medium-sized family farms in France and other European countries, and small family farms in Japan and Taiwan.

In the United States, big farms, which account for 25% of the total number of farms, produce 85% of the country's agricultural products, and that proportion is still rising. In all parts of Germany, family farms are a common form of agriculture and form the physical basis of German agriculture. "large" family farms operate more than 100 hectares of land, 29300 in the country, accounting for 8.29 percent of the total number of agricultural enterprises in Germany; "medium-sized" family farms operate in 30 hectares, 104000 in the country, accounting for 29.44 percent of the total; and "small" family farms operate in 230 hectares, with 218500 in the country, accounting for 61.94 percent of the total.

Throughout the development of these foreign family farms, we can find the following experiences for reference: the establishment of land lease system and the relative concentration of land, the separation of farmland ownership and use right, the scale of operation and the diversification of organization, the specialization of production and management, the high-tech and mechanization of agricultural production, the strong support of the government to agriculture, and so on.

Some of these experiences are the same as China's policies, while others, such as high-tech, mechanization, and specialization, still have some gaps, and we need to continue to strengthen development efforts in the next step.

While seeing these experiences, we also need to see the fundamental gap, which is the difference in national conditions. Foreign family farms have the characteristics of region and population, and rural areas and farms often have a small population and a large number of arable land, especially after long-term urbanization development, the population is greatly reduced and the degree of land concentration is high. there are a considerable number of farms whose cultivated land is handed down from ancestors and does not need land transfer. This is different from the actual situation of large population and little land in our country, especially when the land of family farms needs to be transferred to other farmers, which is similar to the upgraded version of large farmers in operation.

(2) behind the phenomenon of farmers refusing land transfer

So how to develop family farms in China?

We believe that in order to develop a good family farm, under the condition of marketization, we need to respect the enthusiasm of the two subjects, that is, the farmers and farmers. First look at the typical rational practices of farmers. With the farmers' going out to work and the widespread use of agricultural materials, the planting methods of farmers have changed greatly. Farmers around the country use their ingenuity to create planting methods suitable for their families.

My hometown is in the eastern plain of Henan Province, the land is three crops in two years. Mainly grow winter wheat and autumn corn, soybeans and other crops.

In November of the previous year, winter wheat was planted in the fields, and there was basically no need to manage it until the Spring Festival. After the Spring Festival, take advantage of the rain, sprinkle chemical fertilizer, and then the men and women in the family go out to work.

Wheat grows vigorously in spring and has experienced Qingming Festival, Grain Rain and other solar terms. When the wheat blossoms, it is most prone to diseases and insect pests. By this time, they have not been able to pay certain agricultural medicine and labor fees to migrant workers in advance. Pay attention to integrity in the countryside, take other people's money, generally still have to hit the pesticide in place, so that insect pests are not serious.

When the wheat is harvested before and after June 1, they will return home from other places to harvest wheat and grow corn and soybeans. for more than 20 days, they can also take care of the elderly and children at home, and at the same time it can be regarded as leisure.

After planting corn or soybeans, then hit the herbicide again, when the corn comes out, there is no grass, do not have to work in the field to weed.

Next, there are two ways to deal with agricultural affairs, one is that the whole family goes out and gives the labor fees for chemical fertilizers and pesticides to the people in the village to do, and the other is that male labor goes out to work and women work at home, mainly applying chemical fertilizers and medicines at home. Wait until around the National Day, the autumn harvest, male labor back home, harvest together, and then cultivated to plant winter wheat.

In this way, one mu of land can earn more than a thousand yuan a year, and 2000 yuan in a good year. For the round trip fare, it can be counted as the fare to visit the family. As for time, it can be counted as leisure. Both farming and migrant work can be regarded as migratory bird-like work.

In many reports, it is often seen that no one transfers land and needs to do work from one household to another. in fact, it also reflects the rational side of farmers, thinking that it is more cost-effective to grow their own.

(3) the maximization of cultivated land income is the key.

The guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture on promoting the development of family farms (Nongjingfa (2014) No. 1) points out that "family farms are the main body of a new type of agricultural operation, with peasant family members as the main labor force. Agricultural operating income is mainly seen from the above cases, most farmers regard land as a" living field "and employment" insurance field ", so they prefer extensive operation and abandonment rather than transfer out. At the same time, it should be noted that circulation now requires long-term contracts, and the expected rise in land lease prices is also the practical aspect of their consideration. If the land is transferred to the farm, about 1000 yuan per mu, or even less, it is not as cost-effective to grow it yourself, so most farmers are not willing to rent it.

The source of income, the use of household contracted land or transferred land to engage in large-scale, intensive and commercialized agricultural production, and believes that family farms are in line with the stage of economic and social development and are the upgraded version of household contract management. it has become an effective force to lead moderate scale operation and develop modern agriculture.

At present, compared with traditional small farmers, family farms in China have the characteristics of "two high and two low", and have the development rationality of standardization and moderate scale of land. The "two highs" means that the average educational level of farmers is higher, and the average asset level of farms is higher. The "two low" means that the average age of farmers is relatively low, and the proportion of long-term employees participating in production and management is relatively low, mainly in the form of husband and wife plus short-term employees.

At the same time, the ideal land size of the family farm is about 600 mu on average. 25% of farmers believe that the reason for not expanding the scale of land is that "the scale of land is large enough". These two results show that family farmers have a more rational understanding and grasp of the appropriateness of business scale in their long-term production practice. In addition, 95.38% of the farms signed formal land transfer contracts, reflecting the characteristics of the standardized development of family farms.

In our view, the scale and existence and development of family farms in rural areas must be a win-win outcome, otherwise farmers and farmers will not let family farms survive for a long time. In theory, large-scale agricultural operation is a feasible choice to get out of this dilemma, but it involves the distribution of land rights and interests, which leads to the general floodgate of the whole body. In this way, the maximization of cultivated land income becomes the key to the family farm.

According to the report "can Family Farm ease the contradiction of farming" published by People's Daily on March 20, 2013, Li Jun, a 36-year-old from Hexi Village, Langxi County, has reached nearly 700mu of transferred land since he established his family farm in 2007. "the net income per mu is about 400 yuan, earning nearly 300000 yuan a year." After excluding the transfer fee and production cost, the net income per mu is only 400 yuan. If the scale is not large, the profit margin is pitifully small.

Feng Qiang, director of the Songjiang District Committee of Agriculture in Shanghai, told reporters that with the general operation of 100,000,200 mu of rice fields and agricultural subsidies, a family farm can earn at least nearly 100000 yuan, which is almost double that of ordinary migrant workers. They concluded that "farming is more profitable than working."

However, not only look at the good-looking results, but also look at the amount of capital paid by farmers and the ratio of benefits to costs. Does it take so much capital to work? How many farmers can afford this capital is a realistic question. In addition, the distribution of profits and benefits, the transfer of land should not be as large as their own income, otherwise, family farmers will not do business at a loss.

4 engaged in agricultural production is the "red line" of family farms

It can be said that this is the largest policy to adjust the interest pattern in rural areas after "output-to-household". The household contract responsibility system separates the ownership of rural land from the right of contracting, thus releasing agricultural productivity. the large-scale management model represented by family farms separates the right of contract and the right of management again, can it stimulate the vitality of agriculture and rural areas in the post-agricultural tax era?

To this end, we consider it necessary to do the following:

It is a "red line" to develop family farms and engage in agricultural production. Large population and little land is the basic national condition of China's agricultural development, and food security is also the basic guarantee of national security. The state has always stressed that we must keep the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land, so the occupation of cultivated land has become a major violation of national security. It must not be allowed to change the use of cultivated land in disguise with the help of family farm management, and family farms should be forced to grow mainly grain.

For example, according to public reports, the family farm model of "growing grain plus raising pigs" launched in Songjiang District of Shanghai, qualified and willing family farmers can apply to raise pine forest pigs on their behalf, and the pig shed was built by the Pine Forest Company according to a unified standard. Although it has increased the income of farmers, whether the construction of pig sheds has changed the use of arable land, if so, it needs to be banned and stopped. This string must be tightened.

To develop family farms, farmers' self-willingness is the "bottom line". China's policy of benefiting farmers is easy to evolve into a legitimate weapon for township governments to harm farmers at the grass-roots level, which must be on guard at all times. Even with the continuous progress of industrialization and urbanization and the smooth transfer of a large number of rural labor to the cities, hundreds of millions of farmers will still stay in rural areas and rely on land for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary to fully realize that the development of family farms is a gradual process, and it is necessary for farmers to make their own choices to prevent the tendency to deviate from local reality, go against the wishes of farmers, and unilaterally pursue super-large-scale operation. At no time can farmers be forced to carry out land transfer against their own will, and land transfer must adhere to the principles of law, compensation and voluntariness, and must not be allowed to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of farmers' land by means of forced orders, disguised orders, and coercion.

Professional farmer management is the "boundary" for the development of family farms. The ultimate goal of the development of family farms is to increase farmers' income and help them get rich. at the same time, in order to ensure that urban citizens do not concentrate land in disguise with the help of family farms, they must stick to this line and tell "short-sighted" farmers that they cannot kill the goose that lays the golden eggs and fish for the golden eggs.

Some enterprises have been transformed into agricultural enterprises, which are not used for agricultural production after receiving relevant subsidies; what is more, enterprises borrow the "shell" of family farms to obtain relevant financial support, but none of these funds are invested in family farms. Therefore, the owner of the family farm should be a professional farmer. In this way, the scale of the family farm should not be too large, foreign industrial and commercial capital should not be encouraged to intervene directly, and the farmer should not be a "setter" and should not turn into a benefit transfer to a small number of people.

To develop family farms, moderate management and development is the "main line". The development of family farms is proportional to the speed of land agglomeration, and the speed of land agglomeration is proportional to the development of urbanization. If the land is concentrated, but the farmers attached to the land are not transferred well, it will directly affect the whole society.

At present, the development of agriculture and rural areas in China has entered a new stage. in order to deal with the concurrent industrialization of agriculture, the hollowing out of rural areas and the aging of farmers, how to build family farms is still in the exploratory stage. In some places, when the conditions are not fully met, engage in "big allocation", "compare the quantity to the level", "talk about heroes on the basis of scale", blindly promote large-scale land management, and even force farmers to transfer land. This practice of being eager for success and greedy for more and faster is bound to have a negative impact on agricultural development and the increase of farmers' income.

The government must comprehensively consider, guide farmers to develop appropriately, at the same time learn from the practices of foreign family farms, do a good job in the division of agricultural production areas, and let products be characterized, large-scale, and centralized, such as the main production of one or two kinds of agricultural products in each region. to promote the development and growth of agriculture.

To develop family farms, the direction of ecological development is the "yellow line". At present, China as a whole is in the stage of realizing a well-off society in an all-round way. People living in rich cities want to improve the quality of life, and the improvement of the quality of diet is undoubtedly the most important. Food safety problems make many people want to have their own small farms.

At present, some family farms, such as the Little Donkey Citizen Farm on the outskirts of Beijing, contain organic vegetables, fresh fruits, organic chickens, ducks, geese, fish, pigs and so on. Their exploration is conducive to the development of ecological agriculture. Although these agricultural products play a variety of green environmental protection concepts, the price is several times the price of ordinary agricultural products, only minority consumption, the public acceptance of the relatively high price of high-quality agricultural products is very calm, but this will in turn stimulate the space for the upgrading and development of agricultural products, affecting the current training mode of most agricultural products.

In fact, the concept of family farm is just like the concept of urbanization, and the opportunity around family farm is the key to thinking.

The support provided by the government for the development of family farms is a "support line". At present, there are still many problems in the development of family farms. It can be said that, no matter at any stage, agriculture, as a weak industry, should be supported. Even with the development of farms in western countries, it is very difficult to survive without government subsidies. Especially in the face of major natural disasters and epidemics, it is difficult to tide over the difficulties without the help of the government.

At present, family farms generally have a weak ability to resist risks, coupled with the imperfect agricultural infrastructure, in the event of major natural disasters, the consequences are devastating. The government can introduce measures for credit evaluation and loan management on family farms, and promote farmers' urgently needed and targeted types of insurance, such as comprehensive insurance for agricultural machinery, accident insurance for migrant workers, and insurance for melons and fruits in greenhouses; establish and improve the socialized service system of agriculture, and solve the problems before, during and after birth as a whole. While improving public welfare service organizations, we will support and strengthen cooperative service organizations and promote a socialized service system that runs through the whole process, such as mechanized production and harvesting, labor training and export, grain drying and transportation.

So, on the whole, the family farm is like a long march, and we have only taken a small step at present.