Agricultural modernization must make the broad masses of farmers the biggest beneficiaries

During his inspection tour of Jiangsu, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out that without agricultural modernization, without prosperous and strong rural areas, and without farmers living and working in contentment, a country's modernization is incomplete, not comprehensive, and not solid. He required Jiangsu to take the lead and set the direction in the synchronized development of the “four modernizations” and to be the first in the country to achieve agricultural modernization. To deeply understand and implement the General Secretary's important instructions, we must firmly establish the values and methodology that agricultural modernization is for farmers and relies on farmers, vigorously cultivate all kinds of operating entities with professional farmers as the main force, enable the broad masses of farmers to participate equally in the modernization process and share in its achievements, and become the biggest beneficiaries of agricultural modernization, thus realizing what the General Secretary proposed: “let agricultural operations be profitable, let agriculture become a promising industry, let farmers become a respectable profession, and let rural areas become beautiful homes where people live and work in contentment”. To achieve this goal, in advancing our work we must correctly handle the relationship between cultivating professional farmers and cultivating new types of operating entities, correctly handle the relationship between family farms and cooperatives and agricultural enterprises, correctly handle the relationship between family operations and collective operations, cooperative operations, and enterprise operations, and correctly handle the relationship between socialized service organizations and all kinds of operating entities.

I. Vigorously cultivate professional farmers and make them an important force among new types of agricultural operating entities and the main force in agricultural modernization

Workers are the most active factor in the development of productive forces, and without the modernization of farmers there can be no modernization of agriculture. During his inspection tour of Jiangsu, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “agricultural modernization must rely on people; if no one farms the land, then no matter how good the seeds are, how much fertilizer there is, or how advanced the machinery and equipment may be, it still will not work”. New-type professional farmers, as the main body engaged in modern agriculture, are also the talent foundation for cultivating other new types of operating entities. New-type professional farmers are the only way to improve the operating capacity of traditional farming households. Traditional farmers find it difficult to play the leading role in building modern agriculture, whereas new-type professional farmers possess rich knowledge, master advanced technology, are good at business management, and are able to lead innovation and entrepreneurship. They are not only investors in agricultural production and decision-makers in agricultural operations, but also demonstrators of advanced science and technology and leaders of modern agriculture. New-type professional farmers are also the talent foundation for building all kinds of new types of operating entities. For new types of operating entities such as large specialized farming and breeding households, family farms and ranches, farmers' cooperatives, and agricultural enterprises, their founders are mainly professional farmers, and the quality of the professional farmer group determines the development quality and production and operation level of these entities.

To promote the building of modern agriculture, we must strengthen farmers' principal position, establish channels for farmers' transformation and upgrading, and, on the basis of accelerating the cultivation of new-type professional farmers, support professional farmers in transforming into specialized large households and family farms, support professional farmers in leading and founding cooperatives, and support production collaboration and interest linkages between professional farmers and agricultural enterprises, so as to consolidate the talent foundation for building modern agriculture. This year, our province was designated by the Ministry of Agriculture as a province for the overall advancement of new-type professional farmer cultivation. Based on actual conditions, we focus on cultivating “three types of professional farmers”, namely upgrading a group of “old farmers” who have experience in agriculture and labor capacity, attracting a group of “new farmers” who have nostalgia and want to return to their hometowns to start businesses, and introducing a group of “knowledgeable farmers” who have academic qualifications and can innovate. The plan is to cultivate 200,000 new-type professional farmers each year, and by 2020 to have cultivated 1.2 million new-type professional farmers, with the province's new-type professional farmer cultivation level reaching 50%.

II. Family farms are the most basic operating entities engaged in modern agricultural development, and we must encourage their development and form a pattern of division of labor and cooperation, each displaying its strengths, mutual benefit and win-win results, and integrated development with other operating entities

The General Secretary pointed out that “we must vigorously cultivate new types of operating entities such as specialized large households, family farms, farmers' cooperatives, and agricultural enterprises”. At present, all four types of operating entities have developed in our province and play their own different roles. A total of 24,000 family farms have been recognized, there are more than 70,000 cooperatives, and there are 5,645 agricultural leading enterprises at or above the county level. Compared with other operating entities, family farms have a foundational and basic character. Compared with traditional farming households, family farms have a larger scale of agricultural production and stronger specialization, overcoming the drawbacks of contracting households being “small and complete”. Through scale operations, the returns from engaging in agriculture are guaranteed, and the degree of specialization and intensification is markedly increased, making them more efficient and competitive. Compared with farmers' cooperatives, family farms are the basic members of cooperatives, and cooperatives are an important bond for the mutual association of family farms and other new types of operating entities. Without family farms, the development of cooperatives would lose its foundation. In addition, the two differ in purpose: farming households establish family farms to become better off, while cooperatives take serving their members as their purpose; they differ in type: family farms are independent market entities, while cooperatives are cooperative legal-person entities; they differ in decision-making mechanism: family farms make their own decisions, while cooperatives practice democratic management; and they differ in profit distribution: family farms are responsible for their own profits and losses, while cooperatives must return 60% of distributable surplus to members according to transaction volume (amount). Compared with agricultural enterprises, family farms are the foundation for raw material production by leading enterprises. Leading enterprises must form a community of interests with family farms, doing some things and not doing others, both playing a driving role and not overstepping their role or taking over everything, preventing large-scale and long-term renting and occupying of contracted land, and preventing “one entity, multiple signboards”.

To build a phalanx of modern agricultural operating entities, we should take family farms as the most basic operating entities in agricultural production, support and encourage the moderate concentration of land into the hands of skilled farmers and professional farmers to become family farms, support and encourage the formation or transformation of farmers' professional cooperatives with family farms as members, support and encourage family farms to establish stable interest linkage relationships with agricultural enterprises, and guide all kinds of new types of operating entities to give play to their strengths in the fields to which they are suited, each displaying its strengths and achieving integrated development.

III. Family operations are an important foundation of the rural basic operating system, and innovation in other operating methods must help increase farmers' income, raise land output rates, and improve the comprehensive benefits of agriculture

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Party proposed to “uphold the foundational position of family operations in agriculture and advance innovation in agricultural operating methods through the common development of family operations, collective operations, cooperative operations, and enterprise operations”. The four operating methods each have their own emphasis and different functions. Family operations are the operating method used by traditional small farming households, specialized large households, family farms, and other entities, and are also the most important operating method, especially in the production stage. Whether under the European and American model or the Japanese and South Korean model, family operations have always been the most basic and foundational organizational form in agricultural production, and also the operating method with the greatest competitive advantage in the agricultural production stage. This is reflected in the organizational method: the labor force in family operations is mainly family members, production and operation goals are highly consistent, and members are highly coordinated, with no phenomena such as passive slowdowns caused by poor management, truly achieving unity of mind and effort. It is reflected in risk resistance: unlike industrial and commercial capital seeking high returns on funds, family operations are generally of a moderate scale and pursue steady development; family operations do not involve large numbers of hired workers, and under the situation of ever-rising labor costs, costs can be effectively controlled within a moderate range; in responding to disastrous weather, family operations will take disaster prevention and mitigation measures at the first opportunity, with strong flexibility and high efficiency. It is reflected in the quality of agricultural products: family operations are gradually becoming mainly family farms. At the present stage in Jiangsu, the focus is on developing family farms of 100-300 mu in scale. This scale is much larger than the traditional scattered operation of one household after another, yet it remains within a moderate range, making it relatively easy to advance standardized production and also convenient for traceability management of agricultural product quality.

Compared with family operations, collective operations are an innovation in the way rural collective economies develop modern agriculture. Cooperative operations emphasize association and cooperation among different entities, and the corresponding operating entities are mainly farmers' cooperatives, which have the service advantages of driving scattered households, organizing large households, connecting with enterprises, and linking with markets. Enterprise operations take agricultural enterprises as the main body and are mainly engaged in links with high investment intensity and a high degree of marketization that other operating entities cannot do or cannot do well, such as seeds and seedlings, processing and circulation. Each operating method has a corresponding functional positioning, and how to choose should be adapted to local conditions and make best use of strengths while avoiding weaknesses. But no matter what operating method is developed, it must aim at the “three maximizations”, namely maximizing land output, maximizing agricultural benefits, and maximizing farmers' income. These are the three key indicators for judging whether innovation in operating methods is successful.

IV. Socialized service organizations are both a powerful guarantee for all kinds of entities to develop modern agriculture and a key field in which industrial and commercial capital investing in agriculture can accomplish a great deal

Modern agriculture is not merely a simple expansion of production scale, nor is it a single micro-level entity taking on the entire process from planting to harvesting and from production to sales. Rather, it is a modern industrial form in which the division of labor in agriculture is gradually refined and the degree of specialization in each link is continuously improved. Agricultural development in developed countries, regardless of scale, is supported by a sound socialized service system, with a considerable portion of farming operations handed over to specialized service organizations. Judging from the actual situation of agricultural production in our province, socialized service organizations show a trend of transforming from single-type services to comprehensive services and are playing an increasingly important role. Socialized services can improve production and operation efficiency. For any operating entity, independently completing all production and operation links is uneconomical and also unfavorable to improving operating capacity. Socialized services can promote the development of scale operations. In addition to land-concentration-type scale operations, by developing socialized services and handing over all or part of production and operation links to specialized service organizations, standardized production and scale operations can be carried out without transferring land. Socialized services can drive new types of entities and traditional farming households to raise their level. At present, the leaders of socialized service organizations include various entities such as specialized large households, family farms, and agricultural technicians. Generally they have a certain scale of land themselves and also provide specialized services to other entities in certain links. This type of service organization has the strongest vitality, as it can both realize mutual services among new types of operating entities such as large farming and breeding households and family farms, and drive traditional small farming households to improve their production and management level.

Developing socialized services requires the support of modern material equipment and modern agricultural scientific and technological talent. It requires both more modern professional farmers and a certain amount of capital investment as a guarantee, and is a key field for industrial and commercial capital investing in agriculture. We must give play to the advantages of enterprises in modern production factors and business management models, highlight large-scale and standardized services in production links, highlight the extension of service scope, encourage industrial and commercial capital to enter the agricultural field to develop full-process services from planting to harvesting, and at the same time extend services to the pre-production and post-production stages, play a leading role in seed and seedling breeding, agricultural product processing and circulation, and other aspects, improve service efficiency, and bring all kinds of operating entities onto the track of modern agriculture.