Explaining the New-Type Professional Farmer: How to Build a Socialized Agricultural Service System
As agriculture has developed to this day, the meaning of “farmer” has changed greatly, and the shift from an “inherited” status to a brand-new profession is an unstoppable historical trend.
In 2012, “new-type professional farmer” was written into the No. 1 Central Document for the first time. In the same year, the Ministry of Agriculture launched pilot programs for cultivating new-type professional farmers in 100 counties nationwide, with the aim of cultivating new-type farmers who are educated, understand technology, and know how to run a business, and of solving the problem of “who will farm the land, and how to farm it well,” an issue that is both urgent and of overall importance. To some extent, the future of agriculture and the country's food security rest on new-type professional farmers.
In 2014, 10 cities and counties, including Haikou, Wanning, Chengmai, Sanya, Danzhou, Lingao, Qiongzhong, Changjiang, Ding'an, and Tunchang, were included among the 300 demonstration counties in the national new-type professional farmer cultivation project. The main task of the pilot program was to establish three systems: education and training, certification and management, and policy support, so that farming could become a profession in which people can settle down and make a living. This is undoubtedly an institutional reform of great significance. Hainan Province then issued the Hainan Province New-Type Professional Farmer Cultivation Implementation Plan, and Hainan Province simultaneously rolled out the new-type professional farmer cultivation project.
Are they still authentic farmers?
Production-oriented professional farmers:
They manage growing but not selling
⟦NL> In May in Hainan, the most popular fruit on the market is none other than lychee.
At Donglu Farm in Wenchang City, lychee grower Xing Yitai strolls through his own orchard, inspecting the growth of the lychees tree by tree under the blazing sun.
In previous years, Xing Yitai would not have been so “leisurely” strolling through the orchard. “At this time in past years, I had to run around for lychee sales channels, bringing several groups of buyers to look at the fruit every day; that was common.” Xing Yitai said that there were many things to consider: what the market price was, how much demand there was, how long the transport distance was, and how to keep the fruit fresh.
The reason he is so calm now is that the 10 mu of lychees before his eyes already have “named buyers for the fruit.”
At the beginning of this year, under the leadership and organization of the Hainan Provincial State Farms Bureau and relevant departments, Donglu Farm auctioned off the order procurement rights for more than 700,000 jin of Donglu “Feizixiao” lychees at the end of April by competitive bidding. This not only gave growers reassurance, but also set a high price of 13.2 yuan/jin. Therefore, over the following half month, all Xing Yitai had to do was use his skilled growing techniques to ensure that this batch of lychees was harvested in perfect condition, which for an experienced grower like Xing Yitai was especially easy.
From shouldering planting, grafting, fertilizing, fruit protection, harvesting, and sales all by himself, to now only needing to make use of his strengths to grow lychees well, Xing Yitai's identity has also changed from a traditional lychee grower to a production-oriented professional farmer focused on cultivation.
“For farmers, the market has always been something unfathomable. Rather than distracting them after production, it is better to let farmers make use of their own strengths.” Xia Yongkai, a postdoctoral researcher at the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, has long been committed to advancing the professionalization of farmers. He said that the lychee growers at Donglu Farm today can be described as typical production-oriented professional farmers.
Freed from the entire industrial chain and focused on the production link they are best at—
In the past they handled everything from growing to selling; now they only manage growing well
Agricultural production with higher added value, such as horticulture, fresh foods, cash crops, and export-oriented agriculture, is more profitable than traditional crops such as rice and often becomes the first choice of production-oriented professional farmers. Driven by cooperatives and leading enterprises, farmers' ability to avoid market risks has been strengthened, and their incomes are naturally more stable.
“In traditional agriculture, farmers often bear the entire industrial chain from production to sales, while production-oriented professional farmers are more like one link in this industrial chain, and it is the link farmers are most familiar with and best at.” From initially working in banana industry development to beginning to continuously focus on the development of new-type professional farmers, Xia Yongkai believes that freeing farmers from fields they are not good at and having them concentrate on doing well in the link they are best at is like a recent graduate doing a job matched to their major, making them more adept.
Not only in Donglu; in Dongfang's banana industry, Chengmai's coffee industry, and others, farmers are being enabled to focus on local advantageous industries and use “specialization” to promote development.
Service-oriented professional farmers:
They make money even without land
In Basuo Town, Dongfang City, in mid-May, a cornfield that had been lush green half a month earlier had now mostly been harvested, but farmer Tang Shigan from Basuo Town still drove around to visit the major corn planting bases.
From corn variety selection, sowing, fertilizing, harvesting, and marketing, Tang Shigan was constantly on the move and never idle. In Dongfang City's corn-growing circles, Tang Shigan is somewhat well known. But people who do not know him may wonder why a farmer who did not plant a single mu of corn this year worries so much about corn planting conditions.
“Actually, I also come from a grower background, but as Dongfang's corn industry has grown larger and larger, I discovered different business opportunities.” The business opportunity Tang Shigan spoke of is actually specialized services. Helping farmers analyze market conditions and choose planting varieties before production, paying attention to pests, diseases, and climate impacts during production, and connecting dealers with farmers after production, Tang Shigan's one-stop intermediary service has earned him both profit and reputation.
Service-oriented professional farmers like Tang Shigan, acting as “intermediaries” linking the agricultural industry and the market, have become an indispensable member of today's agricultural industrial chain. “Like the once-famous Yuanping fruit brokers, these corn intermediaries in Dongfang City are not only a bridge between farmers and the market, but also the lubricant of the entire corn industrial chain.” In Xia Yongkai's view, in Hainan's agriculture today, it is common for farmers to be disconnected from the market, and the emergence of unsalable agricultural products is also related to this. The emergence of service-oriented professional farmers is both necessary and inevitable.
Holding market information and providing one-stop pre-production, mid-production, and post-production services—
Specializing in intermediary services, linking the fields with the market
Abandoning traditional planting and breeding, they obtain considerable economic benefits through one-stop pre-production, mid-production, and post-production services. In an era of information explosion, holding market information is equivalent to holding the best-selling “product.” “Many agricultural product intermediaries often also come from farming backgrounds and understand the local agricultural industry better than anyone.” Xia Yongkai said that through their own transformation and upgrading, they have increased contact with dealers and the market, and they also hold more information.
At the same time, production-oriented professional farmers and service-oriented professional farmers can also form a good complement, like a clear social division of labor, each performing its own role and each displaying its strengths.
Business-oriented professional farmers:
Getting rich through multiple paths
In Chashan Village, Nada Town, Danzhou City, during the rubber-tapping season, a recent “news item” became a hot topic of discussion in the village: villager Zhong Zhihui of Chashan Village cut down 7 mu of rubber trees that had been planted for many years, just when neighbors were rushing to tap rubber. As a major grower in the village, such behavior was somewhat puzzling.
Amid gasps of surprise, Zhong Zhihui had his own plans. “These rubber trees have been planted for many years, and their economic benefits are no longer what they used to be. In addition, with extensive management, the yield is not considered high.” Zhong Zhihui said that good varieties of papaya currently have decent economic benefits and can also support understory farming, so it was time to change his thinking and develop industries with potential. He had even already thought of a name for the “papaya chickens” raised under the trees.
Also taking the lead in cutting down aging rubber trees was Shao Xianghui, Party branch secretary of Qiaonan Village in Nada Town. “I not only cut down the trees, but also tore down the pigsty at home. The village environment has been polluted, and it is time to change our thinking.” Shao Xianghui said that by cutting down the aging rubber trees, he planted new varieties of jackfruit; by giving up the heavily polluting pig farm, he developed a farmhouse restaurant built amid the trees—Shao Xianghui planned his own industry quite properly.
What Zhong Zhihui and Shao Xianghui have in common is that their traditional thinking on agricultural development has changed. What brought about the change was the production-and-business-oriented professional farmer training class organized by the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences. The training, only 15 days in total, broadened Zhong Zhihui's and Shao Xianghui's horizons.
Developing understory economy and developing rural tourism are different paths, but both reflect thinking about moving from a single agricultural industry model to multi-level agricultural development. “Changing from simply being growers and breeders to business-oriented professional farmers is not as simple as cutting down trees. Compared with the complementary advantages of production-oriented and service-oriented professional farmers, business-oriented professional farmers need a broader vision and a more complete industrial chain.” Gao Xiuyun, deputy director of the Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, who is responsible for the training, believes that the key to the transformation and upgrading of the agricultural industry lies in changing thinking. It is difficult, but it has potential.