Why professional farmers are the hope of rural development
At the Agricultural Expo there is an unusual exhibition area that is quite eye-catching; it shows people "new farmers" wearing sashes. It turns out that this is the "New-Type Professional Farmers Showcase Area" specially set up at this year's Agricultural Expo, mainly to publicize the province's new-type professional farmer training policies and display the innovative achievements of new-type professional farmers. (Taiyuan Evening News, October 25)
Professional farmers differ from traditional farmers. Because they are required to be educated, highly skilled and good at management, they appear high-end, impressive and classy, so it is not hard to understand why their appearance dazzles passersby. Farming, a declining profession, thus becomes bright as well.
Looking back, many far-sighted people, in view of phenomena such as farmers not making money from farming, serious abandonment of rural land, rural young people being more willing to go out to work, and the growing prevalence of rural hollowing-out, raised the shocking question, "Who will farm tomorrow?" Now it seems this was purely groundless worry. As of last year, China's grain production had increased for eleven consecutive years. Not only is the land still being farmed, but elite-type professional farmers have also emerged.
Professional farmers are the hope of agriculture, and should even more be the hope of rural areas, because professional farmers are also farmers. Therefore, when professional farmers first become prosperous by relying on farmland, they must not forget the source of their wealth and their natural mission, namely to lead local farmers to common prosperity. Otherwise, no matter how glamorous maverick professional farmers may be, it means little.