Family farm owner training should be closely tied to practical needs
Since the central government officially included family farms in the No. 1 Central Document in 2013, various regions across the country have successively formulated registration standards for family farms and training programs for family farm owners. The registration standards for family farms in different regions are tailored to local conditions according to category, so there is no need to elaborate further here. When a farmer transforms from a natural person into a farm owner with legal-person status, what exactly needs to be supplemented? In my four years of farmer training work, I have come into contact with a large number of professional farmers and family farm owners, gained a certain understanding of them, and have a few thoughts on family farm owner training work.
Family farm owners belong to the production-and-operation type of professional farmers. The current standards for professional farmers are: culturally educated, technically proficient, capable of operating a business, good at management, and well-rounded in personal qualities. In my view, against the above five requirements, doing a good job in family farm owner training should mainly supplement the following aspects for family farm owners.
1. Supplement role transformation. At present, quite a few family farm owners simply finish once they register, believing that everything is fine after registering with the industry and commerce department, shelving the license, and still walking the old path and singing the old tune. In fact, they are still just large-scale grain growers. In my view, in the strict sense, a family farm is a small or micro enterprise, and the farm owner is the legal person of a small or micro enterprise. Farm owners themselves must have an awareness of role transformation and must complete the transition from natural person to enterprise legal person ideologically, so that behavioral change can follow in the next step.
2. Supplement operational capability. A family farm owner is the legal person of a small or micro enterprise. He is the owner of the means of production, the decision-maker in production and operation, and the bearer of natural risks and market risks. Family farm owners have basically transitioned from large-scale grain growers. There are basically no problems in production technology, and public-interest socialized service organizations can provide guarantees in technology, but in operation the farm owner must make decisions himself. After registering, some farm owners feel they can rest easy and no longer study. In fact, they are still just large-scale grain growers, and their operational capability remains where it was. In favorable weather they can still make a profit, but in a bad year the risk of loss is very high. Therefore, in my view, the operational capability of family farm owners must definitely be supplemented.
3. Supplement management level. To maximize profits, a family farm must certainly achieve this by reducing costs and increasing output. If increasing output is achieved through operation, then reducing costs must be achieved through management. The management spoken of here is not field management, but the management of a small or micro enterprise. A family farm will certainly have issues in machinery allocation, labor use, and production safety. At present, most farm owners basically follow the crowd in management - if they do not know how to farm, they look to their neighbors - and do not formulate management measures according to their own characteristics. Therefore, family farm owners must definitely supplement management knowledge.
4. Supplement overall personal qualities. At present, the income of a family farm owner is basically higher than the income of workers in the local secondary and tertiary industries, and economically there has been a great improvement. But objectively speaking, some farm owners still need further improvement in overall personal qualities, mainly in external image, inner quality, professional ethics, and other aspects. Of course, we cannot discuss farm owners' overall personal qualities divorced from reality. We should objectively recognize that farm owners are constrained by their educational level and social environment, and farm owners should consciously supplement their overall personal qualities more.
As for production technology, because of the foundation of large-scale grain growers and sound socialized service organizations, there should be no problem. Therefore, in my view, when agricultural authorities and training institutions formulate training programs, they should design more courses on operation, management, and personal qualities. Only with training in this way can farm owners complete the transition from large-scale grain growers to legal persons of small or micro enterprises.