China State Farms: The Journey from Nanniwan
“In past years, Nanniwan was nothing but barren hills; today's Nanniwan is the good Jiangnan of northern Shaanxi……” This northern Shaanxi folk song, popular across the land, celebrates the “first plow” of China's state farm cause.
In 1939, in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Revolutionary Base Area, the war situation was urgent and supplies were scarce. Facing the economic blockade by the Japanese aggressors, Mao Zedong called on the people to “produce with our own hands and eat our fill.” General Wang Zhen led the 359th Brigade in a triumphant march to Nanniwan. Within a few years, a desolate, uninhabited land was transformed into a fertile granary where “crops grew everywhere and livestock roamed all around.” The first farm under our Party's leadership —— Guanghua Farm —— was thus established, and New China's state farm cause began here.
Seventy-six years of walking together through trials and triumphs, through the seasons of splendor. Along with the footsteps of New China, the mission of state farms to guarantee supply for the nation and safeguard the tranquility of the borderlands has never changed. Along the way, state farms have become the national team safeguarding national food security and the effective supply of important agricultural products, a demonstration zone for modern agriculture with Chinese characteristics, a pacesetter in agricultural foreign cooperation, and a stabilizer for securing the borders and stabilizing the frontiers.
The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the reform and development of state farms. When inspecting the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that the important role of state farms under the new circumstances must be brought into play, that the work of the Corps can only be strengthened and not weakened, and that the Corps must become a stabilizer for securing the borders and stabilizing the frontiers, a great furnace for uniting people of all ethnic groups, and a demonstration zone for gathering advanced productive forces and advanced culture.
When inspecting Heilongjiang State Farms, Premier Li Keqiang pointed out that state farms have a relatively good foundation and should promote the application of large agricultural machinery in accordance with local conditions, explore models such as unified management and unified operations, develop precision agriculture, form scale development, enhance comprehensive agricultural production capacity, and play a demonstrative role nationwide.
Standing at a new historical starting point, state farm reform has opened a new chapter, and the development of China's state farm cause is bound to welcome a new spring.
Indelible Historical Contributions
——Through the arduous struggles and selfless dedication of several generations of state farm workers, wasteland has become granaries, the Gobi has become oases, tidal flats have become fertile fields, and wild hills have become rubber plantations
On the vast black soil of northeast China, thousands of miles of fertile fields stretch out, with golden rice flowers; in the northwest frontier, on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, fertile fields crisscross the land and the fragrance of melons and fruits fills the air; on Hainan Island, the pearl of the South China Sea, the nation's largest natural rubber forest is nurtured…… Several generations of state farm workers started from scratch, worked hard to build businesses, reclaimed and garrisoned the frontiers, and defended the homeland, achieving the abundant richness and beauty across the vast land of the motherland.
“Leave all the wasteland of New China to me! As Minister of State Farms, I have this confidence!” In the early days of New China, Wang Zhen, who served as Minister of State Farms of the Republic, proposed to the central authorities: mobilize 100,000 demobilized officers and soldiers to develop the Great Northern Wilderness. The most magnificent scene in China's history of land reclamation appeared: tens of thousands of demobilized officers and soldiers, carrying their luggage, some with wives and children, marched on foot toward a wasteland with no roads and no villages, singing heroic songs as they walked……
Ren Zengxue, from the Central Guard Division, was one of these 100,000 troops. Upon demobilization, he gave up the opportunity to stay in a state organ as a cadre and resolutely chose the Great Northern Wilderness. One day, at Farm 853, the tractor he was driving crushed through the ice layer and fell into a mud pit known as the “big sauce jar.” He dived into the icy water three times, hooked the iron hook onto the tractor, and finally used a winch to pull the tractor up, but he himself became an “ice man,” completely unconscious. A moment later, and there would have been one more grave on Yanwo Island.
In the years of land reclamation, dangers and hardships like these accompanied every reclamation worker. It was precisely the first generation of state farm workers who, under the difficult conditions of a poor and weak New China, used their lives to accomplish astonishing miracles that amazed the world. It was they who turned wasteland into granaries, the Gobi into oases, saline-alkali tidal flats into fertile fields, and wild hills into rubber plantations!
In the northwest frontier, state farm workers not only reclaimed land in the desert but also shouldered the important responsibility of garrisoning the border. The vast Gobi, desolate and uninhabited, is one of the most arid regions in the world. To reclaim land here, the first problem to solve was water. In 1950, General Wang Zhen drew a red line on the map along the southern Xinjiang highway between the road and Korla, and ordered the officers and soldiers of the 18th Regiment stationed there to turn this red line into a canal and channel down the glacier water.
In just 1 year, this canal, with a total length of 41 kilometers, was completed. On the day of the water release ceremony, the entire city of Korla came to witness this miracle on the Gobi Desert. Zhao Yuzheng, former deputy political commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, recalled: “We truly endured every hardship known to humankind. The people of today cannot imagine those difficult years.”
History will not forget that during the three years of natural disasters, the Heilongjiang, Xinjiang and other state farm regions provided the state with 11.9 billion jin of commodity grain; in the chaotic era of the “Cultural Revolution,” state farm workers made indelible contributions to helping the people of the whole country through difficult times.
The cultivators have persevered for decades as if a single day. Over more than sixty years, state farm workers have established a number of large-scale agricultural product production bases for grain, cotton, natural rubber, dairy products, sugar crops and others at internationally advanced levels, playing a key role in safeguarding national food security and the security of important agricultural products. State farms have also led China's agricultural modernization drive, creating more than 600 modern agriculture demonstration zones of different types, and cooperating with local areas to jointly build agricultural science and technology demonstration parks and industrial development parks, forming a situation of joint construction between state farms and local areas, resource sharing, complementary advantages and common development. The hundreds of farms stationed in the borderlands, on the one hand, drive the economic and social development of the border areas, and on the other hand, in stabilizing the borders, securing the frontiers and defending the territorial integrity of the motherland, they hold fast to every inch of national territory……
Along the way, the historical contributions made by state farm workers have always been inseparable from the strong leadership of the Party. In the new era, state farm workers, as always, carry forward the tradition and advantage of adhering to Party leadership, fully bring into play the political core role of Party organizations in state farms, unswervingly uphold the Party's leadership over state farms, always maintain a firm political direction, and implement the Party's lines, principles and policies to the letter. This is the strong guarantee for state farm workers to forge ahead.
Seeing the new appearance of today's state farms, veteran reclamation worker and China's first generation female combine harvester operator Liu Ying was filled with emotion: “State farm workers turned wasteland into fertile fields, treated the farm regions as their home, reclaimed and garrisoned the frontiers, and when the country needed them most, they shouldered the greatest responsibility!”
The Irreplaceable “National Team”
——Small in total volume but great in role, small in share but great in contribution, small in size but high in status, always taking it as its duty to defend the core national interests in guaranteeing supply, stabilizing the market, and maintaining stability and garrisoning the border
“The rice bowl of the Chinese people must be firmly held in our own hands.” To this end, China has formulated a national food security strategy under the new circumstances: “relying mainly on ourselves, based on domestic production, ensuring production capacity, moderate imports, and scientific and technological support.” In achieving this strategic goal, the state-owned agricultural economy plays a key role. As the backbone and concentrated representative of the state-owned agricultural economy, state farms occupy an indispensable position. Small in total volume but great in role, small in share but great in contribution, small in size but high in status; strategic, pioneering and public in nature — these are the distinctive features of state farms. As a special organization created by the older generation of revolutionaries for reclaiming and garrisoning the frontiers and guaranteeing supply, the functional positioning of state farms has always taken it as its duty to defend the core national interests.
After the Korean War broke out, Western countries imposed an economic blockade on New China, and rubber became the most important embargoed material. In 1951, the Party Central Committee made a decision: “We must establish our own rubber production base.”
To plant rubber, one first needs seeds. That was a battle without smoke. In order to collect the precious seeds when the rubber fruit ripened, officers and soldiers brought to bear the same fighting spirit they had used against the enemy on the battlefield. A battalion commander searching for rubber seeds at night with a small hurricane lamp was bitten by a venomous snake and fell unconscious; a soldier named Fu Yafu, running a high fever, collapsed under a rubber tree from exhaustion…… One day in September 1952, rain poured down and the river surged. In order to deliver rubber seeds in time to the transfer station on the opposite bank, Chen Jinzhao, disregarding the rushing currents, struggled to swim across. When he was less than 10 meters from the bank, a huge wave struck, and Chen Jinzhao was instantly swallowed by the flood……
At that time, the authoritative view in international botany held that rubber could not grow beyond 17° north latitude at the northernmost limit, and China was excluded from natural rubber growing areas. However, state farm workers once again created a miracle with their lives and wisdom. China's first rubber plantation in the history of natural rubber —— Qiong'an Rubber Plantation —— succeeded in large-scale rubber planting. This was a pioneering achievement in China's rubber history and rewrote the scope of the world's rubber growing regions. Today, rubber trees have been planted on a large scale in China's regions from 18° to 24° north latitude, and state farm workers have even opened rubber factories in Thailand, the world's largest rubber producer, embarking on a path of international cooperation and development.
“Be the national team that safeguards national food security and the effective supply of important agricultural products.” With regard to this responsibility, state farm workers have lived up to their mission and the great trust placed in them. In 2003, when “SARS” raged, Beijing became a heavily affected area, the public was gripped by anxiety, and panic buying even occurred. At 10 p.m., having received the task, Heilongjiang State Farms produced rice overnight. Starting the next day, for 7 consecutive days, a total of 15 grain special trains were sent to Beijing, rapidly stabilizing Beijing's grain market.
On the eve of the 2008 Spring Festival, icy snow disasters struck, vegetable supply in the market became tight, and prices soared. Ningxia State Farms resolutely gave up temporary profits and urgently supplied the Yinchuan market at ordinary prices, providing hundreds of tons of grain, vegetables, milk, meat and other goods to the Yinchuan market every day, stabilizing the market prices of fresh agricultural products in Yinchuan during the Spring Festival and ensuring supply.
If state farms were ranked among all provinces nationwide, their total grain output would rank fourth, total cotton output second, and total meat and aquatic product output fifteenth and thirteenth respectively. This “ballast stone” of state farms plays a pivotal role in guaranteeing supply and stabilizing the market.
The irreplaceable role of state farms goes far beyond this. They are demonstration zones for agricultural modernization, always at the forefront nationwide in the promotion and application of scientific and technological achievements, the level of agricultural mechanization, and the capacity for industrialized operations, bearing the responsibility and obligation of piloting modern agriculture, and their ability to radiate and lead agricultural development in surrounding areas has been continuously strengthened; they have always been at the forefront nationwide in the field of agricultural foreign cooperation and development, with the scale of “going out” continuously expanding, investment fields becoming broader, and cooperation levels continuously upgrading; they are the stabilizer for securing the borders and stabilizing the frontiers, with a total of 276 border farms, accounting for 15.5% of the total number of farms nationwide, and the border line they are located along is 5,794 kilometers long, accounting for 1/4 of the length of China's land border. The unique geographical location of border farms determines that they stand at the forefront of resisting infiltration by external forces and the struggle against separatism, possessing unique advantages in safeguarding border security and promoting development in ethnic regions, and being an indispensable important force for the state.
Unmatched Operational Advantages
——Implementing a two-tier operational system based on household operations with large farms coordinating small farms, combining “unified” and “separate” management, avoiding the absence or overreach between the two entities of “unified and separate”
In the golden autumn season, arriving at the great granary of northeast China, the harvest rice fields converge into a golden sea, and large harvesters shuttle through the fields, finishing hundreds of mu of rice in no time, “eating” rice seedlings and “spitting out” rice grains.
“Farm workers have it easy cultivating the land, with full mechanization. The machinery is the most advanced, purchased uniformly by the farm. When the critical time for pesticide application and pest control comes, the farm organizes unified prevention and control and aerial operations, and I just need to watch at the edge of the field.” said Zhang Guojun, a worker at Youyi Farm. Although it is easy, Zhang Guojun does not dare to slack off, because after all, whether the harvest is good or bad, and whether the benefits are high or low, are all his own.
Having both “unified” and “separate” management and a high degree of organization — this is one of the unmatched advantages of state farms. Since the 1980s, state farms began implementing a two-tier operational system of large farms encompassing small farms, contracting land to workers for operation, while farms concentrated their efforts on things individual workers could not accomplish alone. This reform both fully mobilized the enthusiasm of workers and broke the drawbacks of the “big pot” system, while retaining the organizational advantage of the farm's “unified” management, avoiding the absence or overreach between the two entities of “unified and separate.”
With smooth mechanisms, efficiency has improved. Large scale, large machinery, large science and technology, full industry chain, and comprehensive foreign cooperation — all of these demonstrate the pacesetting role of state farms in leading modern agriculture.
Large scale —— State farms have 93.64 million mu of cultivated land, accounting for about 4.6% of the national total. Although the absolute proportion is not large, the land is relatively concentrated and contiguous, with a large per capita area. The average operating area of family farms is about 6 hectares, and some family farms are as large as 100 hectares, far higher than the national average household scale, possessing the scale advantage for developing modern agriculture. The continuously improving level of agricultural scale has also provided conditions for state farm mechanization. In 2014, the comprehensive mechanization level of state farms reached 87.4%, exceeding the national comprehensive mechanization level of crops by nearly 26 percentage points.
Full industry chain —— State farms have continuously extended and thickened the agricultural industry chain. A number of influential and competitive industries such as high-quality rice and wheat, cotton, non-GMO soybeans, dairy, seed industry, and sugar industry have established advantageous positions nationwide. The industrial system has been gradually improved, forming an industrial system dominated by agricultural and sideline product processing and food manufacturing, with simultaneous development of coal, petrochemicals, electromechanical, textile and garment, rubber and plastics processing and other industries.
Large science and technology —— The foundation for agricultural scientific research is solid. The national state farm system has 368 scientific research units and a total of 39,755 people engaged in agricultural scientific research. Scientific research achievements are abundant. For example, the establishment and implementation of the MOET breeding system for Chinese Holstein dairy cattle can rapidly and economically breed improved bulls and high-yielding cows, reaching internationally advanced levels; the aerial operation technology for pest and disease control of major crops and the agricultural aviation technical regulations filled domestic technological gaps. The state farm system has formed an agricultural technology promotion and service system with farm agricultural technicians as the main body, integrating production management, technology promotion services and some industry management functions, with distinctive state farm characteristics.
Foreign cooperation —— The agricultural production and operations of the state farm system are widely distributed overseas. At present, 113 overseas enterprises and development projects have been established in 42 countries and regions. Overseas agricultural
product production achieves an annual overseas output value of nearly 24 billion yuan and profits of 1.7 billion yuan. The areas of “going out” have expanded from the initial grain and natural rubber to sugar, dairy, edible oil and other crops, and from pure production links to processing, warehousing, logistics and more. The capital operation capacity of large state farm enterprise groups has been continuously enhanced. Shanghai State Farms Bright Group acquired 60% equity of Weetabix, the world's second-largest cereal food manufacturer in the UK, which is the largest overseas merger and acquisition project completed by China's food industry to date.
In recent years, in order to enhance competitiveness and contend for the right to speak, state farms have proposed the “three unions” strategy of union, alliance and joint operation, advancing toward the goal of becoming an international grain merchant of state farms; state farms have also actively promoted the brand strategy, successively establishing the China State Farms Seed Industry Alliance, the China State Farms Natural Rubber Industry Alliance and the China State Farms Dairy Industry Alliance, further improving the level of organization, scale and industrialization.
The reform and development of state farms have achieved remarkable results and established unmatched advantages. But at the same time, their own institutional and mechanism problems have become obstacles to further development.
In February 2014, Chen Fudong, already 87 years old, former secretary of the CPC Fuyang Prefectural Committee and advisor to the Development Research Center of the Anhui Provincial Government; Pang Zhenyue, 79 years old, former president of the Anhui Administrative College; and Chen Jin, 73 years old, president of the Anhui Agricultural Economics Society and former director of the Policy Research Office of the Anhui Provincial Department of State Farms, three veteran comrades, submitted “Some Thoughts and Suggestions on Accelerating the Reform and Development of China's State Farm Cause” to Vice Premier Wang Yang, offering suggestions for state farm reform, which received great attention from Vice Premier Wang Yang.
“Though in low position, one dares not forget concern for the country. Although we have retired for many years, we still care about the great cause of reform and opening up and national rejuvenation.” Chen Jin, who worked in the state farm system for 18 years and was the main drafter of the Suggestions, has always been concerned about state farm development and reform. In an interview with reporters, he said that state farms once made indelible contributions to the country, and now and in the future they will certainly play an even greater role. At present, state farms have encountered difficulties. The external environment for reform and development is not optimistic, and there are also many constraining factors internally. The management system and mechanisms urgently need innovation. Therefore, it is urgent for the state to resolve contradictions and remove obstacles through top-level design and reform, enhance the control and influence of state farms over strategic agricultural industries, and further elevate the strategic position of state farms in the national economy.
The Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Agriculture attaches great importance to deepening state farm reform. Together with relevant departments, it has conducted a large amount of preliminary research and obtained rich first-hand materials, providing important decision-making references for the top-level design of the Party Central Committee and the State Council.
Stimulating Vitality, State Farm Reform Sets Out Again
——The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Opinions to carry out top-level design for state farm reform and comprehensively enhance the internal driving force and development vitality of state farm transformation and upgrading
“In the new era, the state farm cause can only be strengthened and not weakened.” Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council officially issued the “Opinions on Further Advancing the Reform and Development of State Farms,” sounding the call for state farm reform. In response to problems such as inflexible operating mechanisms, heavy social burdens, and an unsound policy system, top-level design for state farm reform and development was carried out at the central level.
So, how exactly should the reform proceed? Economist Li Yining stated: “The goal of state farm reform is to invigorate state-owned land.” The Opinions emphasize allowing state farm land to be contributed at a valuation (as equity) and authorized for operation, carrying out pilot programs for mortgaging and guaranteeing agricultural land in an orderly manner, steadily advancing the capitalization of land resources, and opening an ice-breaking journey for state farm land system reform. The Opinions also emphasize the requirement to pilot first and prevent the loss of state-owned assets.
Wang Yongzhong, secretary of the Party Committee of Ningxia State Farms Group Co., Ltd., gave an example: In 2011, Ningxia State Farms issued Ningxia's first agricultural enterprise corporate bond using land use rights as mortgage guarantee, raising a total of 1.8 billion yuan, effectively alleviating the pressure of fund shortages on the enterprise. Advantageous and characteristic leading industries such as grape planting and dairy cattle breeding developed rapidly. The grape planting area increased from 43,000 mu in 2010 to 132,000 mu in 2014, becoming the largest grape base owned by a single enterprise nationwide; the dairy cattle inventory increased from 29,700 head in 2010 to 52,000 head in 2014, becoming the largest dairy cattle breeding enterprise in the autonomous region. Revitalizing land resources has brought a new engine to state farm development and released enormous development potential.
At the level of state farm regions, group-based operation will still be the dominant direction. At present, among the 35 state farm regions nationwide, 17 have basically implemented group-based reform. In 2014, the GDP and profits of group-based state farm regions accounted for 63.3% and 91.3% of the national state farm total respectively.
Guangdong has always been the window of China's reform and opening up, and its economic development and model innovation have always been at the forefront. Speaking of releasing market vitality, Lei Yongjian, secretary of the Party Leadership Group of Guangdong State Farms Group Co., said: “In group-based reform, Guangdong relies on the four major strategies of innovation-driven development, going out for development, combining industry and finance, and ‘Internet plus’ as support, firmly grasping agricultural production such as natural rubber and cane sugar, focusing on cultivating new formats of agricultural product logistics and e-commerce marketing, innovating thinking to invigorate the tourism service industry, and thereby feeding back into agriculture.”
However, looking across all state farm regions nationwide, the breadth and depth of group-based reform still cannot fully meet the needs of the market economy system, and the task of reform remains very arduous.
In the reform, for state farm regions with the conditions, the management system will be converted as a whole, the parent-subsidiary system and modern enterprise system will be improved; for state farm regions where state-owned farms are managed by cities and counties, regional modern agricultural enterprise groups will be established where conditions allow, and agricultural industry companies may be jointly established where industrial characteristics are obvious, exploring a bottom-up path for state farm region group-based reform. Introducing diversified investment entities is also an important measure for advancing state farm region group-based reform. In terms of straightening out the administrative management system, it is necessary to gradually transition from implementing one institution with two nameplates to one institution with one nameplate, and comprehensively implement group-based enterprise management.
At the farm level, the agricultural operation and management system will be further innovated, and the functions of farms running social services will be reformed. Since reform and opening up, state farms have gradually established and improved the two-tier operational system of large farms encompassing small farms, stimulating operational vitality. This reform will further clarify the relationship between agricultural workers and state-owned farms, which is a creditor's rights relationship with a labor relationship, different from the relationship of farmers contracting collective land. In addition, the function of “unified” management must be emphasized; land cannot simply be rented out and left at that. Farms must bring into play their special advantages in organization, scale, mechanization and other aspects, and improve management and service capabilities.
“Reforming the social service functions of state-owned farms is directly related to whether the market entity status of state-owned farms can truly be established and whether the internal driving force and development vitality of state-owned farms can be comprehensively enhanced.” Li Chunjiang, secretary of the Party Committee of Jiangsu State Farms Group Co., Ltd., said that in 2008, Jiangsu State Farms comprehensively implemented the internal separation of social service functions of state-owned farms, establishing community management committees in all 18 farms in the state farm region, with people, finances and materials relatively independent, implementing separate financial management, and executing expenses according to budget. They actively sought lawful authorization and entrusted management from local government departments, and also established about 100 residents' committees in the 18 farm communities, bringing into play the role of residents' self-management.
Holding the Bottom Line, Building the “Three Big” Framework
——Cultivate modern agricultural enterprise groups with international competitiveness, build a number of large-scale grain, cotton, sugar, rubber, milk and seed production and supply bases, and let workers and the masses share the dividends of reform
“In building an urban modern agriculture demonstration and high-quality fresh agricultural product supply base, our thinking is becoming clearer and clearer.” Zhang Fuping, secretary of the Party Committee of Shounong Group (Beijing State Farm Region), said that it is necessary to base itself on the capital Beijing and build a world-class agricultural enterprise group with international competitiveness.
Ge Jianjun, manager of Xinjiang Hutubi Cattle Breeding Farm Co., Ltd., suggested that relevant departments should lean toward the grassroots when formulating support policies, help grassroots pastures improve management levels, study cost control, raise per-unit yield levels, and enable herders to become prosperous.
Whether Zhang Fuping or Ge Jianjun, they all harbor a dream: to make enterprises bigger and stronger, make farms beautiful, and make herders prosperous. To realize this dream, reform is needed to drive it forward.
The core goal of the reform is to innovate the state farm industry guidance and management system, the enterprise market-oriented operation system, and the farm operation and management system, establish a state-owned asset supervision system that conforms to the characteristics of state farms, generally establish a modern enterprise system in state farm regions, and accelerate the cultivation and growth of modern agricultural enterprise groups with international competitiveness.
The development goal is that by 2020, state farms will, on the existing basis, build a number of stable and reliable large-scale production and processing bases for important agricultural products such as grain, cotton, sugar crops, natural rubber, milk and seeds, and form a complete modern agricultural industrial system.
Ensuring people's livelihood is the starting point and foothold of the reform. Increasing workers' income is the top priority. It is necessary to advance the new urbanization development of state farm regions, coordinate infrastructure construction, improve public services, and let the broad masses of workers share the fruits of reform and development.
Vice Premier Wang Yang emphasized that state farm reform must hold firmly to three bottom lines: “We must never reform away the public ownership system, weaken agriculture, or shrink the scale.”
For state farms to fully bring into play their backbone and leading role in building modern agriculture and better serve the needs of the national strategy, it is necessary to build the “three big” framework, namely building large bases, large enterprises and large industries for modern agriculture.
Large bases —— According to the resource endowments, geographical locations and development levels of each state farm region, the national state farms can be roughly divided into three major functional zone layouts. First, state farm regions that safeguard national food and important agricultural product security. These include Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Corps, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Jiangsu, Anhui and other state farm regions, with the focus on safeguarding the effective supply of important agricultural products such as grain, cotton, sugar crops, natural rubber and seeds. Second, state farm regions that safeguard food supply and market stability in large and medium-sized cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing and other state farm regions. Third, state farm regions that safeguard national border stability and sustainable ecological development. These include border farms in Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, Guangxi, Yunnan and other state farm regions, with the focus on playing a good role in maintaining stability and garrisoning the border in border ethnic areas and resisting the invasion of harmful organisms from abroad. Farms in Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou and other state farm regions located along rivers and lakes, in grasslands and wetlands, and in mountainous and forest areas, with the focus on strengthening ecological conservation and water source protection functions.
Large enterprises —— State farms have already cultivated a large number of modern agricultural enterprise groups with strong economic strength, especially enterprises such as Beidahuang Group and Bright Group, whose total annual operating revenue closely approaches that of Fortune Global 500 companies. State farms are fully capable and equipped to build a number of modern agricultural enterprise groups with international competitiveness and become international grain merchants of state farms. They can neither be equated with agricultural multinational corporations that pursue profit maximization as their goal, nor with international grain merchants of developed countries that aim to dump surplus agricultural products abroad; rather, they must truly become international grain merchants that safeguard the security of national grain and major agricultural product supply and drive farmers to increase income and become prosperous.
Large industries —— Bring into play the advantages of state farm enterprise groups, build the entire agricultural industry chain, and take the lead in promoting the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Advance full-process standardization of agricultural production and establish a quality and safety traceability system for agricultural products from field to table. State farm enterprises should accelerate the construction of grain drying, drying and warehousing facilities, develop primary processing and deep processing of bulk agricultural products at their places of origin, and radiate and drive surrounding farmers to increase income and become prosperous. Advance the optimized layout of the state farm agricultural product circulation network, accelerate the development of new circulation formats such as cold chain logistics, e-commerce and chain operations, and advance the brand building of state farm enterprises.
The journey of reform has begun. Amid the resounding footsteps of reform, China's state farms will, as always, live up to their mission and leave a brilliant mark in the history of the Republic in the new era. Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu stated that the success or failure of state farm reform is not only related to the success or failure of the reform of state-owned agricultural enterprises, to national food security and the development of modern agriculture, but also to whether we can build a force capable of contending with international multinational corporations and gaining competitive advantages, and moreover to the major matter of whether we can grasp the initiative in the development of our country's agricultural and rural economy and consolidate the Party's governing foundation.