What Are Grain-Growing Farmers Thinking? Growing Grain on Over a Hundred Mu Brings Considerable Returns
Opening Column Note: In order to further consolidate the achievements of the Party's mass line education and practice campaign, carry forward the fine style of the agricultural departments in working hard, serving “agriculture, rural areas and farmers”, seeking truth and being pragmatic, and being honest and efficient, the Ministry of Agriculture recently organized the “Hundred Townships, Ten Thousand Households Survey” for the fifth consecutive year, sending out 27 survey teams composed of over a hundred cadres and technical personnel, in two batches to all parts of the country to carry out a one-month survey activity of staying in townships, entering villages and visiting households.
At present, the survey activity is being carried out in an orderly manner. They go deep into the grassroots to publicize various preferential agricultural policies, listen to the voices of the people with their hearts, and capture the changes of the times with their lenses…… Starting today, our newspaper launches the column “Hundred Townships, Ten Thousand Households Survey · From Field to Desk, Decisions Have Accuracy”, presenting to readers one after another the fresh records obtained by the survey teams. Please stay tuned.
Who in the countryside is growing grain? Where does the enthusiasm for growing grain come from? What will guarantee future food security? With these questions, the Ministry of Agriculture's Hunan survey team for the Hundred Townships, Ten Thousand Households Survey went deep into 6 villages in Yong'an Town and Beisheng Town of Liuyang City, visiting more than 70 ordinary farmers and large grain-growing households to hear their voices.
“Growing Six or Seven Mu of Grain, Just for the Peace of Mind of Feeding Myself”
When the survey team met Yu Xinming in Pingtou Village, Yong'an Town, he was feeding the pigs in his own pigsty. “I'm 62 this year. I'm getting older, and no one wants to hire me for work outside, so staying in the village with nothing to do, I just devote myself to tending six or seven mu of land, grow some vegetables, and raise two pigs and a few dozen chickens.” Old Yu talked warmly with the survey team.
“I don't farm to sell grain for money, mainly just to feed myself and have peace of mind.” According to the introduction, Old Yu's land can produce 1,200 to 1,300 jin of mid-season rice per mu, and 80 to 90 jin of rapeseed oil. Calculated at market prices, this brings about 1,700 yuan of income per mu.
Someone in the village wanted to rent his land for farming, but he did not agree. He felt he was still healthy and could farm for another 3 years without any problem, “We'll talk about it when I really can't work anymore.”
“Being idle is still being idle, and it doesn't take much labor anyway. Growing it yourself makes eating convenient and gives peace of mind. This is also the original intention of most smallholder households in growing grain.” said Zhang Ye, a member of the survey team. “Growing a Hundred or Eighty Mu of Grain Is Better Than Working Outside”
Zhang Yuanke, a farmer in Yanwuzhou Village, Beisheng Town, began last year to transfer 100 mu of land at a unit price of 400 yuan per mu to grow double-season rice. He had his own tractor, tiller and harvester. Apart from seedling raising and mechanical transplanting, which were done on his behalf by another large household, the farm work in the fields was basically all done mechanically by him and his wife. The output of the two seasons of rice reached 1,900 jin, with a net income of 700 to 800 yuan per mu, and total income of more than 70,000 yuan.
He did the accounts for the survey team: “If I went to work in a nearby industrial park, one person could earn at most 40,000 yuan. Now farming brings in 70,000 to 80,000 yuan, and I can also take care of my family. It's more worthwhile than working outside.”
This year he transferred another 100 mu of land. “With more grain, I urgently need a loan to buy a dryer to solve the problem of drying the rice.” “As long as the land is contiguous and level and can be worked mechanically, my wife and I can completely farm 300 to 400 mu. By then, I probably won't think about going out to work anymore.” Zhang Yuanke said with full confidence.
“As long as the income is good, there will definitely be people returning to the countryside to farm. Looking at it now, there must be an income of at least five or six thousand yuan per month.” said Zhang Linna, a member of the survey team.
“Growing Grain on Over a Hundred Mu Brings Considerable Returns”
Wang Deqing, 42 years old, is from the same village as Yu Xinming. He was originally a large agricultural machinery household, mainly providing agricultural machinery services for others. Last year he rented 300 mu of land at a transfer fee of 500 yuan per mu to grow double-season rice. In addition to rice income, he could also make money by plowing and harvesting for others, with annual income reaching 400,000 yuan.
He believed that growing a hundred or so mu could only earn 70,000 to 80,000 yuan, about the same as his original income from just running agricultural machinery, “There's not much to be gained. Only by going up to four or five hundred mu can you really make money.” This is also the consensus of most large grain-growing households. Most of these people have transformed from large agricultural machinery households, and their expectations differ from those of ordinary farmers.
The general local situation is that after excluding transfer costs, large households earn about 700 yuan per mu, and a scale of more than 200 mu is needed for grain growing to truly be attractive to large agricultural machinery households and migrant farmers.
Liu Yunze, a member of the survey team, told reporters: “Only when farming is profitable will land not be left abandoned, and profitability lies in scale. When the planting scale reaches 150 to 200 mu, the problem of who will farm the land can be solved. The foundation of scale is mechanization. If machinery cannot get into the fields, no one will transfer the land even for free.” He believed that there is an urgent need to further strengthen farmland leveling and build mechanical farming roads to create conditions for mechanized operations.
“Growing Grain on Over a Thousand Mu Beats Running a Factory”
Cao Xiudao, a farmer in Wulong Community, Beisheng Town, initiated the establishment of the Beisheng Zhongyi Agricultural Machinery Service Cooperative in 2008 and was one of the earliest people in Liuyang to engage in socialized agricultural machinery services. In recent years, he gradually transformed from a large agricultural machinery household into a large grain-growing household. The transferred land area gradually expanded from 300 mu in 2012 to 1,200 mu in 2014, and this year further expanded to 1,700 mu, implementing full-process mechanized operations.
Through continuous exploration and experimentation, Old Cao summed up a planting structure of “mainly growing double-season rice, with a small part growing single-season rice and rapeseed”, as well as a double-season rice planting model of “early rice mainly direct-seeded + late rice mainly mechanical transplanting”, reducing risks, controlling costs, increasing output and improving returns through technical means. Last year, according to on-site yield measurement by experts from the municipal agriculture bureau, the yield of double-season rice in ordinary fields reached 2,061.3 jin per mu, with an average net profit of 1,211 yuan per mu, and the family's annual income exceeded 1.1 million yuan.
Old Cao's returns are much higher than those of ordinary large households. First, because the land transferred in the early period had low costs; second, because 70% of the early rice was direct-seeded, saving 200 yuan per mu in costs; third, because management was in place, and the yield was two or three hundred jin higher than that of ordinary large households. He believed that grain growing has a protective price and open-ended purchasing, with no market risk. As long as the technology is up to standard, there is still money to be made, especially once a certain scale is reached, the returns are even more considerable.
“The possibility of transferring land and not growing grain is very low.” said Kong Liang, a member of the survey team. From the perspective of Liuyang, growing mid-season rice + rapeseed is theoretically 600 yuan higher in net income per mu than growing double-season rice, but large households, especially those with more than 500 mu, rarely grow rapeseed. Large households do their accounts very clearly: the state purchases rice on an open-ended basis, with no price risk; rapeseed cannot be stored and must be pressed for oil as soon as possible, no one locally buys rapeseed, and after pressing the oil there is no way to sell it on a large scale.
Kong Liang believed that the same is true for other cash crops. Market risks are extremely high. When returns are good, you make a fortune; when returns are poor, you lose everything. Large households would rather earn a few hundred yuan less than choose varieties that could earn a thousand yuan more but carry high risks.