The integration of machinery and farming is spreading rapidly like a prairie fire

In the spring days, the land of Hunan and Jiangxi is full of vitality, accompanied by patches of golden rapeseed flowers, and farmers have entered the busy season of spring plowing for the year. In Liuyang City, Hunan, the locally famous agricultural machinery operator Cao Xiudao has long transformed into a large-scale grower practicing “integration of machinery and farming”, with the transferred land area expanding from more than 300 mu to more than 1,700 mu, and investment in machinery and granaries alone amounting to several million yuan. These days, he is leading his family in leveling farmland, soaking seeds, and raising seedlings, focusing entirely on how to grow grain well.

Immersed in the bustling spring plowing production, one deeply feels the new pulses in current agricultural and rural development: land transfer is accelerating year by year and becoming a new trend, grain growing as a realistic choice for large land-transfer operators is becoming the new normal, and “integration of machinery and farming” is becoming a new highlight among new types of business entities.

The traditional “machinery” mainly refers to agricultural machinery operators or agricultural machinery cooperatives. They earn income by providing agricultural machinery operation services, rarely cultivate large amounts of land themselves, and plowing and harvesting for others is their main business or main source of income. The traditional “farming” refers to farming households, whose main source of income is the output from the land they cultivate. In present-day Liuyang and Yueyang in Hunan, these two originally different production entities are quietly merging, forming a new type of business entity, and this trend has great prairie-fire momentum.

From the perspective of “machinery”, with the consecutive years of implementation of agricultural machinery purchase subsidies, farmers' ownership of agricultural machinery has continued to rise. On the one hand, this has brought steady progress in agricultural production mechanization; on the other hand, it has also led to a decline in the use efficiency of agricultural machinery, making it increasingly difficult for machinery operators to increase income simply by expanding the operating area. Cases of large growers becoming rich by growing grain constantly stimulate the prosperity dreams of machinery operators. These people, originally among the most active in the farmer group, are eager to share in the returns from grain growing. As a result, a group of machinery operators began to transfer large amounts of land, with machinery mainly serving themselves and providing social services when idle, quickly becoming the main force of “integration of machinery and farming”. Such vivid examples can be seen in many places in Hunan.

From the perspective of “farming”, farmers have realized that the protective price purchasing policy makes grain growing a sure profit without loss, and have successively increased subcontracted land to expand their operating scale. A large number of small and medium-sized households have grown into large transfer operators. Growing grain does not carry the same large market price risk as growing cash crops, so most large growers in Hunan choose to plant double-season rice, which has a high level of comprehensive mechanization. When the scale is small, farmers are less dependent on agricultural machinery, but once the planting scale increases substantially, fully mechanized production becomes a necessary condition. Moreover, policies supporting grain production inevitably include increasing agricultural machinery purchase subsidies. In Hunan, farmers purchasing agricultural machinery can enjoy stacked subsidies of up to 60% of the full amount, and large grain growers quickly become owners of large agricultural machinery. Large growers using machinery to serve themselves can, on the one hand, reduce production costs and improve planting efficiency, and on the other hand, ensure operation quality during important farming periods, achieving the goal of stable and high yields.

From Hunan's actual situation, “integration of machinery and farming” is in the ascendant, and with the advancement of large-scale and standardized production, it will inevitably become the main force in agricultural production.

First, this is an inevitable choice for the development of agricultural scale. At present, most of those cultivating contracted land are elderly people in their fifties and sixties. On the one hand, they farm based on years of production habits; on the other hand, they farm more to ensure their own food supply and eat with peace of mind, and many do not care much about a few thousand yuan in grain-growing income. As this group of farmers withdraws from farming due to age, large-scale land transfer is unavoidable. In the future, the truly large land-transfer operators and grain-growing entities will certainly emerge from farmers who understand technology, have drive, have good judgment, and have accumulated resources, and agricultural machinery operators are the best candidates. Zheng Chunbao, Party branch secretary of Xiangyouhu Village, Fenghuang Township, Quyuan Management District, Yueyang City, is a large agricultural machinery owner. Last year he cultivated only more than 100 mu of land. Even though this year the rent per mu increased by more than 400 yuan, the land he cultivates has still increased to more than 400 mu, because he has seen the economies of scale in grain growing.

Second, this is an effective way to save costs and increase efficiency in agriculture. The wife of Zhang Yuanke, a farmer in Beisheng Town, Liuyang, said: “In the past, farming 4 mu of land was exhausting, but now using machinery to farm more than 200 mu is no trouble at all.” One person can transplant seedlings by throwing them on at most a little more than one mu per day, while one high-speed rice transplanter can transplant seventy or eighty mu per day. In terms of expenditure, labor costs are far higher than machinery depreciation costs. Large-scale production, especially cultivating several hundred to several thousand mu of land, requires operators not only to have machines but also to know how to use them, so as to achieve the unity of finishing planting and planting well, thereby saving costs and improving efficiency. Agricultural machinery operators have obvious advantages in this regard.

Third, this is the best carrier for improving agricultural science and technology. The ultimate way out for agriculture depends on scientific and technological progress. The application of most advanced agricultural technologies is first piloted by leaders of agricultural machinery cooperatives or planting cooperatives, such as factory seedling-raising technology, rapeseed shallow-tillage ditching and direct seeding technology, and fully mechanized technology for rice and rapeseed, and so on. Some cooperative leaders and machinery operators have also explored in practice many new technologies and new methods suitable for local conditions. For example, in Liuyang City, the improved multi-layer seedling-raising rack technology of Baihuan Agricultural Machinery Cooperative, the technology of making seedling-raising substrate from boiler empty rice husk ash of Longgang Agricultural Machinery Cooperative, the mud machine seedling cultivation technology of Yongan Agricultural Machinery Cooperative, and the multi-functional integrated machinery warehouse and processing warehouse of Beisheng Zhongyi Agricultural Machinery Cooperative all came from inventions and creations by local machinery operators.

Fourth, this is an important force for ensuring food security. China implements a food security strategy of basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security of staple food, and “who will farm the land” has long troubled all sectors of society. The most reliable mechanism must be an interest-binding linkage mechanism. Small and medium-sized farmers are relatively sensitive to returns and, being small, can turn around easily, so relying on them to ensure quantity and supply is relatively difficult. Industrial and commercial capital pursues high returns, and transferred land shows an obvious tendency to move away from agriculture and grain. Only large agricultural machinery owners, who have invested substantial funds in purchasing agricultural machinery to form fixed assets, are familiar with rural areas, love agriculture, and have reasonable return expectations. They are trustworthy long-term producers and will certainly be practitioners of future modern agriculture.