Research on the Development of Rural Agricultural Leading Enterprises

Developing rural agricultural leading enterprises is the core of promoting agricultural industrialization. Leading enterprises integrate functions such as market development, guiding production, deepening processing, technological innovation, financing, and sales services, and are an important force in the new stage of agricultural development for driving farmers' income growth and accelerating agricultural modernization. Therefore, developing agricultural leading enterprises is the core of promoting agricultural industrialization and also a major subject of research on agricultural industrialization.

I. Main Problems Existing in Rural Agricultural Leading Enterprises

1. The overall strength of agricultural leading enterprises is relatively low, and their coverage is relatively narrow. Although some agricultural leading enterprises have emerged in the vast rural areas, and these leading enterprises have indeed played a relatively large role in promoting agricultural industrialization, leading enterprises in various places often proceed from local interests and act independently, without forming an effective cooperative system; some even engage in regional blockades, which limits their own development. At the same time, the scale of agricultural enterprises in various places is limited, and their mutual competitiveness is limited, making it impossible to form a wave of restructuring and mergers, which is very unfavorable to raising the overall level of agricultural industrialization. The coverage of agricultural industrialization in China is relatively narrow, currently only about 50%, while in developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands, it has long exceeded 80%. As far as leading enterprises are concerned, the proportion and overall strength of China's leading enterprises are also greatly lower than the level of Western developed countries.

2. The development level of agricultural leading enterprises is relatively low, and their economic benefits are relatively weak. Compared with Western developed countries, the development level of agricultural industrialization leading enterprises in various parts of China is still at a relatively low level. Leading enterprises in various places often act independently and seek their own development, resulting in the repeated establishment of leading enterprises among regions, causing their scale and development level to remain at a relatively low level for a long time, making it difficult to achieve substantial improvement. Competition for limited agricultural resources has, to a certain extent, intensified contradictions among leading enterprises and caused mutual rivalry, bringing a series of adverse effects to the development of China's agricultural industrialization leading enterprises. Because the degree of agricultural industrialization is relatively low, cooperation between companies and farmers is not yet close, which increases costs and reduces profits. According to estimates, primary agricultural products worth 1 yuan, after processing, can appreciate by 3.7 yuan in the United States, 2.2 yuan in Japan, and only 0.3 yuan in China. The relatively low profit level will in turn affect the further development of leading enterprises.

3. Agricultural leading enterprises are small in scale and not very driving. Although there are quite a few agricultural industrialization leading enterprises across the country, due to the lack of relatively unified management, their development speed is relatively slow and their strength expansion is limited, making it always difficult to develop into large-scale, well-funded large agricultural industrialization enterprise groups. Therefore, the pace of promoting the transfer from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture is relatively slow, and the role they play is not great. At the same time, leading enterprises in some regions do not account for a high proportion locally, and their control over other enterprises in their areas is relatively weak, affecting their development. This situation is even more obvious in the central and western regions.

⟦NL> 4. The planning of agricultural leading enterprises is inconsistent, and resource waste is relatively high. Governments at all levels have given strong support to the development of agricultural industrialization leading enterprises and have given full attention to policies and measures. However, due to different actual conditions in various places, support for agricultural industrialization leading enterprises also differs. Some regions lack unified planning and allow leading enterprises to develop freely, making it difficult to form a cooperative system for agricultural industrialization, which to a certain extent hinders the improvement of agricultural resource utilization efficiency. Low efficiency in resource utilization in turn hinders the development of agricultural industrialization leading enterprises and the formation of cooperative mechanisms.

5. The operation and management of agricultural leading enterprises lag behind, and management talent is scarce. In most rural areas, enterprise managers with relatively high market operation response ability and market management expansion ability are scarce; enterprise managers who have always had high-end pursuits and long-term entrepreneurial passion are also few. In addition, some enterprises lack control mechanisms for expanded reproduction and have a single management method, resulting in poor work motivation, product creativity, and development cohesion. Some struggling enterprises even show a phenomenon of sitting still and waiting for death; conversely, some profitable enterprises sit back and enjoy the results, first waiting, second relying, third asking, and production development stalls. Local agriculture-related enterprise managers are either mostly family businesses, where the government can only provide services and cannot make arrangements in personnel matters; or they are state-owned enterprises with unsound selection and employment mechanisms, restricting talent flow. People willing to run enterprises, capable of running enterprises, and able to succeed in running enterprises cannot get into enterprises, while people unwilling to run enterprises and unable to succeed in running enterprises cannot be adjusted out. Even cooperatives, associations, or joint-stock enterprises also have phenomena of irregular management, unpleasant internal cooperation, and a lack of management knowledge and management ability.