What to do when agricultural products are hard to sell? The fundamental way out lies in the market

Along with the continuous development of the market economy and the growing sophistication of information dissemination, news of various agricultural products being hard to sell in all regions has frequently appeared in the media, and even the suburbs of the capital are not immune. This year's autumn harvest season saw grapes, apples, jujubes and other fruits in the suburbs of Beijing experiencing difficulties in selling to varying degrees, with some fruit growers simply pulling their unsold fruit to block the government's doors. The problem of unsold products always attracts social attention and people's moral sympathy, and the government will certainly actively find ways to help, but such temporary measures cannot fundamentally solve the problem. If melons and fruits go unsold in autumn, who knows what will go unsold in spring? Therefore, the problem should be solved more at the institutional and systemic level, giving play to the decisive role of the market, improving the agricultural management system, and accelerating the process of agricultural marketization.

Start with accelerating the development of new types of agricultural operating entities. The contradiction between small-scale production and the large market is the fundamental reason why agricultural products are hard to sell. While a unified national market is taking shape at an accelerated pace, agriculture remains a small-scale production of millions of households, easily rushing in all at once and rushing out all at once, with difficulties in selling and shortages repeatedly appearing. Therefore, on the basis of stabilizing household operations, it is necessary to accelerate the development of cooperatives, family farms, large-scale growers and breeders, agricultural enterprises, professional associations and other new types of operating entities, promote the process of agricultural scale-up, standardization and specialization, and reduce the blindness of production. Particular attention should be paid to the “new farmers” group, mainly consisting of returning migrant workers and college graduates returning to their hometowns, and support should be increased so that they can play a more active role in modern agricultural production and operation.

Accelerate the building of a new type of agricultural socialized service system. In an era of highly developed market economy, industrial division of labor is becoming increasingly fine. It is unrealistic to expect farmers to act as a compound producer and operator as in traditional times, taking on all links of production and marketing, and it also does not conform to the laws of the market economy, especially against the background of an aging agricultural labor force, where it is even more impossible. Modern agriculture must be supported by a socialized service system. While we see that the United States has only 2 million farmers, we should also see that there are still 15 million agricultural-related practitioners serving farmers. Our farmers should transition more toward specialized producers, while questions such as what to plant and how to sell should be borne more by the agricultural service system.

Continuously improve the government's level of work on agriculture, rural areas and farmers. Persist in acting according to the laws of the market economy, reduce administrative promotion, completely return operating autonomy to farmers, and prevent difficulties in selling caused by improper government decisions. Vigorously strengthen the building of socialized service systems for agricultural information, science and technology, finance, quality and safety, and strive to ensure that farmers have reliable information for production decisions, advanced technology and mechanized services during production, unified organization by enterprises and professional economic organizations for post-production sales, and policy-based insurance to provide a fallback for risks, so that they no longer worry about what to plant and whom to sell to.

Building a new type of agricultural management system is not the work of a single day. Fundamentally resolving the difficulty of selling agricultural products requires an arduous process. It is necessary, on the basis of respecting the laws of the market economy, to give play to the government's support and service functions and guide all sectors of society to jointly promote the transformation and upgrading of agricultural development, so that the pain in farmers' hearts caused by unsold products is continuously reduced.