What development challenges do large-scale growers face after transitioning to family farm owners?
Editor's Note
Recently, Premier Li Keqiang pointed out in a speech at the FAO that agricultural modernization should be advanced on the basis of family management. Promoting appropriately scaled operations and developing modern agriculture on the basis of family management will help better “feed China” and also contribute to world food security. It can thus be seen that family farms have already become an important force and development direction in agricultural modernization. However, issues such as the uncertainty of land transfer cycles, labor scarcity and financing difficulties affect the further development of family farms. Our reporter went to Danleng County, Sichuan Province, and conducted an in-depth investigation into the development of family farms, bringing readers Danleng's experience and confusion, hoping to share it with readers and work together with them to offer ideas and suggestions.
Liu Zigang is the first person in Danleng County, Sichuan Province, to “eat the crab.” On March 26 last year, he was among the first to obtain a family farm business license, officially turning from a large-scale grower into a family farm owner. Today, nearly 100 family farms have been registered in Danleng County, distributed across fields such as fruit, tea, rattan pepper, forestry and breeding, but more than 70% of them were transformed from large-scale growers. Also as a new type of operating entity, why are large-scale growers turning one after another into family farm owners? What stories lie behind the choices? What opportunities and challenges are family farm owners facing? The reporter investigated.
1 Why become a farm owner?
For 40-year-old Liu Zigang, the wish to become a farm owner had already sprouted 10 years earlier. In 2004, he went through rounds of selection to work on a family farm in Japan, where he saw the refined management and scientific farming techniques of Japanese family farms, and was even more amazed by the annual returns created by a small family farm. “When I learned that the central government encouraged the development of family farms, I was thrilled, and the next day I went to the county industry and commerce bureau to ask about the procedures.” Liu Zigang said.
⟦NL> If Liu Zigang's favorable impression of family farms came from his overseas experience, then for Xie Lin it was a more realistic choice of identity. In his 30s, Xie Lin is hardworking and capable, and his wholesale clothing business was doing very well. In 2012, he persuaded his family, returned home to start a business, and transferred nearly 300 mu of land to build a vineyard.
A friend joked: “You've gone back to being a farmer again!” Xie Lin did not agree. “From land transfer and agricultural facility construction to the purchase of seedlings and agricultural inputs, we invested several million yuan, which is no less than the capital scale of a small or medium-sized enterprise.” Unconvinced, he planned to register a company, but after learning that family farms could also obtain legal-person status through business registration, he hesitated again. “Family farms gave us a new identity.” Xie Lin said that after weighing the options repeatedly, he gave up the idea of registering a company and became a family farm owner.
Old Luo, who had grown grapes for more than ten years, was pushed into the ranks of farm owners by his daughter Meilin. In 2013, Meilin, a graduate of a key university, resolutely quit her job despite her parents' opposition, sought out teachers everywhere to learn skills, and was determined to make her parents' grape business bigger and stronger. While studying grape cultivation techniques, this 27-year-old girl also paid great attention to agricultural policy.
Persuading her parents to register a family farm showed Luo Meilin's ability to judge policy. On June 17, 2013, Kemei Family Farm was officially registered. On the same day, the Danleng County Party Committee and government issued the "Implementation Opinions on Vigorously Developing Family Farms" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which clearly stated that 2 million yuan would be allocated from the county agricultural development funds for the development of family farms, and clarified the registration conditions for family farms in terms of subject qualification and operating scale.
Under policy guidance, in the second half of 2013, the number of registered family farms in Danleng County continued to grow, and the speed of development greatly exceeded the expectations of policymakers. According to the development goals set in the "Opinions," more than 10 family farms were to be cultivated in 2013; by 2015, more than 50 family farms were to be cultivated cumulatively; by 2017, more than 100 family farms were to be cultivated cumulatively. But so far, nearly 100 family farms have already been registered and established in Danleng, of which more than 70% came from large-scale growers.
“Favorable policies stimulated the release of previously reserved talent.” Guo Hong, deputy secretary of the Danleng County Party Committee and head of the family farm leading group, believes that based on Danleng County's years of adjustment to the agricultural industrial structure, a certain number of large-scale growers had been cultivated, and the policy receptiveness of these new professional farmers had been underestimated.
2 Besides identity, what else is changing?
After business registration, large-scale growers became family farm owners. Besides identity, what else changed? “The thinking became clearer!” Xie Lin said that at the moment he held the business registration license, he had a new understanding of future development.
At Xie Lin's Lvzhirun Family Farm, the straight and broad mechanical farming road is already lush and green, grape vines wind forward along the supports above the road, and high-end grapes such as Meirenzhi and Jumeigui have gradually ripened, hanging low from the layered branches and vines, so that passersby can taste their fragrance by raising a hand. “Leisure picking” will be one of Lvzhirun's main businesses. Pointing to the other end of the vineyard, Xie Lin told the reporter, “The next step is to get dining started quickly, so that guests who come for leisure picking can be kept here.”
“Family farms are different from large-scale growers; our business formats should be more diverse.” Xie Lin said that when he first touched the steel seal on the license, this idea popped into his mind. Coincidentally, Luo Meilin, who had the same idea, had already drawn up a schedule and planned to bring Chongqing hot pot into the vineyard in the coming winter.
Besides business philosophy, in Guo Hong's view, another most direct change is that legal-person status has brought a more favorable market position. “Family farms registered through legal procedures have stronger credibility than large-scale growers, which will bring new opportunities for Danleng's agricultural product brand building.” Guo Hong said.
Danleng County, dominated by low-hill landforms, adjusted its industrial structure relatively early and formed advantageous industries such as fruit, sericulture, tea and forestry, with the area of cash crops reaching 350,000 mu, more than half of the county's area. Although the industrial scale has continued to expand, due to the lack of brands, the vast majority of products could only enter wholesale markets at low prices. The creation of family farm brands was also listed as an important goal in the "Opinions." However, in the face of large circulation and large markets, how can family-based operating units create brands?