How to build a new type of agricultural operating system? Four relationships need to be handled with emphasis

While upholding the foundational position of family management in agriculture, how to break free from traditional constraints and, by taking the path of reform, build a new type of agricultural operating system is of great significance for doing a good job in the work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers in the new era and for comprehensively deepening reform.

Accelerating rural reform and building a new type of agricultural operating system require handling the following pairs of relationships with emphasis:

(1) The relationship between the new type of agricultural operating system and household contract management. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee clearly pointed out that we should "uphold the foundational position of family management in agriculture and advance innovation in agricultural operating methods through the common development of family management, collective management, cooperative management, enterprise management and other forms." Household contract management is not only the basic operating system in China's rural areas, but is also determined by the characteristics of agriculture; only by adhering to household contract management can producers truly manage with care. On the other hand, as the degree of agricultural marketization deepens day by day and the trend of farmers aging accelerates, the weaknesses of China's original traditional family management methods, such as weak risk resistance, high agricultural production costs, and increased constraints from the environment and resources, have become more obvious. Therefore, the original operating system based on household contract management and combining unified and separate management needs reform, innovation and improvement, so as to form an operating system in which traditional household contract management and multiple operating forms such as family farms, farmer cooperatives and leading enterprises coexist and develop in a coordinated way.

(2) The relationship between building a new type of agricultural operating system and the "three" degrees of matching. First, grasp well the degree of matching with regional development conditions. For example: Northeast China and North China have a high level of intensification and specialization and are suitable for developing highly industrialized and large-scale family farms. In economically developed areas and areas around large cities, land resources are scarce, but per capita income is relatively high, and demand for high-quality agricultural products is also large, so there is huge potential for developing community-supported agriculture. In Northwest China and the mountainous areas of Southwest China, the land is mostly hills and mountains, but distinctive agriculture is well developed, and deepening the development of agricultural cooperatives also has great prospects. Second, grasp well the degree of matching with new industrialization and urbanization. Building a new type of agricultural operating system must not only meet the demand for diversity in agricultural products brought about by the process of the "two transformations," but at the same time the process of the "two transformations" must also address issues such as "where farmers should go," "how they should make a living," and "how the new type of agricultural operating system can develop better." Third, China's cultivated land and water resources are scarce, resource use efficiency is low, and environmental degradation is severe, so it is even more necessary to grasp well the degree of matching with the environment, resources and ecology, and to achieve sustainable agricultural development in the process of building a new type of agricultural operating system.

(3) The relationship between the role of the market and the role of the government. The government and the market are the main mechanisms for allocating resources and coordinating economic activities. A purely market economy will inevitably produce "market failure," and an excessively interventionist government and the passivity of a "night watchman" will also inevitably lead to unbalanced development. Looking back on the course of reform, agriculture was the earliest field to carry out market-oriented reform, and rural productive forces were also the earliest to be liberated and developed. From the experience of various countries, no matter which operating model and system it is, it is built on the decisive role of the market. Building a new type of agricultural operating system means breaking all constraints and enabling the market to play a decisive role in allocating resources in agriculture. At the same time, agriculture is an industry with high social benefits but low self-benefits, and the phenomenon of market failure is especially prominent. In the process of establishing and consolidating their own agricultural operating systems and promoting agricultural modernization, agriculturally developed countries such as the United States and Japan have all implemented a whole set of policy systems covering industrial support, financial credit, tax and fee reductions, and so on. Therefore, building a new type of agricultural operating system means further clarifying the boundary between the government and the market, so that the "visible hand" and the "invisible hand" each perform their own duties and complement each other.

(4) The relationship between government guidance and farmers' voluntariness. The purpose of building a new type of agricultural operating system is not only to solve agricultural problems, but even more to solve farmers' problems, and therefore it requires farmers' support and participation. Farmers' household contract management rights are the basic property rights for farmers to participate in agricultural production and operation, and are also the property rights foundation for building a new type of agricultural operating system. If farmers' acquired rights and freedoms of will are not respected, this is not only a distortion of marketization, but also cannot stimulate farmers' enthusiasm and creativity, and even less can it maintain the long-term and stable development environment needed for building a new type of agricultural operating system. Accelerating family management, family farms, cooperative management, and company-plus-farmer models would all be "trees without roots and water without a source." Therefore, as a long-term process, the transformation of the agricultural operating system and the building of a new type of agricultural operating system must be advanced actively, and at the same time more steadily. On the basis that farmers' acquired rights and interests are not affected, and starting from the perspective of "respecting farmers and enriching farmers," correctly handling the relationship between government guidance and farmers' voluntariness and fully giving play to the enthusiasm and creativity of the farmer masses, so that farmers can enter cities with peace of mind and remain in the countryside with stability, is crucial for building a new type of agricultural operating system.

Building a new type of agricultural system concerns the overall situation of reform and development in the agricultural field and requires handling relationships in many aspects. It is a complex systematic project. For this reason, it is necessary to make good use of a combined set of measures such as "multi-directional advancement," "park demonstrations," "farmer training," "service systems," and "financial support for agriculture."