Family farms open a new dream of rural life: what kind of farms should be supported?

Editor's note:Family farms have played an important leading role in promoting the modernization of family agricultural operations and the scaling-up, standardization and intensification of agricultural production. In order to promote the standardized and efficient development of family farms, the Department of Rural Economic Management of the Ministry of Agriculture recently held a national family farm training course in Yanbian, Jilin. The course featured both the insightful views of authoritative experts and innovative practices from the local grassroots level. This issue selects some of the highlights from the training session, hoping to present readers with a true and complete picture of family farms in the process of realizing the “rural Chinese Dream.” Readers' attention is invited.

Early Results as a Front-Runner, but Going Faster Still Requires Support

——A Survey of the Current Development of Family Farms in Zhucheng City, Shandong Province

In mid-to-late April last year, Zhucheng City in Shandong Province successively issued the “four documents” including measures for the recognition and management of family farms to encourage and support the development of family farms, becoming a “front-runner” in exploring new agricultural operating entities. A year has passed. How are the family farms doing? What changes has this new form of operation brought to farmers?

Becoming Farm Owners, Good News Comes One After Another

“Over the past year, I have received many beneficial policies, and my confidence in farming has grown even stronger!” A year later, when Wang Ruli, a large-scale tobacco grower in Wujiazhuang Village, Jiayue Town, Zhucheng City, met this writer again, he said with great joy.

He began large-scale tobacco cultivation in 2009 and within 3 years transferred 1130 mu of land from 3 villages: Yanjiazhuang, Wujiazhuang and Jiayue East Village in Jiayue Town. Once the tobacco scale was in place, curing and storage became a problem. “I heard that after establishing a family farm, one can apply for temporary construction land to build tobacco curing barns and drying yards, and loan interest rates are also lower.” So Wang Ruli applied to register a family farm at the first opportunity.

“What benefits are there?” this writer asked further. “For example, loans, land transfers, building storage facilities, agricultural technology services, and many support policies. Governments and departments at all levels as well as the villagers also strongly support me, so I have been able to grow bigger and bigger.” Speaking of these things, Wang Ruli talked on and on.

Song Haiyuan of Fengjiazhuang, Jiayue Town, registered the individual business “Zhucheng City Song Haiyuan Grain Family Farm” in April last year, with an actual transferred land scale of 913 mu.

This “National Major Grain-Growing and Grain-Selling Household” commended by the State Council has already tasted the sweetness of being a “family farm.” This spring, when the municipal agricultural department carried out soil testing and formulated fertilization, because Song Haiyuan had registered a family farm, the agricultural department took samples from 12 points in his fields for testing and issued a formula, without charging a cent. “Calculated per mu, this alone saved fifty or sixty yuan in fertilizer costs.”

Song Haiyuan told this writer that the most intuitive feeling after registering the family farm is that the crops in the fields are worth more than before and the ability to withstand market risks is also stronger. “Take selling wheat, for example. Since we registered the family farm last year, the credibility of agricultural products has improved. Most products are sold through orders, and the price per jin of wheat is 0.1 yuan higher than the previous market price. Our farm produces more than 300 tons of wheat a year, so by this calculation we earn more than 60,000 yuan more a year.”

Policy “Fermentation” and Highlighted Comprehensive Benefits

Wang Runhong, director of the Zhucheng City Rural Economic Management Bureau, introduced that as of the end of July this year, the number of approved, recognized and registered family farms in Zhucheng City had reached 772, with registered capital of 510 million yuan. Although these figures are not enough to evaluate the gains of the past year, in the process of interviewing family farm owners, this writer truly felt their heartfelt joy, confidence and hope. These may be the most far-reaching gains that this new form of operation has brought to farmers.

Data show that the rapid development of family farms has accelerated the pace of land transfer to specialized large-scale households throughout the city and stimulated the vitality of rural economic development based on the family as the basic operating unit. By the end of July this year, the city had newly added 99,000 mu of transferred land, bringing the cumulative total to 469,000 mu.

At the same time, the development of family farms has freed more rural labor from the land and transferred it to towns and to the secondary and tertiary industries. In the production and operation process, all family farms in the city can provide stable employment for more than 5,000 farmers, and also require 23,000 rural laborers on a seasonal basis. The division of labor and orderly transfer of rural labor have promoted rural agglomeration and integration and accelerated the pace of new urbanization.

Many Courses Need to Be “Made Up,” and Policies Need to Be Further Improved

“What worries me is just the warehouse.” Song Haiyuan hopes the government can help him solve the problem of land for production facilities and build drying yards and warehouses.

Financing difficulties also constrain the further development of family farms. Family farms require relatively large upfront investment, while the difficulty of obtaining agricultural production loans remains prominent, and in recent years the cost of land transfer has continued to rise, so financing difficulties have restricted the further development of family farms.

In addition, the excessively high price of land transfer also worries farm owners. “Now the transfer price per mu is around 1000 yuan. Farmers' reluctance to part with land, combined with high-cost input, makes land transfer increasingly difficult. If we do not grasp the ‘bull's nose’ of land transfer, family farms cannot develop no matter what.” Zhang Huanxin, director of the Agricultural Work Office of the Zhucheng Municipal Party Committee, introduced that when family farms carry out large-scale land transfer, it is often because one household or a few households cannot reach an agreement that the whole large-scale land transfer fails, resulting in fragmented land and restricting the development of family farms.

With the establishment of family farms, not only are the scale of planting and breeding expanding and the number of varieties increasing, but new links such as processing, sales and brand management brought by direct market connection are also emerging. However, the actual operation of the farm is still by a single household, and there is much “homework” to make up in technology, management and other aspects. In interviews, many family farm owners suggested that the government should build an education and training platform for family farms, integrate farmers' training resources, innovate the education and training mechanism for farm owners, focus on training farm operators in production, operation and management skills, and improve the quality and management level of family farm operators. At the same time, they should attract and absorb a group of young, technically skilled new farmers to engage in agricultural production. (Guo Peisheng, Xu Chunguang)