Rural revitalization must respect grassroots creativity and not impose a one-size-fits-all model

In China's vast traditional farming areas, how can arable land be used sparingly and intensively to raise land output? How can the production enthusiasm of ordinary farming households be further mobilized? How can a path to modern agriculture suited to local conditions be blazed? Sheyang County, Jiangsu Province, boldly reformed the agricultural production and operation model, implementing joint tillage and joint planting of land, and explored another path for traditional farming areas to achieve scaled land management.

To maintain the sustained development of China's rural economy and long-term social stability, much depends on whether rural land contracting relations can remain stable and whether farmers' land property rights can be well protected. Joint tillage and joint planting not only preserves the core of household farming for millions of families, but also brings many benefits of joint cooperation among farming households, effectively giving play to the advantages of scaled and intensive land management. On the basis of adhering to the household contract responsibility system, and on the premise of protecting farmers' lawful rights and interests and respecting farmers' wishes, Sheyang County explored, in line with local conditions, a path to achieve scaled management without land transfer.

China currently has 620 million mu of plains arable land, accounting for nearly 1/3 of the country's total arable land area. This is the main body of China's traditional farming areas and also a strategic base for ensuring the supply of grain and other major agricultural products. The practice of joint tillage and joint planting in Sheyang County shows that the vast number of farmers in traditional farming areas not only have the desire and need for joint cooperation, but also that contiguous arable land in plain areas can effectively promote grain production. Therefore, this new approach of joint tillage and joint planting, which enriches grain and benefits the people, has won widespread recognition from the participating farming households and grassroots cadres and the public.

Reform explorations originating from the grassroots have never stopped, and the choices made by the people based on actual conditions are often a form of creation. Practice has proven that rural reform and development cannot be carried out by arbitrarily imposing a “one-size-fits-all” approach, nor can it be fully covered by any single model. Only by listening to the voices of the people and conforming to public opinion can rural reform continue to deepen, making the country's foundation more stable and making “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” stronger.