What are the key points of the structural reform of the agricultural supply side?

China is a major agricultural country. In recent years, agricultural and rural development has maintained a sustained and improving momentum, and the modernization of agriculture has achieved tremendous results. However, measured by the standards of modern agriculture, it has still not fundamentally escaped the situation of high input, high consumption, low efficiency, and low quality in agriculture, and agriculture remains the "short leg" of the "synchronization of the four modernizations." The fundamental reason is that the mode of agricultural development lags behind, and traditional agriculture has not yet fundamentally transformed. Therefore, one of the key points of advancing China's structural reform of the supply side is agriculture, and the difficult point is also agriculture. To lengthen the "short leg" of agriculture and fill in the "weak spots" of rural areas, it is necessary to use the structural reform of the supply side as the lever to accelerate agricultural modernization.

I. Advancing the structural reform of the agricultural supply side is the general trend

Under the new normal of the economy, the environmental conditions for China's agricultural modernization are undergoing profound changes.

First, the structural reform of the agricultural supply side is one of the key points of the structural reform of the supply side. Marx's theory of expanded social reproduction holds that the growth of the production of means of production ultimately depends on the production of means of consumption and individual consumption. China is rich in agricultural resources and has a large agricultural surplus labor force. The development of the consumer goods industry can greatly drive the development of agricultural production, extend the agricultural industrial chain, improve agricultural efficiency, and play a major role in promoting rural labor employment. Vigorously advancing the structural reform of the agricultural supply side and developing consumer goods industries and markets centered on the production and processing of agricultural products is one of the key points of the structural reform of the supply side.

Second, agriculture faces multiple challenges and urgently needs the structural reform of the supply side. As the development of the secondary and tertiary industries gradually enters a relatively mature stage, the enormous potential value contained in agriculture is becoming increasingly prominent, and agricultural development has entered a period of opportunity in which much can be accomplished, but the challenges it faces cannot be ignored: the differentiation of the world economic development pattern and the increased uncertainty of the international agricultural product market mean that how to prevent the transmission of world market risks requires advance preparation; the consumption of the agricultural product market has entered a period of structural transformation, and how to innovate the supply of agricultural products and activate new market consumer demand is a difficult problem that urgently needs to be solved; the input costs of agricultural factors continue to rise, and resource and environmental constraints are increasingly strengthening, so how to expand the space for agricultural development and reduce costs, improve quality, and increase efficiency has become an important task for promoting the transformation and upgrading of agriculture; the mechanism for allocating rural resource factors lags behind, and how to build a mechanism for the optimal allocation of resource factors under urban-rural integration is the key to further deepening agricultural and rural reform.

Third, the structural reform of the agricultural supply side is a key point in advancing the transformation and upgrading of agriculture. China's total quantity of agricultural products is sufficient, and the supply of bulk agricultural products occupies an important position domestically, but it is an indisputable fact that the quantitative position and the qualitative position of agricultural products are asymmetrical and that the market competitiveness of agricultural products is not strong. The problem of "difficulty in selling" some agricultural products has repeatedly appeared. In the world agricultural product market, there are not many agricultural products with market competitive advantages, and not many products can go global, and they are mainly primary agricultural products, lacking large enterprises with competitive capacity and well-known brand agricultural products. Therefore, the prominent problems facing the promotion of agricultural transformation and upgrading are mainly: the structural contradiction between the quantity and quality of agricultural product supply, the insufficient supply of mid- and high-end agricultural products, and the insufficient development of the multifunctionality of agriculture, making it difficult to adapt to the needs of the structural transformation of market consumption, leading to a mismatch between supply and demand, resulting in low total factor productivity, persistently high costs of labor, capital, and land, and difficulty in improving the market competitiveness and benefits of agriculture. Therefore, accelerating the structural reform of the agricultural supply side is a key measure for realizing the transformation and upgrading of agriculture.

Of course, at present, promoting the transformation and upgrading of agriculture still faces a series of problems, including agricultural support policies that still need to be improved, a relatively low level of agricultural socialized services, a lagging grassroots governance system and governance capacity, and an agricultural management and assessment mechanism that is not yet adapted. These problems require us to solve them through structural reform, strive to tap new potential in improving grain production capacity, open up new paths in optimizing the agricultural structure, seek new breakthroughs in transforming the mode of agricultural development, obtain new results in promoting farmers' income growth, take new steps in building a new countryside, and effectively accelerate the pace of agricultural modernization.

II. The path for advancing the structural reform of the agricultural supply side

To advance the transformation and upgrading of agriculture, we must firmly establish the development concepts of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing, focus on improving the quality, efficiency, and competitiveness of agriculture, strive to advance the structural reform of the agricultural supply side, and follow a path of modern agricultural development that suits China's national conditions and highlights the local characteristics of each region.

First, adjust the structure of the agricultural industry with the building of regional geographical indication brands as the focus. It is necessary to vigorously develop local famous, excellent, and special products suited to local climate, soil, and water quality conditions, and take supporting regional geographical indication agricultural product brands as a main direction of agricultural structural adjustment; in particular, increase support for the processing and sales of regionally representative specialty agricultural products and key brands, and pay attention to tapping local unique resources, traditional crafts, farming culture, and so on, so as to highlight the local individuality of agriculture and enhance its market competitiveness.

Second, focus on cultivating new types of business entities in the direction of "new farmers." Taking rural capable people as the key targets, actively cultivate new-type professional farmers such as specialized large households, family farm operators, leaders of farmers' cooperatives, managers of agricultural enterprises, and agricultural socialized service personnel, and build a system for cultivating and supporting new-type professional farmers. Implement a project to improve the quality of new-type farmers, and promote the shift of farmer training from focusing on teacher-led classroom training to focusing on training local talent at production sites, so as to enhance the effectiveness of training.

Third, accelerate the flow of urban and rural resource factors with market mechanisms as the driving force. Improve the land expropriation system and encourage the development of mutual-aid fund cooperatives. Focus on developing e-commerce to establish and improve the modern rural circulation system. Establish and improve the agricultural science and technology service system, and promote the shift of agricultural science and technology innovation and services from government-driven to market-driven. Actively and steadily promote new models of land transfer and promote appropriately scaled operations.

Fourth, advance the reform of rural grassroots management in the direction of modernizing governance capacity. It is necessary to innovate effective forms for realizing villagers' self-governance, with emphasis on giving play to the prominent role of "new rural worthies" and socialized service organizations in rural governance and agricultural development, such as rural old party members, old teachers, old models, old cadres, economic and cultural capable people, people returning to their hometowns to start businesses, brokers, college student village officials, and volunteers, and improve the institutional system related to agriculture and rural areas.