Autumn Harvest Reflects New Progress in Agricultural Supply-Side Reform

Currently, more than half of the national autumn harvest has been completed. In the first autumn harvest season of the "13th Five-Year Plan," as the steady advancement of agricultural supply-side structural reform continues, changes are quietly taking place across the vast fields...

Adjusting Structure to Help Increase Income

On an autumn day in Aohan Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, Wang Yuemei smiled when the millet harvest was complete. The head of the Huiping Coarse Grains Planting Farmers' Cooperative told reporters: "This year, millet can bring in about 1000 yuan more per mu than corn."

Over the past two years, Aohan Banner has actively adjusted its planting structure and vigorously developed the coarse grain planting, processing and sales industry chain centered on millet. Wang Yuemei said that under the guidance of the banner government, the cooperative this year led 520 farming households to reduce the corn planting area to 1500 mu, while increasing the planting area of millet, mung beans, black beans, sorghum, sugar beets and other crops to 3900 mu.

"Looking at it now, timely adjustment of the planting structure has played an important role in ensuring farmers' income growth." Wang Yuemei counted off on her fingers and did the accounts for reporters one by one: "Huangjinmiao" millet is more than two yuan per jin higher than corn, mung beans are more than 5 yuan per jin higher than corn...

This is a microcosm of China's adjustment and optimization of its planting structure. Since the beginning of this year, agricultural structural adjustment has achieved remarkable results, mainly reflected in a relatively large reduction in the corn area, which had excessive stocks. According to the agricultural situation scheduling of the Ministry of Agriculture, the national corn area is expected to be reduced by 30 million mu this year.

A relevant official from the Ministry of Agriculture said that the reduced corn area has been switched to crops with market demand, such as high-protein soybeans, coarse grains and miscellaneous beans, potatoes, silage corn, and high-quality forage grass. It is expected that this year the soybean area will increase by more than 9 million mu, the area of coarse grains and miscellaneous beans will increase by more than 7 million mu, and the area of forage grass and silage corn will increase by more than 6 million mu.

Purchase and Storage Reform Encounters "Growing Pains"

This year, the three northeastern provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region adjusted the temporary corn purchase and storage policy to a new mechanism of "market-based purchase" plus "subsidies." The reform of the corn purchase and storage system is a tough battle in the agricultural supply-side structural reform.

Compared with previous years, the biggest change in this year's autumn grain market caused by market-based purchasing is the sharp plunge in corn prices. A reporter's investigation found that this year the purchase price of deep-processing enterprises in Northeast China fell sharply year on year, and most large-scale corn growers worried about losing money.

"This year I transferred 2000 mu of land, all planted with corn, and took out a loan during spring plowing. I had hoped to turn things around after the autumn grain came in, but a wind disaster flattened half the corn, and corn prices also fell sharply." Zhou Guicai, a major grain grower in Beixiangyang Village, Tangyuan County, Heilongjiang Province, said that the more than 200,000 yuan earned last year would all be lost this year, and what he worries about most now is whether he can repay the loan.

At the same time, the reporter found during the investigation that market-based purchasers did not dare rashly move to buy corn, and most took a wait-and-see "wait and see" attitude. Several grain purchasing enterprises in Heilongjiang Province said that the degree of marketization is currently not sufficient, and they worry that the corn they buy will have no sales outlet, so they do not dare easily purchase large quantities.

On the other hand, in the early stage of purchasing and sales, the phenomena of farmers "rushing to sell" and "holding back sales" coexisted. Zhang Zhaobo, deputy director of the Grain Bureau of Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province, said that farmers under loan repayment pressure had no choice but to sell early. Farmers without loan repayment pressure, however, due to excessively low prices, might develop a mentality of holding back sales and waiting in the early period.

Industry insiders said that making corn prices market-oriented can, by giving play to the role of price adjustment, encourage diverse entities to enter the market and activate the enthusiasm of market entities, which is conducive to the long-term interests of grain farmers, but there is also a certain period of growing pains.

Finding a Way Out and Embracing Change

Facing the new situation in autumn grain purchasing and sales, some farmers took the initiative to find ways out. Wu Lining, who lives in Boluochi Town, Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province, told reporters that although this year's corn price drop exceeded his expectations, he had been mentally prepared for a price decline as early as the beginning of the year when he learned that the state would cancel the temporary storage policy and switch to market-based purchasing.

For this reason, Wu Lining made preparations on two fronts. First, he changed the land from last year's capital contracting to this year's incorporation into shareholding, which not only removed the financial pressure of land transfer, but also allowed him to share the returns and risks of the autumn harvest with others. Second, during spring plowing, following the suggestion of the agricultural economics bureau, he took the initiative to reduce the proportion of corn planting. Corn accounted for a small part, with sorghum as the main crop, and a small amount of land was used for growing vegetables and livestock breeding.

"I raise pigs myself, so the corn can basically be used up, and before planting the sorghum I signed a purchase agreement with a distillery, so this year's income is still not bad." Wu Lining said.

In the process of planting structure adjustment, Lanxi County, Heilongjiang Province, took the introduction of vegetable processing enterprises as a driver, increased the planting area of melons and vegetables, and boosted farmers' income. In the planting base of Dong Wei, a major scallion grower in Lincheng Village, Lanxi County, the green scallions have begun to be harvested and will be supplied directly to the Harbin market, achieving considerable income.

To prevent farmers from having difficulty selling grain, relevant departments and local authorities also took measures to respond actively. Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration of Grain and other departments jointly issued a notice requiring solid efforts to do a good job in this year's corn purchasing work in Northeast China. They should actively guide diverse market entities to carry out market-based purchasing. Enterprises should be encouraged to process and transform grain, qualified enterprises should be supported in extending industrial chains, vigorously developing deep processing, and promoting the coordinated development of the upstream and downstream of the corn industry. Heilongjiang and other places should strengthen communication and coordination with large key grain enterprises, guide corn deep-processing enterprises and feed production enterprises to enter the market early to purchase, and purchase and process more grain sources.