Beyond substituting machinery for grain, how else can the land be farmed?

On June 29, a rain fell in Kangping County, Liaoning Province, and Meng Yajie, chairman of the Yajie Planting Professional Cooperative, went to the fields again to check the seedlings. Last year's drought caused a sharp drop in corn yields, and coupled with low corn prices, "last year we lost money. Without the support from the agricultural machinery cooperative, it would have been difficult to survive on crop farming alone," Meng Yajie said.

But low prices also brought development opportunities to the cooperative. This year the land rent dropped from 750 yuan/mu to 400 yuan/mu. The cooperative newly rented 1,000 mu of land to grow cash crops and increase product added value. The cooperative also began exploring a land shareholding cooperation model to reduce land operating costs and bring more farmers into production and operation.

Scale operation: farmers cut the cost of farming, the cooperative earns a "nanny fee"

Unlike an ordinary planting cooperative, Meng Yajie also established a Huilao Nongren Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative to "subsidize" the returns from grain production.

In 2011, Meng Yajie learned that no-till seeders could carry out no-till seeding with straw returned to the field, and immediately purchased 4 no-till seeders. This advanced seeder can operate with full corn straw cover and achieve full seedling emergence in a single pass.

"That year we provided seeds and fertilizer and uniformly sowed 2,000 mu of farmland for 97 farmers across the county. Because straw was returned to the field, it was like putting a quilt over the earth. The seedling survival rate reached over 95%, a bumper harvest was achieved, and yields rose 20% by comparison. The cooperative also gained considerable returns and recovered the cost of buying the machines that same year," Meng Yajie said.

In 2012, the cooperative bought another 23 no-till seeders, bringing its holdings to 25 units (sets), with 30,000 mu of no-till seeding covering nearly 100 villages. In 2013, the cooperative added another 33 no-till seeders and 8 new power machines. In 2015, it added 8 large corn harvesters and 9 deep-loosening machines, bringing its holdings to 87 units (sets).

The cooperative provides farmers with full-process, nanny-style managed service. The cooperative is responsible for selecting superior seeds, fertilizer and pesticides, and provides no-till seeding series services on time, so that farmers can buy quality, low-cost and reliable agricultural materials without leaving home, and everything is cultivated uniformly. Because the Kangping area suffers spring drought in nine years out of ten, their finger-clip no-till seeders played a huge role in the Kangping area and won farmers' trust.

Meng Yajie said that thanks to the support of the Shenyang Municipal Agriculture Commission and the Kangping County Party Committee and County Government, the cooperative's profit level has risen continuously for several years, and its operating scale has kept growing. In 2016, the cooperative's operated land area reached 100,000 mu, and the mechanized operation area expanded to 80,000 mu; it focused on developing green, pollution-free products and promoting large-scale agricultural production and intensive operation.

Bian Yongfeng of Sanjiawopu Village, Xiaochengzi Town, Kangping County, has 26 mu of land, and now when it is time to farm he has become a "hands-off boss." He told the reporter: "Entrusting the land to the cooperative saves money. When plowing, hiring someone yourself costs 35 yuan per mu, while the cooperative charges only 20 yuan and guarantees 80% seedling emergence, with free deep loosening, and at harvest it also charges only 30 yuan per mu, while hiring someone else to harvest costs at least 50 yuan. And I can free up time to go out and do some odd jobs. When the land was not entrusted, I always had to find time to go check the fields."

Jointly establishing cooperatives: implementing full mechanization and sharing production, processing and sales returns

Huilao Nongren Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative is famous throughout Kangping County, and many cooperatives have asked to join and establish a joint cooperative. At the beginning of this year, Meng Yajie became chairman of the Shenyang Huizhinong Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative Union, which has 17 member units. The union's service philosophy is to achieve increased grain output, improved agricultural efficiency and higher farmer incomes.

As early as 2013, Kangping County proposed that farmers' cooperatives should cover every administrative village, expand the scale of individual entities, and increase the rate of farmers joining cooperatives. It encouraged farmers' professional cooperatives to carry out cross-regional and cross-industry cooperation and to develop land shareholding cooperatives, cooperative unions, industry associations and product associations. It aimed to develop new-type farmers' cooperative organizations and diversified service systems in various forms, and to achieve effective connection with the market by raising the degree of organization.

The union provides member cooperatives with series services before, during and after production. It strives to improve unified marketing and product processing capabilities, gradually extend the agricultural industry chain, and enable members to obtain agricultural value-added benefits. It actively carries out unified procurement and supply, unified standardized production, unified storage and transportation services, unified product marketing, unified product certification and unified technical training services to improve the quality and safety level of agricultural products.

Next, they will strengthen brand building. Meng Yajie told the reporter: "We will implement a brand-based operation strategy, establish and improve standardized credit management systems, win the market with reputation and brand, improve management levels, and enhance sustainable development capacity. We will attach importance to registered trademarks, carry out related certifications for pollution-free products, green food and organic food production bases, raise brand awareness, and enhance the union's market pricing power."

The union will use the country's good policies to increase investment in agricultural equipment, extend service links, expand the operating area, and continuously strengthen full mechanization; absorb more farmers into the cooperative, integrate scattered land to achieve intensive production; and share advanced science and technology and economic benefits.

Zhang Zhenfu, chairman of the Kangping County New Agriculture Planting Cooperative, believes that joining the union allows them to quickly learn and replicate the successful experience of the Huilao Nongren Cooperative, develop together with them, and end the practice of fighting alone.

Shareholding cooperation: farmers gain land income rights, the cooperative saves investment in farming

Unlike land trusteeship, Cui Liang of Sanjiawopu Village, Xiaochengzi Town, invested his family's 30 mu of land as shares in the Huilao Nongren Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative. "I signed a contract with the cooperative, with a guaranteed minimum based on the highest yield of equivalent plots that year. For example, if an equivalent plot yields 1,300 jin per mu and the actual yield reaches 1,500 jin, then in addition to the income from 1,300 jin, I split the extra 200 jin equally with the cooperative. And the entire input from planting to harvest is handled by the cooperative, saving at least 100 yuan per mu compared with farming it myself."

For the cooperative, because it does not need to pay land rent to farmers, it saves investment in farming. In addition to 5,000 mu of land entrusted to the cooperative, Sanjiawopu Village this year transferred another 1,000 mu to the cooperative in the form of shareholding, operated by the cooperative. Cui Liang told the reporter: "I have left the land but not the village, and I am still responsible for production management in the cooperative. You see, because this plot was deep-loosened, it is clearly different from the one that was not deep-loosened. The corn stalks and roots are longer and thicker, and the leaves are thicker and longer too."

All 1,000 mu use superior corn varieties, which will later be processed into corn grits. Meng Yajie said the cooperative has already established a local specialty sales company, is transforming toward cash crops, and is engaging in high-efficiency agriculture. This year it trial-planted 1,000 mu for deep processing, and next year it will also plant cash crops such as peanuts, wheat and buckwheat. "Growing ordinary corn does not make money. The failed path of the past cannot be taken again, so we have to think of other ways."

"Farmers join the cooperative and become shareholders of the cooperative. Benefits are split 60-40, with farmers getting 60% and the cooperative getting 40%. This year we have already signed 2,987 shareholding contracts with farmers. In this way, for farmers joining the cooperative, the agricultural machinery cooperative can help them escape an isolated and helpless production state, obtain corresponding services, and to a certain extent achieve resource sharing," Meng Yajie said.