Three-Summer Production Releases Positive Signals for Agricultural Structural Adjustment
Another harvest season! According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the national winter wheat harvest has basically concluded, and this year's summer grain has again achieved a bumper harvest.
This is already the thirteenth consecutive year of bumper summer grain harvests, and this year's harvest carries even more special significance and meaning compared with previous ones. This is not only a harvest of production achieved against the backdrop of the impact of a super El Nino and the relatively severe occurrence of major pests and diseases such as wheat scab, but even more a harvest of reform achieved under the requirements of advancing supply-side structural reform in agriculture and in the context of the ongoing deepening development of "adjusting structure and transforming mode" in grain production.
From a relatively greater emphasis on output to pursuing the comprehensive development of "output, quality and ecology"; from single-point technological upgrading to coordinated innovation in seed, water, fertilizer, pesticide and machinery; from keeping one's head down and merely farming to "watching all directions and listening to all sides" and producing in line with market demand. The new features, new trends and new results embodied in this year's "Three-Summer" season have not only opened up the situation and explored paths for China's agricultural structural adjustment during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, but also boosted our confidence in "improving quality and efficiency, transforming the mode, and achieving stable grain production and sustainable income growth," laying a solid foundation for taking the road of stable grain production and income growth with Chinese characteristics in the new era.
Signal One: Structural Adjustment Targets Market Weaknesses
At present, the most prominent problem on the supply side of China's agriculture is that production has not yet been able to adapt well to changes in market demand, with "difficulty in buying" and "difficulty in selling" coexisting. Advancing supply-side structural reform in agriculture means taking market demand as the guide and adjusting and optimizing the structure of agricultural production and product mix. In this year's summer grain production, the key is to do a good job in adjusting wheat varieties and improving quality so as to meet the diversified needs of the market.
In our traditional food culture, wheat is mainly used to make staple foods such as steamed buns and noodles. At present, as people's living standards rise, demand for pastries such as bread, biscuits and cakes has increased markedly. Although all are flour-based foods, making steamed buns requires medium-gluten wheat, making bread requires strong-gluten wheat, and making biscuits and cakes requires weak-gluten wheat. The wheat produced in China is mainly medium-gluten wheat, and some high-quality strong-gluten and weak-gluten wheat needs to be imported to make up the difference.
The National Planting Structure Adjustment Plan (2016-2020) published in April this year pointed out that in adjusting the wheat structure, it is necessary to "grasp both ends and drive the middle." "Grasping both ends" means vigorously developing high-quality strong-gluten wheat, which is in short supply on the market and used for processing bread, and high-quality weak-gluten wheat used for processing biscuits and cakes. "Driving the middle" means driving quality improvement of medium-gluten or medium-strong-gluten wheat used for processing steamed buns and noodles.
In this year's summer grain production, the momentum for wheat structural adjustment is improving and results are emerging. According to an official of the Planting Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, this year the proportion of strong-gluten wheat area, for which market demand is relatively large, reached 23.5% of the total wheat planting area, and a number of high-quality, high-yield wheat varieties have been widely promoted.
Adjustment in production is only the beginning. It has brought about the extension of the wheat processing industry chain, and technological innovation, marketing model innovation, management model innovation and industry-university-research integration model innovation in agricultural product processing and the food manufacturing industry have further advanced the transformation and upgrading of the entire industry chain. In Yanjin County, Xinxiang City, Henan Province, the high-quality strong-gluten wheat industry has become the county's signature industry. The county's high-quality strong-gluten wheat planting area has reached 500,000 mu, accounting for half of the wheat planting area, and the number of leading agricultural enterprises developed around the wheat industry chain has reached 19. The high-quality wheat industrialization model created by the Wanzhong Planting Cooperative in Liangshan County, Shandong Province, which "integrates the tertiary industry into the primary industry and serves the secondary industry," has solved the problem of quality stability in high-quality wheat trade (tertiary industry), provided high-quality raw materials for the secondary industry (food industry), and also provided means of production, technical guidance and product markets for farmers engaged in wheat production (primary industry). The reform signal from the wheat market is being strongly released from summer grain production and is exerting a deeper influence on the development of the entire industry.
Signal Two: Green Technology Models Support High Yield and High Efficiency
In supply-side structural reform in agriculture, green is the essence. This year's golden waves of wheat are infused with a strong sense of green.
Looking at the development of grain production over the past decade or more, the "twelve consecutive increases" brought China's grain output to an unprecedented height, but also exposed some problems. Extensive management, heavy use of water and fertilizer, and irrational application of pesticides were relatively prominent. These not only wasted agricultural resources, polluted the environment and raised production costs, but also affected the quality of agricultural products. Transforming the agricultural development mode was urgent.
Different from the past high-input, high-consumption technology model that focused solely on output, an analysis of the characteristics of summer grain production in various places this year shows that awareness of "cost" and the concept of sustainable development are more prominent. The "five savings" technologies of saving water, seed, fertilizer, pesticide and time are widely used. Seeders that integrate multiple production procedures such as ditching, fertilizing, sowing and compacting into one, as well as new-style harvesters that integrate harvesting and straw baling into one, make farming, planting and harvesting machinery increasingly labor-saving and efficient. The promotion and use of drones in plant protection has also greatly improved the efficiency of wheat pest and disease prevention and control. These measures have effectively reduced production costs and improved operating returns, and it is precisely these green technology models that support the realization of high yield and high efficiency in summer grain production.
Green technology models can not only "reduce costs" but also "raise per-unit yield" and "raise production capacity." On the one hand, storing grain in technology "raises per-unit yield." In the 800,000-mu green, high-yield and high-efficiency grain demonstration zone in Qihe County, Shandong Province, the average wheat yield per mu was 578.6 kg, with the highest per-unit yield reaching 788.9 kg, once again setting a new national record for large-area wheat per-unit yield. What supports the Qihe record is precisely the technology model of "high yield and high efficiency, resource conservation and environmental friendliness." On the other hand, storing grain in the land "raises production capacity." Yingshang County, Fuyang City, Anhui Province, is advancing high-standard farmland construction on a large scale. The local agricultural authorities have a deep understanding of high-standard farmland construction and are gradually shifting from extensive management that relies on consuming resources, inputting agricultural materials and sacrificing the ecological environment to intensive management that focuses on improving quality and efficiency as quickly as possible. It is precisely under such a concept that 600,000 mu of "rice-stubble wheat" in Yingshang County has escaped the troubles of waterlogging. Land leveling has improved the efficiency of mechanical operations, soil moisture is better controlled, and the amounts of seed, fertilizer and water used have declined, with per-mu yield increases of more than 100 kg.
Through summer grain production, we can see that transforming the agricultural development mode has great prospects and great potential to tap. At present, we should seize the favorable opportunity of abundant supply of agricultural products, vigorously advance supply-side structural reform in agriculture, transform the agricultural production mode and the mode of resource utilization, implement the strategy of scientific and technological innovation, and as quickly as possible promote the transformation of agricultural development from being driven by input of material factors to being driven by scientific and technological progress. This is both a requirement for improving the agricultural ecological environment and a guarantee for advancing cost savings and efficiency gains in agriculture and promoting farmers' income growth.
Signal Three: The Leading Role of New-Type Business Entities in Reform Becomes More Prominent
In advancing supply-side structural reform in agriculture, people are the key. In the process of agricultural structural adjustment and mode transformation, new-type agricultural business entities characterized by appropriately scaled operations are playing a more obvious role as the fresh force of reform. This is a major trend presented by this year's summer grain production.
Advancing supply-side reform in agriculture inevitably means a series of changes to traditional production methods and operating habits, which is undoubtedly a huge challenge. New-type business entities with a certain level of strength and a certain planting scale are needed as the main leaders. Advanced production technologies in summer grain production, such as water saving, pesticide saving and fertilizer saving, "one spraying and three preventions," and informatization, also need new-type business entities to carry them, and the cost-saving and efficiency-enhancing returns brought by these new production methods are more easily manifested through business entities with a certain planting scale.
Take Fan Haibao, owner of the Sanxing Family Farm in Chenbao Village, Dakuai Town, Fengquan District, Xinxiang City, Henan Province, as an example. Through measures such as precision sowing, moisture-measured supplementary irrigation, soil-tested formula fertilization, pest and disease prevention and control, and full-process mechanization, he achieved the effects of saving seed, water, fertilizer, pesticide and cost on the 3,300 mu of wheat he manages. Large investments in new technologies and new production methods are difficult for individual households to achieve, and for ordinary farmers, the increased benefits brought by changes in production methods on three to five mu of land have limited appeal. But for new-type agricultural business entities operating hundreds or thousands of mu, even a tiny reduction in unit cost will cause total production cost to fall significantly. This is also why new-type agricultural business entities are more motivated to participate in supply-side structural reform in agriculture and play a more obvious role as a fresh force.
Changes in the productive forces will inevitably drive corresponding adjustments in the relations of production, and the relations of production can in turn act upon the productive forces. In this year's summer grain production, the positive interaction between supply-side structural reform in agriculture and new-type agricultural business entities vividly proves this viewpoint of Marxist political economy. Of course, we must not ignore the enormous driving role of traditional agricultural business entities in supply-side structural reform in agriculture. Household operation is not contradictory to developing modern agriculture and advancing supply-side structural reform in agriculture. In the future, it is necessary to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all types of business entities, accelerate the building of a modern agricultural operating system based on farmer household operations, linked by cooperation and association, and supported by socialized services, while vigorously cultivating new-type business entities and new-type professional farmers and encouraging them to become the fresh force in advancing supply-side structural reform in agriculture.
Signal Four: The Income-Boosting Effect of Reform on Farmers Emerges
Last year, the temporary corn purchase and storage price was set at 1 yuan/jin, 0.11-0.13 yuan/jin lower than the year before, causing income declines for many corn growers. This raised a question: will supply-side structural reform in agriculture have a negative impact on farmers' income growth? This is a major issue of social concern and of concern to farmers.
The practice of this year's summer grain production proves that as long as supply-side structural reform in agriculture is carried out properly, it can promote farmers' income growth.
Taking wheat as an example, in this year's summer grain production, many places such as Xinxiang City in Henan Province and Liangshan County in Shandong Province adjusted the structure of wheat varieties and promoted the planting of high-quality strong-gluten and weak-gluten wheat. Their summer grain this year was not only in short supply and had no worries about sales, but its price was also 0.1-0.2 yuan per jin higher than ordinary wheat, strongly promoting farmers' income growth and fully proving the income-boosting effect of supply-side structural reform.
At present, the reason why some places in China have seen phenomena such as "grain prices falling, heartbreaking vegetables, and cheap apples," with farmers increasing production but not income, is fundamentally that China's agriculture is large but not strong overall and there is a structural imbalance between supply and demand. Only by deeply advancing supply-side structural reform and developing high-yield, high-quality, high-efficiency, ecological and safe agriculture can a more efficient, more profitable and more sustainable agricultural development pattern be formed. Therefore, the fundamental purpose of reform measures such as adjusting structure, transforming mode, reducing costs, improving quality and promoting integration is to enhance agricultural competitiveness and unleash agricultural productivity. As long as reform is carried out properly, it will inevitably promote farmers' income growth.
Of course, reform will inevitably involve interest adjustment and will bring some pains, but no matter how it is reformed or adjusted, promoting farmers' income growth must be taken as the major premise and core goal, and this bottom line cannot be breached. Only when farmers' enthusiasm is protected can supply-side reform in agriculture be advanced more smoothly. Judging from the reform trend, the purchase and storage policy for grain crops is still being further improved, but this year's "Three-Summer" wheat still continued last year's minimum purchase price, effectively safeguarding farmers' interests and promoting farmers' income growth.
What needs attention at present is that due to the impact of the super El Nino, in mid-to-late April the Jianghuai region had excessive rainfall and frequent scab outbreaks, which caused a certain negative impact on wheat quality. In addition, some production areas had problems such as difficulty in drying harvested wheat and a high mildew rate, so "difficulty in selling grain" did indeed exist in some areas, bringing a certain negative impact on farmers' income growth.
Signal Five: Grain Production Capacity Consolidated and Enhanced amid Adversity
"The eight governance principles in the Great Plan; food is the first priority in governance." With grain in hand, there is no panic in the heart. This is an irrefutable truth in any era. Grasping grain production is a top priority that cannot be overemphasized no matter what.
But at present, China's grain production faces a different background from before. First, China's grain output continues to run at a high level, and last year achieved a historic "twelve consecutive increases," but constraints on various production factors are tightening. Second, inventories are high, supply and demand do not match, and structural contradictions are prominent, making supply-side structural reform imperative. Does this mean we can relax grain production, and should we compress grain production capacity?
In the face of such doubts, one principle and one bottom line must be made clear. One principle is that on the basis of the "twelve consecutive increases," during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period China will no longer pursue consecutive increases in grain output. One bottom line is that supply-side structural reform in agriculture is by no means a compression of grain production capacity, and no matter how it is reformed, grain production capacity must not be weakened.
That is to say, we will neither pursue continued year-after-year increases in total grain output nor relax in the slightest the consolidation and improvement of grain production capacity. We must properly handle the dialectical relationship between the two and take consolidating and improving grain production capacity as the primary task of grain production. For some time in the future, grain output may fluctuate somewhat due to market rules, changes in climatic conditions and other influences, but it must be kept within a reasonable range, and there must absolutely be no large decline. At the same time, grain production capacity must be continuously consolidated and improved through implementing the strategy of storing grain in the land and storing grain in technology, ensuring that supply can meet demand in times of emergency.
Judging from the practice of this year's summer grain production, China's grain production capacity achieved basic stability amid adverse natural conditions and frequent pests and diseases and obtained a bumper harvest in adversity. China's summer grain planting area this year was 414 million mu, of which winter wheat area was 339 million mu, basically flat with the previous year. However, during the autumn and winter planting period, due to weather reasons, some wheat sowing was delayed, and there were multiple strong cooling events from January to March this year, resulting in a low rate of tillering and ear formation. In mid-to-late April, the Jianghuai region had excessive rainfall, and the incidence of scab increased. In the face of adverse natural conditions, localities actively implemented disaster prevention and mitigation, vigorously carried out unified prevention and control, and effectively ensured a bumper summer grain harvest. This also proves that China's summer grain production capacity withstood the test of unfavorable factors and achieved consolidation and improvement in adversity.
With the bumper summer grain harvest safely in storage, reform is advancing rapidly and steadily. This year's summer grain production has once again delivered an excellent answer sheet.