Why farmers' enthusiasm for producing high-quality agricultural products has been dampened

Since 2014, the prices of oil and other commodities have fallen sharply, global economic growth has been sluggish, and agricultural products, in an environment of low commodity prices, have been unable to resist the downward trend. The output of China's major agricultural products such as cotton, oil crops, meat, poultry eggs, aquatic products, vegetables and fruits has hit record highs year after year, further aggravating the "low prices, difficult sales" predicament of agricultural products in many places. While all parties offer suggestions for promoting the sale of agricultural products, the premium grades among agricultural products seem to have been unaffected by the price decline, and high-end agricultural products in shopping malls, restaurants and supermarkets, as well as high-end imported and exported agricultural products, have not shown obvious price declines. This phenomenon indicates that China's agricultural supply responds insensitively to changes in demand, the quality mix of agricultural product supply is unbalanced, the supply of ordinary varieties is large, while high-quality and specialized varieties are few. Contrary to the scarcity of high-quality agricultural products on the market, farmers' willingness to produce high-quality agricultural products is not high, and the author's investigation found the following main reasons.

Reason one: Producing high-quality agricultural products does not necessarily yield higher returns than ordinary goods. Due to poor linkage between production and sales and the absence of a mechanism for sharing interests and achieving win-win coexistence, most agricultural products still follow the traditional circulation model in which farmers produce, brokers purchase, and enterprises further process before supplying the market. There are many intermediate links, and transaction costs accumulate layer by layer, making the division of the "cake" at each link unreasonable. The benefits at the planting and breeding stages are noticeably low, and the enthusiasm for production upstream is dampened. Taking Henan wheat as an example, high-gluten varieties have always been in short supply locally, but their price is only 5% higher than that of medium-gluten wheat. However, because the yield is relatively low and the requirements for pest and disease management are high, farmers face greater production risks, and their willingness to plant high-gluten wheat is not strong, so the development of large-scale production of high-gluten wheat in the area faces a bottleneck.

Reason two: High-quality agricultural products require large labor input and a high level of technical skill. High-quality agricultural products have corresponding standards and requirements for varieties, production environment and operating standards, and their cost input is higher than that of ordinary agricultural products. Taking apple production as an example, the production of high-quality apples has high technical requirements for pesticide use before bagging, the optimal bagging time, timely irrigation and topdressing, and the coloring period. Because the timing of the above management measures must be precise, and labor prices are high during the implementation period of each key technology, production costs increase. In rural areas where labor is generally lacking and the average age of the agricultural labor force is high, farmers do not have the capacity to produce more high-quality agricultural products.

Reason three: Consumers have misunderstandings about what constitutes "high quality." Fruit and vegetable products of uniform specification and bright color on the market can usually fetch a good price, and consumers pay too much attention to the appearance of products, lacking the common knowledge to distinguish certain varieties of agricultural products. Consumers should pay more attention to the sensory indicators, production standards, management norms, and varieties and production environment of agricultural products. At the same time, because China's agricultural products differ between domestic and international standards in aspects such as harmful substance residues, prevention and control of animal and plant diseases and quarantine, and determination of agricultural product quality grades, consumers' trust in green and organic agricultural products has declined. In a situation of information asymmetry, consumers cannot distinguish superior from inferior agricultural products, and the phenomenon of "bad money driving out good money" occurs from time to time. Enterprises would rather spend great effort improving packaging and opening up marketing channels than establish high-quality raw material procurement channels or production bases.

Reason four: The structure of the agricultural industry chain is incomplete. The incomplete structure of the agricultural industry chain restricts the improvement of the overall efficiency of agriculture. The imbalance in the production-sales linkage mechanism and the low degree of industrial organization lead to frequent industrial fluctuations and a high probability of damage to farmers' interests. The industry chain is incomplete, breeding, propagation and promotion of high-quality agricultural products are disconnected, and production, processing and sales are separated, restricting differentiated market competition. As a result, the quality of some high-quality products with advantages in geography and varieties varies greatly between years and regions, and mixed harvesting, mixed storage and mixed sales often occur. The quality of products on the market is uneven, and a market pattern of high quality at a high price has not been formed. Farmers cannot obtain corresponding price compensation for the increased costs of producing high-quality products, which dampens their enthusiasm for producing high-quality agricultural products.

Reason five: The deep integration of the agricultural industry is insufficient. The deep integration of industries is insufficient, planting and breeding have not been organically combined with ecology, and the loose combination of planting and breeding has caused poor circulation, declining soil fertility, and the coexistence of livestock manure pollution that has not been effectively utilized. The construction of the fresh product industry chain is incomplete, and the cold-chain logistics system is not sound. Fresh products such as fruits, vegetables, poultry meat and poultry eggs are diverse in kind, and the substitution effect among varieties is obvious. Some fruits, vegetables and poultry egg products with characteristics of health, culture, place of origin and brand still remain at the level of low value-added sales and have not formed an obvious competitive advantage compared with the sales of similar agricultural products. In the corresponding production fields, a specialized variety production layout, scale and industrial linkage matching deep processing and derivative product development have also not been formed, resulting in prominent structural contradictions in supply and insufficient development of product added value.

Food is the first necessity of the people. Encouraging more farmers to be willing to produce high-quality agricultural products is not only of great practical significance for developing modern agriculture, but also conducive to promoting the safety of agricultural products as food while increasing farmers' incomes. In the future, the interest relationships at all links from production to sales of high-quality agricultural products should be further rationalized, so as to realize high quality at a high price in agriculture, improve quality and increase efficiency.