What changes have occurred in farmers' mindset under the influence of the minimum price purchase policy?

The state began implementing the minimum price purchase policy for indica rice in 2004. Over the past 11 years, the minimum price purchase policy has played a significant role in protecting farmers' interests and ensuring food security. The minimum price purchase policy has become deeply rooted in "farmers' hearts," and farmers' mindset toward the minimum price purchase policy has also undergone great changes. Such changes in mindset may have a considerable impact on future grain production and policy implementation.

From unfamiliar to well-known. In 2004, the nation had a bumper grain harvest. To protect farmers' interests, the state implemented the minimum price purchase of rice for the first time, with early indica rice at 70 yuan (price per 100 jin, the same below) and mid-to-late indica rice at 72 yuan. At that time, only a very small number of farmers knew what the state minimum price purchase policy was; it was an unfamiliar grain policy. Then, all the way until 2007, the minimum price remained unchanged for 4 years. During this period, because market prices were higher than the minimum price, the minimum price purchase was mostly not activated. 2008 was the beginning of quantitative change: the minimum price purchase for indica rice began to show large increases, reaching 77 yuan, a margin of 10%. In the same year, rice harvests were abundant and prices declined. To protect farmers' interests, stabilize market prices, and promote the stable development of grain production, the state implemented the temporary storage purchase policy for mid-to-late indica rice. At this point, farmers began to become familiar with state policy-based grain purchases. After 2009, the state substantially raised the minimum price purchase price for indica rice year by year. Especially in 2012, affected by the continuous rise in CPI, early indica rice was raised by a large margin of 17.65% compared with the previous year, reaching 120 yuan, and mid-to-late indica rice was raised by 16.82%, reaching 125 yuan. This year was one of qualitative change. Farmers were very clear about the implementation timing of the minimum price purchase, quality and price policies, and other details. The minimum price purchase policy became well-known to grain-growing farmers. In the author's rural surveys, the author discussed issues related to the minimum price purchase with farming households many times. The minimum price purchase policy became a hot topic of discussion among grain-growing farmers in their leisure time.

From praise to dependence. The minimum price purchase is intended to protect farmers' interests and ensure food security. During the period when rice prices moved from market pricing to state policy pricing, many factors had already changed. The minimum price purchase price for rice is announced every year around spring plowing. Grain-growing farmers can estimate expected returns in advance based on the minimum price and lock in grain-growing income ahead of time. Especially when it was raised substantially year after year, it was even more widely praised by farmers. After the minimum price replaced market pricing, the minimum price became a default pricing policy, and the market price formation mechanism became ineffective. Consecutive years of minimum price purchases made the state a meticulous "grain nanny." Grain-growing farmers developed a serious psychology of dependence on the minimum price purchase policy, and even gradually came to think that this was what the state should do, that grain prices should rise substantially every year, that they could rise but not fall. Therefore, this created a "ceiling" for domestic minimum prices, too high to bear the cold. Once the state lowers the minimum price or changes to market pricing, this "default" mindset of farmers may change, and a relatively large gap may trigger a series of grain production problems.

From high-quality to ordinary. Production activities are meant to realize maximum value, and rice cultivation also seeks a better balance between yield and returns. Rice prices are generally determined by their eating quality. Rice produced from good-quality rice has the widely recognized characteristics of being sticky, soft, and fragrant, and its selling price is also relatively high, but its yield is generally relatively low, and the comparative return is not obvious. As the minimum price purchase price for rice increased, the minimum price became higher than the domestic market price, and the domestic market price became higher than the state price. "Foreign goods entering the market, domestic goods entering storage" became a reality, and it also made it difficult for the selling prices of some high-quality rice varieties to exceed the minimum price. In the end, they "lowered their status" and entered the minimum price "cage" together with ordinary varieties of rice, making it difficult to reflect poor quality and premium prices for high quality. Therefore, farmers' bias in choosing rice seeds also changed with changes in the minimum price. To achieve maximum returns, ordinary, high-yield rice became the first choice. At present, the structural composition of rice demand varieties has already undergone great changes. Especially as the people's living standards improve, high-quality rice has become the choice of more people. The sales targets for ordinary rice have narrowed, channels have become limited, and it has been reduced to grain for other uses. The structural gap between rice supply and demand is gradually changing, and imbalance has even appeared.

How to both protect the interests of grain-growing farmers and avoid excessive policy intervention has always been a hot topic of great concern. At present, the minimum price purchase policy may soon change, and relevant policies need to be adjusted well. What kind of changes will occur in the mindset of grain-growing farmers is difficult to explain clearly for the moment, but in the end farmers are passive; they will follow the axis of "returns" and swing up and down, left and right.