How much is a jin of rice? A full analysis of rice prices

The focus of this article is on price; I have no intention of comparing the merits of different farming methods. Thank you.

As mentioned in the previous article, rice grown by natural farming can sell for 90 yuan per jin, while conventional rice sells for 20 yuan. Here I should add a clarification: the natural farming price is for milled rice, while the conventional price is for paddy rice. If, using the ratio that weight is reduced to 50 percent after drying and milling, we convert to paddy rice, then natural farming is 45 yuan and conventional farming is 20 yuan.

The workflow for rice: seed collection, water selection (salt water selection), seed pretreatment, germination, seedling raising, tilling, leveling, transplanting, gap filling, water management, weeding, (fertilizing and spraying under conventional farming), seed collection, harvesting, drying grain (or machine drying), storage, milling, (sorting, stone picking), packaging, finding orders, sales, delivery

The bold text marks the parts that conventional farming usually outsources. Those farmers only need to hire contractors for the middle section; for many farmers, growing rice is just a side job.

However, if you want to grow rice using Sho-Mei natural farming, you will run into three problems:

First, seedlings cannot be treated with chemicals. A professional seedling nursery would never accept such a commission; it would greatly disrupt their operations and management, so at this stage we can only raise our own seedlings. This is also the biggest barrier to entry for rice cultivation under Sho-Mei natural farming.

Second, before hiring outside farm machinery (for tilling, transplanting, harvesting), the machines must first be cleaned thoroughly to avoid bringing in outside contamination. Paying a bit more to the custom-hire operator might be possible, but then it must be scheduled either before or after they work in conventional paddies, which affects the flexibility of our work. Many things cannot wait when the time comes to do them. I bought my own used tiller, and I transplant and harvest by hand.

Third, when hiring drying and milling services, the rice cannot be mixed with conventional rice, and the equipment must not have chemical residues. This part cannot be solved with money, because when a professional rice mill is operating, it handles tens of thousands of jin of rice at a time. How could they possibly empty it out specially to process our rice? Fortunately, drying can be replaced by sun drying, but that depends on the heavens smiling on us. For milling, if the planting area is not large, farmers can use a small rice mill to process it themselves, but this is also why our rice does not look as "clean" as the rice sold in stores. This is not a problem with the farming method, but a problem with the equipment. The color sorters at professional rice mills are not something small farmers can afford.

Rice farmers using Sho-Mei natural farming must handle almost the entire workflow from beginning to end themselves, and the work at both ends happens to be the most laborious. Seen from this angle, you will understand that Sho-Mei natural farming rice is actually not expensive at all.

At present, most people in Taiwan, China, who practice Sho-Mei natural farming do not come from a professional farming background. For newcomers choosing to enter agriculture, economics will be a major consideration. The previous article also mentioned: the yield of Japanese Sho-Mei natural farming is about 80 percent of conventional farming, while the rice yield and selling price of Thailand's "Rice God" are the same as conventional farming, and the farmer can still make money. A Thai farmer might be able to support a family on an income of 10,000 yuan a month, but even 30,000 yuan a month in Taiwan, China, would hardly attract young people to take up farming.

If, in the initial period, one jia of land yields 6,000 jin, with two cropping seasons a year, and after drying and milling the weight is reduced to 50 percent, then after deducting 30 percent for land rent, machinery, fuel and electricity, packaging, home delivery and other costs, and dividing by 12 months in a year, you get a coefficient of 350. Multiply that number by how much you are willing to pay per jin, and that is roughly this person's monthly income, provided that everything is sold. Oh, after calculating it, you still have to deduct rent (this is my biggest cost, orz).

When we pay these small farmers (whether small farmers using conventional, organic, or natural farming), this money continues to circulate domestically and in the end usually comes back to us. This is also the concept behind consumer vouchers. Yet today we excessively suppress food prices and let real estate speculation run wild. When money flows upward, the ideal is for that capital to continue being invested in the domestic market, but looking at the situation in Taiwan, China, today, if all the money runs abroad, how can our economy improve?

I am not advocating high grain prices. The key point is to give farmers reasonable treatment, and in the end we ourselves will benefit as well.

Facing the Food Industry (Part 1): Looking at the Problem from a Structural Perspective