【Lixiang China】Actively solve the problem of "who will farm the land" in the future

　　With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, the rapid development of non-agricultural employment in the mainland, the continuous migration of rural labor force, and the deepening of the aging of the rural population, "who will farm the land" has become a practical issue of continuous concern to all sectors of society in the future. The No. 1 document of the Central Committee in 2024 clearly points out that to ensure national food security, we should focus on solving the problem of "who will farm the land", and accelerate the creation of a high-quality production and management team that adapts to the development of modern agriculture based on small farmers, focusing on new agricultural business entities, and supported by socialized services. This points out the direction for answering the questions of "who will farm the land" and "how to farm the land" in the future.

　　Take the improvement of the agricultural socialized service system as the starting point

　　Although the number of smallholder farmers has declined in recent years, they are still the main body engaged in agricultural production on the mainland, accounting for more than 70% of all agricultural operators. In fact, in some traditional agricultural areas and major grain-producing areas, the vast majority of smallholder farmers have a relatively high level of specialization in agricultural production and a low degree of part-time occupation. With the significant increase in the number of trainees in professional farmer cooperatives in recent years, the professionalism level of rural households has been significantly improved, which has further consolidated the status of rural households as the main producer. At the same time, various types of new business entities have made great progress, and the area of cultivated land that has been transferred to family farms, large professional households, leading enterprises, cooperatives, and other new business entities has exceeded 50 percent of the total circulation area, and is showing a trend of continuous expansion.

　　In recent years, mainland agriculture has adhered to the principle of household contract management, and has achieved remarkable results in building a new production and management system that combines intensification, specialization, organization, and socialization, but there are still many challenges. First, the number of people who are "willing to farm" has been declining, and a large number of laborers have gone out to work, resulting in a shortage of agricultural labor, and agricultural production has become sideline, part-time, and traditional. At the same time, the aging problem of the group that stays behind to "know how to farm" is serious, the willingness and ability to adopt modern agricultural production technology are insufficient, and the conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements is low, which fails to form an effective transformation of scientific and technological advantages into economic advantages. Second, production costs are rising, and peasant households are not highly motivated to grow grain. In recent years, the cost of agricultural production, especially the cost of labor and land, has risen sharply, and the prices of agricultural products at home and abroad have "inverted", resulting in low agricultural planting efficiency. In addition, it is difficult for all kinds of new business entities to obtain adequate financial service support, and the coverage rate and protection level of agricultural insurance are low, and the development of various business entities is subject to multiple constraints. Third, peasant households' enthusiasm for land circulation is not high, and the area of grain crop circulation is limited. Although the current policies to support agriculture and strengthen agriculture involve a wide range of categories and cover many categories, there is a lack of consistency evaluation between policy objectives, and there is also a lack of effective connection between policies, and there are problems such as high implementation cost, low transmission efficiency, and mismatch with actual work needs, which restricts the enthusiasm of various new business entities to grow grain and transfer cultivated land.

　　In recent years, various new business entities have flourished, and their role in ensuring food security and balancing the supply and demand of agricultural products has gradually strengthened, and they have become an important force in the mainland's agricultural production. For example, the area of cultivated land transferred to the main body of new agricultural operations is increasing year by year, which can not only alleviate the scale constraints brought about by the scattered operation and low degree of organization of peasant households, and promote the development of new agricultural productive forces, but also alleviate to a large extent the problems of land abandonment, extensive management, and "non-grain" cultivated land brought about by the aging of the labor force and part-time employment. At the same time, it is impossible for the basic national conditions and agricultural conditions of the mainland's "large country and small peasants" and "more people and less land" to undergo a fundamental change in a short period of time, and for a long time to come, small farmers will continue to be the main body of agricultural production and operation on the mainland, but it is necessary to speed up the construction of a new agricultural management system so that the vast majority of small farmers can fully share the fruits of modern agricultural development. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of the agricultural socialized service system, give full play to the radiation and driving role of the new agricultural business entity on small farmers, and strive to solve the problems that small farmers cannot do, do not do well, and do not cost-effective, so as to give full play to the advantages of small farmers in intensive cultivation and flexible management, and further promote the organic connection between small farmers and modern agriculture.

　　Comprehensively mobilize the enthusiasm of diversified business entities in production

　　It is of great significance to comprehensively mobilize the production enthusiasm of diversified business entities and fully release the production potential to ensure national food security. Specifically, we can start from the development of new agricultural productivity, tap the potential of land resources, improve the grain income guarantee mechanism, and strengthen the ability to absorb rural employment, so as to promote the high-quality development of various agricultural business entities and further build the "ballast stone" of food security.

　　First of all, we should vigorously develop new quality productive forces and give full play to the effectiveness of scientific and technological innovation. We will further implement the strategy of "storing grain in technology", rely on national high-level scientific research institutes and modern agricultural industry technology system, accelerate agricultural scientific and technological innovation and transformation of scientific and technological achievements, promote the organic integration of improved seeds, good methods and good technologies, accelerate the development of smart agriculture and digital agriculture, promote the comprehensive and high-quality development of the whole process of agricultural mechanization, and strive to improve the total factor productivity of agriculture.

　　Second, we should fully tap the potential of land resources and activate rural land elements. We will further implement the strategy of "storing grain on the ground", continue to strengthen the construction of high-standard farmland, and implement typical demonstration projects in different regions. Strengthen the construction of service platforms for the circulation of rural land management rights, guide the orderly circulation of rural land management rights, and increase the enthusiasm of rural households to actively participate in land circulation. The consolidation of abandoned cultivated land should be organically combined with land circulation, and the factors of land production should be fully activated to promote the high-quality development of modern agriculture.

　　Third, from the perspective of the "trinity" of grain prices, subsidies, and insurance, we should continue to improve the grain income guarantee mechanism and increase farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain. It is necessary to strengthen the connection between production and marketing, strengthen the regulation of reserves, establish and improve a rational mechanism for the formation of grain prices, and guide the prices of agricultural products to be mainly formed by the market. Enhance the flexibility and flexibility of the policy regulation and control of the minimum purchase price of rice and wheat, and reasonably adjust the minimum purchase price level. Learn from the successful experience of "market-oriented purchase + production subsidies" of corn, soybean and cotton, improve the income guarantee mechanism of grain farmers and the interest compensation mechanism of main producing areas, increase the implementation of the policy of strengthening agriculture and benefiting farmers, and stabilize the income expectations of grain farmers. Establish and improve the risk prevention and control mechanism of grain planting and the market emergency regulation and control mechanism, promote the expansion of agricultural insurance, increase products, and improve standards, and strengthen the role of agricultural insurance as a "shock absorber".

　　Finally, efforts should be made to promote the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas and enhance the ability to absorb rural employment. Relying on the layout of the whole industrial chain and the development of the whole value chain of famous, special and high-quality new agricultural products, we will comprehensively strengthen the support and driving capacity of rural industries. By strengthening the multiple linkage mechanism, we will develop the "industrial chain + smallholder farmer" model, provide more employment opportunities for smallholder farmers in the integrated layout of the three industries of the new business entity, and promote high-quality employment. We will further improve the level of social security in rural areas, and promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas through the integration of infrastructure and the equalization of basic public services. Vigorously develop agriculture-related vocational education, carry out training for new professional farmers, and realize the simultaneous development of "industrial prosperity" and "talent revitalization" in rural areas.

　　(The author is a professor and dean of the College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, and an associate professor at the School of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University)

Source: "China Social Sciences Daily" Issue 2880 on April 25, 2024 Author: Li Gucheng, Hao Zhuang, Wang Yuze