At present, Liu Song is the chairman of Hua Ze Agricultural Planting Professional Cooperative in Beilin District, Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province. The cooperative's grain planting area reached 6.5438+0.05 million mu. Among them, 70% is land transfer and 30% is production trusteeship. In these two modes, the former cultivates the land for himself, and the final income goes to the cooperative; The latter is to help farmers cultivate land. The cooperative receives a custody fee of 5,500 yuan per piece of land, and undertakes all production links from planting to harvesting, and the final income goes to farmers.
Corn, rice and wheat are also called the three staple foods. With the milestone of 20 16 as the boundary, corn and rations (rice and wheat) show different fates. This year, the temporary purchasing and storage policy of corn was cancelled and replaced by a new mechanism of "market-oriented acquisition+subsidy". Since 2004, especially from the second half of 2008 to 20 15, with the help of the temporary purchasing and storage policy of corn, the price of corn has gone through a bull market of 10 years. In 20 16, the price of corn rebounded strongly after short-term adjustment, especially in 2020, the price rose sharply, even exceeding the protective price of wheat and rice, reaching a record high. As for food crops, although there are ups and downs, the trend is stable and overall upward.
It is in this context that new agricultural business entities, represented by family farms and farmers' cooperatives, have gradually grown up. Corn, or precisely the "madness" of grain, is not only reflected in the output, import volume, including price, and the "hoarder" extended by price, but also reflected in the land area where large grain growers circulate. Although "big country and small farmers" is still the basic agricultural situation in China, this reality is quietly changing with the evolution of land scale.
On the premise of not touching land ownership and contracting rights, the scale effect of agriculture is not only reflected in land circulation, but also in socialized services based on production trusteeship. This is not only the realistic footnote of "realizing the organic connection between small farmers and modern agricultural development" proposed by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, but also the central government attaches great importance to food security. For example, "The more food we want to eat, the more we should think of the time when there is no food" and "China people's rice bowls should be firmly in their own hands at all times. Never let others get stuck in the basic survival problem of eating. "
Growing grain growers
Since 2009, Liu Song has been engaged in grain trade, built a grain depot in the village and bought corn and rice. It was not until 20 13 that he began to intervene in the planting link at the front end of the industrial chain.
At that time, Liu Song also had his own calculations: only in winter did he have a job to buy food, and he couldn't keep anyone. In addition, the state has a policy of temporarily storing and storing corn every year. "As long as it can be planted, the State Reserve will accept it." This method is simple, direct and profitable. So, he immediately set out to set up a cooperative, "planting land in summer and harvesting grain in winter." This move also directly provides employment opportunities for cooperative members, otherwise, "the young and middle-aged labor force will be almost gone."
The land area transferred by cooperatives in Liu Song has increased from the initial 65.438 million mu to the present 65.438 million mu. In just seven years, it has achieved a hundredfold increase. Of course, such a large increase in a short period of time is also in line with market rationality.
From the perspective of input cost, cooperatives have strong bargaining power when negotiating with agricultural suppliers such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, and can reduce costs as much as possible; At the same time, after large-scale planting, it is convenient to use large-scale mechanical operations, and professional organizations provide socialized services, which can not only reduce costs, but also increase grain output.
In terms of sales, the price of corn is relatively low after it is harvested and listed. Farmers who are not in a hurry to sell grain will generally hoard it for several months and then sell it when food prices rise next year. Of course, there are also grain merchants who use the pallet funds provided by the "golden owners" to choose whether to hoard more according to the timing. Liu Song, who started as a grain trader, said: "This is much better than the income from directly farming and selling grain."
The benefits of large-scale land cultivation also attracted Wang Han to return to his hometown to start a business. As early as 20 1 1, Wang Han returned to Guzhen County, Bengbu City, Anhui Province, founded the Hongtongtong Agricultural Cooperative, and served as the person in charge. After 10 years of development, including more than 8,000 mu of land just transferred this year, the planting scale of the cooperative has reached 20,000 mu. Among them, about 6.5438+0.3 million mu of land was entrusted to local large grain growers.
Wang Han said that the loss of local rural labor force is serious, and most people will choose to go out to work and transfer land, which provides opportunities for cooperatives to enter the planting process and also provides custody services for large grain growers. Coupled with the mature agricultural socialized service market such as agricultural machinery operation, basically all large grain growers adopt the mode of outsourcing agricultural production links. "After large-scale planting, cooperatives can carry out breeding and promotion of improved wheat varieties, and order the production of high-quality special wheat, which can not only ensure quality, but also increase income."
Affected by the rare natural disasters for many years, the income from farming in Wang Han 202 1 is meager. Although the wheat yield and market price were stable in the first half of the year, the income was ok. But in the second half of the year, the loss of corn became more serious. Relying on the insurance company's claims, plus the income from wheat planting, the comprehensive calculation can only earn about 100 yuan per mu. Wang Han said, "Natural disasters are the biggest variable in agricultural production, and agricultural insurance is the' last line of defense'. This year, local insurance companies are trying to pay for rent and agricultural materials. After natural disasters, insurance coverage will be greatly improved. If it is widely promoted in the future, growing grain will be more secure. "
Zhao is a large grain grower in Gaotang County, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, and has been engaged in large-scale farming for 10 years. Large-scale cotton planting began in 2007, and the cotton planting area exceeded 900 mu at the peak. Later, due to the low income of cotton, wheat and corn were planted. "Farming in the form of a family farm (scale) has a good income. Otherwise, it will not increase from 500 mu to more than 5,000 mu, and it may exceed 1000 mu in 2022. "
In Gaotang County, the land transfer rate is very high. Although family farms are required to be "moderate in scale", if the management ability can keep up, it also supports expanding the scale of land transfer. Zhao said that there are many kinds of large grain farmers in the local area because farming can make money, especially in 2020, when the price of corn rises, everyone will make money. At the same time, agricultural scale benefits can also effectively resist market risks. For example, 202 1, the price of agricultural materials has risen, and high-end products can still be bought at relatively suitable prices. However, the yield of 202 1 maize was worse than in previous years. He said, "In previous years, the yield per mu of corn reached 1400 kilograms, but this year it was only 1000 kilograms, mainly due to natural disasters. In previous years, corn was harvested in 65438+ 10. This year, there was a lot of rain during the harvest period, and it could not be harvested until 165438+ 10/0. Moreover, corn was also affected by moisture and mildew, so farmers directly.
Wang Han and Zhao are a microcosm of the rise and growth of new agricultural management entities in China. With the increase of land circulation area, the level of land scale and intensification has improved significantly. According to the article "Farmers and Land Drifting Away —— System Practice of Land Transfer and Separation of Three Powers" published in China Social Sciences, No.7, 2020, in 20 17, the cultivated land transferred to cooperatives and agricultural enterprises in China accounted for about 32.53% of the total contracted cultivated land transferred to households in that year, while 201kloc.
At the same time, the demand for socialized services by these new agricultural operators is also increasing. Chen Lin, deputy director and chief economist of the Academic Committee of Record Think Tank, told the First Financial Reporter that the "agricultural socialized service system" in the report of the 19th National Congress should refer to cooperative economic organizations and their service systems. Cooperative economic organization is not only the carrier of mutual assistance and cooperation, but also the best choice to provide public services, and it is expected to become the hub organization of rural social governance.
The next step is "competition between big families"
In recent years, the outflow of rural labor force, the increase in labor costs, and the sharp increase in land rent, but the price of grain has not risen all the way, and large grain growers still face risks.
Take 20 16, which Liu Song called "no money" as an example. After the implementation of "stock market purchase+subsidy", the price of corn plummeted. This led to a large family that planted corn the year before, but eventually lost money despite the bumper harvest, and "planted a sense of loneliness" all year round.
For large grain growers, the cost of agricultural planting mainly includes land rent, agricultural materials (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. ) and production services (mechanical tillage, mechanical harvesting, spraying, fertilization, etc.). ). Land rent accounts for the bulk of agricultural costs, reaching about 40%. Taking corn as an example, the increase of land rent in Northeast China is the biggest. Liu Song of Heilongjiang said that the first land transfer price was 4,500 yuan in 20 13 years and reached 1 10,000 yuan in 202 1 year. The land price in 2022 is still uncertain, which may be 1.3 million ~ 1.4 million yuan. Zhao said that the rent of an acre of land rose from 800 yuan in 20 19 to 900 yuan in 2020, and now it is 1000~ 1200 yuan. Although the contract is signed every five years, the rent still goes with the market.
Since 202 1, the price of chemical fertilizer has been rising continuously. According to the data of China Chemical Information Center, the average ex-factory prices of urea, diammonium phosphate, potassium chloride and compound fertilizer in China increased by 365,438 0.4%, 465,438 0.4%, 23.2% and 25.7% respectively from June to August.
Xi Yinsheng, director of the Macroeconomic Research Office of the Rural Economic Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, told the First Financial Reporter that the price of corn is expected to increase by about 0. 1 yuan for ordinary farmers this year, while the latter is expected to increase by more than 0.2 yuan for large-scale farmers.
In fact, the rapid increase in costs in recent years is basically in step with the growth of grain income. Lin Guofa, research director of Brick Farmers Purchasing Network, told CBN that small farmers are small in scale, and the feeling of cost increase is not obvious, mainly because the opportunity cost of growing food is high.
As for large grain growers, Lin Guofa said that their victory lies in the large scale of land transfer, and even if the net income per mu is meager, the total income is considerable. Besides, although there will be natural disasters, on the one hand, there is a certain probability, on the other hand, there is agricultural insurance, plus the income made up by good years, in short, there is a certain ability to resist risks.
Regarding the increase in land rent, Zhao believes that "this is the general trend, and it will not come down without returning to the field. Then there is the competition between big families. If you want to make money at such a high rent, you must strengthen management and increase production and efficiency. With a little negligence, if a certain link is not done well, it is possible to lose money. " In Wang Han's view, "this also makes sense. Although it will certainly erode the income of large grain growers, if all the money is earned by large grain growers, small farmers will not benefit and will certainly not last long. The rent has gone up, so pay it if you can accept it. If you feel high, you can let others plant it. "
Different from other people's "paying rent directly to farmers at the beginning of farming every year", Wang Han has adopted a frank way: cooperatives pay rent before June 1 every year. Otherwise, ordinary people have the right to harvest wheat. "In normal years, the local wheat harvest time is around June 5. Regardless of the good or bad operation of the cooperative, the rent will be paid before this to dispel the concerns of ordinary people, village committees and local governments. "
This pattern is formed because the people are willing to accept it. Behind this is a shrewd realistic consideration. Wang Han explained that if the farmers were paid rent at the beginning of farming, the cooperative would have to pay nearly100000 yuan in advance according to the scale of land transfer this year. For ordinary people, it may be that each household takes 2000~3000 yuan, which does not play a key role. But for cooperatives, because the growth cycle of wheat is eight months, it is equivalent to idle this fund, which invisibly increases the financial cost.
Most importantly, the value of wheat per mu far exceeds the rent. The land transfer rent is generally 700~800 yuan per mu, and the wheat yield per mu is about 1000 kg. The national minimum purchase price has been maintained at 1. 1 yuan per catty for many years. In Guzhen County, the planting mode of "harvesting wheat twice a year and planting corn twice" has long been formed. Historically, due to geographical and climatic factors, wheat has been very stable and there are few disaster years. In addition, wheat and corn are both conventional crops, which can be divided into good and bad when sold, which is nothing more than "good price difference".