| With the rapid urbanization and industrialization of China,numerous rural surplus labor forces have immigrated to cities.As a result,much rural land is uncultivated or abandoned.In many areas,it is quite common that workers work part time on agricultural production.In spite of rapid urbanization and industrialization,agricultural modernization is relatively backward in China.Thus,synchronous industrialization,informatization,agricultural modernization and urbanization have become policy orientations for economic and social development of China.Hence,it is necessary to consider how to promote agricultural modernization,guarantee China’s grain security and protect positions of basic industries in rural areas when farmlands are abandoned or uncultivated and farmers work part time on agricultural production.In view of this,the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out in a No.1 document dated 2013 that efforts should be actively made to promote the construction of new agricultural production entities such as family farms,farmers’ specialized cooperatives,agricultural enterprises and professional investors,in order to re-develop agricultural production and impel more vigorous development of agricultural by developing these new entities.Over the past 30 years,agricultural economy has developed fast in China with the drive of agricultural production based on household contract responsibility system,which has made outstanding contributions because it has not only solved problems about food and clothing,but also stabilized grain production of China since the reform and opening-up.However,the deficiencies of household contract responsibility system have been constantly exposed during China’s promotion of agricultural modernization.For instance,land is segmented,fragmented and plotted owing to its equal allocation of land.As a consequence,agricultural labor productivity and crop yield decline.Under this circumstance,agricultural inputs and outputs are imbalanced.Therefore,it is quite necessary to reform household contract responsibility system and promote the construction of new agricultural production entities in driving agricultural modernization.Among various new entities,family farms have more remarkable strengths.They not only bring strengths of family management into play,but also optimally allocate different factors of production such as capital,technologies,land and labor forces,so these organizations of agricultural production are more suitable for national conditions and agricultural productivity of China during its agricultural reform.As new organizations of agricultural production,family farms are favorable for guaranteeing core status of family management,expanding moderate-scale land management and identifying market orientations of agricultural production.In this sense,they don’t belong to peasant economy any more.Instead,temporary labor forces may be employed on the premise of not changing dominant position of farm owners,their family members,work and decision-making,so family farms are institutional innovations for developing agricultural economy of scale.They differ from the peasant economy of the traditional household contract responsibility system in terms of properties,institutions,organizations and labor.Compared with household contract responsibility system and collective operation system,they have striking advantages.Besides,they are more advantageous than farmers’ specialized cooperatives,agricultural enterprises and professional investors.The development of family farms shall be attributed to agricultural productivity and transformed agricultural systems.As a response to deficiencies of household contract responsibility system,family farms reflect innovations of organizational forms of agricultural production,agricultural institutions and systems.From the perspective of policies,they are novel.In this paper,their development histories,institutional frameworks and historical origin(originating from state-owned reclamation farms with employees)are explored.To develop family farms,lessons may be drawn from collective ownership of those farms with employees.Looking into the future development of family farms,it may be found that these farms will be run and managed like enterprises.Their organizational systems will be horizontally integrated and their organizational forms will be vertically integrated.Compared with household contract responsibility system or other organizational forms of agricultural production,family farms may integrate their own strengths with enterprises.Besides,they may make up deficiencies o professional investors and agricultural cooperatives.Furthermore,they may promote urbanization and execution of new countryside strategies.In light of the realities,family farms develop in China in response to some realities,because they are necessary for institutionally innovating agricultural production,promoting agricultural modernization and alleviating dilemmas of current "agriculture,farmers and countryside".Compared with previous state-owned family farms with employees,present family farms are characterized by different business scales,diverse businesses,considerable business benefits,relatively competitive products,fast development and imbalanced regional development,which may be observed from their basic situation.There is a great variety of family farms,which may be divided into different categories according to their management methods,content and types.In light of their development characteristics,family farms manage lands on a large-scale basis,expand financing channels for their agricultural production,increase farmers’ incomes and enjoy clearer positions in laws.In spite of ideal outcomes in their development,family farms still have some problems,including unclear positioning,lack of smooth land transfer mechanism,great difficulties in financing,incomplete social service system and poor qualities of operators.To certain extent,these problems hinder family farms from development.After a complete literature review and field research,family farms in Songjiang of Shanghai,Ningbo of Zhejiang Province,Langxi of Anhui Province and Minquan of Henan Province are exemplified to better investigate practical operations of family farms in China.Specific practices,practical effects,operation experiences and problems of government-dominated,market-oriented,market-oriented government-supported and government-supported family farms dominated by agricultural enterprises are examined.Meanwhile,similarities and differences among these four models are compared.After research,it is discovered that the family farms are typically dominated by government in Songjiang of Shanghai.Government has absolute power for controlling land transfer,fiscal subsidies and social service systems.In particular,rural collective organizations enjoy control over land and authorities over farmers.This is rare in other rural areas of China,so Songjiang is a typical economically developed area where agriculture develops with the drive of industries.Thus,it is clear that this model may guarantee standard development of family farms and increase their gross benefits.Nevertheless,it also has evident weaknesses.For instance,it has higher requirements for government’s financial strength,so it can be hardly copied by other areas.In Ningbo of Zhejiang Province,the family farms are mostly market-oriented.In this area,market plays a dominant role in land transfer and social service systems.The farms are run like enterprises and mostly operated by legal persons.They are relatively large and mainly managed by employees.Thus,this model is quite effective for regulating market,better allocating market resources and maximizing benefits of farm operators.Likewise,it has apparent weaknesses.For example,market failure may occur sometimes,but land is essential for farmers ’ livelihoods.In case of market failure,family farms would develop in disorder.What’s more,the essence for family management would be neglected if family farms are always market-oriented and capitalistic.As a result,agricultural capitalism would appear,and it is unfavourable for safeguarding interests of farmers.In Langxi of Anhui Province,family farms develop under the lead of markets and support of governments.In this model,strengths of government and market domination are well integrated,so both roles of markets and government may be brought into full play.This model is applicable to all areas regardless of their economic growth and highly vital.Nonetheless,governments shall play pertinent roles in this model,where there are requirements for market orientations.To be specific,governments shall not excessively intervene with the farms,and market rules shall be appropriately employed.In Minquan of Henan Province,family farms develop with the support of agricultural enterprises.Objectively,it is impossible to carry out autonomous management of the family farms although they are incorporated into modernized production system.The strength lies in the vertical integration of family farms,which can be hardly realized by current underdeveloped family farms.To be sure,no model is omnipotent,because development of family farms is restricted by multiple factors such as development of agricultural economy,agricultural industrial structure,natural endowments for agricultural,level of urbanization,non-agricultural employment and household organization.In this sense,family farms can only develop in China based on a general model.In other words,all areas shall creatively develop family farms according to local characteristics.Family farms have just developed for a short period in China,but longer abroad,particularly in developed countries.Therefore,the author investigates family farms of three developed countries(including United States,France and Japan)and three new developing countries(namely Russia,Brazil and India),to explore historical conditions and concrete characteristics of their development.Besides,lessons worth learning by China from these six countries in developing family farms are summarized.Based on a summary of typical models home and abroad,situation of China and corresponding problems,specific measures are proposed for developing family farms in China from the perspective of land transfer,financial support,promotion of agricultural sciences/technologies,construction of a circulation system for agricultural products,establishment of a social service system and cultivation of new professional farmers.Furthermore,noteworthy problems with the development of family farms are illustrated based on farmers’ wills,land transfer,social security for landless farmers and family farm owners’ benefits.In terms of their institutional innovation,Chinese family farms separate their contractors’rights from their management rights without changing collective ownership of lands.Therefore,they are essentially upgrades and complexes of the household contract responsibility system for synchronous agriculture and farmer modernization in China.In view of practical rural conditions in China,family farms will tend to be labor-intensive in the future,so it is necessary to promote integration of these farms with farmers’ specialized cooperatives,found these cooperatives based on the farms and improve family farms’ status in market with the support of national policies. |
