Agricultural Scale Operation From The Perspective Of Social Capital Research On Impact Mechanism And Enhancement Strategy

During modernization,the agricultural industry has shifted from traditional small-scale farming to large-scale operations.This has also caused a shift in resource allocation,from relying on social capital based on personal relationships to formal systems such as markets.However,there is a contradiction.On one hand,the government recognizes the importance of small farmers and advocates for “moderate scale operations led by farmers.” On the other hand,the lack of formal systems such as rural finance and land transfer markets makes it difficult for small farmers to achieve scale operations at a low transaction cost.This results in difficulties for farmers in financing and land acquisition,leading them to rely on social capital to obtain resources.For example,according to a survey by the National Bureau of Statistics,82% of family farms have financing needs,and 64% of farmers find it difficult to obtain financing.Most farmers still rely on social capital to seek informal financing to support their expansion.Rural China is currently undergoing economic and social transition but remains a relationship-based society with rural characteristics.Although the influence of social capital on resource allocation has weakened,it still plays an important role in the transformation of farmers towards largescale operations.Therefore,understanding the decision-making process and mechanisms of large-scale agricultural operations from the perspective of social capital is crucial in removing barriers to rural resource flow and promoting the development of large-scale agricultural operations in an imperfect rural market system.This article uses data from the China Labor Dynamics Survey(CLDS)from 2012-2018 to construct a causal mediation analysis model within a counterfactual framework to study the impact of social capital on farmers’ large-scale agricultural operations.The mechanism is analyzed from the perspective of how social capital affects the flow of elements such as land and capital.The results show that the wider the coverage of farmers’ personal relationships and the more they spend on them,the more significantly it promotes large-scale operations.The mechanism is that social capital formed through personal relationships promotes informal financing and “short-radius” land transfers for farmers.Further research using a moderated mediation effect model found that:(1)From the perspective of financing,formal financing weakens the promotion of informal financing on large-scale agricultural operations.This indicates that in the financing choices for large-scale agricultural operations,formal financing replaces informal financing,thereby reducing the use of social capital.When farmers have formal financing,informal financing no longer promotes large-scale agricultural operations.(2)From the perspective of land transfer,although land rights confirmation weakens “short-radius”land transfer,this mechanism still plays a role.This indicates that after land rights confirmation,farmers gradually reduce their reliance on social capital in land transfers,but due to the particularity of land,the role of social capital in land transfers has not completely disappeared.In addition,heterogeneity analysis also found that the role of social capital in large-scale agricultural operations varies in different regions of north and south,marketization degree,and digital development degree.Social capital plays a greater role in northern dry farming areas,areas with low marketization degree and low digital development degree.In view of this,the article believes that it is still necessary to pay attention to the role of social capital in promoting large-scale agricultural operations by farmers,actively cultivate social capital,and guide the construction of civilized and mutual assistance rural customs;in the long run,we should actively strengthen the construction of formal systems such as rural property rights and markets,accelerate the construction of a regular rural financial system;clarify the ownership of farmland property rights and actively improve the property rights transfer market.