How many farmers in China are still willing to farm?

Willows are sprouting catkins, which is the busy season for spring plowing in the main corn-producing areas. China's eight-year-old "temporary purchase and storage policy" for corn will be replaced by a new mechanism of "market-based acquisition" plus "subsidy."

The New Deal for Grain Reserves is not so much a proactive change as it is a reform that is unsustainable and forced by all factors that maintain the procurement and storage mechanism. This includes the market distortion caused by the continuous high-intensity stimulus of "temporary purchasing and stockpiling at the lowest purchase price"; the impact of international and domestic environmental changes such as the adjustment of the RMB exchange rate and lower global grain prices on grain trade and consumer demand; the price increase of temporary stockpiles leading to domestic and foreign corn The price inversion has promoted a surge in the import of corn substitutes and downstream products, creating an embarrassing dilemma of "foreign grain entering the market and domestic corn entering the warehouse" and so on.

Many factors have accumulated a "hanging river" of inventories of corn and other grains, which has also placed a heavy burden on the central government to pay more than 60 billion yuan in annual inventory payments. The current corn temporary storage inventory reaches 250 million tons, and the lowest purchase price of rice inventory is nearly 100 million tons.

As a result, the state decided to implement "market-based purchasing" and "subsidies" for corn, allowing corn prices and purchasing and storage policies to embark on a market-oriented path, which was even higher than the "target prices" of soybeans and cotton that year. "The reform is more market-oriented and is also a bolder attempt in the entire grain procurement and storage policy.

The reform of the price formation mechanism of agricultural products has become the core of supply-side reform in the entire agricultural field. The new corn purchase policy not only involves upstream corn planting adjustments, but also affects the planting structure of other crops to a large extent. It also involves the elimination of high downstream inventories, the reduction of the central financial burden, and cost changes in the domestic feed industry and grain processing industry.

To solve the problem of high grain inventory, we cannot limit ourselves to taking special measures to digest the inventory of a single grain variety. Instead, we need to systematically plan and top-level design policy reform plans to fundamentally eliminate the inventory formation mechanism. And then fundamentally correct the market distortion mechanism caused by the price support policy.

At present, China's agricultural production is already facing new challenges such as the "ceiling" of agricultural product prices, the rising "floor" of production costs, and the intensification of "hard constraints" on resources and the environment. There is an urgent need to accelerate structural reforms and transform production and operation methods. , to promote agricultural reform from a supply-side perspective.

Two months ago, Caijing reporters went to major grain-producing areas such as the Northeast Plain, North China Plain, and the "Silly Bay" region to conduct front-line research to understand the background of the "overhaul" of the agricultural product price mechanism and the adjustment of purchase and storage policies. Next, the real local ecology and the confusion and entanglements faced by growers. A reporter's investigation found that agricultural supply-side reforms such as the New Purchase and Storage Policy are urgent, and factors such as overexploitation of groundwater, soil pollution, and resource destruction are no longer able to support the abnormal growth of "taking grain as the keystone".

At the same time, the top-level design and promotion of the reform also need to refine the operation plan to ensure that the policy is not distorted or out of shape during local implementation, and to resolve local confusion and problems in policy change in a timely manner.

——Editor

Faced with the shrinking profits from corn cultivation, the Northeast region has begun a new round of planting changes

It is already time for willows to sprout catkins and spring is warm. bloom.

It is the busy spring plowing season, and various major corn-producing areas have begun to prepare for corn planting. However, a reporter from Caijing found during an investigation in Northeast China that farmers’ intention to plant corn is not strong this year, and farmers in some areas are considering switching to forage, cereals and soybeans. Especially in Heilongjiang Province, which has the greatest corn inventory pressure, some experts estimate that the corn planting area will decrease by approximately 15 million acres this year.

The "temporary corn purchase and storage policy" that has been implemented for eight years will come to an end this spring, and a new mechanism of "market-based acquisition" plus "subsidy" will be implemented.

On April 7, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture said: This year, China will invest 3.5 billion yuan to support the structural adjustment of corn and use it to subsidize grain-to-feed and grain-bean rotation in the "Silly Bay" area. The goal is to allow farmers who switch to silage corn, soybeans, forage and other crops to earn substantially the same income as those who grew corn in the past. "Sickle Bend" is a common name that specifically involves parts of 13 provinces and autonomous regions including Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang.

This area looks like a sickle on the map. In the past ten years, it has been the area with the largest increase in corn area and the fastest development in China.

Last year, the country announced that grain production had increased for the 12th consecutive year. In fact, more than half of the credit should be attributed to corn. In addition, domestic and foreign prices have been inverted for many years, and the import of corn and its substitutes has impacted the domestic market. Corn inventories have increased sharply, highlighting the pressure on grain storage. The current domestic corn inventory is 250 million tons. Preliminary estimates indicate that the cost of corn inventory in the fiscal year will be more than 60 billion yuan.

The central government decided to reform the corn price mechanism in the next step. The purpose is to move the corn purchase and storage policy toward marketization faster, even faster than the target price policy for soybeans and cotton. This is seen by the industry as a bolder attempt at the entire grain purchasing and storage policy.

Following the reform of the corn purchase and storage system, new policies are also expected to be implemented on price mechanisms for wheat and rice in the future. Chen Xiwen, director of the Central Agricultural Affairs Office, recently publicly stated that corn reform must go first because the contradictions faced are very acute. Later, wheat and rice reforms must also follow up and cannot be delayed too long.

The reform of the agricultural product price linkage mechanism has become the core of the reform of the entire agricultural field. In 2016, the Central Government's "No. 1 Document" proposed to promote agricultural structural reform to adjust and optimize the agricultural production structure and regional layout, as the "nose" for the agricultural supply-side structural reform.

The Northeast Plain of 350,000 square kilometers is taking the lead in undergoing a transformation and breakthrough in agricultural structural reform.

In 2015, the Northeast region, which accounted for more than 50% of the grain increase and accounted for more than 20% of the country's total output, continues to be my country's important commercial grain production, grain transportation and commercial grain reserve base. Among the four northeastern provinces and regions of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang Province accounts for one-tenth of the country's grain production and ranks first in China's total grain output. In the past two months, Caijing reporters have conducted on-site visits to key areas of this agricultural reform such as Heilongjiang agricultural reclamation areas, local rural areas and Jilin rural areas, trying to record the country's agricultural transformation period, the implementation of new mechanisms for corn purchase and storage, and other new policies under the new policy. , practical problems and confusions faced by local governments. The Pain of Price Adjustment

Villages that once became rich by growing corn are now worried about growing corn. Minqiang Village in Chenggaozi Town, located southeast of Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province, is quite typical.

In early spring, the villages in Northeast China, which are still covered with ice and snow, are particularly quiet. During the off-season, farmers either go out to work or stay at home to prepare for sowing in the coming year. "Due to soil, climate and other factors, basically all the 36,000 acres of cultivated land in Chenggaozi Town are planted with corn, and the yield is good." Wang Guoyu, head of Minqiang Village, told Caijing reporters. Taking Minqiang Village as an example, one acre of land can produce about 1,200 kilograms of corn every year. The national grain depot purchases it at a price of 1.12 yuan/jin, which constitutes one of the main sources of income for the villagers. However, since 2015, the National Grain Bank has lowered the purchase price of corn, which has been reduced by 0.12 yuan per catty. Taking into account the high costs of land, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, agricultural machinery, etc., it can be said that farmers are not making any money farming now. , many cooperatives are even losing money.

“If you no longer grow corn, they say you can plant forage, miscellaneous grains, etc., but once you plant too much, will the price fall? In the end, it will not be very profitable.” Some farmers told Caijing Reporters expressed concern.

Due to the high moisture content of corn in the Northeast, it needs to be dried and processed to meet the requirements of the state for purchasing and storing grain. Some villagers who have the conditions have purchased machinery and equipment to dry the corn collected from farmers. After drying, most of it is sent to the treasury, and the remaining small part is sold to feed mills.

Zhang Dongquan from Minqiang Village is a major local corn drying and processing company. Walking into Zhang Dong's family, a corn drying tower with a daily processing capacity of 1,000 tons stands in the courtyard. Talking about the "harvest" in 2015, Zhang Dongquan looked sad, "Now the price of corn harvested from farmers has dropped to more than 8 cents per catty, and the price sold to the treasury is 97.8 cents per catty. The profit of one catty is still Less than 20 cents. The cost of a drying tower is 3 to 4 million yuan. In the past, apart from paying wages to the workers, we could still make a net profit of more than 100,000 yuan. After the corn price dropped, we no longer made any money, so it was time to give it to the villagers. The money is still in arrears.

"

"If the price of meat and eggs does not increase, most of the breeding industry will also face losses. The number of breeding plants continues to decrease, and the demand for corn feed will also decrease. The quality of the corn here is relatively good and there is still a market for it. The corn produced in Qinggang County, Bayan County and other places in Heilongjiang cannot be sold and is stored there. "Zhang Dongquan said that the depression in the breeding industry has also directly affected the export of corn.

Minqiang Village is just a microcosm. As the country adjusts the structure of the planting industry, the entire Northeast is experiencing corn purchase prices. The pain of declining.

Focusing on resolving the imbalance between supply and demand of agricultural products is a major content of the central government's "No. 1 Document". The overcapacity of my country's agricultural products has been concentrated on the continuous increase in corn production since 2004. , which means that corn continues to drive and support the growth of China's grain production year after year. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, among the factors influencing China's corn production increase, the increase in sown area contributed more than 80%, and the national corn sown area increased in 2011. Compared with the corn sown area in 2003, the corn sown area in Heilongjiang increased by 123.4% in 2011, followed by Inner Mongolia, Hubei, and Liaoning, which increased by 67.8%, 61.1%, and 48.8% respectively.

Therefore, located at the top of the "Silly Bay" region, the cold and cool areas of Northeast China were listed as the focus of reducing the corn area. At the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee's video and telephone conference in August 2015, the governor Lu Hao proposed to attach great importance to planting. Adjust the industrial structure, make full use of price leverage and market economy to guide farmers to reduce corn production, remove administrative orders, and do not impose hard targets on various cities.

As the largest grain production base in the country, Heilongjiang Reclamation Area is experiencing a food crisis. Every major change in production is 200 kilometers south from Heihe, a border trade city between China and Russia, to the Yinlonghe Farm, which is affiliated with the Bei'an Farm Administration. The farm has a total cultivated land area of ??350,000 acres and is one of the state-owned farms in the Heilongjiang Agricultural Reclamation Administration system. 1. Peng Jifeng, chief of the agricultural section of Yinlonghe Farm, told the Caijing reporter that if grain prices are used to reduce corn planting area, the Northeast region, which has significantly increased corn production due to the country’s temporary reserve policy, may face a significant loss of benefits.

“In the years after the temporary corn purchase and storage policy was implemented, no other crop has been able to compare with the high returns from growing corn. In Heilongjiang, both reclamation areas and localities began to switch to planting overnight. corn. Peng Jifeng said.

In 2003, China's grain output reached 861.4 billion kilograms, reaching its lowest point since 1990. Grain production was less than the demand for that year. The domestic grain supply gap mainly depends on consumption of stocks. Taking into account turnover Grain and aged grain, the current national grain inventory has also dropped to historical lows. The resulting problem is that farmers' per capita income has been reduced, and farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain has been severely affected. The food problem has seriously affected the overall situation of national security and social stability. Against this background, the State Council began to implement a temporary purchase and storage policy for corn in 2007.

Peng Jifeng recalled to Caijing that the state issued a temporary storage policy to encourage individuals to invest in building warehouses, and the stocks would pass inspection after reaching a certain scale. It can be used as a national temporary storage warehouse, and the state also provides subsidies in proportion to the inventory, which has led to a surge in the number of corn storage in Heilongjiang; on the other hand, it has also led to an improvement in the purchase price of corn and planting efficiency. When the net benefit of planting corn is the highest, Due to different costs, local farmers can obtain 200% profit, and the reclamation area can also achieve a 100% return rate.

“Yinlonghe Farm is located in the fourth and fifth accumulated temperate zones of Heilongjiang, and theoretically there is no difference. It is not suitable for growing corn. Ten years ago, we mainly planted soybeans and wheat. Due to the high purchase price of corn, the efficiency of planting corn in Heilongjiang reached its highest value in 2011. At that time, the profit from one field (15 acres) could reach more than 9,000 yuan. This kind of benefit has never been seen before. With the help of agricultural technology, the farm began to plant large areas of early-maturing corn in 2012. "

Peng Jifeng said.

It is understood that in 2012, the area planted with corn on Yinlonghe Farm accounted for more than 60% of the farm’s total arable land. However, in 2013 and 2014, the corn planting area still accounted for about 50% of the total arable land. , in 2015, one-third of the farm's arable land was still planted with corn.

After experiencing the highest profits from corn planting in 2011 and 2012, as the state purchase price fell, the profit from corn planting has been declining, from a net profit of more than 600 yuan per mu of land to 2013 and 2014. The annual net profit is 300 yuan to 400 yuan. In 2015, the purchase price of corn dropped by 0.11 yuan to 0.12 yuan, and the profit per mu of corn planting decreased by about 150 yuan. "I heard that the price of corn purchased by the state will be lowered in 2016. If it drops by another cent, there will be no benefit in growing corn." Peng Jifeng said frankly.

In 2016, in the three northeastern provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the temporary corn purchase and storage policy was adjusted to a new mechanism of "market-based purchase" plus "subsidy". The price of corn has become determined by the market to regulate production and demand. Producers sell corn according to the market and adjust their planting structure according to market conditions. For corn growers, what is most concerning right now is how much subsidies the country will ultimately provide to growers after the implementation of the new corn policy? The Confusion of the Northeast Granary

Due to the long-term reliance on the country’s “price subsidy combined” policy to ensure farmers’ income and the huge procurement and storage of the treasury, the Northeast region has not cultivated and established systematic grain deep processing enterprises, sales Links have also become the biggest weakness of development.

Zhang Yuxian, executive vice president of the New Rural Development Research Institute of Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, told Caijing reporters, “Heilongjiang is the largest grain-producing province in the country, but in the field of agricultural product processing and sales, Heilongjiang’s local enterprises Ranked last in the country.”

The corn grown in the fourth and fifth temperate zones in the Northeast has a high moisture content, and natural dehydration cannot meet the national collection and storage standards, so it can only be dried by rapid heat. However, this kind of dried corn enters storage. The longer the storage time, the faster the quality decreases. After a certain period of time, it is no longer suitable for intensive processing and can only be digested as feed grain and alcohol grain.

Song Hongyuan, director of the Rural Economic Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, once told Caijing reporters that the structural reform of the agricultural supply side, especially for corn, where the current contradiction between production, demand and storage is relatively prominent, must be based on market pricing, price We should adhere to the principle of separation of supplement and supplement, actively and steadily promote the reform of the purchase and storage system, and make corn prices reflect market supply and demand.

“The state has reduced the purchase price of corn, and the breeding industry is also facing the problem of supply-side reform. The demand for corn in feed has been saturated, and the demand for processing corn into alcohol has also long been saturated.” Zhang Yuxian sighed. , "The market for corn has been completely blocked. Whether it is from the perspective of Heijiliao farmers continuing to rely on planting corn to make a living, or from the current emergency destocking of corn, it is very difficult."

Effective promotion To optimize and adjust the agricultural structure, the Ministry of Agriculture's idea is to focus on three tasks in 2016: First, promote the development of silage corn, soybeans, high-quality forage, cereals and beans, and ecologically functional plants in key corn production reduction areas; second, explore The pilot farmland rotation and fallow system; third, actively promote the development of the potato industry.

Faced with the declining profits from corn cultivation, the Northeast region has begun a new round of planting changes. Xinxin Township, Fuyu City, Jilin Province, located on the northeastern edge of the Songnen Plain, has completed the change of planting crops. After the Spring Festival, the grain warehouse in Xinxin Township, Fuyu City, was empty and quiet. Rows of corn were piled outside the warehouse to dry. "There are far fewer farmers coming to deliver corn now." The only two staff members at the door told reporters.

Song Jiafu, director of the Xinxin Township Agricultural Station in Fuyu City, said that in 2015, the price of corn in Jilin was 0.14 yuan lower than in 2014, so many farmers who could grow peanuts did so. Taking Xinxin Township as an example, the township has more than 9,600 hectares of cultivated land. In 2015, the planting area of ??peanuts reached more than 5,000 hectares. The remaining 3,000 hectares of cultivated land are planted with rice. Only the last 1,000 hectares of cultivated land can only be planted with corn due to soil quality problems.

“We have strong peanut processing and sales companies here, and some of the processed products are sold abroad in large quantities, which has greatly promoted the planting of local peanut crops.” Dalinzi Town, Fuyu City Government Secretary Liu Qingyan told Caijing reporters.

Such as the structural adjustment of the planting industry, most areas in the Northeast actually do not have the same conditions and advantages as Xinxin Township in Jilin. Taking Heilongjiang Province as an example, restricted by natural factors such as geographical location and climatic conditions, there are not many alternative projects for planting in the province. The Heilongjiang Provincial Government has clearly put forward the guidelines of "reducing corn, slightly increasing rice, and increasing beans (including soybeans, miscellaneous beans and grains), vegetables, feed and pasture, etc."

“The local government does not know how to implement the policies issued by the state.” Peng Jifeng, chief of the agricultural section of Yinlonghe Farm, told the Caijing reporter, “Especially in agricultural reclamation areas with large planting scale and high costs. When we are not sure which crops can be grown without losing money, communication with and guidance to the farmers in the reclamation area has become the most difficult part.”

In 2016, the state continued to lower the purchase price of corn. The possibility is high. The price of corn continues to drop, what should the farm do? Many farm managers contacted by the reporter expressed confusion. They all said that since potatoes, vegetables and other crops are not suitable for planting in the reclamation area, they can only make difficult trade-offs on cash crops such as soybeans and cereals and beans to replace them. corn.

“When a farm adjusts its planting structure, it first looks at what can be grown in the area, and secondly looks at the market price. To put it bluntly, it’s about what to grow to make money.” Peng Jifeng said that the most difficult thing now is that they are located in a hilly area. It is not suitable to grow rice, but whether you switch to soybeans or cash crops, you face the possibility of not making money or even losing money. So I still plan to plant some corn this year and take small, tentative steps. The reason for this consideration is that due to the impact of foreign imported soybeans, the domestic soybean market price continues to be depressed, and the profits from soybean planting almost all come from the state's soybean target price subsidies. Planting corn depends on how the new corn subsidy system is implemented and whether the relevant supporting measures can keep up with the subsidies to truly fall into the hands of growers.

What if we plant cash crops such as cereals and beans instead? Most of the farm managers and people in the agricultural reclamation system interviewed by the reporter expressed caution, "There is no national protection price for cash crops such as beans and grains. They completely follow the market. It is extremely easy for a swarm of swarms to be planted, leading to losses for the entire industry."

The reporter learned from the Heilongjiang General Administration of Agricultural Reclamation that in terms of increasing the planting of cash crops, the General Administration of Agricultural Reclamation encourages farmers to decide on their own what kind of cash crops to plant after full communication and understanding of the situation, and try to disperse possible problems. risk. "There are almost no intensive processing companies of cereals in Heilongjiang. In this case, we encourage growers to adopt contract farming and plant on a trial basis, that is, contact food processing companies first, sign a contract, and then plant cereals and beans according to their demand." Peng Jifeng explain.

The reform of the corn purchase and storage mechanism will surely trigger the linkage of the upstream and downstream chains, and also heralds China’s agriculture taking a step closer to marketization. However, many contradictions and problems existing in the policy implementation stage have not been faced before. It has passed, but it still needs to be explored from top to bottom. Song Hongyuan said that, especially in terms of reforming and improving the price formation mechanism and purchase and storage system of important agricultural products such as grain, details of specific policy plans still need to be released to alleviate the pressure brought by local changes. Reforms are accelerating and pressure is being accelerated

There is not much time left for decision-making and implementation for the optimization and adjustment of the agricultural structure and even the entire agricultural supply-side reform.

When the Caijing reporter was walking in the easternmost part of the Sanjiang Plain, the 853 Farm in Heilongjiang was full of spring willows. The 853 Farm, with a total area of ??1,228.6 square kilometers and a cultivated land area of ??54,165 hectares, is a modern large-scale state-owned farm in the Heilongjiang Reclamation Area. The farm has a strong agricultural foundation and comprehensive economic strength. Peng Dongjun, director of the first management area of ??the farm, said in an interview with a reporter from Caijing that the country will adjust the structure of the planting industry and the corn purchase mechanism, and the farm will face the need to change crops. The prices of corn and soybeans are low, and the market for planting cash crops is limited and the risks are high. Under such circumstances, all the reclamation areas in Heilongjiang that could switch to rice cultivation have switched to rice.

The reporter learned from visits to many northeastern reclamation areas and villages, including 853 Farm and Xinfa Village in Tonghe County, Heilongjiang, that soybeans are a dominant industry in the three northeastern provinces, especially in the Heilongjiang reclamation area. , affected by the impact of foreign low-cost genetically modified soybeans, domestic soybean prices have been depressed, and soybean planting has experienced negative growth year after year. In 2014, the country implemented a target price subsidy for soybeans in the Northeast region. Although the soybean planting situation has improved, due to the lack of accuracy of the subsidies, it has fallen short. It was diluted in the hands of local growers, so the expected results were not achieved; as the purchase price of corn continued to fall, under double squeeze, on the premise that natural conditions were suitable, for the sake of high and stable rice yields, and the state gave protective prices to purchase , considering that there is no price adjustment for the time being, there is still stable income from growing rice.

"Currently, rice actually has the same problem as corn, that is, the stock is too high. If the national agriculture, especially the agricultural production in Heilongjiang, continues to favor rice, it will only further aggravate the stock pressure of rice. Farm managers The first consideration must be the benefits of the current production cycle, rather than making strategic adjustments from the perspective of sustainable agricultural development. All we can do is short-term expediency," Peng Dongjun admitted.

In Heilongjiang, rice cultivation is becoming a controversial issue. The Sanjiang Plain was originally an area with a good match of water and soil resources in Northeast China. However, because the agricultural irrigation water mainly used for growing rice here has been dominated by groundwater all year round, and the water consumption is huge, causing agricultural irrigation and urbanization water supply to face serious problems. Water shortages. In response, in 2014, the State Council listed the Heilongjiang Province Heilongjiang, Songhua, and Wusuli River Connectivity Project among 172 major water conservancy projects for water conservation and water supply across the country.

Liu Jiahai, chief engineer of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Water Resources, once said that the Three Rivers Connectivity Project is a national strategic project to allocate water resources across river basins, develop rice, ensure water safety in coal-to-electricity bases, and build a water ecological environment. It is estimated that after the project reaches its full potential, it will be able to ensure water supply for 14.7 million acres of paddy fields and increase the annual income of local farmers by about 7,000 yuan per capita.

“This time to adjust the structure of the planting industry, the province means that rice will be increased. The agricultural reclamation areas and local rural areas of Heilongjiang Province are also spontaneously turning to rice planting, but Heilongjiang’s rice production should not be greatly expanded. Instead, there should be a gradual reduction. " Zhang Yuxian, executive vice president of the New Rural Development Research Institute of Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, said that long-term rice cultivation has caused the black soil soil to be damaged and irreparable. In addition, Northeastern rice is sold to the south. The pressure is mounting.

Many farm managers in the Heilongjiang Agricultural Reclamation System also reported to reporters that if rice planting is not controlled in advance, the high inventory problem faced by rice will follow the same problem as corn.

“This also shows from another perspective that our country’s food production has not entered a state of healthy development.” Many people in the local agricultural system interviewed by the reporter pointed out that in theory, the rotation of pasture and crops, and the rotation of paddy fields and dry fields It is the best model for agricultural planting, but in fact it is impossible to implement it. Even crop rotation on dry fields is difficult, and this is also a major obstacle to the structural adjustment of the planting industry in Heilongjiang reclamation areas.

“On dry fields, it is most reasonable to plant one-third each of corn, soybeans, and miscellaneous grains. If all crops are rotated, the yields of all crops will increase in three years, and many problems currently existing in agriculture can be easily solved. ." Zhang Yuxian said.

In an interview, a reporter from Caijing learned that the fundamental reason why the theoretically optimal planting model cannot be implemented is that the price difference between different agricultural products in the country is large and unstable. Such crop rotation cannot guarantee that farmers can have stable crops every year. income.

In the view of local farm managers, adjusting the agricultural production structure must be based on fully ensuring the interests and enthusiasm of farmers and making overall arrangements on the basis of rationalizing the price mechanism of various agricultural products.

Based on the problems exposed by local governments in the adjustment of agricultural production structure, Song Hongyuan, director of the Rural Economic Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, told Caijing reporters that under the current situation, the central and local governments need to plan early for the minimum supply of rice and wheat. Improve the purchase price policy reform plan, explore and improve the policy of "separation of market pricing and price and subsidy", separate the policy function of protecting farmers' income from the current "unification of price and subsidy" policy, explore the method of "separation of price and subsidy", Market supply and demand should play a fundamental role in price formation, and the government should provide farmers with reasonable subsidies outside the market.

The "Finance" reporter learned from the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group that in terms of rationalizing the price formation mechanism of agricultural products, the state will reasonably increase the amount of direct subsidies to farmers in accordance with the principle of "basic returns on production costs". In addition, it is necessary to simultaneously reform the design of grain purchase and storage policies, and further improve the grain reserve policy in accordance with the ideas of "policy belongs to policy and market belongs to market" and "limited goals, optimized structure, and diverse participation".

The "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period is an important time window for agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics. Under the background of supply-side reforms in agriculture, how to ensure a smooth transition at local levels is a question of decision-making and implementation.

Excerpted from Baidu netizen, thank you.