The short-and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on family farms in China-Evidence from a survey of 2324 farms

Family farms are considered the most desirable form of Chinese agriculture.Studies on the risk management of family farms are rare,while the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to explore how family farms respond to risks.Based on an online survey of 2324 family crop farms,we examine for the first time the short-term impact(immediate impact or short-term fluctuation,and farms’instantaneous response)and long-term impact(on farms’future or long-term production)of the COVID-19 pandemic on family farms’production and operation in rural China.By using factor analysis and dummy variable regression,we find that the severity of the pandemic,the lockdown of the village,and farmers’knowledge of the pandemic contribute significantly to the short-term impact,but not on the long-term impact.Farmers’characteristics such as gender,age,and education are not related to the short-term impact,but family farms with male owners or owners with high school education or below are more likely to be diversified and large-scale.The number of years the farm has existed for and agricultural insurance affect both short-term and long-term impacts.We suggest that the government needs to pay more attention to stability-enhancing policies,the market environment,vocational training and the agricultural insurance market.

Research on the Development of Rural Family Farm: A Case Study of Shandong Province in China

In recent years, the rural family farms in Shandong Province of China have been developing very fast. They have achieved remarkable economic effects on improving the technical and equipment level of agricultural production, farmers’ professional quality, the efficiency of land production and farmers’ income-increase, etc. However, there also exist the problems of non-smooth land transfer, unclear farm recognition-standard, more difficult loan-financing, imperfect social service and so on. This paper suggests that measures should be taken to deepen the reform of the rural land system, perfect the land transfer mechanism, clarify the family farms confirmed standards, improve the family farms and financing system, perfect the socialized service system, and thus create a relaxed environment and conditions for the development of family farms in order to promote its healthy development.

Exploration on Ecological Compensation Mechanism of Family Farm

Family farm is a new type of agricultural operation,and the research on ecological compensation for its production behavior is conducive to consolidating the basic position of agriculture and protecting agricultural resources and environment.By summarizing and drawing lessons from the domestic research results in related fields,the family farm is selected as the object,and the opportunity cost method is used to analyze the setting of the ecological compensation standard of the family farm.The basic framework of ecological compensation mechanism of family farm is constructed from three aspects:ecological compensation responsibility determination mechanism;compensation object establishment mechanism;compensation standard determination and mode selection mechanism.The operation mechanism of ecological compensation of family farm is analyzed from three aspects:farmer;farm production;resources and environment.The results show that the family farms'pursuit of agricultural products and ecological services is the response mechanism of ecological compensation for their production behavior.On the basis of this,this paper puts forward some measures and suggestions to ensure the ecological compensation mechanism of family farms from three aspects:perfecting the land use system;widening the compensation channels;constructing the green GDP accounting.

Food safety controls in different governance structures in China's vegetable and fruit industry

Food safety issues constitute an international topic discussed by many scholars. Although there is an extensive body of literature on comparisons of food safety control practices across different governance structures, these studies have been conducted mainly in terms of qualitative and descriptive analysis. In addition, little attention has been given to family farms. This study addresses the food safety control practices adopted by firms with different governance structures in China. Food safety control is expressed by the following aspects, i.e., pollution-free, green, organic, and/or geographical indication prod- ucts certification, establishment of production records, and pesticide residue testing. Three types of governance structures that engage in agricultural production are distinguished： farmer cooperatives, agricultural companies, and family farms. The food safety control practices of various governance structures are investigated based on a database that comprises 600 vegetable and fruit enterprises in Zhejiang, China. The results show that （1） pesticide residue testing is adopted by the most firms, followed by products certification, and production records are adopted by the fewest firms, and （2） agricul- tural companies adopt more food safety control practices than family farms, while farmer cooperatives adopt the fewest food safety control practices. Governance structure features of a cooperative in terms of ownership, decision-making, and income distribution are the main reasons for the low level of food safety control in the cooperative.

Optimal Mode of Agricultural Moderate Scale Management Based on Measurement of Moderate Scale of Wugang City in Henan Province

The issue of agricultural moderate scale management is always a hot spot. In 2016,the No. 1 document of the central government once again set forth the requirement of bringing into play leading role of moderate scale management in various forms of agriculture. In the economic new normal,the solution to this issue is of great significance to promoting agricultural modernization. However,there are still problems such as unsmooth transfer of rural labor force,fragmentation of rural land management and low benefit of land scale management. Taking Wugang City in Henan Province as an example,this paper attempts to find out the optimal land management scale in accordance with the actual situation in Henan Province. It is concluded that small family farm is the optimal mode for agricultural moderate scale management.