I. Characteristics of American agriculture
The world's leading agricultural modernization level and agricultural productivity
With the development of industry, the proportion of agriculture in the American economy has gradually declined, but the government has adopted the policy of supporting and protecting agriculture, which makes American agriculture still have the strongest competitiveness in the world. The main products with the highest output in the world are soybeans, grains, poultry, pork and beef, and milk. In 2007, the total export of agricultural products in the United States reached $77 billion, and export income accounted for a quarter of all cash income of agricultural products.
② Based on highly commercialized family farms.
1998 promulgated the Homestead Act, which laid the foundation for American family farms. At present, there are 2.04 million farms in China, with an average scale of 193.4 hectares. There are more than 2 million agricultural laborers in China, accounting for about 2% of the total labor force. The number of small farms exceeds 90%, accounting for 70% of the total agricultural assets. At present, the number of "company farms" is rising, about 70 thousand. Although the number is small, its area and sales account for a large proportion of American farms.
Agricultural production is highly regionalized and integrated
19 14 American agriculture has realized planting specialization to a great extent. Realizing the integration of agricultural production and marketing "from field to table" The agricultural system in the United States is called "agro-industrial complex", and the number of employed people accounts for 17% of the national labor force, which is much higher than the labor force that agriculture itself can absorb.
The American Agricultural Association is a spontaneous organization of farmers. It was founded in 19 19 and has a history of nearly 100 years. At present, there are 6 million members, mainly farmers (80% of farmers in the country have participated in the association) and small producers or individuals related to or interested in agriculture. The main duties of the Agricultural Association are to collect the opinions and suggestions of its members through associations all over the country, hold an annual meeting every June+10, and formulate corresponding policies that represent the wishes of most farmers, such as agricultural taxation, environmental protection, government investment, etc. Lobbying Congress on behalf of farmers and trying to turn farmers' suggestions into policy support of the federal government. The association is a non-governmental department, without government funding, and its daily expenses are maintained by membership fees.
Second, the American agricultural support and protection system.
As a policy system, agricultural protection system originated in the United States in the early 1930s. At present, the agricultural support and protection policy system in the United States mainly includes the following aspects:
Income support system
Direct subsidies. It is an income support provided to producers according to historical unit output and planting area. Agricultural products covered include wheat, feed grains, rice, upland cotton, oilseeds and peanuts. Farmers who enjoy direct subsidies have the right to decide what crops to plant. These subsidies have nothing to do with farmers' planting plans, and each farm can get a direct subsidy of up to $40,000 per year.
Countercyclical subsidies. Refers to the income support provided to producers when the effective price is lower than the target price. Covered agricultural products are the same as direct subsidies. The target price is determined by national laws and regulations, and the effective price refers to the sum of the direct subsidies obtained by producers plus the market price or the higher income obtained by the trading loan plan. Each farm can get up to $65,000 in countercyclical subsidies every year.
National dairy market loss subsidy. Used as an income safety net for dairy producers. If the monthly price of a certain grade of milk is lower than the determined price, you can get direct subsidies on a monthly basis. Each dairy farm can have up to 2.4 million pounds of milk per year (equivalent to the milk output of 135 cows) and can enjoy this subsidy.
Special disaster assistance. It is used to provide partial economic compensation to producers in bad weather, delayed disaster or unfavorable economic situation. In the past 20 years, the year when the plan was launched accounted for 10.
Transaction assistance loans and loan difference subsidies. Wide coverage. When the market price is lower than the loan principal and interest, the producer is allowed to repay at the market price, thus bringing a kind of income called "transaction loan income" to the producer. If you don't want to join the transaction assistance loan program, producers can get another direct subsidy, namely the loan deficit subsidy.
Crop and income insurance. The government provides large-scale premium subsidies to institutions engaged in agricultural insurance, so that producers can generally participate in agricultural insurance at a lower rate. When the output or income per unit area of producers is lower than the average level, they are provided with loss subsidies.
Price support system
The current price support system in the United States is only applicable to a few agricultural products such as sugar, tobacco, milk and dairy products, mainly including the following four types:
Agricultural product loan scheme. Producers use the agricultural products that have not been harvested as collateral to obtain loans from the government agricultural credit company to maintain the normal production of agriculture. When the market price is higher than the target price, farmers can sell agricultural products at the market price and pay the principal and interest in cash. If the market price is lower than the target price, farmers can hand over their agricultural products to agricultural credit companies.
Government procurement. It is used to strictly control the milk supply in the market and ensure that the price of raw milk used to produce butter, cheese or skim milk powder is consistent with the price of bottled milk supported by the government to support the market price of dairy products.
Tariff and tax rate quota. Provide price support for agricultural products by restricting the import of low-priced products. The average import tariff rate of American agricultural products is only 12%, which is the lowest among all members of the World Trade Organization. However, the United States imposes higher import tariffs on dairy products, sweeteners and tobacco. Tax rate quotas are mainly applicable to commodities such as peanuts, tobacco, beef, dairy products, sugar and cotton.
Export subsidies. Refers to a series of institutional measures formulated by the US government to encourage the export of agricultural products, such as reducing the price of agricultural products exported by the United States through price subsidies and expanding export demand plans. Provide credit guarantee for exporters to expand the export scale of American agricultural products.
③ Credit support system
American agricultural credit system is divided into national credit system and commercial credit system. The national credit system is subordinate to the federal government, including the National Agricultural Credit Administration and agricultural credit institutions. It has a strong policy investment and financing function, mainly providing long-term, medium-term and short-term loans and production loans for farmers. The Agricultural Credit Company of USDA mainly provides short-term loans to farmers with unsalable agricultural products as collateral to support the prices of agricultural products, thus stabilizing the income of agricultural producers. Using this financial means, the government intervenes and regulates the sales and production of agricultural products, which provides very convenient conditions and means for farmers to raise and use funds.
(4) Other support systems
Such as "trade orders" and "environmental plans". The former is suitable for dairy products and some fruits and vegetables to create a good trading environment, while the latter is to encourage producers to comply with relevant resource protection requirements in order to obtain various policy subsidies. Another example is that the government provides financial support to build a large-scale wholesale market for agricultural products and reduce the transaction cost of agricultural products.
Third, the problems in American agriculture.
The labor productivity of American agriculture is very high. While developing steadily, it also exposes some problems and shortcomings worthy of attention. First of all, it consumes a lot of energy and its energy utilization rate is low. Modern agriculture in the United States is a typical "energy-intensive agriculture". The average American consumes about 1 ton of gasoline a year. It not only consumes a lot of non-renewable energy, but also has a low utilization rate of energy. Second, agriculture is highly dependent on the international market. About15 of agricultural products in the United States can be exported. Third, a large number of grains used to make ethanol will increase the pressure on the balance between supply and demand of agricultural products in the world. Fourth, agricultural production lacks variety diversity, which increases the risk of biological diseases. Fifth, agricultural land and farmers are still decreasing. Due to the influence of agricultural welfare and taxes, the agricultural land in the United States is also decreasing, some young people are unwilling to engage in agricultural production, and the trend of farmers' aging is serious.
As the most developed agriculture in the world, the United States can't compare its natural conditions with other objective advantages, but its development ideas and ideas, as well as its support and protection for agriculture, are worth learning and learning from.
(a) to further strengthen the support and protection of agriculture, establish and improve the system and mechanism to ensure the development of agriculture.
Since the reform and opening up, China's agricultural support and protection policies have been continuously strengthened, but compared with mature market economy countries such as the United States, China's agricultural support and protection level is still very low, and the support and protection mechanism is still far from perfect. First of all, the total domestic support for agriculture is low. Secondly, the supporting structure is unreasonable. Third, there are many subsidies and high costs. Fourth, a sound agricultural support and protection policy system has not yet been formed. According to the goal of "forming a new pattern of integration of urban and rural social and economic development" put forward by the 17th National Congress, it is necessary to further adjust the national income distribution pattern, establish an input guarantee mechanism to promote modern agricultural construction, and accelerate the establishment of a stable growth mechanism for agricultural input. We will continue to implement and increase various direct subsidies to farmers and improve the comprehensive direct subsidy system for agricultural materials. Actively study and improve subsidy methods, and direct subsidies to farmers should be as concise and efficient as possible. It is necessary to change the practice of relying solely on direct government relief and actively pilot natural disaster subsidies that combine agricultural insurance with disaster relief.
(2) Increase investment in agriculture and further improve the construction of agricultural infrastructure.
The core of agricultural support and protection is input support. In the United States, there is basically no difference between cities and rural areas. A very important symbol is the equality between urban and rural areas in enjoying social public services. In order to promote the sustainable development of agriculture, the American government invests in the construction and maintenance of large-scale water conservancy and other infrastructure every year. For water conservancy and hydropower projects, the investment in flood control and environment is generally borne by the federal government and does not need to be repaid. Investment in irrigation only requires the recovery of principal, while investment in power generation and urban water supply requires the recovery of principal and interest.
The basic conditions of agricultural production in China are weak, and the development of rural social undertakings is backward. Strengthening the construction of agricultural infrastructure focusing on water conservancy and speeding up the development of rural social undertakings will be an important task for China's agricultural development for a long time to come. In accordance with the requirements of coordinating urban and rural economic development, new funds for education, health, culture and other undertakings and incremental investment in fixed assets should be mainly used in rural areas, and the proportion of government land transfer income used in rural areas should be gradually increased. Drawing on the experience of the United States, we should combine direct government subsidies with credit investment according to the different nature of the project, and at the same time increase investment integration. Efforts will be made to strengthen dangerous reservoirs, large and medium-sized canal systems and other farmland water conservancy construction, and strengthen the management of small and medium-sized rivers. Accelerate the improvement of cultivated land quality and build high-standard farmland with high and stable yield. Strengthen the construction of agricultural information infrastructure, establish a smooth, sensitive and fast information network system, so that farmers can make full use of social information resources, solve problems in the whole process before, during and after delivery, and promote agricultural development. Vigorously promote the extension of urban basic service facilities to rural areas, and strive to form a network of public transportation, water supply and power supply, radio and television, environmental protection and ecological construction that runs through urban and rural areas.
(3) Establish and improve agricultural production risk prevention and insurance mechanism.
The American government attaches great importance to agricultural insurance, especially planting insurance, and implements low fees and high subsidies for agricultural insurance. From the experience of the United States and other developed countries in the world, it is very necessary to establish and improve the agricultural insurance system and avoid agricultural risks by implementing the agricultural insurance system.
The establishment and improvement of agricultural risk prevention mechanism will help reduce farmers' losses in sudden natural disasters. Therefore, it is suggested that the state should first formulate a disaster relief system. For natural disasters caused by non-human factors, the government should give farmers a certain proportion (such as 60%) of the average harvest in previous years, so as to maintain the normal life of farmers and put them into production again in the coming year. Second, various disaster insurance systems can be implemented. The government can implement various forms of subsidies, making agricultural insurance a policy insurance different from general commercial insurance, and minimizing farmers' investment risks.
(d) Promoting ecological civilization and developing sustainable agriculture.
The United States Department of Agriculture has implemented ecological protection subsidy programs such as land fallow, soil and water conservation, wetland protection, grassland protection, wildlife habitat protection, and environmental quality incentives. These funds will be distributed to farmers in the form of cash subsidies and technical assistance or used for various ecological protection subsidy projects that farmers voluntarily participate in, thus benefiting farmers directly. For a long time, we have taken many detours in economic construction and gained economic benefits at the expense of the environment. We have learned a painful lesson, especially for the sustainable development of agriculture. The report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the idea of "building ecological civilization", which basically formed the industrial structure, growth mode and consumption mode of saving resources and protecting the ecological environment. It is suggested to learn from American experience, continue to focus on key ecological projects, actively promote rural energy construction, and vigorously promote the circular economy model. At the same time, it is necessary to study and formulate a subsidy policy for agricultural ecological protection in line with China's national conditions, give full play to the role of agricultural cooperative organizations, mobilize the enthusiasm of farmers, apply modern science and technology, protect, cultivate and make full use of natural resources, prevent and reduce environmental pollution, form a virtuous circle of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, and maintain the stable development of large agriculture.
(5) Accelerate the progress of agricultural science and technology and improve the content of agricultural science and technology.
The American government has always regarded agricultural education, research and technology popularization as its important responsibilities, and has formed a unique "trinity" system. Namely: (1) National Agricultural College (1the so-called "land-grant college" established in the 9th century) undertakes three tasks of education, research and extension at the same time; (2) The annual research and extension plan should be applied from the grassroots level, and the services provided by extension stations should meet the needs of agricultural production as much as possible; (3) Promotion funds are shared by the Federation, states and counties. American agricultural science research funds mainly come from public and private (company) systems, which complement each other. The former focuses on basic research and applied research, while the latter focuses on new product development and applied research.
At present, the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress in China is only 49%, far below the average level of 70-80% in developed countries, and only 3.43% of the rural labor force has technical secondary school education or above. In order to meet the requirements of agricultural development in the 2 1 century and accelerate the process of agricultural modernization, it is necessary to increase investment in science and technology, vigorously promote the pace of agricultural technological innovation, reform the system and mechanism that is divorced from agricultural scientific research and popularization in China, and actively innovate to closely combine agriculture and education. Increase investment in basic agricultural scientific research, focus on improving the construction of a number of basic agricultural scientific research facilities, and ensure that agriculture has sufficient technical reserves. Strengthen the popularization and application of agricultural science and technology, gradually form a new agricultural technology popularization system that combines state support with market guidance, and combines paid services with free services, actively promote agricultural mechanization and agricultural informatization, improve the level of agricultural machinery and equipment, and improve the agricultural information collection and release system. Strengthen farmers' education and training to improve the quality of modern farmers. To meet the needs of market competition, accelerate the cultivation of modern agricultural management entities with strong market awareness, high production skills and certain management capabilities. Further improve the environment for farmers to go out to work, earnestly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers, accelerate the development of rural vocational and technical education and rural adult education, organize and mobilize social forces to participate extensively in farmers' transfer employment training, and enhance the employability of rural labor.
(6) improve the degree of agricultural organization and establish a socialized agricultural service system.
As the most extensive agricultural organization in the United States, agricultural cooperatives not only provide farmers with various information services, but also become one of the important forces for the government to formulate agricultural policies on behalf of farmers, and play an important role in promoting the development of American agricultural economy and reducing the cost of government social management. It is necessary to explore the forms of farmers' cooperative organizations suitable for the characteristics of China's agriculture and rural development, and improve the competitiveness and economic benefits of small producers in the ever-changing big market. Special attention should also be paid to the development of community cooperative economic organizations that provide comprehensive services for farmers. Only in this way can we promote the development of modern agriculture. At the same time, we should vigorously support the construction of agricultural products circulation market and establish a market system with agricultural products futures market, professional market and cold chain logistics distribution as the main contents.
(seven) to speed up the process of agricultural legislation and ensure the development of agriculture.
In the past century, the United States Congress has passed a large number of laws on agriculture, forming a relatively complete legal system to guide the development of agriculture and rural areas. In recent years, the government of China has made major adjustments to agricultural policies in macro-control and issued a series of policies and measures to strengthen and support agriculture. Under the background of marketization and internationalization, the outline of the national agricultural support policy system adapted to the current agricultural and rural development has taken shape. We believe that bringing agricultural domestic support into the legal track is the premise of maintaining the continuity and effectiveness of agricultural domestic support policies. Clearly defining policy objectives, budget quotas, operating procedures, division of labor and legal responsibilities in the form of laws, and making them as open as possible and accepting social supervision are conducive to improving the government's investment efficiency in agriculture and promoting the development of modern agriculture. At the same time, starting from the actual situation of small-scale agricultural operation in China, we should try our best to adopt simple and easy methods, make full use of various organizational resources, reduce management costs, and establish an operable agricultural support system.