Capitalization without Labor-Hiring: The Family Farm as a New Type of Agricultural Management in Pingzhen of Southern Anhui (无雇佣化的资本化：对新型农业经营主体家庭农场性质再认识——以皖南萍镇粮食家庭农场为例)

Abstract

Unlike capitalist farms or traditional peasant household organizations or commodified agriculture with the proletarianization of the peasantry as examined in classic studies, the so-called “family farm” 家庭农场 proposed by the CPC in its “No. 1 Document” is a characteristically Chinese concept that needs further examination and clarification. Based on long-term fieldwork, this study of family farms for grain production in Pingzhen in southern Anhui demonstrates that the rise of these family farms is a result of both policy implementation and response to the pressure of capital bankruptcy, but it is also rooted in the endogenous efforts of middle-stratum, managerial farmers. With the size of 100 to 200 mu and rare use of hired laborers, the family farm operates by relying on family members. Yet its high level of capitalization (as seen in the use of machinery and other forms of modern input) and hence high level of labor productivity permits its prevalence over small farmers as well as large capitalized farms. But the family farm is more than an economic unit; it also performs multiple social functions. Its development, therefore, has to be moderate, adaptive, and incremental.从经典作家笔下的资本主义农场到农民家庭组织，再到商品化条件下农民的无产化，中央一号文件所提出的家庭农场是一个颇具中国特色的概念，因此对其性质需要进一步厘清。根据在皖南萍镇粮食家庭农场所做的长期调查，笔者发现家庭农场的形成既有政策和外力的推动，也有中农和职业农民内生性力量的承接。在当前核心家庭为主的家庭人口结构背景下，一二百亩的家庭农场，雇工比例极低。无长工、少短工，依靠家庭劳动力，成为家庭农场在劳动力方面的主要特征。家庭农场在保证土地生产率的同时，通过使用机械、扩大规模，增加了土地总产出，同时增加了自身收益。但家庭农场土地获得需要较高租金，固定资本投入也多，另外对种子、农药和化肥等生产要素投入积极。高资本和高劳动生产率构成家庭农场击败小农、中农和资本型农场的根本。不过，在社会效益上，小农和中农具有多方面功能，家庭农场的发展只能是适度的、局部的，只能循序渐进。