Abstract
In the contemporary China, it is difficult for small farmers to sell their produce while relying on the drastic changes that have taken place in the distribution situation. The aim of this article is to clarify the reasons behind the shipping practices of vegetable-growers, using an analysis in Hohhot, the seat of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. A two-sided conclusion was reached. On the one hand, in a large-scale vegetable producing village which is located near the heart of Hohhot City, farmers can sell their produce more easily because many merchants frequently gather at this location and farmers can ship their produce to nearby markets themselves. On the other hand, in small-scale vegetable producing villages which are located farther away from the heart of the area, the farmers cooperate in certain parts of the vegetable shipping process because the vegetable market is too far for each farmer. Moreover, few merchants gather at such locations. In such cases, joint shipping through agricultural cooperatives and joint transportations are the concrete forms that emerge. Therefore, the background reasons for the shipping practices and behavior of vegetable-growers in the Hohhot region are related to the vegetable producing scale and the distance to some large consuming city.
