2014 Volume 46 Issue 1 Pages 1-10
Due to the increasing demand for high-quality food in China, less profitable grain production is also adequate to meet the economic conditions of newly formed farmers cooperatives. This study aims to clarify the management situation and characteristics of grain farmers cooperatives through case studies.
Four farmers cooperatives of different founder types and producing high-quality wheat in Henan Province were chosen for this study. Traditional farmlands that engage in small-scale and fragmented grain production are unsuitable for high-quality wheat production. Due to the high market price, a large number of small-scale farmers joined high-quality wheat farmers cooperatives. The cooperatives instructed the small-scale farmers to consolidate their land and unify the entire process of cultivation and sales to meet high-quality wheat production requirements. However, several small-scale farmers made minimal financial contributions to the cooperatives. Moreover, management was dominated by founders who lease land to small-scale farmers at high rental rates. From the perspective of farmland use, farmers cooperatives are characterized by both a farm cooperative with many farmer members and a large-scale farming entity controlled by founders.
