And China on Small Farms

And then on the other hand, contrary to the USA farm policy of get big or get out, Chinese Agricultural Policy is Get Big or Stay Small.  Personally I think there should be no agricultural policy except property rights, but if there has to be a policy, then one that looks for a balance is better than one that explicitly targets small farms for elimination.

Sun Zhonghua, director-general of the department of rural economic systems and management of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that along with a sustained and massive migration of young and middle-aged farmers, rural areas have seen their labor force grow older, more female and less educated.

So same problem as in USA.  Yet different policy:

After years of reform and improvement in rural areas, the nation has established a system for agricultural operations, where family farming lays a foundation and multiple production entities co-exist.
There are 226 million farming households, including 2.76 million major grain growers (defined as those with more than 3.3 hectares of land), 600,000 registered farmer cooperatives, 110,000 large agro-industry enterprises, emerging family farms and a variety of social service organization for agriculture.

Different policy in China, policies to aid the small family farm.  Advantage China.

Competition is a good thing, it comes from the Greek "to strive with."  A runner alone does not where near as well in his time as going against another runner.  Both do better.  I am chagrined when countries make policies that disadvantage themselves, and ultimately, their own people.

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