What are the modern agricultural models in the world?

The first mode is characterized by fewer people and more land, resulting in a shortage of labor. The most representative country is the United States, which mainly features the extensive use of agricultural machinery to improve agricultural productivity and total agricultural product output. The degree of Mechanised agriculture in the United States ranks first in the world, and it is the most typical modern agriculture in the world. The average area cultivated on each farm in the United States is nearly 4000 acres (1 acre is equivalent to 6 acres in China). Without agricultural machinery, American agriculture is simply unable to move forward. The widespread use of agricultural machinery has greatly increased the productivity of American agriculture. In the United States, although the agricultural population has been decreasing year by year, with only over 6 million people currently engaged in agriculture (accounting for about 2% of the total population), these 6 million people not only feed 300 million Americans, but also make the United States the world’s largest exporter of agricultural products. Similar to the United States, Australia is also a highly developed animal husbandry country that relies on the widespread use of agricultural machinery. Each farmer in Australia can manage an average of 100 cows or 4000 sheep. In addition, Canada, which ranks second in terms of land area and has a population of only 30 million, has also taken a similar path to the United States.

The second mode is characterized by high population density and shortage of arable land resources. A typical country is the Netherlands, which is characterized by increasing yield per unit area and planting high value-added agricultural products. The Netherlands only covers an area of more than 40000 Square kilometre, with a population density of more than 400 people per Square kilometre. The country has a low and flat terrain, abundant precipitation, but insufficient lighting, with only about 1600 hours of sunlight throughout the year. In order to efficiently utilize limited land, the Dutch government has adopted a series of agricultural development strategies and policies that are in line with the national climate characteristics and national conditions: avoiding the production of cereal crops that require a large amount of light and low sales prices, fully utilizing the advantages of flat terrain and abundant forage resources, vigorously developing animal husbandry and high value-added horticulture, and establishing a modern greenhouse with 10000 hectares automatically controlled by computers. This small country, which was still struggling with food and clothing 60 years ago, has leapt to become the world’s third largest exporter of agricultural products, with vegetable exports ranking first in the world, and flowers accounting for 60% of the global market. From the experience of the Netherlands, the basic characteristics of this modern agriculture are: efficient land use, good ecological environment, strong technical support, developed circulation system, sound organizational system, complete policy system, high subject quality, prominent product advantages, rich operating income, high yield, high quality, high added value of agricultural products, and international competitiveness. Besides the Netherlands, Israel is also worth mentioning. Israel is located in the Middle East, lacking both water and soil, so it pays more attention to the efficient use of land and freshwater than any other country. Israel’s water-saving agricultural technology ranks first in the world, with an average yield of 2-3 kilograms of grain per cubic meter of water, which is two or three times that of China. The utilization rate of water and fertilizer reaches 80% to 90%. Now Israel has not only changed its long-standing dependence on imports for vegetables and fruits, but also exported them in large quantities. Experts say that based on Israel’s land productivity, the Earth can support an additional 10 billion people.

The third mode: moderate land and labor. A typical country is France. For many years, in order to develop modern agriculture, France has implemented a “one plus one minus” approach: “one plus” refers to the state’s regulation that farmers’ land is only allowed to be inherited by one child to prevent land dispersion; The “one reduction” refers to the diversion of farmers, which stipulates that farmers aged 55 and above must retire and receive a one-time “lifetime subsidy for leaving agriculture” from the state. At the same time, it is supplemented by encouraging rural youth to work in factories to reduce farmers. In addition, France also implements the policy of “supporting agriculture with work”. For decades, France has continued to provide agricultural loans and subsidies, and the state has also provided funds to train farmers. At present, France ranks first in both agricultural production and output in Europe, and is the second largest producer of agricultural products and the world’s largest exporter of processed agricultural products, second only to the United States.

Modern agriculture is a “big agriculture”. It not only includes Plantation, forestry, animal husbandry and Fishery of traditional agriculture, but also includes agricultural machinery, pesticides, fertilizers, water conservancy and mulching film before production, and processing, storage, transportation, marketing and import and export trade after production. In fact, it runs through the three fields before, during and after production, becoming a huge industrial group related to and serving the development of agriculture. Modern agriculture is exploring the path of a large market. Unlike traditional agriculture, which focuses on self-sufficiency and a relatively closed environment, most of the economic activities of modern agriculture are included in market transactions. The commodity rate of agricultural products is high, and production is mainly to meet market demand, with a high degree of scale, industrialization, and marketization. Modern agriculture focuses on multifunctional development. With the development of the economy and the improvement of people’s living standards, modern agriculture is no longer limited to the supply function of traditional agricultural products, and its breadth and depth have greatly increased. For example, through the extension of the industrial chain, agriculture has begun to take on functions such as leisure, ecological protection, tourism and vacation, cultural inheritance, education, etc. This has also formed various new agricultural forms such as ecological protection agriculture, leisure and sightseeing agriculture, circular agriculture, and service-oriented agriculture. Compared to Western countries, the path of modern agriculture in China is still very long. According to research by the National Bureau of Statistics, the modernization process of agriculture in China has only progressed by one-third. But in the long run, China is a major country, and as long as we continue to increase the efforts of scientific and technological progress and institutional innovation, China’s agriculture will inevitably explode with astonishing energy.