生存压力下的家庭农场：近代无锡农村的经营规模与效率研究-《中国农史》

文章信息/Info

Title:: Family Farms under Survival Pressure: A Study of Scale and Efficiency in Modern Wuxi’s Rural Areas

Author(s):: SUI Fumin1 WU Tianbiao2; (1. Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 100732；2. School of Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005）

Keywords:: survival Pressure; family Farms; modern Wuxi; operating scale; efficiency

摘要:: 本研究基于第一、二次“无锡、保定农村调查”资料中的无锡农户数据，并结合其他相关资料，构建了成本利润率、土地生产率和劳动生产率作为农场经营效率的指标。同时，以农场总使用农地面积和人均使用农地面积为衡量标准，从总量和人均两个维度分析农场经营规模与经营效率之间的关系。回归结果表明，以成本利润率和劳动生产率衡量的农场经营效率与农场经营规模呈显著正相关，而以土地生产率衡量的经营效率则与农场经营规模呈显著负相关。在对三种效率指标进行1%缩尾处理后，回归结果依然稳健。进一步分析揭示，农场经营规模与经营效率之间存在复杂关系，其主要原因在于，随着经营规模不断降低，单位面积的农业劳动力投入逐渐增加。小农场因生存压力在有限的农地面积上过度投入劳动力。因此，仅以农场经营效率作为评估标准，难以判断是否应实施规模化的农业发展战略，政策目标是我们需要优先考虑的。

Abstract:: This study is based on the data of Wuxi farmers from the first and second "Wuxi and Baoding Rural Surveys," along with other relevant materials. We construct indicators of farm operational efficiency, including cost-profit ratio, land productivity, and labor productivity. Additionally, we analyze the relationship between farm scale and operational efficiency from both total and per capita perspectives, using total land area and per capita land area as measurement standards. The regression results indicate a significant positive correlation between farm operational efficiency, as measured by cost-profit ratio and labor productivity, and both total land area and per capita land area. Conversely, operational efficiency measured by land productivity shows a significant negative correlation with both variables. After applying a 1% winsorization process to the three efficiency indicators, the regression results remain robust. Further analysis reveals that the complex relationship between farm scale and operational efficiency primarily stems from the increasing input of agricultural labor per unit area as farm scale decreases. Small farms, facing survival pressures, tend to over-invest labor on limited land. Therefore, solely using farm operational efficiency as a criterion for evaluation makes it difficult to determine whether to implement a strategy for scaled agricultural development, and policy objectives should be a priority consideration.