关键词: 小农, 家庭经营, 农业现代化, 农业经营体系

Abstract: In the process of Chinas agricultural modernization, what path shall smallholder farmers and familybased agricultural operations take? One perspective posits that only agricultural corporations can serve as the microlevel entities driving agricultural modernization, asserting that corporatization is the inevitable route to modernization. Another view argues that smallholders will inevitably be phased out by market forces, with newtype agricultural entities becoming the sole microlevel entities of modernization. This paper contends that, first, smallholder farming, familybased operations, and agricultural modernization are not mutually exclusive. The microlevel entities driving agricultural modernization should be diversified and coexistent. Familybased operations will not disappear, and hasty attempts to eliminate or “transform” smallholders are not in line with the inherent laws of agricultural development. Second, the enduring presence of smallholders and familybased operations can be attributed to the fact that familybased operations remain better adapted to the characteristics of agricultural production, demonstrate adaptability to evolving agricultural technological systems, and can be dynamically adjusted over time. Third, while the prediction of smallholders demise has not become a reality, this does not mean that the theory that largescale production holds advantages over than smallscale production is not applicable to agriculture. The continuous advancement of agricultural technologies and the gradual expansion of operational scales among agricultural entities exemplify the superiority of largescale production in modern agriculture.

Key words: smallholder farmers, familybased farming, agricultural modernization, agricultural management system