| This dissertation focuses on farmland of Ping town in southern Anhui, studing the farm operation forms in recent years. And it presents varieties forms of farm operating, trying to comprehend their transition path and forces mechanism.Ping town in Southern Anhui, as many other agricultural towns in China, is suffering a huge outflow of labor. Consequently, spontaneous land transferring is quite common, which is changing traditional smallholder economy. Taking the opportunity of large agricultural programs, Ping town smallholder farm system is changing. The fragmented and scattered farmlands are changed into "land-Blocked, road-linked, drainage-communicated, forest-networking, drought-to-irrigation, flood-rowed, and moderated economy-scale modern farmlands ". Driven by these programs, Ping town farm operating form is transforming; traditional smallholder farm has been divided into smallholder farm, family farm and capital farm.Studis show that efficiency is not the root cause of new operation form. Taking the opportunity of large agricultural programs, and intervened by the local government, Ping town quickly forms large capital farms. Though these capital farm exists structual lack of labors, they take use of local government policy and are able to develop themselves in long term. Rural economy elite are the social base of capital farm development. On the other hand, family farms obtain government support due to their organizaiton advantage, presenting relatively high land efficiency and labor efficiency. It will be one important farm operation form in future. Family farm satisfies the need of middle class in rural society, but excludes the bottom class. Though, smallholder farm has low labor efficiency, it meets the need of bottom class due to its low capital, high land efficiency. And it will exist with another two forms of farm operation.Family farm possesses high land and labor efficiency, and it is a farm operation organizing form with moderate economy-scale. However, transforming path of farm operation is not determined by "organizing". In practice, the desseration found the path is featured by "embedding".Such "Embedding" in the transformation of farm operation form shows that the farm operation form is not totally determined by capital and technologies or other productive factors or the efficiency of various organizations, but deeply embedded into the rural society structure. The diversification of farm operation in Ping town strongly relates to differentiation of farmers and transformation of rural society structure. After the reform and opening up of China in1970s, market factors increasingly influence on agriculture production and living style. The farmers have been differentiated into occupational groups. Occupational farmers are changing into farmer only with significance of identity. Because the difference of market opportunities and possession of economy resources, farmers have different preferences to farm operation forms.In terms of class structure, rural society has been divided into three levels with different economic resource, organization resource and labor resource respectively. The government encourged the rising of capital farm. Collusion of elite is the root driven of its development. Capital farm satisfies economy elite’s need of profit, on the other hand, meets the political purpose of political elite as modern agriculture. The middle class sell their labor resource in urban market, giving up small scale farm operation. However, as the government push farm land transaction, family farm fulfill the interest appeal of rural middle class. Meanwhile, labor and financial accumulation from this class are exactly the need of family farm. Finally, rural bottom class represented by senior famer, lack makert job oppurtunity. Smallholder farm sustains their basic living and half-work-half-farming economy through intergenerational division. Therefore, smallholder farm with low labor efficiency and extensive production, will exist for a long term.
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