Family farms should have independent legal status

At present, the registration form of family farms is dominated by individual industrial and commercial households, and individual industrial and commercial households are in many ways incompatible with the cultivation and development of family farms. The business scope of individual industrial and commercial households is only industrial and commercial, while family farms belong to agriculture; the registration scope of individual industrial and commercial households only includes the head of the household, and does not include other family members who are involved in the business when the family is operating; the property division system of individual industrial and commercial households is also Does not apply to basic production materials on family farms. Therefore, "family farms" should be given independent legal status.

1. The family farm business scope is based on agriculture.

This is the biggest difference between family farms and individual industrial and commercial households. The "Individual Industrial and Commercial Households Ordinance" clearly stipulates that "business engaged in industrial and commercial business is an individual business owner." That is to say, from the perspective of legislation, individual industrial and commercial households are targeted at industry and commerce at the beginning of the definition. Its business scope is industrial and commercial. Correspondingly, the various regulations of individual industrial and commercial households are based on the business operators engaged in business. Of course, due to the relatively large scale and relatively high degree of mechanization, individual family farms will involve some primary processing of agricultural products in addition to planting and breeding.

Although it is true that family farms are involved in some business activities, this is by no means the reason why family farms are part of the business sector. In most of the remaining family farms, crop farming and aquaculture are still the main business and will not involve business and industry operations. From this it can be seen that a small proportion of family farms can only be considered as individuality in all family farms. The commonness of family farms should also be business-oriented. This is inconsistent with the business scope stipulated in the "Individual Industrial and Commercial Households Ordinance".

2. The main body of a family farm is a family-owned production and management unit.

The most distinctive feature of family farms is that they use the family as the basic accounting unit and “family members” as the main labor force. The "family members" here should understand in a broad sense, not only the core family members in the sense of traditional household registration, but also any extended family members who have a blood relationship or a marriage relationship. Having kinship and actually participating in the operation of a family farm is a necessary condition for becoming a “family member” in a family farm, both of which are indispensable. Therefore, the “family members” in the sense of a family farm may be different from the common family members of the core family.

However, according to the provisions in the “Administrative Measures for the Registration of Individual Industrial and Commercial Households”, family members of family farms only need to record, not register. Can the validity of filing be consistent with the validity of the registration? The author believes that the effectiveness of filing is obviously not enough. Only after the applicant has applied for registration and the staff approves it, the “family members” of the family farm can be really determined. Of course, during this process, the staff should inform the applicant what is the meaning of the "family members" of the family farm and the "family members" who determine the family farm.

3. Family farms are based on intensive production and operate on a moderate scale.

Family farms are different from individual industrial and commercial households, and family farms need agriculture to achieve an appropriate scale of operation through intensive production. The intensive management of agriculture needs the diligence, carefulness and concentration of farming. This can only be achieved through family farming operations. Moreover, various advanced factors that promote the intensive cultivation of land, such as improved varieties, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides, can only be scaled if centralized. In production, only concentration can achieve economies of scale.

However, according to the existing laws and regulations of individual industrial and commercial households, the basic production materials of family farms can also be divided. If a member of the family farm leaves the family farm, then the member who withdrew from the family farm can take away his own part of the property. The property here also generally includes basic means of production in family farms. This clearly runs counter to the need for intensive and large-scale operations that family farms need.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that there are many inconsistencies between the cultivation and development of individual industrial and commercial households and family farms. It is because of the great differences between family farms and individual industrial and commercial households that the “family farm” should be given an independent legal status.