Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Development

of Family Farms

(Adopted at the 27th Session of the Standing Committee of the 15th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on November 27, 2020; amended in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on Amending Twelve Local Rules Including the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Elderly Care Service and Repealing Six Local Rules Including the Provisions of Shanghai Municipality for the Protection and Development of Telecommunications adopted at the 9th Session of the Standing Committee of the 16th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on December 28, 2023)

Article 1

With a view to ensuring the healthy development of the family farms in this Municipality, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the family farms, giving full play to the role of family farms as an entity of agricultural operation, promoting agricultural efficiency, increasing the farmers' income, promoting rural development and the implementation of the rural revitalization strategies, these Regulations are formulated in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative rules and in the light of the actual situations of this Municipality.

Article 2

These Regulations are applicable to the production and operation as well as the corresponding support, guidance, service, and standard activities of the family farms within the administrative areas of this Municipality.

The family farm mentioned in these Regulations refers to an entity engaged in large-scale, standardized, and intensive agricultural production and operation with family members as the main labor force and the family as the basic business unit.

Article 3

The municipal and district people's governments shall establish and improve the systems and mechanisms to support the healthy development of the family farms, formulate policies and measures, and promote the proper scale operation and high-quality development of the family farms.

The agriculture and rural affairs departments are the competent departments of the family farms in this Municipality. They are responsible for the formulation and coordination of the relevant policies related to the family farms in their respective administrative regions, and undertake the support, guidance, service, standardization, and other related work for the development of the family farms.

The departments of development and reform, finance, market regulation, planning and resources, commerce, finance, human resources and social security, greening and city appearance (forestry), science and technology, culture and tourism, ecological environment, water affairs, meteorology, and other departments shall, in accordance with their respective responsibilities, do a good job in promoting the development of the family farms.

The town/township people's governments are responsible for the daily work of guiding and regulating the production and operation of the family farms.

Article 4

This Municipality implements a directory system of family farms. The family farms may be included in the directory database according to the regulations and enjoy the relevant supporting policies, or they may be withdrawn from the directory database according to the operation situations.

The municipal agriculture and rural affairs departments shall formulate the basic requirements for the family farms in this Municipality to be included in the directory database. The basic requirements may include membership conditions, skill level, labor force structure, acquisition of land use, business scope and scale, etc.

According to the basic requirements of the municipal agriculture and rural affairs departments, the district agriculture and rural affairs departments may make detailed provisions on the specific requirements for the family farms in their districts to be included in the directory database in the light of the local resource conditions, industry characteristics and the characteristics of their agricultural products.

The municipal and district agriculture and rural affairs departments shall make the relevant requirements, supporting measures, and the family farms included in the directory database open to the public and implement dynamic updating.

Article 5

The legitimate rights and interests of the family farms are protected by law, and no unit or individual may infringe upon them.

The family farms may enjoy direct subsidies and project support from the State and this Municipality according to law. They shall have the rights to possess, use, and profit from the production and operation assets directly subsidized by the State and this Municipality, and may dispose them in accordance with the provisions.

Article 6

This Municipality adheres to the collective ownership of rural land, protects the rights and interests of rural land contracting, and ensures the orderly transfer of rural land management rights to the family farms.

The municipal and district agriculture and rural affairs departments shall optimize the service systems for the transfer of rural land management rights, improve the open transfer platforms of rural land management rights, and do a good job in relevant policy consultation, information release, price guidance, etc.

The town/township people's governments shall, in accordance with the principle of promoting the development of family farms, determine the transfer term in accordance with the requirements of rational use of land, and crop growth characteristics and maintain a relatively stable transfer of land management rights. In principle, the transfer term shall not be less than three years.

The municipal and district agriculture and rural affairs departments shall improve the mediation and arbitration systems of rural land management disputes, and effectively resolve disputes over the transfer of land management rights.

Article 7

The family farms shall obtain the rural land management rights via the open transfer platforms of the rural land management rights, and sign the transfer contracts of land management rights to clarify the the term of transfer, land use, transfer prices and other contents. A model contract for transfer of rural land management rights is recommended for use.

If a family farm has obtained the land management right for more than five years according to law, it may apply for the first registration of the land management right with the relevant materials and other necessary materials.

Article 8

The district and town/township people's governments shall, on the premise of conforming to the land spatial planning and the relative agricultural planning, give overall support and make reasonable arrangement of the land for storage, airing and drying, cold storage and preservation, placement of agricultural machinery and primary processing of agricultural products.

The town/township people's governments shall help the family farms solve the problems of drying and airing, storage and preservation, agricultural machinery services, and facility and equipment maintenance and renewal, by way of overall planning of resources.

Article 9

The municipal and district people's governments shall take measures to cultivate socialized service organizations for agriculture and guide them to carry out services such as unified control of plant diseases and insect pests, unified distribution and application of fertilizers, mechanized production, irrigation, and drainage, storage, and preservation, etc. for the family farms.

Article 10

The municipal and district people's governments shall incorporate the funds for promoting the development of the family farms into the financial budgets at the corresponding levels, and focus on supporting the infrastructure construction of the family farms, the construction of agricultural production facilities, the certification of quality standards, marketing, technological innovation and promotion, personnel training and other matters via financial subsidies, interest-deducted loans, and the policy of construction before subsidy.

Article 11

The financial management departments shall promote the development of inclusive finance in accordance with the requirements of the State, and encourage banking financial institutions to increase credit support for the family farms on the premise of controllable risks.

The financial institutions are encouraged to establish credit systems suitable for the characteristics of the family farms, offer working capital loans and medium and long-term loans matching the agricultural production and operation cycles, and simplify the loan approval process.

With the policy-guaranteed funds and the venture-guaranteed funds set up for agricultural loans, the eligible family farms will be included in the coverage of the policy guarantee, so that the risk compensation mechanisms will be improved.

Article 12

The municipal and district agriculture and rural affairs departments shall provide policy insurance for the family farms, guide the family farms to participate in various agricultural insurance, and enhance the abilities of the family farms to resist risks.

The insurance institutions shall be encouraged to strengthen their comprehensive insurance services for the family farms, establish and improve the risk protection systems for the whole process including crop production, transportation, storage, processing, and sales of agricultural products, and expand the coverage of agricultural insurance.

Article 13

The municipal and district departments of science and technology, agriculture and rural areas shall guide and support the family farms in the application of new varieties, new technologies and new agronomy, support the qualified family farms to set up scientific and technological experimental demonstration bases, and participate in agricultural technology research and extension activities.

The institutions of agricultural scientific research and agricultural technology extension shall organize agricultural scientific research personnel and agricultural technology extension personnel to provide advanced and applicable technologies for the family farms by way of technical training and directional assistance.

Article 14

The family farm operators may independently decide to apply to the market supervision and administration departments for registration. The market supervision and administration departments shall accept and approve the registration for those who meet the requirements according to law.

Article 15

The municipal, district commercial, agriculture and rural affairs departments shall take measures to promote the establishment of cooperative relationship between the family farms and e-commerce platform operators and broaden the circulation channels of agricultural products.

The e-commerce platform operators shall be encouraged to support the family farms to develop rural e-commerce by lowering the entry threshold and reducing the promotion costs.

Article 16

The family farms shall be supported to carry out certification of green food, organic agricultural products, geographical indication for agricultural products, and promote brand building.

The municipal and district agriculture and rural affairs departments shall give guidance and services to the family farms for their brand building.

Article 17

The electricity price of agricultural production in this municipality shall apply to the family farms engaged in planting or breeding, and the time-sharing electricity price for agriculture may apply to them with reference to the specialized farmers' cooperatives.

Article 18

The family farm operators shall improve their abilities to engage in agricultural production and management, participate in the relevant skill training, and master the corresponding knowledge and skills.

The municipal human resources, social security, and agriculture and rural affairs departments shall establish and improve the agricultural vocational training systems, improve the training plans for new professional farmers, agricultural professional managers, and rural practical talents, and raise the technology and management levels of the family farms.

The agricultural-related universities, scientific research institutes, and leading enterprises of agricultural industrialization are encouraged to provide vocational skill training services for the family farms in forms such as field teaching.

The family farm operators are encouraged to participate in vocational training in various forms and obtain professional and technical titles, professional qualification certificates, vocational skill level certificates, or special vocational ability certificates.

Article 19

Those with household registration in this Municipality, during the employment periods of the family farms, may participate in the basic old-age insurance and medical insurance for urban employees through consultation and by way of collective insurance, with reference to those of flexible employment in this Municipality.

The municipal and district people's governments shall improve the relevant policies for the family farm operators to participate in social insurance, expand the coverage, and improve the level of protection.

Article 20

The municipal agriculture and rural affairs departments shall establish a unified information service management platform, carry out data collection, operation analysis and other work concerning the family farms, collect, summarize, release and update the information on policies and measures of the State and this Municipality on the development of family farms and on the industry trends, so as to provide personalized services for the family farms and provide inquiry services for the public.

Article 21

This Municipality will carry out demonstration construction of family farms and give full play to the exemplary roles of the demonstration family farms in developing appropriate scale operation, applying advanced technologies, implementing standardized production, and improving the qualities of agricultural products.

The municipal agriculture and rural affairs departments shall, together with the relevant departments, formulate and improve the standards for the recognition of demonstration family farms and organize the evaluation. The municipal and district agriculture and rural affairs departments shall conduct regular monitoring for those identified as model family farms and give them relevant policy support.

Article 22

The family farms may strengthen cooperation with the relevant enterprises, farmers' professional cooperatives and social service organizations in terms of capital, technology and markets, so as to form a consortium of agricultural industrialization and improve the efficiency of agricultural operation. The family farms are encouraged to initiate or join the farmers' professional cooperatives.

The family farms shall be encouraged to develop the primary processing industry of agricultural products, leisure agriculture and creative agriculture, expand the on-line sales, and strengthen the integration with the secondary and tertiary industries such as culture and tourism, so as to promote the development of modern urban agriculture.

The district agriculture and rural affairs departments and the town/township people's governments shall provide guidance and services for foreign cooperation and industrial extension of the family farms.

Article 23

When engaging in production and operation activities, the family farms shall abide by the relevant regulations on rural land use control, farmland protection, ecological environment protection, quality and safety management of agricultural products, use and maintain farmland water conservancy, forest network and other infrastructure, and shall not engage in the following acts:

1. transferring the transferred land to a third party without authorization;

2. damaging infrastructure such as farmland water conservancy and forest network;

3. engaging in predatory management, damaging land, other agricultural resources, and the environment;

4. changing the agricultural use of the transferred land without authorization;

5. obtaining government support projects and funds by means such as fraud and concealment of the real situation; and

6. other acts in violation of laws and rules.

The family farms committing any of the acts listed in items 1 to 5 of the preceding paragraph shall bear legal liability according to law, and the district agriculture and rural affairs departments shall remove them from the directory database of the family farms.

Article 24

Those who infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of the family farms shall bear legal responsibilities according to law.

The state personnel who neglect their duties, abuse their power, practice favoritism or commit other illegal acts in promoting the development of the family farms shall be punished by the units to which they belong or by the competent departments at a higher level according to law; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.

Article 25

These Regulations shall be effective as of January 1, 2021.