Then how to explain the economic principles embodied in these agricultural production activities in theory will be of great benefit to farmers in how to scientifically arrange agricultural production, improve economic benefits, increase income and promote the healthy and rapid development of rural economy.
China's natural economy collapsed at the beginning of the 20th century, but now this kind of economy can also find its shadow in the countryside, but it will be gradually replaced in the great waves of modern market economy. In China, this self-sufficient economy existed in rural areas for nearly 20 years from 1980s to 1990s, and the commodity rate in agricultural production was still very low. I remember my family was like this at that time. Our family has fifteen acres of land, less than half of which are planted with corn and sunflower for sale, and the rest are mainly planted with wheat and vegetables, which are mainly used for our own life and hardly used for sale. By the end of the 1990s, this situation had basically changed. Now our family's economic income is mainly to produce vegetables and corn, which are mainly planted and sold. Every summer, the scene of harvesting wheat under the scorching sun no longer exists, and it is replaced by a fiery vegetable purchase market. In rural areas, most farmers' daily necessities are no longer grown and produced by themselves, but mainly purchased. Many farmers say that they just want to make money now, and they can buy back everything if they have money. From this point, we can see that farmers have changed their old ideas and deepened their understanding of market ideas, although they may not necessarily understand what a market economy is.
The commercialization of agricultural products has greatly improved, and farmers have begun to plant and sell their own agricultural products in large quantities. However, at the beginning, there was a lack of understanding of the market and blind production, and losses could occur at any time. For example, my hometown (Xiamayu Township, Yingxian County, Shanxi Province) began to grow vegetables on a large scale in 2000. In 2004, a vegetable called zucchini was less than other vegetables on the market, so the price at that time was only 0. 15 yuan per catty. Although it is not much, some farmers also get a good income from it, because the output of this vegetable is very large. In 2005, the cultivation of this vegetable was further expanded, but it was still relatively small, so the market price in that year was about 0.4 yuan per catty, and some farmers earned more than 5,000 yuan just this one. Some farmers benefited from this and greatly expanded the cultivation of this vegetable in 2006. Many other farmers have also begun to grow this vegetable, and many people have 10 mu. However, when the purchase of vegetables began in July, the highest market price of this vegetable was less than 0. 1 yuan. In the end, no vegetable merchants bought it, and many farmers finally had to allocate all the zucchini seedlings in the field early. The farmers suffered great losses.
So what are the factors that affect the price of agricultural products? According to the general theory, most commodity prices are determined by their own value, but the vegetable market mentioned above is not the case. The market prices of various vegetables fluctuate greatly. Now let's take the market price fluctuation range of several vegetables as follows: zucchini: 0.4 yuan -0.0 yuan, mung bean horn: 2.0 yuan -0. 15 yuan, green pepper: 1.0 yuan -0.66 yuan. The above data are obtained from the vegetables sold in my family. )
So why do the market prices of these vegetables fluctuate so much? Its fluctuation has far exceeded its actual value. Selling at a high price can get high returns, but once selling at a low price, it will face huge losses. I think the most critical reason is that the shelf life of vegetables is very short, and the sales in the market are seasonal. However, in a specific supply season, similar vegetables will appear in the market at the same time, so because the supply exceeds demand, the price will drop significantly; When the vegetable season is over, the market price of vegetables will rise sharply. This is not the case with other agricultural products such as corn. In recent years, its price will always be stable between 0.5 yuan and 0.7 yuan within a few years, even within a year, its fluctuation will not exceed 0.05 yuan. Because this kind of goods can be supplied all the year round, its supply and demand are relatively stable in a certain period of time.
At present, our government supports agricultural development and has issued a series of policies to benefit farmers in order to promote agricultural development and increase farmers' income. For most farmers, increasing their income by producing agricultural products is the most primitive and main way. There are two most important factors to increase their income by relying solely on agricultural products, one is to increase their output, and the other is to raise market prices. And I think the latter is more important. At present, the market has the greatest influence on the price of agricultural products, so it is very important to judge the market dynamics and accurately grasp the changes in the market. After mastering the operation dynamics of the market, agricultural production can be arranged reasonably according to the expected demand of the market, thus it is possible to improve agricultural production efficiency. So how should we grasp the market? It is necessary to mention a core theory of economics-equilibrium price theory.
Equilibrium price theory mainly studies demand and supply, how demand and supply determine equilibrium price, how equilibrium price affects demand and supply in turn, and the changes of demand and supply caused by the changes of factors affecting demand and supply.
So what is an equilibrium price? Let me give you an example first:
In a market, a * * * has 50 umbrellas, but 500 people need them. What will be the price of umbrellas?
In a market, a * * * has 50 umbrellas, but five people need them. What will be the price of umbrellas?
In a market, a * * * has 50 umbrellas, but it also needs 50 people. What will be the price of umbrellas?
The equilibrium price refers to the third situation, that is, the equilibrium price is the situation that the demand price and supply price of a commodity are consistent. At this time, the demand for this commodity is equal to the supply.
The study of equilibrium price is also the study of the relationship between supply and demand. The restraining relationship between demand and supply leads to the market price. The market price is also the price of a commodity in the current market, so the market price directly affects the profit rate of producers and the current purchasing power of buyers. For agricultural production, market price is the most important factor that affects whether farmers can increase their income. Generally speaking, if the supply exceeds the demand, the market price is lower, and if the demand exceeds the supply, the market price is higher. In practice, both buyers and sellers are rational economic men. Sellers will only increase the supply of goods when the market price is high, while buyers will only increase the demand for goods when the market price is low. For agricultural products, firstly, due to the nature of crops, its production cycle is relatively long, so it is difficult to make flexible adjustments to market changes, and only the market demand of some agricultural products can be predicted early to arrange agricultural production; Second, due to the small price elasticity of agricultural products, when the supply of similar agricultural products in the market increases, the price will drop, but the increase in demand is relatively small. As a result, the corresponding sales of agricultural products are difficult and farmers' income is declining. As the saying goes, "cheap grain hurts farmers", so it is difficult to increase farmers' income by increasing the supply of agricultural products, and even lead to a decline in farmers' income. In this way, the balanced price has its practical significance. The most ideal state of the market is supply = demand. Only in this way can the operation of the market be the most effective and the utilization of social resources be the most effective.
So how does the change of supply and demand affect the change of equilibrium price? In a perfectly competitive market environment, there are three situations about the equilibrium price:
First, under the condition of constant supply and demand, the equilibrium price and quantity will not change.
Second, if the market price is greater than the equilibrium price, the supply will decrease and the demand will increase, so that the market price will gradually decrease until the equilibrium point is reached.
Third, when the market price is less than the equilibrium price, the supply increases and the demand decreases, so that the market price gradually increases until the equilibrium point is reached.
Judging from the above dynamic changes, the market price is constantly changing due to the interaction between supply and demand, and finally tends to be balanced. In this process, the equilibrium price or quantity will also change as follows:
First, when demand increases and supply remains unchanged, the equilibrium price rises and the equilibrium quantity increases.
Second, when the demand decreases and the supply remains unchanged, the equilibrium price decreases and the equilibrium quantity decreases.
Third, when the supply increases and the demand remains unchanged, the equilibrium price decreases and the equilibrium quantity increases.
Fourth, when the supply decreases and the demand remains unchanged, the equilibrium price rises and the equilibrium quantity decreases.
The above law of supply and demand is called the "law of supply and demand". It can also be seen from this law that in a perfectly competitive market, the relationship between supply and demand determines the price and affects the price change, and the price also reacts to the market and affects the supply and demand change of the market. It is precisely because price has such a great regulating effect on the market that price is called the "invisible hand" in the market economy. Therefore, all kinds of production activities, including agricultural production, must grasp the trend of price changes in order to be invincible in the market, so as to effectively arrange production and output products that meet market requirements, thus obtaining better economic benefits. Therefore, in order to judge the trend of market demand, the best reference is the price. So if we can't correctly judge the price situation, we can't judge the expected demand of an agricultural product in the market. If we blindly expand or reduce production, it will have serious consequences-the income that could have been increased could not be increased, but the losses that the industry could have avoided could not be avoided.
Two more examples: First, 1999, my family planted a vegetable called onion for the first time. At that time, the market purchase price was 0.5 yuan, and my family earned nearly 2,000 yuan at that time; In 2000, my family continued to grow onions, but because there were too many farmers, the price plummeted. The cost of two mu of land is close to that of 500 yuan, but only less than that of 200 yuan. The result of this attack is 200 1 there are only a few races in our area, so my family has stopped growing this dish. The price of onions that year was more than one yuan a catty. At that time, several farmers earned tens of thousands of dollars for growing onions, and most farmers, including our family, lost such income. This is a failure to correctly grasp the price changes in the market, so that income has suffered a certain loss. Second, people always learn from their mistakes. In 2005, many farmers made a lot of money by planting zucchini. In 2006, many people planted this vegetable, and some of them even expanded the area. At the beginning of the year, my mother wanted to plant zucchini, but my father didn't agree. There was no seed. When buying vegetables began in July, the price of zucchini fell to the point where no one bought it. Many people lost a lot, but our family managed to avoid such losses.
Therefore, it is very important for farmers to clearly analyze the specific changes in market demand caused by price changes in order to arrange agricultural production, especially in today's increasingly developed market economy.
How to do it specifically? I think there are two main situations: first, in the cobweb model, because the price of an agricultural product is high in the first year, farmers blindly expand the cultivation of this product in the second year, which leads to the price decline. Based on this, the cultivation of this agricultural product was reduced in the third year, but because the market supply was too small and the price rose, farmers lost an opportunity to bring better income and caused certain losses. From this law, it can be seen that if farmers reduce the planting of this product in the second year when the price of this product is high in the first year, and expand the planting area in the third year when the price is low in the second year, they can get better income. After several years of such interaction between supply and demand, the market price will gradually approach the equilibrium price, thus realizing the benign development of the economy. Secondly, the output of a vegetable also has its specific season, and avoiding the peak season can also give an advantage in price. In my hometown, the planting time of beans is the longest, and it has a considerable scale, and the production and sales are basically mature, basically getting rid of the ups and downs of prices every year. However, the price of beans is relatively high in early July and mid-September every year, and the price is the lowest from mid-July to September, and some places still fluctuate greatly. Therefore, the price of this vegetable has not changed much in the same period of each year in China, but it is relatively stable, which has become a law. At this time, farmers can completely avoid the peak of planting and reduce the losses caused by low prices at the peak. Specifically, beans can be planted in two plots, one early and the other late. In this way, you can sell beans when the price is high in early July. In mid-September, other people's beans are finished, and you still have beans to sell, from which you can get better income than others.
The above is about the supply situation from the perspective of farmers, and there is also a problem of demand. In rural areas, most of this demand is directly determined by vegetable vendors who collect vegetables. The demand of vegetable merchants for vegetables is determined by the demand of the external market. This problem is not for people to decide, but for the market to adjust itself. So what can people do? For farmers, it is to produce more and better quality vegetables to meet the requirements of the market; It is also important for the government to create a good acquisition environment. Now, let's take another example: In 2006, the county party committee and county government of Yingxian decided to unify the vegetable purchase market in all towns and villages, so they designated a vegetable purchase market in all towns and villages and asked to cancel the roadside. We are also a big place in Xiamayu Township. Fiona Fang is nearly 20 miles away. For many farmers, it is difficult to sell their vegetables in such a far place only by relying on their own animal-drawn carts. Therefore, all kinds of street beaches are welcomed by farmers because it is convenient to sell vegetables, but few vegetable merchants dare to do so because they will be fined. Only a few vegetable vendors dare to illegally set up roadside stalls in violation of the government's ban, but it is difficult to receive vegetables in a fixed purchase market, because most farmers rarely have the ability to go that far, and only farmers in several surrounding villages sell vegetables, and the sources of vegetables are insufficient. To this end, many vegetable merchants left, which directly led to the average purchase price of vegetable market in Yingxian County in 2006 being lower than that of the previous year. There is a data, in 2005, the highest purchase price of beans 1.5 yuan, the lowest 0.3 yuan; But in 2006, the highest was 1.3 yuan, and the lowest was 0. 1 yuan. Therefore, the unreasonable market management of the government will also have a great negative impact on the market price. In this way, this happened. When Yingxian vegetable market started, it didn't get much management from the government. In less than four years, it has achieved a certain scale. However, when the government began to "manage" the market for the first time in 2006, the price of vegetables fell, which brought some losses to farmers' income.
As can be seen from the above discussion, as long as the government and farmers organize agriculture according to the laws of the market, it will bring development to agriculture, otherwise, blind development will suffer certain losses. Therefore, I think that in the process of agricultural production, the government should try not to directly participate in the cultivation of cash crops, and the market itself should adjust the supply of production. The only most important thing for the government to do well is to guide farmers to conduct market analysis and teach them to establish a correct market awareness. Other things should be automatically adjusted by the market. Only in this way, the market price will gradually tend to the equilibrium price, which will determine the development of the market. Only in this way can we realize the benign development of agriculture, increase farmers' income and promote the rapid development of rural economy. Practical application of profit maximization
Abstract: the goal of enterprise production and operation is to maximize profits. When the products produced by an enterprise make the marginal revenue and marginal cost equal, this output will maximize the profit. In perfect competition and imperfect competition, the standard of profit maximization is different. In actual enterprise management, in order to maximize profits, we must pay attention to understanding the market demand, cultivate enterprise talents, reduce costs and operating expenses, and inspire staff morale. Keywords: profit maximization, marginal revenue, marginal cost, perfect competition, monopoly enterprise management
We often say that the goal of enterprise production and operation is to maximize profits. But what is the biggest profit? From an enterprise's point of view, the more profits, the better. If we understand profit maximization in this way, it is meaningless to maximize profit. In reality, unlimited profits are also impossible. Therefore, it is necessary to find a standard of profit maximization, indicating when the enterprise has achieved profit maximization.
Profit is total revenue minus total cost, including accounting cost and opportunity cost. Income is the income obtained by an enterprise from selling products, including costs and profits. It is equal to the product of the product price multiplied by the number of products sold. Total income is the total income from selling a certain number of products. The average income is the income from selling products per unit, which is equal to the product price. Marginal income is the sales income of each additional unit of product. Similarly, marginal cost refers to the increased cost for each additional unit of product. The standard of profit maximization given by economists is that marginal revenue equals marginal cost.
When the products produced by an enterprise make the marginal revenue and marginal cost equal, this output will maximize the profit. This is a law summed up according to enterprise practice. We can use a simple example to understand this law. Assuming that the marginal revenue per unit product sold by an enterprise is 10 yuan, and the marginal cost per unit product produced is 8 yuan, it will earn more 2 yuan per unit product produced. At this time, enterprises will increase production. Because the original output did not maximize profits, the money that could be earned was not earned. On the other hand, if the marginal revenue is 8 yuan, the marginal cost 10 yuan. For every extra unit of product produced, 2 yuan is lost. At this time, enterprises should reduce production. Its reduction in production means that the original output did not maximize profits, that is, it lost money. When the marginal revenue is equal to the marginal cost (for example, both are 9 yuan), the enterprise neither increases nor decreases the output, which shows that it has maximized the profit of this output.
Enterprises should always maintain the output at the lowest average cost. When the average cost is the lowest, the average cost is equal to the marginal cost. If the market is completely competitive, every unit of product added by an enterprise will not affect the price, and the average income is equal to the marginal income. It can be concluded that in a perfectly competitive market, marginal revenue equals marginal cost, that is, average revenue equals average cost. Is the enterprise unprofitable at this time? In fact, this is a perfectly competitive market. The result of competition is that the profit is zero when the profit is maximized. But the economic profit is zero, and the accounting profit is not zero. In perfect competition, enterprises earn accounting profits that compensate the opportunity cost.
In fact, the market is not completely competitive. If some enterprises are quite large, their output changes are enough to cause price changes; Or some enterprises use the rights granted by the government (patents, franchise rights) to obtain monopoly status; Or some enterprises have created some distinctive products, and the price will be higher than when they are completely competitive. In these cases, enterprises can obtain economic profits. In reality, perfect competition is rare. Generally speaking, competition and monopoly are combined to varying degrees, but in this imperfect competition market, enterprises always have different monopoly power, that is, the ability to control the market. Therefore, this can lead enterprises to make the price higher than the average cost through output control or innovation, thus obtaining economic profits. In fact, profit maximization is just a principle. Different enterprises in different industries will use this principle differently. Some enterprises will pursue the maximization of profit rate, some enterprises will pursue the maximization of profit volume, some enterprises will focus on the maximization of short-term profits, and some enterprises will change short-term interests for the maximization of long-term profits. These different goals not only depend on the enterprise's own purpose, especially the preference of enterprise decision makers, but also depend on its market environment.
Under the condition of market economy, the market situation changes rapidly, and enterprises must grasp the market dynamics in time according to their own actual situation. Only by mastering consumers' diversified hobbies and needs can we produce products suitable for them, implement the policy of product differentiation and market segmentation, and effectively distinguish our products from other products to meet various market demands. This requires grasping consumers' psychology, essentially adapting products to consumers' needs, thus winning credibility and maintaining price advantage. Therefore, the decision of sales channels and the necessity of continuous discussion should also be included in the important agenda. There are other important matters, such as the simplification of product structure and manufacturing technology; Mechanization of daily affairs and extensive use of electronic computers to improve efficiency; Simplify business procedures; Adapt to market demand and strive to open up the market; Emphasis on human factors, do everything possible to fully mobilize the initiative, enthusiasm and creativity of employees, and so on. There are other areas that need to be improved and should be solved according to local conditions.
Although the competitiveness of modern enterprises lies in credit and reputation, it also lies in funds and talents. Moreover, because funds are also accumulated and created by talents, talents are the wealth that enterprises surpass everything. There is a difference between capable people and talented people. Talented people are easily loved, so they have real command. Not strength, speaking ability and power, but convincing strength. For enterprises, such talents are very rare. Cultivating talents is also a major responsibility of enterprises.
Streamlining personnel or saving personnel costs is an urgent and important issue for all operators. But this does not only mean streamlining staff and stopping recruitment, but also means building a small and lean workforce by increasing sales, so that all employees are dedicated and happy, thereby increasing sales and reducing the proportion of personnel expenditure. The higher the sales volume, the higher the working efficiency of all employees, and the same effect as streamlining personnel will be achieved, which will inevitably lead to the establishment of a lean staff. In terms of income distribution, there will inevitably be more.
It is particularly important to reduce costs, increase profits and implement institutional measures. It is necessary to establish and improve the system of reducing costs, further improve the management system and mechanism, strengthen internal and external management, effectively control costs from the source and reduce costs. It is necessary to implement responsibilities, strengthen supervision, and put an end to unclear responsibilities, inadequate management, and lack of rules.
The key to reducing costs and increasing efficiency lies in the optimization of management and operation, and the focus of management and operation should be to reduce costs and adjust product structure. It is necessary to correctly handle the relationship between "saving expenditure" and "open source", change "saving" as the traditional management mode to reduce costs, and be good at analyzing the necessity and rationality of input from the comparison between input and output, so as to pay as little as possible and create as much profit as possible. Establish the concept of cost drivers, change the concept that traditional cost management only pays attention to tangible cost drivers such as raw materials, labor and manufacturing expenses, while ignoring the influence of intangible cost drivers such as product research and development, market development, enterprise scale, employee quality and interpersonal relationship on product costs, and be good at analyzing the occurrence and composition of costs from tangible and intangible drivers, objective factors and subjective factors to ensure the scientific, objective and accurate cost management of enterprises. It is necessary to comprehensively strengthen the management of operating budget, strengthen the function of fund regulation and control, and reduce extrabudgetary and budgetary expenditures; Standardize management behavior, improve the efficiency of capital operation, reduce consumption, and avoid disorderly increase in costs. The quality of cost management concerns the interests of enterprises and individuals. Therefore, it is necessary to form * * * knowledge in enterprises: reduce costs and maximize profits. All units should be careful, strictly control the use of funds in all aspects of enterprise construction, exchange maximum benefits with minimum consumption, create greater benefits with minimum cost, and promote the healthy, stable and rapid development of enterprises.
To sum up, enterprise management should take the principle of "maximizing income and minimizing cost" and always seek maintenance and development from a coordinated standpoint, which is the correct business direction.