In order to severely crack down on illegal activities of setting up scams and farming under the name of "contract agriculture", the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration for Market Regulation, will launch a special rectification campaign nationwide in November 2023. Recently, three departments jointly announced five typical cases of fraud and farming under the guise of "contract agriculture". 1、 21 people including Zhang and Hu from Liuyang City, Hunan Province, committed contract fraud under the guise of "contract agriculture". 2、 A poultry company in Luzhai County, Liuzhou City, Guangxi Province, committed contract fraud under the guise of "contract agriculture". 3、 A company in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, committed contract fraud under the guise of "contract agriculture". 4、 A fruit industry company in Jiangxi Province produced and sold inferior fertilizers under the name of "contract agriculture". 5、 The case of Liu in Renhuai City, Guizhou Province producing and selling fake and inferior sorghum seeds under the guise of "contract agriculture". High price recycling is a lure for illegal personnel. The so-called "order agriculture" refers to an agricultural production and sales model in which farmers organize and arrange production according to contracts signed with agricultural product buyers during the agricultural production and operation process. Plant whatever the market needs, and true 'contract agriculture' can to some extent eliminate farmers' worries and play a certain role in ensuring their income and resisting market risks. Because "contract farming" is quite popular, some illegal elements have come up with its idea. In the previous cases, the criminals were all using the banner of "contract agriculture" and using high returns as bait to commit fraud. Zeng Fanjiang, 61 years old this year, is a large-scale navel orange grower in Gan County, Jiangxi Province. In the summer of 2022, while he was buying fertilizer, a fruit industry company in Jiangxi took the initiative to promote a new water-soluble foliar fertilizer called "Polypeptidase Selenium Fertilizer" to him. The company claimed that using their foliar fertilizer could not only improve the quality of navel oranges, but also make their color look more vibrant and full. What impressed Zeng Fanjiang even more was that the fruit industry company involved in the case also promised that not only did they not need to pay immediately to purchase fertilizers, but they would also repurchase them at a price about 20 cents higher than the market price per kilogram after the navel oranges matured. The fertilizer payment would only be deducted after the fruits were sold. Although the selling price of "peptide enzyme selenium fertilizer" is as high as 460 yuan per kilogram, which is dozens of times higher than the qualified foliar fertilizer on the market at 20 yuan per kilogram, due to the lack of payment in the early stage and the "order based repurchase of navel oranges", the fruit industry company contracted to sell 26000 kilograms of foliar fertilizer in less than a month, involving more than 500 fruit farmers and a total amount of more than 11 million yuan. Zeng Fanjiang also spent 5520 yuan to purchase 24 pounds. What puzzled Zeng Fanjiang was that after taking medicine for his navel oranges, it was observed that there was almost no effect. Not only the planting industry, but also the breeding industry has similar "scams". This is a short video provided by the police in Liuyang, Hunan, of an online platform selling chicken advertisements. This type of short video advertisement contains a lot of fraudulent information. Kong Fancheng is a villager from Jinyuan Village, Gugang Town, Liuyang City. While looking at his phone, he accidentally saw a short video of Hunan Jiayun Agricultural Technology Company, a company involved in the case, marketing poultry. Kong Fancheng, a villager from Jinyuan Village, Gugang Town, Liuyang City: I saw a phone number on my phone, so I called to contact him. Kong Fancheng not only made a phone call, but also took a car to conduct on-site inspections of the company. The company promises to recycle all raised poultry at a price ranging from 18 yuan to over 20 yuan per catty. On the second day Kong Fancheng returned home, he hurriedly purchased over 26000 yuan worth of duck sprouts. Hunan Jiayun Agricultural Technology Company has also dispatched a professional technical personnel to provide follow-up services. Kong Fancheng never expected that the thousands of duck seedlings he bought would die every day when he got home. Kong Fancheng told reporters that later he found out that most of the technical personnel sent by the company did not understand the technology, and instead intentionally fed a large amount of food, water, and medicine to the duck seedlings. He bought over a thousand ducklings, but they all died within a few days. This situation will cause him to breach the contract, and the company involved can evade the responsibility of contract recovery. What are the characteristics of fraudulent methods in the two cases I just saw, such as buying low and selling high to make huge profits without any capital or profit? During the fraud process carried out by Zhang and Hu in Liuyang City, Hunan Province, almost all registered companies were shell companies, with temporary leasing of premises and no incubation of poultry seedlings. Peng Zhiqiang, instructor of the Economic Investigation Brigade of Liuyang Public Security Bureau: After hatching in a regular hatchery, the feed used for breeding turtles and crocodiles that is eliminated should be a few cents per piece according to the wholesale price. However, according to this contract, he sold it to the victim for 6 yuan per piece, and the price difference in between is very large, which is actually a huge profit. The unqualified "peptidase selenium fertilizer" foliar fertilizer produced and sold by a fruit industry company in Jiangxi is made from local Chinese herbal medicine Luoshen lace corner material, fermented in barrels, and added with a small amount of selenium element. The selling price is 460 yuan per kilogram, and the cost is less than 10 yuan per kilogram. Lao Nafeng, a police officer from the Food, Drug and Environmental Protection Brigade of Chongyi County Public Security Bureau in Ganzhou City: After we hired a professional organization to identify it, the trace elements inside do not meet the national mandatory standards. According to professional institutions, it is an unqualified fertilizer product. Even more covertly, the company involved deducted the high price of foliar fertilizer purchased by farmers from their expenses for purchasing Gannan navel oranges, achieving the goal of making a profit without any capital. In this way, a fruit industry company in Jiangxi involved in the case has locked in over 2.6 million kilograms of high-quality Gannan navel oranges from more than 500 farmers in advance. Hu Bosen, Deputy Leader of the Agricultural Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Detachment of Ganzhou City: The true purpose of fertilizer merchants is to sell inferior water solvent fertilizers for free, thus achieving the goal of selling high priced and inferior fertilizers without incurring any costs, and targeting fruit farmers. During the investigation, it was found that most of the fraudulent farming cases set up under the name of "contract agriculture" involved turning low-cost products into high-quality and high priced products through advertising and packaging, and profiting from huge price differences. So what other tricks do fraudsters have? In the 75 case files involved in the fraud cases of 21 people including Zhang and Hu in Liuyang City, it was found that all contracts signed between the involved companies and farmers had tempting clauses for high price recycling of poultry. Peng Zhiqiang, instructor of the Economic Investigation Brigade of Liuyang Public Security Bureau: As long as the survival rate reaches 95% after successful breeding, he has set two important conditions. He will refund your investment and repurchase each one at a rate of 18.8 yuan. The reporter learned in the interview that after inducing investors to purchase, fraudsters intentionally guided farmers to engage in incorrect planting and breeding, resulting in contract breach by farmers. Not only that, the reporter saw on the criminal gang structure map drawn by the local public security bureau that 21 people including Zhang and Hu from Liuyang City, Hunan Province, committed contract fraud under the name of "contract agriculture". In the case, the company involved had clear division of labor among various job types: short video online marketing and promotion, telephone operators receiving calls from farmers visiting the company, business managers receiving farmers visiting the company for inspection, and breeding technicians providing tracking services. The entire process formed a closed loop. Peng Zhiqiang, instructor of the Economic Investigation Brigade of Liuyang Public Security Bureau: The company's existence in one place basically does not exceed one year. His main purpose is to avoid crackdown and to prevent these victims from finding his company to refund money and cause trouble. Refusing to lure and being wary of scams under the name of "contract agriculture" is influenced by factors such as the continuous renovation of fraudulent methods by relevant illegal actors and the increasing concealment of illegal activities. The illegal activities of setting up scams under the name of "contract agriculture" still have room for growth in some places and fields. We would like to remind all farmers that there is usually a certain technical threshold for specialty planting and cultivation. Farmers should first learn and understand relevant professional knowledge, and not easily believe in the promotion of so-called "specialty" breeding projects on online platforms or telephone sales. They should also not believe in the concept of "one capital, ten thousand profits". The promotion of social personnel using gimmicks such as "national financial subsidies" and "key projects for benefiting and assisting agriculture" should be confirmed by the local government and relevant departments to ensure the authenticity of the other party's identity information, the existence of relevant support policies or projects, and the legality and compliance of the application methods and procedures, in order to prevent fraud. (New Society)