The Practical Need, Promotion Path, and Institutional Guarantee for Developing the New-Type Rural Collective Economy

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC [1]1 The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC: A key meeting of the Communist Party of China’s top leadership, held in 2024, focused on advancing national governance modernization and rural development. clarified the strategic task of accelerating agricultural and rural modernization and solidly promoting comprehensive rural revitalization during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period [2]2 The “15th Five-Year Plan”: China’s national economic and social development plan for 2026–2030, succeeding the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025)., proposing to “persist in taking the resolution of the ‘three rural issues’ [3]3 The “three rural issues”: A standard Chinese policy term referring to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. as the top priority of the Party’s entire work” and “accelerate the building of an agricultural powerhouse.” At the critical stage of accelerating agricultural and rural modernization, further deepening the understanding of the strategic significance of developing the new-type rural collective economy, systematically exploring the development paths of the new-type rural collective economy, and constructing corresponding guarantee mechanisms are of great strategic importance for making up for the shortcomings in agricultural and rural development and consolidating the foundation of an agricultural powerhouse.

党的二十届四中全会明确了“十五五”时期加快农业农村现代化、扎实推进乡村全面振兴的战略任务，提出“坚持把解决好‘三农’问题作为全党工作重中之重”，“加快建设农业强国”。在加快农业农村现代化的关键阶段，进一步深化对发展新型农村集体经济战略要义的认识，系统探索新型农村集体经济的发展路径，构建相应的保障机制，对补齐农业农村发展短板、夯实农业强国根基具有重要战略意义。

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Developing the new-type rural collective economy profoundly aligns with the inherent requirements of Chinese-path modernization, is a concrete manifestation of implementing the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC in the agricultural and rural fields, and is a strategic choice for achieving the goals of agricultural and rural modernization.

发展新型农村集体经济深刻契合了中国式现代化的内在要求，是贯彻落实党的二十届四中全会精神在农业农村领域的具体体现，是实现农业农村现代化目标的战略选择。

Developing the new-type rural collective economy is an important support for ensuring food security and the supply of important agricultural products, and for safeguarding national strategic security. Food security is “the top priority of the state” [4]4 “The top priority of the state”: A phrase used by Xi Jinping to emphasize the supreme importance of food security. and an important guarantee for the steady and long-term progress of Chinese-path modernization. Compared with scattered household-based farming operations, the new-type rural collective economy, as the owner of collective resources and assets, has natural advantages in integrating rural resources and coordinating the division of labor. It can play a positive role in comprehensive land improvement, agricultural technology extension, and the supply of socialized services, thereby enhancing the comprehensive agricultural production capacity and quality efficiency, implementing the policy of “storing grain in the land and storing grain in technology” [5]5 “Storing grain in the land and storing grain in technology”: A Chinese policy slogan advocating for food security through improved land use and technological innovation., strengthening agriculture’s ability to resist risks, playing the important role of agriculture as a “stabilizer” for development at critical moments, and providing a solid organizational foundation for national food security and self-sufficiency in important agricultural products.

发展新型农村集体经济是保障粮食安全与重要农产品供给、维护国家战略安全的重要支撑。粮食安全是“国之大者”，是中国式现代化行稳致远的重要保障。相对于分散的农户家庭经营而言，新型农村集体经济作为集体资源资产的所有者，在整合农村资源、协调劳动分工等方面具有天然优势，能够在土地综合整治、农业技术推广、社会化服务供给等方面发挥积极作用，从而提升农业综合生产能力和质量效益，将“藏粮于地、藏粮于技”落到实处，增强农业抗风险能力，在关键时刻发挥农业作为发展“稳定器”的重要作用，为国家粮食安全和重要农产品自给提供坚实的组织基础。

Developing the new-type rural collective economy is a key path for stimulating endogenous momentum in rural areas and comprehensively promoting rural revitalization. As an important vehicle for integrating rural resources and cultivating rural industries, the new-type rural collective economy can effectively revitalize a large number of “dormant” assets such as idle rural homesteads and idle rural houses, attract factors such as capital, technology, and talent to flow to rural areas, develop new industries and new business forms such as rural tourism, agricultural product processing, and rural e-commerce according to local conditions, provide farmers with more local employment opportunities, attract migrant workers to return to their hometowns for entrepreneurship and employment, alleviate the problem of rural “hollowing out,” and inject sustainable development vitality into the countryside.

发展新型农村集体经济是激发乡村内生动力、全面推进乡村振兴的关键路径。新型农村集体经济作为整合乡村资源、培育乡村产业的重要载体，能够有效盘活农村闲置宅基地、闲置农房等大量“沉睡”资产，吸引资本、技术、人才等要素向乡村流动，因地制宜发展乡村旅游、农产品加工、农村电商等新产业和新业态，为农民提供更多就地就近就业机会，吸引外出务工人员返乡创业就业，缓解农村“空心化”问题，为乡村注入可持续发展的活力。

Developing the new-type rural collective economy is an urgent need for smoothing the flow of urban and rural factors and promoting integrated urban-rural development. As an economic organization with a clear market entity status, the new-type rural collective economy can systematically receive urban talent, capital, technology, and other factors, effectively breaking the institutional and mechanism barriers faced by external resources entering rural areas; at the same time, through intensive and large-scale modern management methods, it transforms rural ecological resources, land assets, and cultural heritage into high-quality supply that aligns with the trend of urban consumption upgrading, smoothing the circulation of the urban-rural economic cycle. At the level of urban-rural industrial development, by exploring development models such as establishing industrial consortia and “village collectives + industrial parks,” the new-type rural collective economy not only promotes complementary advantages and deep integration of urban and rural industries but also significantly enhances the endogenous momentum of rural development by creating local employment opportunities and broadening channels for increasing farmers’ income, providing a fundamental guarantee for narrowing the urban-rural development gap and accelerating the construction of a new pattern of integrated development for common urban-rural prosperity.

发展新型农村集体经济是畅通城乡要素流动、促进城乡融合发展的迫切需要。作为具有明确市场主体地位的经济组织，新型农村集体经济能够系统性地承接城市人才、资本与技术等要素，有效破解外部资源进入乡村面临的体制机制障碍；同时，通过集约化、规模化的现代经营方式，将乡村生态资源、土地资产和文化底蕴转化为契合城市消费升级趋势的优质供给，畅通城乡经济循环脉络。在城乡产业发展层面，新型农村集体经济通过探索组建产业联合体、“村集体+产业园区”等发展模式，不仅推动城乡产业实现优势互补与深度融合，而且通过创造本地化就业岗位、拓宽农民增收渠道，显著增强乡村发展的内生动力，为缩小城乡发展差距、加快构建城乡共同繁荣的融合发展新格局提供根本保障。

Developing the new-type rural collective economy is an inevitable requirement for consolidating the Party’s ruling foundation in rural areas and advancing the modernization of national governance. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC proposed that “the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity should be deeply advanced.” Rural governance modernization is an important part of national governance modernization. The new-type rural collective economy can enhance the economic strength and service capacity of rural areas by integrating resources and developing industries, enabling it to more effectively organize and serve the masses, thereby enhancing the cohesion and appeal of village-level organizations. Therefore, the development of the new-type rural collective economy is not only an economic act to promote rural economic development but also an important way to strengthen the political and organizational functions of rural grassroots Party organizations and improve rural governance.

发展新型农村集体经济是巩固党在农村执政根基、推进国家治理现代化的必然要求。党的二十届四中全会提出，“国家治理体系和治理能力现代化深入推进”。乡村治理现代化是国家治理现代化的重要内容。新型农村集体经济能够通过整合资源、发展产业，增强乡村的经济实力和服务能力，使其能够更有力地组织群众、服务群众，进而提升村级组织的凝聚力和号召力。因此，新型农村集体经济的发展不仅是推动乡村经济发展的经济行为，更是强化农村基层党组织政治功能和组织功能以及完善乡村治理的重要途径。

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Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC [6]6 The 18th National Congress of the CPC: Held in 2012, this congress marked the beginning of the Xi Jinping era and launched a new phase of rural reform., China’s agricultural and rural modernization has achieved significant accomplishments. Rural reform has continued to deepen, and the phased tasks of reforming the rural collective property rights system have been basically completed. The development models and governance mechanisms of the rural collective economy have been continuously innovated, achieving substantial progress. However, the new-type rural collective economy still faces difficulties such as scattered resources, insufficient cooperation, and a single development path in its development. In response, we should base ourselves on reality, focus on innovating development paths around dimensions such as resource integration, subject cooperation, service expansion, and regional linkage, break through the current predicament, and form a systematic, multi-level development pattern.

党的十八大以来，我国农业农村现代化取得重大成就。农村改革持续深化，农村集体产权制度改革阶段性任务基本完成。农村集体经济发展模式和治理机制持续创新，实现长足发展。但新型农村集体经济在发展中仍面临资源分散、合作不足、发展路径单一等困境。对此，应立足现实，重点围绕资源整合、主体合作、服务拓展、区域联动等维度创新发展路径，突破现实困局，形成系统化、多层次的发展格局。

Explore a diversified resource utilization development path of integration, coordination, and value realization. New-type rural collective economic organizations should, by virtue of their characteristics of shared resources and shared benefits, achieve resource activation and value enhancement through methods such as leasing, shareholding, and cooperation. They can integrate cultivated land, forestland, grassland, and other resources that have not been contracted to households, achieving large-scale operation through unified transfer and cooperative development; revitalize agricultural land, orchards, ponds, and other resources that have been contracted to households but are inefficiently utilized, improving utilization efficiency through methods such as re-contracting, transfer leasing, and shareholding joint operation; activate idle collective construction land and rural housing resources, combining rural ecological, historical, and cultural characteristics, integrating them into rural industrial development through models such as shareholding cooperation, leasing operations, and joint development, comprehensively enhancing resource value.

探索整合统筹与价值实现的多元化资源利用发展路径。新型农村集体经济组织应当凭借其资源共有、利益共享的特性，通过租赁、入股、合作等方式实现资源活化与价值提升。可整合未承包到户的耕地、林地、草地等资源，通过统一流转、合作开发实现规模经营；盘活承包到户但利用低效的农地、果园、水塘等资源，通过重新发包、流转租赁、入股联营等方式提升利用效率；激活闲置的集体建设用地和农房资源，结合乡村生态、历史、人文特色，通过股份合作、招租经营、共同开发等模式融入乡村产业发展，全面提升资源价值。

Strengthen a multi-subject industrial cooperation development path of asset management and stable operation. To accelerate agricultural and rural modernization, new-type rural collective economic organizations must both achieve asset preservation and appreciation and avoid the operational risks brought by fierce market competition. Therefore, they should focus on establishing efficient asset management and stable operation mechanisms through in-depth cooperation with multiple market entities: on the one hand, centering on the extension of the agricultural industry chain, integrate fiscal funds and self-owned assets, participate in the construction of facilities such as agricultural product processing, warehousing and logistics, and trading markets through methods such as shareholding cooperation, forming an industrial chain supporting and cooperative operation relationship with new-type business entities; on the other hand, combined with the development of new industries and new business forms, utilize agricultural landscapes, rural culture, etc., introduce market entities to cooperatively develop new consumption scenarios such as leisure tourism, ecological health care, and study tours, achieving stable development of the collective economy in promoting industrial integration.

强化资产管理和稳健经营的多主体产业合作发展路径。加快农业农村现代化，新型农村集体经济组织既要实现资产保值增值，又需规避市场激烈竞争带来的经营风险。因此，应当重点通过与多元市场主体的深度合作，建立高效资产管理与稳健经营机制：一方面，围绕农业产业链延伸，整合财政资金和自有资产，通过入股合作等方式参与农产品加工、仓储物流、交易市场等设施建设，与新型经营主体形成产业链配套和合作经营关系；另一方面，结合新产业新业态发展，利用农业景观、乡村文化等，引入市场主体合作开发休闲旅游、生态康养、研学体验等新消费场景，在推动产业融合中实现集体经济稳健发展。

Expand a multi-level service supply development path of deepening division of labor and optimizing functions. By continuously expanding and strengthening service functions, more comparative advantage and sustainable service income growth can be achieved. First, participate in the supply of agricultural productive services. New-type rural collective economic organizations can both play an intermediary coordination role in agricultural productive services and cooperate with market entities to jointly provide services such as agricultural materials, technology, and agricultural machinery, growing into an important supplier of agricultural socialized services. Second, participate in the supply of management services. Focus on providing supporting services such as property management, labor dispatch, and conflict coordination for business entities entering rural areas to engage in the development of agricultural, cultural, and tourism industries, becoming the main supplier of rural public management services. Third, participate in the supply of public welfare services. Enhance the capacity of new-type rural collective economic organizations to undertake government-purchased public services such as the construction of small-scale rural infrastructure and the maintenance of public utilities, achieving multiple goals such as efficient construction and management of rural infrastructure and collective income increase.

拓展分工深化和功能优化的多层次服务供给发展路径。通过不断拓展和强化服务功能，可以实现更具比较优势和持续能力的服务性收入增长。一是参与农业生产性服务供给。新型农村集体经济组织既可在农业生产性服务中承担居间协调角色，又可与市场主体合作，共同提供农资、技术、农机等服务，成长为农业社会化服务的重要供给主体。二是参与管理性服务供给。重点为进入乡村从事农文旅产业发展的经营主体提供配套的物业管理、劳务派遣、矛盾协调等服务，成为乡村公共性管理服务的主要供给主体。三是参与公益性服务供给。增强新型农村集体经济组织承接政府购买的乡村小微型基础设施建设和公用事业维护等公共服务的能力，实现农村基础设施高效建管和集体增收等多重目标。

Adhere to the development path of multi-type village operations that promote holistic advancement and benefit sharing. To achieve co-construction, co-sharing, and common prosperity, it is necessary to emphasize whole-village operation and cross-village cooperation, effectively breaking through the limitations and deficiencies of single-village development. Explore the whole-village operation model. On the basis of unified planning, with the rural collective economy as the leading force, coordinate state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, etc., to systematically develop idle rural resources, holistically developing high-quality, high-efficiency agriculture and rural industries that enrich the people. Explore the multi-village joint operation model. On the basis of clear property rights relationships and standardized benefit distribution, realize various types of cross-village cooperation, exploring deep-level linkages such as joint resource use, joint industrial development, joint service provision, and joint governance construction, integrating resources within a larger region to achieve the strong leading the weak and common development of new-type rural collective economic organizations. Explore the cross-regional linkage model. Encourage multiple townships, towns, districts, and counties with complementary resource conditions or high industrial correlation to break through administrative boundary restrictions, achieving linked development through methods such as enclave economies or joint stock cooperation. Guide new-type rural collective economic organizations in various regions to collaboratively utilize collective resource assets, financial investment assets, etc., on a larger spatial scale, realizing benefit co-creation and achievement co-sharing at a broader level.

坚持整体推进与利益共享的多类型村庄经营发展路径。实现共建共享共富，必须重视整村经营和跨村合作，有效突破单村发展不足和限制。探索整村经营模式。在统一规划基础上，以农村集体经济为主导，联动国有企业、民营企业等系统开发乡村闲置资源，整体性发展高质高效农业和乡村富民产业。探索多村联营模式。以产权关系明确和利益分配规范为基础，实现多种类型的跨村合作，探索资源联用、产业联兴、服务联供、治理联建等深层次联动，在更大区域内整合资源，实现新型农村集体经济组织的以强带弱、共同发展。探索跨区域联动模式。鼓励资源条件互补或产业关联度高的多个乡镇、区县，打破行政边界限制，以飞地、合股等方式联动发展。引导各地新型农村集体经济组织在更大空间尺度上协同利用集体资源资产、财政投入资产等，实现更广泛层面的效益共创与成果共享。

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With the deepening advancement of agricultural and rural modernization, the organizational forms and operational mechanisms of the original collective economy have become difficult to adapt to the requirements of market-oriented development. To achieve the preservation and appreciation of collective assets, continuously enhance endogenous development momentum, and steadily improve the capacity to drive common prosperity among farmers, it is necessary to comprehensively advance reform and innovation from the institutional and mechanistic level, constructing an institutional guarantee system for new-type rural collective economic organizations characterized by clear powers and responsibilities, standardized operations, controllable risks, and reasonable distribution.

随着农业农村现代化进程的深入推进，原有集体经济的组织形式和运行机制已难以适应市场化发展要求。要实现集体资产保值增值、内生发展动力不断增强，带动农民共同富裕能力持续提升，必须从体制机制层面系统全面推进改革创新，构建新型农村集体经济组织权责清晰、运行规范、风险可控、分配合理的制度保障体系。

Construct an operational mechanism that matches the market-oriented development needs of the new-type rural collective economy. Further deepen rural reform and solidly promote comprehensive rural revitalization. New-type rural collective economic organizations should explore operational mechanisms that meet their development needs and match the requirements of market-oriented development. Within the framework of special legal person status, new-type rural collective economic organizations should expand their operational organizational forms through vertical integration and horizontal cooperation, forming operational methods such as cross-village joint operation, cross-district co-operation, village-enterprise co-construction, villager cooperation, as well as “enterprise + collective economy + farmers,” “enterprise + collective economy + cooperatives,” etc., further enhancing market adaptability and competitiveness.

构建与新型农村集体经济市场化发展需求相匹配的经营机制。进一步深化农村改革，扎实推进乡村全面振兴，新型农村集体经济组织应探索符合其发展需要的、与市场化发展需求相匹配的经营机制。在特别法人身份框架下，新型农村集体经济组织应通过纵向一体化和横向联合方式拓展经营组织形式，形成跨村联营、跨区共营、村企共建、村民联合，以及“企业+集体经济+农民”“企业+集体经济+合作社”等经营方式，进一步增强市场适应能力和竞争力。

Innovate a governance mechanism that matches the property rights structure of new-type rural collective economic organizations. New-type rural collective economic organizations bear the fundamental task of preserving and appreciating collective assets and cannot bear bankruptcy risk. At the same time, the development foundation of most village collectives in China is currently weak, making it difficult to effectively prevent and manage operational risks. Therefore, new-type rural collective economic organizations need to be further optimized on the basis of the modern enterprise system, exploring internal and external governance mechanisms that match their property rights structure. In terms of internal governance, they should fully leverage their natural advantage of deep embedding in rural society, integrating political supervision, rural reputation, etc., into organizational governance, forming a governance structure and reputation constraint system of “Party organization + village collective + community.” In terms of external governance, while promoting the construction of a rural professional manager market, they should comprehensively utilize social capital, political assessment, etc., to prevent moral hazard and form a collaborative governance pattern. Through dual internal and external efforts, effectively enhance the risk prevention capability of new-type rural collective economic organizations.

创新与新型农村集体经济组织产权结构相匹配的治理机制。新型农村集体经济组织承担着集体资产保值增值的基本任务，无法承担破产风险，同时我国当前大多数村集体发展基础薄弱，难以有效防范经营风险。因此，新型农村集体经济组织需要在现代企业制度基础上进一步优化，探索与其产权结构相匹配的内外部治理机制。在内部治理方面，应充分发挥其深度嵌入乡村社会的天然优势，将政治监督、乡村声誉等融入组织治理，形成“党组织+村集体+社区”的治理结构和声誉约束体系；在外部治理方面，应在推进乡村职业经理人市场建设的同时，综合运用社会资本、政治考核等方式，防范道德风险，形成协同治理格局。通过内外双向发力，有效增强新型农村集体经济组织防范风险的能力。

Establish a risk prevention mechanism that matches the contractual characteristics of the new-type rural collective economy. With the diversification of property rights structures and the complexity of operational models, new-type rural collective economic organizations may face multiple risks such as asset loss and market competition. Based on this, it is necessary to explore the construction of a systematic risk prevention mechanism, forming a closed-loop prevention system covering the entire process of risk identification, immediate blocking, effective resolution, and reasonable compensation from the dual dimensions of “contract self-enforcement” and “external institutional guarantees,” ensuring the stable operation of the new-type rural collective economy.

建立与新型农村集体经济合约特征相匹配的风险防范机制。随着产权结构多元化和经营模式复杂化，新型农村集体经济组织可能面临资产流失、市场竞争等多重风险。基于此，必须探索构建系统性风险防范机制，从“合约自我履行”与“外部制度保障”双重维度，形成覆盖风险识别、即时阻断、有效化解与合理补偿全过程的闭环防范体系，确保新型农村集体经济稳健运行。

Optimize the income distribution mechanism that matches the objectives of new-type rural collective economic organizations. The core of optimizing the income distribution mechanism is to construct a composite system that links internal and external factors and balances fairness and efficiency. On the one hand, by establishing the principal position of farmers, establish a composite distribution method based on the membership rights of collective economic organizations and incentivized by factor contributions, coordinating the interest relationships among members and between members and managers. On the other hand, it is essential to focus on clarifying and optimizing the relationship between primary distribution and redistribution. While ensuring members’ current income, extract public accumulation funds and public welfare funds to support new-type rural collective economic organizations in providing high-quality rural public services and achieving high-quality development, effectively coordinating the long-term interests of new-type rural collective economic organizations with village communities and external cooperative entities, ultimately achieving the organic unity of political, social, and economic objectives within the village.

优化与新型农村集体经济组织目标相匹配的收益分配机制。优化收益分配机制的核心是构建内外联动、公平与效率兼顾的复合型体系。一方面，应通过确立农民主体地位，建立以集体经济组织成员权为基础、要素贡献为激励的复合分配方式，协调成员间及成员与管理者间的利益关系；另一方面，要重点厘清并优化初次分配与再分配关系，在保障成员当期收益的同时，提取公积公益金来支撑新型农村集体经济组织提供优质乡村公共服务并实现高质量发展，有效协调新型农村集体经济组织与村庄社区、外部合作主体的长远利益，最终实现乡村内部政治、社会、经济等目标的有机统一。

(Authors: Guo Xiaoming, Gao Jie, Zhang Yaowen, respectively Researcher, Researcher, and Assistant Researcher at the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者：郭晓鸣 高杰 张耀文，分别系四川省社会科学院研究员、研究员、助理研究员）