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BEIJING, Dec. 27-- China has made remarkable progress in its farm sector and rural land ownership reform during the past five years. AGRICULTURAL SUPPLY-SIDE REFORM Unlike the past, farmers in the northeast Heilongjiang land reclamation area chose to sell their corn to a mill in southern Guangdong Province rather than to local grain depots. Zhao Jun, head of Fengshun Farming Cooperative, said the corn was transported to the nearby city of Jinzhou by railway, and then by ship to Guangzhou Port. Such a move is a good showcase for the country's supply-side reform in farming, especially in corn production, given bumper harvests and surplus grain stockpiles, according to Li Guoxiang, a researcher with the Rural Development Institute. After one year of reform, corn planting area in the country dropped by about 2 million hectares, while soybean plantation increased by more than 660,000 hectares RURAL LAND OWNERSHIP REFORM The country is also expanding its rural land ownership reform. A total of 300 counties will be covered in the pilot program next year, up from current 129, Vice Agricultural Minister Ye Zhenqin said earlier this month at a meeting in Tianchang in central China's Anhui Province, a major grain-producing region. Ye said local governments could also take the program to more places, dependent on their needs. "The reform should be basically completed by the end of 2021," he said. | 
