Can Capitalist Farms Defeat Family Farms? The Dynamics of Capitalist Accumulation in Shrimp Aquaculture in South China

Abstract

The low rate of full-time agricultural employment in China has tempted scholars to believe that capitalization does not necessarily lead to the trenchant effects of proletarianization. In this paper, I refute this hypothesis by showing agri-capital's move from 'formal subsumption' to 'real subsumption' in shrimp aquaculture. Previously, due to natural and social barriers, capital had squeezed farmers' value by monopolizing the upstream and downstream sectors of the commodity chain. However, in recent years, after several disease outbreaks that have forced family farmers to abandon their business, agri-capital has finally accomplished 'real subsumption' by penetrating into the farming process. Following the rise of a nascent shrimp production base in Leizhou, Guangdong Province, I explore how it accomplishes land transfer, technological control and labour supervision to outcompete family farms by capturing the high price of off-season farming. This analysis helps us to understand the dynamics of class formation and the trajectory of proletarianization.