The nongken system consists of 1,758 state-owned farms in 31 provinces. In total they occupy about 4 percent of arable land and sustain over 14 million people. More than 3,000 SOEs holding over C¥750 bn in assets provide associated agricultural processing, distribution and sales services. Due to the small scale of farms that make up a nongken and managers with inadequate experience to oversee modern agricultural production, trade and distribution, the system faces challenges. A new round of reforms kicked off in 2015, aiming to nurture a network of productive and competitive state-owned ag groups, controlling key crop supplies, piloting new tech and actively investing abroad.