The fact that agricultural production is based on family management is determined by its own particularity, and family farms are new-type agricultural management entities that lead moderate-scale operations and develop modern agriculture. The development of family farms in China is still in its infancy, and advanced family farms are needed to play an exemplary role, thereby driving the overall high-quality development of family farms. Since the release of the No. 1 Central Document in 2013, identification documents for demonstration family farms have been successively issued across China. However, there is little literature that discusses the scientificity and validity of the criteria for the identification of demonstration family farms in these documents. This paper collects the identification documents of 21 provincial and 31 municipal demonstration family farms, sorts out and compares the evaluation conditions and requirements of the demonstration family farms proposed by them, and finds that most of these identification standards have the following problems. (1) The specific requirements are out of touch with the defining provisions, which are not conducive to the selection of demonstration model family farms. For example, there is no corresponding quantitative indicator to ensure the stipulations of “agriculture-based income” and “family members as the main labor force”. Most of the operating scales only have lower limit requirements and no upper limit requirements. The business entities engaged in non-agricultural production, large professional households and corporate farms may be rated as demonstration family farms. (2) The identification standard is too low and the demonstration family farm is not advanced enough, which is not conducive to the demonstration role. For example, there are no requirements for the farmer’s age, education level, operating experience, and the level of new technology adoption and mechanization on the farm. (3) Provincial standards and municipal standards are not separated, which is not conducive to promoting the high-quality development of family farms at different development levels. In addition to the fact that the provincial requirements are significantly higher than the municipal requirements in terms of the operating area, the provincial standards for other assessment conditions and requirements are not much different from the municipal standards. (4) There are too few ecological performance indicators in the identification standard, which is not conducive to the green development of family farms in the new era. Although some demonstration family farm identification documents put forward the requirements of “three products and one indication” (pollution-free agricultural products, green food, organic agricultural products and geographical indications of agricultural products), the requirements for green environmental protection are too low to meet the requirements of the era of green agricultural development. At present, the problems existing in the identification standards of demonstration family farms in various places are related to the short development time and overall low level of family farms in China. But the selection of demonstration family farms should focus on demonstration and leadership, rather than taking care of the majority. The practices in some places (such as Jiangsu Province) are worth learning.Recommendation: firstly, there should be a clear quantitative requirement for the proportion of the agricultural income of the demonstration family farm, the number of family members participating in the farm operation, and the proportion of hired labor, and the upper limit of the operation scale should be specified. Secondly, the threshold conditions for the identification of demonstration family farms should be increased appropriately. For example, the farmer should be under the age of 55, the education level should be above secondary school and high school, and at least one new technology should be used in the past three years. Thirdly, the identification standards of provincial demonstration family farms should be improved significantly to make the provincial standards significantly different from municipal ones. Finally, the requirements for ecological performance should be included in the standard. For example, the intensity of chemical fertilizer and pesticide use and the utilization rate of organic fertilizer are included in the identification standards of the demonstration family farm.