This study scientifically evaluated the status of farmers’ social capital and group differences, in order to increase farmers’ social capital, leverage the positive effect of social capital on rural governance, and promote the modernization of rural governance. From the perspective of rural governance, this study created an index system for farmers’ social capital with five dimensions, including social network, social trust, social reputation, social participation, and social norms. The CRITIC method was adopted to determine the weight of indicators for the measurement of farmers’ social capital. Independent-sample t test and one-way ANOVA method were used to analyze the differences among different groups. The results show that: the weights of the dimensions from large to small are social norms, social trust, social participation, social reputation and social network. The average value of farmers’ social capital index is 0.608, and the scores of the five dimensions from high to low are social trust (0.755), social participation (0.631), social reputation (0.620), social norms (0.588) and social network (0.417). There is no significant intergenerational difference in farmers’ social capital; social capital index, social network, social participation and social norms show significant differences according to the educational level of farmers, and show an upward trend with the rising of the highest level of educational attainment of family members. There are significant differences in social capital index, social network, social trust, social reputation and social participation among farmers with different social identities, these indicators of rural families with members of village cadres, party members and soldiers (including veterans) are higher than those of other rural families. The social capital of farmers in the survey area is at a low level, and it can be increased by the provision of education and training, as well as improving the political literacy of farmers. Based on fundamental problems and group differences, this paper puts forward solutions to cultivate farmers’ social capital by differentiated measures.