Farmland scale management (FSM) is an essential strategy to establish an appropriate management scale for agricultural production, enhance smallholder farmer production efficiency, and improve the utilization rate of farmland. The Chinese government promotes farmland transfer as a tool to establish modern and moderate-scale agriculture. However, farmers remain unable to afford agricultural services and inputs required for appropriate FSM after farmland is transferred-in. This paper aims to examine the impact of agricultural socialized services (ASSs) on the FSM behavior of smallholder farmers through farmland transfer. A theoretical framework for the farmer household production aspect of this relationship is developed. A weighted least squares (WLS) model is applied to empirically examine smallholder farmers’ decisions to expand the scale of farmland induced by the promotion of ASSs based on data collected from 741 households in 2020 in the rice-growing region of southern China. The findings reveal that ASSs have a positive and significant impact on small farmers’ FSM. Small farmers’ behavior regarding farmland transfer is affected positively by the promotion of ASSs. The increase of ASSs encourages small farmers to transfer-in more farmland. However, the impact of ASSs on various steps of agricultural practice varied according to the FSM of smallholder farmers. Our findings imply that the government should take the development of ASSs as one of the main methods for promoting the establishment of moderate and large-scale agriculture and rural revitalization. Strengthening policies and financial support for both private and public ASS providers through financial innovation subsidies and preferential tax policies will help smallholder farmers reduce input costs and increase the scale of production and profits. The findings of this paper will provide a scientific basis and reference for the development of moderate-scale agriculture and rural revitalization.

Introduction: This study investigates the impact of Agricultural Socialized Services (ASSs) on the green production behavior (GPB) of smallholder farmers in the main rice production region of southern China. The research aims to address the gap in understanding the relationship between ASSs and the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices by smallholder farmers.Methodology: Data was collected from 741 smallholder farmers in Hunan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces using a structured questionnaire. A probit model was employed to examine the relationship between ASSs and smallholder farmers’ GPB.Results and Discussion: The study revealed that ASSs have a significant and positive impact on smallholder farmers’ GPB. Farmers who received ASSs tended to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices such as using organic fertilizer and soil-tested formula fertilizer. The findings of this study have important implications for policymakers. The results suggest that policymakers should prioritize the development of services to agricultural producers and strengthen Agricultural Service Systems. This can be achieved through optimizing the public administration service system, establishing joint service organizations, and creating a good financial and legal service environment. By doing so, policymakers can promote the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and the overall development of the agricultural sector.

Farmland holding fragmentation facilitates more extensive use of agricultural chemicals, which harm the natural environment. Agricultural land transfer in China aims to consolidate agricultural holdings, promoting economies of scale and addressing socio-economic and environmental concerns. This systematic review aims to examine the impact of agricultural land transfer on the environment. The review evaluates 60 empirical research articles retrieved through the Web of Science and SCOPUS databases, which discuss the relationship between agricultural land transfer and the environment. The findings indicate that agricultural land transfer has both positive and negative impacts on the environment. Farmers who engage in land rental and adopt sustainable agricultural practices, including the utilization of organic fertilizers, implementation of conservation measures, and application of efficient carbon reduction techniques, have demonstrated a notable positive influence on the environment. The lack of regulatory mechanisms concerning agricultural land transfer, including non-adjacent agricultural land transfer and large-scale farmers’ improper chemical utilization, causes significant negative environmental consequences such as biodiversity loss and ecosystem destruction. As such, we recommend innovative institutional developments addressing spatial and temporal considerations, land use, market systems, and household conditions to reconcile the links between agricultural land transfer policy and environmental outcomes. We urge continued research into the multidimensional and potential effects of agricultural land transfer to facilitate better-informed policy-making.

Sustainable agricultural inputs are essential for enhancing food security, promoting development, and ensuring resilience in rapidly emerging economies; however, studies utilizing the advanced autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to investigate their impact on agriculture-driven economic growth remain limited. This research aims to fill this gap by employing a dynamic ARDL simulation model to analyze the relationship between sustainable agricultural inputs and economic growth in the agricultural sector, utilizing annual time series data spanning from 1983 to 2023. The analysis includes unit root tests, which affirm the stationarity of all variables, and the ARDL bounds test, which reveals a significant long-run cointegrating relationship among them. Our findings indicate that the expansion of irrigated areas and increased usage of chemical fertilizers contribute significantly to agricultural economic growth in both the short and long run, while agricultural mechanization only positively affects growth in the short run. Notably, the variable representing crop-sown land does not exhibit a statistically significant impact on agricultural economic growth across both time frames. Furthermore, the results from novel DYARDL simulations, which assess the implications of 10% positive and negative shocks, further substantiate both short-run and long-run analysis outcomes. The insights generated from this study highlight the critical role that sustainable agricultural inputs play in agricultural economic dynamics and provide evidence-based recommendations for fostering resilient, low-input systems that support global food security and agro-environmental sustainability.

Small and fragmented arable land is a key challenge for small-scale agricultural countries, resulting in low labor productivity, ecological damage, and inefficient land use. To cope with this challenge, the farmland transfer (FLT) policy is implemented to establish modern agriculture based on specialization and scale enlargement. Despite the rising body of literature, an overview of the effect of this policy is lacked. This paper aimed to examine the multi-dimensional effects of FLT in China. A systematic search of the Web of Science and Scopus databases revealed 26 full-text peer-reviewed articles. We found that FLT had both positive and negative effects, and its effects were mainly mediated by intermediary factors. Non-contingent FLT and post-FLT actions were responsible for the adverse effects of FLT. In the literature, the influence of FLT on the environment is the most concerning issue. The results also show that the existing evidence on the effect of FLT is insufficient; therefore, this paper proposes to further exploration of the multi-dimensional effects of FLT, institutional feedback, and trade-offs. While FLT offers the potential to address socio-economic and environmental challenges, this study suggests that an institutional framework that takes into account spatial and temporal aspects, land-use, market systems, and household conditions is needed to promote favorable development, and mitigate potential land market problems and ensure sustainable development. Despite significant limitations remain, the literature on the socio-economic and environmental effects of FLT is increasing.