This study aims to assess the willingness of the new generation of farmers in China to return to their hometowns for the purpose of contributing to rural tourism. Based on the hierarchy of effects models (HOE) and the social representation theory (SRT), this study utilized an analysis model of perceived rural tourism impacts (P), sense of place (SoP), and willingness to participate (WTP) by the new generation of farmers, where sense of place was deconstructed into the two independent dimensions of place identification (PI) and place attachment (PA). A total of 263 valid questionnaire surveys were collected in Yanling County, a demonstration county for leisure agriculture and rural tourism in China. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used to analyze the data. The results show that the perceived impacts of rural tourism on the new generation of farmers had a significant positive impact on their willingness to participate in the development of rural tourism. It was also found that sense of place played a mediating role in the perceived impacts of rural tourism and willingness to participate. Additionally, perceived impacts of rural tourism had a significant positive effect on place identity, where place identity played a mediating role between perceived impacts of rural tourism and place attachment. Place identity had a significant positive effect on place attachment, and place attachment played a mediating role between place identity and willingness to participate. The practical implications of these findings for future research and rural tourism development are also discussed.

As a large agricultural country and a populous country, the development of agricultural and rural areas is the foundation for China to realize a national rejuvenation. Leisure agriculture is the main carrier of industry integration in China’s rural areas and it is an effective means to realize rural revitalization and increase farmers’ income. Industry convergence refers to a dynamic development process in which different industries or different areas of the same industry penetrate and intersect each other and finally merge into one, gradually forming a new industry. However, there is no empirical study on the staged impact of rural agriculture on rural household income and regional differences. This article breaks down the action mechanisms, analyzes the linear impact of leisure agriculture on the income of farmers and divides the development types of leisure agriculture according to the characteristics of leisure agriculture development. Using the provincial panel data from 2008 to 2016, the panel dual-threshold regression model was used to verify the regional differences in the impact of leisure agriculture on farmers’ income, from the perspective of leisure agriculture on farmers’ nominal and actual incomes. Then, the robustness model was used to test leisure agriculture’s impact on farmers’ income. The results show that the impact of leisure agriculture on the income of farmers is staged. Among them, the impact of leisure agriculture on the nominal income of farmers is an “inverted U-shaped” structure and the impact on actual income is an “N-type” structure. At the same time, the paper also finds that the regional differences in the impact of leisure agriculture on farmers’ income are significant and the constraints on the development of leisure agriculture in different regions are different. Based on this, it is proposed that the government should respond to the different development stages of leisure agriculture according to the time, and according to the different development areas of leisure agriculture. Responses should also be based on local conditions, and work to strengthen the participation of farmers.