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Agricultural sustainability has important value for boosting regional growth. In recent years, the unprecedented expansion of rice–crayfish field (RCF) in the rural areas of mid-China has raised great concerns in terms of its spatiotemporal dynamics and socioeconomic impact. With Jianli City in mid-China as a case, this study aimed to (1) comprehensively investigate the land-use change in RCF with combined remote sensing and geospatial data analysis, (2) delineate the variations of RCF and socioeconomic benefits from 2010 to 2019 and (3) explore the influencing factors and driving mechanism by using a multiscale geographically weighted regression model. Results illustrated that the RCF development in Jianli City showed an overall uptrend between 2000 and 2019. The area of RCF in 2019 expanded by 599.95% from 2015 levels (from 10,350 ha to 72,445 ha). These extensively expanded RCFs were mainly converted from paddy fields and are distributed around the water area. In terms of socioeconomic benefits, the economic income of villagers increased, whilst the number of out-migrant workers decreased. RCF development effectively contributed to regional economic growth and reduced rural depopulation, thereby facilitating rural transformation from traditional agricultural to characteristic agriculture. The findings clearly showed the spatiotemporal dynamics of RCF and its positive impact on the socioeconomic development of rural areas, thus providing evidence for formulating targeted rural revitalisation policies to achieve rural sustainability. • The spatiotemporal dynamics of rice–crayfish field (RCF) in mid-China is explored. • The positive relationship between RCF and socioeconomic is illustrated. • Multiscale geographically weighted regression uncovers the scale effect and spatial heterogeneity of influencing factors. • RCF injects vitality into sustainable agriculture and rural revitalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]