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One of the effective ways to crack the "Three Rural Issues" and promote rural revitalization is to improve agricultural labor productivity (ALP). However, at this stage, improving China's ALP is still facing many obstacles and bottlenecks. Promoting migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship is an important breakthrough point for solving this problem. This paper regards the pilot policy of migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship as a quasi-natural experiment and empirically investigates the influence of migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship on ALP and explores its potential mechanism and heterogeneity using county area panel data from 2011–2019. It found the following: Firstly, the policy of migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship significantly increases ALP. Secondly, migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship indirectly leads to a rise in ALP through the promotion of agricultural mechanization production. Thirdly, the heterogeneity test demonstrates that migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship purposes have a significant influence in enhancing ALP in the eastern areas, plains areas and non-agricultural strong areas. The findings of this paper not only provide an important real-world basis for the government to further support migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship but also provide useful policy insights for the modernization and development of agriculture and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is a traditional agricultural country, and the integration of rural industries has become an essential policy direction for the current strategy of agricultural modernization in China. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the level of integrated rural industry development in China, identify problems in the development process, and combine analysis of related theories and practices of rural industry integration to propose strategies to enhance the level of integrated rural industry development in China. Hence, this paper, rooted in the integration of rural industries, cross-industry, industry extension, industry agglomeration, and industry penetration, sets up a measurement index system. Using provincial panel data from 2011 to 2020, the paper measures the level of integrated development in rural industries across China and its 31 provinces. Research indicates that during the sample period, the overall level of integrated development in rural industries in various provinces in China has shown an upward trend. Development among the eastern, central, and western regions is highly uneven, but this disparity has been gradually narrowing in recent years. Furthermore, the levels of integrated development in different provinces exhibit significant spatial agglomeration effects. The development level of neighboring regions significantly impacts the province's development status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing agricultural productivity and reducing carbon emissions are two major challenges that China faces. This paper explores how agricultural insurance affects agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) that addresses these two challenges. First, we adopt DDF-GML to measure AGTFP, and the Dagum's Gini decompositions results show the large differences in AGTFP, with transvariation between subregions contributing the most. Second, we find the U-shaped effect of agricultural insurance on AGTFP in a large country context. The result remains robust after adjusting for time, sample and estimation method of AGTFP. We also construct instrumental variables from the minimum distance from the centroid of counties within a province to the 45 ports in China and two-stage lagged agricultural insurance penetration (AIP) for AIP, and their squares as instrumental variables for AIP2. The conclusion remains robust in 2SLS model. Third, the findings confirm three channels for agricultural insurance to influence the AGTFP: environmentally friendly production, labor inputs and operation scale. We further propose policy advice to promote China's agricultural modernization and point out further research directions in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is one of the three major industries in China, and its level of development occupies an important position in the development of the national economy. At present, China vigorously promotes the strategy of rural revitalization, which provides new opportunities for agricultural modernization. Since modern agriculture and regional economy are coupled in a mutually influencing and constraining relationship, this paper constructs a coupled and coordinated evaluation index system of agricultural modernization and regional economic development. Using the entropy value method and coupled coordination degree model, the comprehensive development level and coordinated development degree of agricultural modernization and regional economic development of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and cities in China from 2011 to 2020 were evaluated, revealing the time evolution and spatial distribution characteristics of the two systems. The results show that: (1) In the past decade, China's agricultural modernization and regional economy have made some progress in terms of their respective development levels and the degree of coupling and coordination between them. (2) In terms of spatial evolution, there are obvious regional differences between the two systems, and the coupling coordination degree shows a "ladder" distribution pattern from the east to the central, northeastern, and western parts of the country. (3) Regions with a high level of regional economic development also have a relatively high degree of coupling and coordination between agricultural modernization and regional economic development. Our results provide insights into the economic effects of agricultural modernization in China and provide useful insights into the future direction of agricultural development programs in countries around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Rural environmental governance serves as the foundational pillar of national governance, intricately linked to the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, as well as the cultivation of rural culture. Furthermore, it plays a pivotal role in fostering industrial prosperity, ensuring effective governance, and elevating living standards. This study employs a range of sophisticated software tools, including VOSviewer, Bibliometrix, and ArcGIS, among others, to analyze and construct a comprehensive knowledge map encompassing 3370 research articles focused on rural environmental governance, sourced from the CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) and WOS (Web of Science) databases. This analytical endeavor delves into research themes, key areas of interest, developmental milestones, and emerging trends within the realm of rural environmental governance, thereby shedding light on the overarching trajectory of research endeavors in this domain within China. The findings reveal distinct phases in the evolution of research trends in the Chinese rural environmental governance literature, encompassing four distinct epochs: a period of sluggish growth (2002–2009), a phase of accelerated expansion (2009–2014), a span marked by stable and rapid advancement (2014–2021), and a recent period characterized by fluctuating decline (2021–2022). Moreover, the analysis highlights a burgeoning diversity in the distribution of relevant research disciplines. However, it is noteworthy that there exists a scarcity of highly prolific authors, and the formation of cohesive research teams has encountered challenges, underscoring significant deficiencies in research collaboration and academic discourse. As a prospective direction, future research should be tailored to the unique natural resources and socio-human characteristics intrinsic to different regions. It should also emphasize interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary investigations, with a focal point on economically disadvantaged regions situated in the central and western parts of the nation. Such an approach aims to bolster the overall caliber of domestic research endeavors in the field of rural environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of the digital economy, rural e-commerce has emerged as a compelling catalyst for driving the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. It has given rise to notable exemplars such as "Taobao villages" and "Taobao towns", paving the way for scalable pathways toward rural revitalization. The transition from Taobao villages to Taobao towns signifies the evolution of rural e-commerce from scattered nodes to interconnected networks, reflecting a significant development trend. While existing studies have primarily focused on the spatiotemporal patterns of Taobao villages, limited research has been conducted on the spatiotemporal characteristics and the underlying evolution mechanism of Taobao towns. To fill the research gap, this study investigates the spatial-temporal evolution of Taobao towns employing geospatial methods and identifies key contributing factors using GeoDetector in China. The results show that: (1) The coverage of Taobao towns expands year by year in all provinces and cities, showing a "T-shaped and three-center" spatial pattern with a decreasing gradient from southeast to northwest. (2) Taobao towns in the central area are developing rapidly and are becoming an emerging development center. (3) The development of Taobao towns is the result of a combination of multiple factors, including regional economic base, social environment, market atmosphere, transportation conditions, infrastructure construction, etc. The study can provide Chinese experience for rural development and transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural production contributes to the increase in global carbon emissions. It is crucial to improve output and reduce carbon emissions in the context of agricultural modernization, for which improved carbon emission efficiency is key. However, the role of agricultural modernization in promoting agricultural carbon emission efficiency is not clear. Hence, the aim of this article is to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution of agricultural modernization and agricultural carbon emission efficiency in China from 2000 to 2019 and to reveal the relationship between agricultural modernization and agricultural carbon emission efficiency. The results showed that (1) in China, the overall level of agricultural modernization has been steadily increasing, and the regional differences are widening, showing a spatial pattern characterized by a gradual decline from the eastern and central regions to the western region. (2) China's agricultural carbon emission efficiency continues to grow but has not achieved a data envelopment analysis (DEA) effect, with the eastern and western regions having higher agricultural carbon efficiency than the central region. The regional differences first narrow and then expand. (3) Agricultural modernization significantly promotes agricultural carbon emission efficiency in both the province and the neighboring provinces, and the interprovincial spillover effect exceeds the direct effect within the province. A nonlinear correlation exists between agricultural modernization and agricultural carbon emission efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-2000s, rural development and politics in China has entered a new phase that revolves around what the central government calls 'agricultural modernization'. Transforming the once-dominant smallholding, family-based agriculture has become a focal point of the government's programme of rural rejuvenation, where a range of economic changes unleashed by urbanization and industrialization also converge. We argue that in this new context, agrarian change has become the key vantage point from which to study rural China. We review key contributions of the papers in this special issue and highlight their insights on rural differentiation, land politics and rural livelihoods. We discuss how studying the ' Chinese path' of agrarian transition can contribute to ongoing debates on key themes in agrarian studies, including both the agrarian questions of capital and of labour, and how agrarian political economy offers unique perspectives on the overall processes of capitalist development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture, countryside and peasantry have been priority concerns of the Chinese government, with land and agriculture being the most crucial. With a growing population, less arable land and often relatively low-quality land, Chinese peasant agriculture has been undergoing a form of modernization. While peasants enjoy land-contract rights as a result of the Household Responsibility System ( HRS), the state has been promoting transfer of land-use rights in order to promote modern agriculture. This paper seeks to understand recent developments in land and agriculture, particularly exploring the transitions of land and agricultural institutions since 1949 and land transfers since the HRS. In so doing, this paper reveals that the state has been strategically responding to various challenges in order that land institutions and policies are always geared to achieving agricultural modernization. During the state's continual drive for modernizations, particularly agricultural modernization, peasants' livelihood is impacted and needs to be protected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The act of land transfer in rural areas is an important decision-making mechanism for farmers, to enhance resource allocation efficiency and promote capital mobility, and this act is of strategic importance in promoting the level of agricultural scale and mechanization, land system change, and, thus, the sustainable development of livelihoods and production in China. This study aims to explore farmers' decision-making mechanisms in the process of land transfer in rural areas, by constructing a theoretical framework. Structural equation modeling was used, based on data from a survey of rural families in the Liaoning Province area of Northeastern China. The main findings are as follows: (1) The seven types of exogenous latent variables, including environmental vulnerability, policy, and five main livelihood assets (natural capital, physical capital, financial capital, human capital, and social capital), are intermediary in farmers' land transfer behavior, which then positively affect farmers' livelihood outcomes. (2) Among the exogenous latent variables affecting farmers' land transfer, human assets have the most significant positive effect, followed by social assets and physical assets, family labor force share, frequency of work information exchange, and number of production tools, greatly affect the corresponding variable. (3) Natural assets play the most important role and have a negative effect on farmers' land transfer decision; contracted area of land per family is the greatest impacted measurable variable of this. The results of the study suggest that the government should strengthen skills training for farmers, improve the land transfer policy system, and provide appropriate subsidies in a regionally targeted manner. Thus, it can promote the transformation of Chinese-style agricultural modernization and achieve rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the impact of economic modernization on carbon balance is an essential endeavor to achieve carbon neutrality and combat climate change. However, the spatial impact of economic modernization on carbon balance remains ambiguous. Therefore, this study aims to explore the spatial spillover effects of agricultural modernization, industrialization, and urbanization on carbon balance during the economic modernization process in China, taking 30 provinces and cities in China as examples from 2010 to 2021. This study utilizes the spatial Durbin model to derive the following results: In the past decade, the carbon balance ratio has shown a fluctuating and decreasing dynamic evolution trend. There is an increase in regions with serious carbon deficits. Further investigation into the spatial spillover effect of carbon balance unveils that for every 1% increase in the carbon balance ratio of a province, neighboring provinces experience a decrease of 0.833%. Additionally, the spatial spillover effects of the three modernizations in China on the carbon balance ratio behave differently. Agricultural modernization and urbanization demonstrate negative spatial spillover effects on the carbon balance in neighboring regions, while industrialization exerts a significant positive spatial spillover effect on the carbon balance of neighboring regions. Regarding control variables, the level of innovation solely contributes to local carbon balance realization without generating a trickle-down effect, whereas infrastructure development operates inversely. At the same time, there are differences in the spatial effects of agricultural modernization and industrialization on the carbon balance between the eastern region and the central and western regions. The study underscores the importance of economic modernization and development processes focusing on fostering synergistic growth between economic and environmental benefits within both local and neighboring areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important task of China’s agricultural development is to achieve modernization in all respects. The rural revitalization strategy was first introduced in the report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. This strategy now stands as the general guiding principle and central task of China’s agricultural initiatives in the new era and serves as a pivotal move toward advancing agricultural modernization. Taking into consideration the current situation of China’s agricultural development, the authors analyze the factors driving agricultural modernization and project the trajectory of agricultural modernization by 2035. The findings indicate that China has created a conducive institutional and development environment in production, consumption, industry, science and technology, trade, etc., thereby laying a solid foundation for its agricultural modernization. Projections suggest that by 2035, China will establish itself as the world’s preeminent nation in agricultural production and consumption, a powerhouse in agricultural industrialization and agricultural product trading, and a leading country in agricultural science and technology. However, China still faces tremendous challenges in terms of consumption structures, quality requirements, industrial development, format innovation, production methods, service functions, scientific and technological levels, and personnel structure. Therefore, on the path to agricultural modernization, China still needs to advance the structural reforms on the agricultural supply side, shift its agricultural production and operation methods, elevate its level of opening up in agriculture, and foster a deeper integration between urban and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is undergoing a rapid agrarian transition from dispersed household farming to large-scale, mechanized, and commercialized agricultural production, while retaining collective rural land ownership. Reforms have encouraged transfers of rural land to new subjects of agriculture including agribusinesses, family farmers, and cooperatives, leading to capitalist dynamics in agriculture both from above and from below. Central-state pressure to scale up and modernize agriculture has led local governments to engage in creative experimentation with new institutional forms. This article investigates one such innovation, which has been widely lauded as an important model: the creation of an "agricultural co-management system" in Chongzhou City, Sichuan province, which combines land shareholding cooperatives (LSCs), the hiring of new professional farm managers for the LSCs, and state-provided agricultural services aimed at modernization. We demonstrate that the Chongzhou government's experimentation arose from political economic incentives to capitalize and modernize agriculture as well as the locally specific circumstances of the failure of a dragonhead enterprise. Examining the three components of the agricultural co-management system in depth, we argue that it has deepened rural differentiation through a process of state-led accumulation, and that the continued scaling up of LSCs in the context of a new modern agricultural functional zone threatens to further erode shareholder control. These LSCs, set within the agricultural co-management system, are a new subject of agriculture that combine elements of capitalization from above and below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of dual economic structure, there occurs shift of numerous rural surplus labors in China. As a special group lingering about in the edges of urban and rural areas, the new generation farmers become a hot spot of research. How to help them smoothly become successors of China's agricultural modernization construction is a focus of academic circles. Based on literature review, this paper analyzed connotation of development capability of new generation farmers from agricultural modernization, thinking ability construction, system and policy, and new farmers. Finally, it came up with prospect for development of new generation farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the survey on agricultural technolog extension system in Hanjiang District of Yanghou City, this paper analyzed possible problems in the agricultural technolog extension system. Combining with newly revised Agricultural Technology Extension Law and modem agricultural extension theory, it discussed the new development direction. Finally, it came up with approaches and measures for establishing the agicultural technolog extension system in Hanjiang District. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanded agricultural trade deficit in recent years concern about the international competitiveness of Chinese agricultural products. In this paper, guided by Michael Porter's diamond model theory, based on agricultural production and trade data in China and the world from 1986 to 2011, we use principal component analysis, cointegration and vector error correction model, to perform an empirical analysis of the impact of agricultural modernization , economic growth and industrialization on the international competitiveness of Chinese agricultural products. The results show that China's agricultural modernization is slow, the demand for agricultural products caused by economic growth is increased, and excessive rural labor transfer due to industrialization leads to decline in the international competitiveness of Chinese agricultural products. China should increase its efforts to promote the modernization of agriculture and level of industry nurturing agriculture ; use WTO rules to create a good international and domestic environment for the development of China's agriculture and improvement of the international competitiveness of agricultural products; give full play to the role of demand n boosting the industrial upgrading of domestic agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data related to the Chinese and world agricultural production and trade from 1986 to 2011, this paper uses the principal component analysis, cointegration and vector error correction model to perform the empirical analysis of the impact of processing, import and export of agricultural products on the agricultural modernization in China. The results show that the processing and export of agricultural products play a role in promoting the agricultural modernization in China, while the import of agricultural products has some negative effects on the agricultural modernization in China. The negative effects of the import of agricultural products are from the limitations of farmers' small-scale operation and foreign trading partners' protectionism. China should further develop the processing industry of agricultural products, and strengthen the role of downstream industries in promoting the agricultural modernization; improve the level of large-scale and intensive operation, and make good use of WTO rules, in order to provide the necessary market conditions for the agricultural modernization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the political trajectory of agribusiness firms called 'dragon head enterprises' in China's ongoing agri-food transformations. It starts from the premise that state and private elites in China are working together to consolidate a robust domestic agribusiness sector, as both an arena for national-level rural and economic development, and a new frontier for access to resources and markets abroad. Through analyses of policy documents, market share data and ethnographic materials, I explore the organization and operation of dragon heads in the pork sector. My findings reveal that agribusiness development in China's pork sector is largely domestic, has a mixed state-private form and tends to marginalize the foreign-based TNCs that have been the most powerful actors in the global agri-food system to date. I argue that China is not only a destination for 'external' transnational capital, but also a site of agribusiness development in its own right. This has important implications for analysing capitalist transformations and for engaging global agri-food politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unsustainability of China's agricultural production requires an urgent shift from traditional to more sustainable practices; however, the acceleration thereof remains challenging. New agricultural business entities (NABEs) lead agricultural modernization and strongly guide the application of innovative agricultural technologies and models. Thus, an understanding of the factors that influence NABEs' adoption of sustainable intensification practices will promote their widespread adoption. We developed a model based on innovation diffusion theory and the technology–organization–environment framework, which can both distinguish the influencing factors at different adoption stages and identify the influencing factors of technology adoption from a multidimensional perspective. The results indicate that differences in regional agroecological endowments emerge as the most important influencing factor. Relative advantage, perceived barriers, and agricultural extension services have a significant effect on adoption intention and decision, but a smaller effect on intention. Management and risk response capacities have a significant positive effect on adoption decisions, but no effect on intention. Meanwhile, organizational size has no effect on adoption intention or decision. Adoption intention significantly positively influences, but only partially explains, adoption decisions. Our findings provide a basis for technology promoters to categorize potential adopters by technology adoption stage and provide targeted strategies to stimulate technology demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]