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Abstract China's fallow compensation policy is known to be relatively simple and unsophisticated, and in much need of improvement. In seeking such improvement, this paper designed some alternative compensation schemes that include recultivation insurance, priority right of participation in the fallowing work or free agricultural inputs, but lower income subsidy, and reported on a choice experiment of alternatives with 421 peasant-farming households in Chaling County, Hunan Province – a fallow area of heavy-metal-contaminated farmland. A mixed logit model was used to compare the choices made between pilot and non-pilot villages, and the influencing factors involved. The results showed that most farmers preferred the alternative compensation schemes to the current policy, and income subsidy was not the only factor affecting their choices, which indicated recultivation insurance and a longer period of free agricultural inputs were also important. However, the preferences differed between pilot and non-pilot village farmers, in which the pilot village farmers were more willing to accept less income subsidy in favor of increased recultivation insurance and an extended period of free agricultural inputs. By contrast, non-pilot village farmers preferred to adopt an alternative compensation scheme with a priority right of participation in the fallowing work and high level of income subsidy. The possible reason for the differences was that the publicity and training activities provided by the government had changed the preferences of pilot village farmers. Generally, the effects of various forms of economic compensation and single cash payment were different about fallow compensation policy, and the preferences of farmers from different backgrounds might also vary from person to person. Different regions needed to design the fallow compensation policy according to practical problems in the use of farmland and farmers' preferences. Highlights • Choice experiment is used to compare the preference between pilot and non-pilot village farmers. • The effects of various forms of economic compensation and single cash payment are different. • The preferences of farmers from different backgrounds may be different. • Extra attention should be given to works such as fallow publicity and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do Chinese farmers continually utilize high-quality yet scarce cultivated land and extensively construct residences? Why is the Chinese government unable to control the continuous expansion of rural residential land after implementing strict economical and intensive land policies? To answer these questions, we launched a comparative study of three townships in Zhejiang Province. Based on a survey of 576 households and 72 rural government officials, this paper identified the determinants of rural house-building, explored different models of government intervention and provided recommendations for future government efforts. Results showed that (1) children, environment, investment, “mianzi”, and “feng shui” factors were the main driving forces that influence farmers to construct residential structures, although primary and secondary differences in the various townships existed; (2) three problems in the specific governance emerged: the lack of farmers’ unified action, failure to protect the rights of farmers, and the problem of meeting the funds demand of homestead replacement; (3) Actively exploring effective village planning, establishing linkages among stakeholders, effectively promoting farmers’ participation, creating a service-oriented government, and introducing a Public-Private Partnership mechanism may effectively address the problems related to rural residential expansion and governance. The results indicated a need to pay more attention to the motivations of rural house-building, the interests of stakeholders and the funding arrangements of the project in future government intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term intensive use of arable land has caused soil quality degradation and threatened the sustainable development of agriculture. Faced with these challenges, numerous countries and regions have adopted fallow policies with different modes of implementation. Among these places, China has adopted a fallow policy, which is compulsory and has the same compensation standard. This policy has subsequently resulted in new problems, such as farmers' dissatisfaction and financial pressure of the government. Hence, a question on this matter emerges: At present, should China abandon the compulsory mode and adopt a voluntary bidding mode for farmers? We conducted an experiment on 714 farmers in the core area of the Yangtze River Delta region. For the following fallow project, farmers would apply independently according to their willingness and arable land conditions and provide the lowest compensation standard they were willing to accept. The contingent valuation method (CVM) and the Heckman two-stage model were applied in this study. The results showed that (1) the proportion of farmers willing to participate in voluntary bidding mode was as high as 72.83 %, while only 50.84 % opted to participate in the original mode. (2) In addition, the voluntary bidding mode performed better than the original mode in terms of both the scale of fallow land and the compensation expenditure of the government. The regression results showed that (3) women were more likely to participate in the voluntary bidding mode, while farmers with higher agricultural output were more likely not to participate in the original mode. At the same time, farmers with larger arable land and higher agricultural output significantly increased their compensation requirements. We propose that voluntary bidding mode should be piloted in some economically developed areas, and various types of fallow modes should be set according to the willingness of farmers, the scale of arable land, and agricultural output. And public awareness of the dangers of soil degradation and the significance of fallow, as well as the training of farmers in non-agricultural employment skills, must be strengthened. Moreover, the fallow supervision mechanism needs to be improved. • Farmers prefer the voluntary bidding mode. • Voluntary bidding mode is more efficient than binary choice mode. • Voluntary bidding mode can effectively solve the dilemma of China's fallow policy. • Voluntary bidding mode can be piloted in economically developed areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Numerous countries and regions face soil fertility decline and heavy metal pollution. • Farmers' attitudes are positively influenced by the government's implementation, policy function and farmer' value perception. • The main problem of the PRF includes the low cognition level of policy function, the incomplete supervising system and poor supporting system. • Extra attention should be given to works such as policy publicity, supervision and risk management. Numerous countries and regions face soil fertility decline and heavy metal pollution, and China implements a policy of remediation during fallow (PRF) to deal with such challenges. In this study, we examine the evolution of PRF and surveys of farmers' attitudes in China. We present suggestions which can be used as reference for other countries and regions. The Chinese government implemented the policy of remediation during production (PRP) to control the heavy metal pollution of land in 2014. The effect was unsatisfactory due to the lack of cooperation amongst farmers. Therefore, the Chinese government implemented PRF in 2016. Our investigation of 247 farmers shows that farmers' comprehensive assessment of PRF is positively influenced by the cognition of government implementation, the cognition of policy function and the evaluation of value perception, and the PRF still faces several problems, such as low cognitive level of policy function, incomplete regulations of supervision and poor supporting system. Hence, we suggest that government should educate and train farmers, improve the supervision and set up the supporting system of PRF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The mixing of land uses lies at the core of understanding their characteristics in cities. Some existing land use mix measures have been used to quantify the mix degree from different perspectives. However, these existing indices mainly cover only two dimensions of the land use mix concept, namely, distance and quantity, and cannot effectively delineate the picture of land use mix. Thus, we propose a new quantification framework of land use mix by involving a third dimension, that is, the "attribute" level of the land use mix concept. On the basis of this framework, we develop a novel measure called (weighted) vector-based mix degree index (VMDI/WVMDI) to address the compatibility mix degree by incorporating the compatibility relations between different land uses. This novel measure adopts vector land use data and compatibility relations. To some extent, VMDI/WVMDI can overcome some of the deficiencies of existing land use mix measures. We select Guangzhou as a study area in evaluating the proposed measure. In addition, the "head/tail breaks" classification scheme is employed for results with heavy-tailed distribution. By using this scheme, we clearly identify several clustered regions of land use mix in Guangzhou, which might be useful for urban planners and policy makers. Compared with some traditional measures, VMDI/WVMDI can be more efficient in depicting the compatibility relation between land use parcels. Highlights • A more effective quantification framework of land use mix is proposed. • A novel measure is developed to address the compatibility mix degree among different land uses. • The "Head/tail breaks" classification scheme is adopted to reveal the underlying scaling pattern of outcomes in Guangzhou. • By comparing with previous measures, this measure shows some superior at the quantification of compatibility relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • We evaluated urban land-use intensity from input, density and output. • The spillover effects of urban land-use intensity on CO 2 emissions were explored. • A machine learning method (BPNN) was proposed to predict CO 2 emissions. Currently, China will promote county towns' urbanization, and few studies have analyzed spatial effects of urban land-use intensity on CO 2 emissions and predicted CO 2 emissions at the county level accurately. Here, taking data from 2010 to 2015 at the county level of Zhejiang Province as an example, we analyzed the spatial effect of urban land-use intensity from three aspects of input, density and output on CO 2 emissions by the spatial Durbin model (SDM). And then a machine learning method of Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) was proposed to predict CO 2 emissions for 2035 nonlinearly under the different promotions of urban land-use intensity. The main result and conclusion showed that: (1) The spillover effects of urban land-use density were negatively related to CO 2 emissions, and urban land-use output intensity showed positive spillover effects on CO 2 emissions; (2) The prediction of BPNN showed that the improvement of urban land-use intensity would not be effective in CO 2 emissions reductions for southwestern counties with both low levels of urbanization and urban land-use intensity; (3) It was effective in CO 2 emissions reduction by slowing down the growth rate of urban land-use capital input intensity, especially for the northeast region which was developed by the port economy. Our study encouraged a regional differentiated urban land-use intensity improvement strategy for Zhejiang to achieve low carbon development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of organic fertilizer by farmers is an important method for promoting the transition of agricultural production from increasing the yield to improving the quality and safety of agricultural products and realizing the green development of agriculture. The behavior of farmers can have a direct impact on organic fertilizer application, and the active participation of farmers can effectively reduce moral hazards and improve governance efficiency. A consensus appears to have been reached regarding the importance of land property rights stability (LPRS) for farmers' organic fertilizer application (FOFA) in China; however, few studies have focused on the conditions under which LPRS exerts an effect or the extent of the effect. Moreover, the grain-growing purpose and farm size are rarely included as driving factors underlying the impact of LPRS on FOFA; thus, biased estimations are easily formed. This study analyzed the influence mechanism of LPRS on FOFA and its dependent conditions using the 2017 China Rural Household Panel Survey from Zhejiang University and conducted an empirical analysis via a logit model. The results showed that LPRS could enable farmers to apply organic fertilizer, although the degree of its impact will vary due to differences in the grain-growing purpose and farm size. Currently, selling products is not conducive to the application of organic fertilizer and will reduce the positive impact of LPRS on the application of organic fertilizer by farmers, whereas expanding the farm size will enhance the positive impact of LPRS. The government should constantly improve the methods and channels for realizing high-quality and high-priced agricultural products and fully acknowledge the role of market demand in guiding farmers' agricultural production, which will increase their enthusiasm for organic fertilizer application. The government should also improve the contract management system for land transfer to strengthen the ability of farmers to expand their farm size to fully demonstrate the role of large-scale farmers. • Analyze the influencing mechanism of LPRS on FOFA. • Grain-growing purpose and farm size are the driving factors. • Selling grain will reduce the positive impact of LPRS on FOFA. • Expanding farm size will enhance the positive impact of LPRS on FOFA. • High-quality and high-priced agricultural products will encourage FOFA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing evaluation system of cultivated land quality mainly considers the natural quality and utilisation conditions, but without sufficient emphasis on ecological environment, which can't meet the requirements of the trinity pattern protection policy. This study, using GIS spatial analysis and multifactor comprehensive evaluation method, constructed a comprehensive evaluation index system, and applied it in Shengzhou. The results show that: (1) under the comprehensive evaluation system, the quality of cultivated land was classified into five levels and revealed normal distribution with the third level cultivated land area as the peak, successive reduction to the two poles, and the overall quality was good relatively; (2) A close relationship was observed between the quality grade of cultivated land and the landform, the valley plain with highest cultivated land quality was the main grain-producing areas. However, the cultivated land in mountainous areas was poor relatively, and vulnerable to geological disasters; (3) The quality grade of cultivated land was related to economical activities directly. The high-quality cultivated land resources made these towns the main grain-producing areas with many agricultural industries distribution. This study provided a new assessment approach that can support cultivated land grading, quality improvement, and sustainable usage, as well as providing a reference for related research and application., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.