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Achieving coordination between grassland ecological conservation and livestock production is a global concern. Based on the survey data for 818 herders in China, we empirically analyzed grassland rental's (GR) impact on herders' technical efficiency (TE) and overgrazing under a unified framework. Results indicate that GR offers concurrent benefits of improving TE and reducing overgrazing; it helps to achieve a win-win situation between livestock production and grassland conservation. However, GR does little to promote TE by reducing overgrazing. Further analysis reveals that GR's promotion effect on TE and the inhibition effect on overgrazing are heterogeneous among different income groups and grassland types. GR plays a stronger role in improving TE and reducing overgrazing by low-income herders, which is conducive in narrowing the animal husbandry development gap between rich and poor. The key policy implication is that GR should be encouraged under the condition of strengthening supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buckwheat is an important coarse grain often grown in China's marginal and dry mountainous areas; however, few empirical studies have quantified the factors that increase land productivity and encourage buckwheat farmers' market participation. To address this gap in the literature, this study aims to empirically identify the factors associated with the land productivity of buckwheat, those associated with buckwheat farmers' decisions regarding market participation, and those associated with buckwheat selling prices; unique survey data collected from rural buckwheat farmers in China in 2016 are used for the analysis. Our estimation results showed that fertilizer costs and rental machine costs were negatively associated with buckwheat income, indicating the sub-optimality of buckwheat farming. Farmers are likely to sell their buckwheat at high prices if they conduct the initial processing and sell it to processing firms. Providing technical training on the initial processing and information on market channels for buckwheat farmers could serve as efficacious policy interventions. The household head's educational attainment was positively associated with buckwheat productivity and market participation, indicating the importance of the effort to narrow the educational gap between urban and rural areas in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we use the combination weight of game theory to evaluate a comprehensive index of new-type urbanization and then dynamic panel data for Chinese provinces over the period 2001 to 2016 to investigate the synergistic effects between financial development and improvement in new-type urbanization. Our results are based on system-generalized method of moments, and estimators indicate that the financial development variable measured by each dimension has different impacts on the level of new-type urbanization, respectively. The level of financial deepening measured by the total loan balance of all financial institutions divided by gross domestic product has the maximum impact on urbanization, and the financial structure has a minimal effect, confirming that a bank-dominated financial system supports improvement in new-type urbanization at the current stage. From the perspective of time periods, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a more obvious effect in the post-crisis period than the period 2001 to 2008. The stock market's promotion effect on new-type urbanization also increased; thus, it is playing a greater role. These results imply that policies such as improving SMEs efficiency, optimizing the financial structure, and relaxing restrictions on private investment are likely to promote further improvement in new-type urbanization in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the relative inefficiency of China's grassland utilisation compared to that of developed countries, this study analyses the social interaction effect of rotational grazing and its mechanisms of influence on the individual rotational grazing behaviour of herders from the perspective of social economics. In doing so, we conducted an empirical evaluation with micro survey data from 820 herders in Inner Mongolia and the Gansu pastoral areas. The results generally indicate that there is a positive social interaction effect of rotational grazing on the behaviour of herders. Specifically, social interaction affects herders' rotational grazing behaviour via two channels: endogenous interaction and contextual interaction. Endogenous interaction increases the likelihood of rotational grazing being adopted through the information acquisition and experience communication mechanisms. Contextual interaction improves the likelihood of rotational grazing being adopted through the ecological demonstration effect. In addition, the social interaction effect on rotational grazing is heterogeneous due to differences in natural capital and the human capital of herders, and this effect is stronger in herders with more grassland plots, lower education levels, and a higher animal husbandry labour force. Finally, this study also discovered that rotational grazing improves herders' evaluation of grassland ecology; this corresponds to the conclusions of grazing experiments. The policy implications of these findings regarding the sustainable use of grassland are as follows: first, rotational grazing can be considered to be an incentive item that should be included in China's Subsidy and Incentive System for Grassland Conservation (SISGC) in order to promote the sustainable use of grasslands. Second, policy incentives can generate a social multiplier effect through the social interaction effect of rotational grazing, which amplifies the effect of the policy, promotes the formation of a rotational grazing system, and improves the overall grazing method. Finally, this policy can prioritise pastoral areas with severe grassland fragmentation and animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood for herders. • There is an observed positive social interaction effect for the adoption of rotational grazing on the part of herders. • Social interaction affects herders' rotational grazing behaviour through endogenous interaction and contextual interaction. • The social interaction effect is heterogeneous due to differences in the natural capital and human capital of herders. • Rotational grazing improves herders' evaluation of grassland ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercropping entails the concurrent production of two or more crop species in the same field. This traditional farming method generally results in a highly efficient use of land, but whether it also contributes to a higher technical efficiency remains unclear. Technical efficiency refers to the efficiency with which a given set of natural resources and other inputs can be used to produce crops. In this study, we examined the contribution of maize-based relay-strip intercropping to the technical efficiency of smallholder farming in northwest China. Data on the inputs and crop production of 231 farms were collected for the 2013 agricultural season using a farm survey held in Gaotai County, Gansu Province, China. Controlling for other factors, we found that the technical efficiency scores of these farms were positively affected by the proportion of land assigned to intercropping. This finding indicates that the potential negative effects of intercropping on the use efficiency of labour and other resources are more than offset by its higher land-use efficiency when compared with monocropping. • We examined the impact of intercropping on smallholders' technical efficiency (TE). • The agricultural practices of 231 farmers in Gaotai County, northwest China, were surveyed for the year 2013. • A stochastic frontier analysis was used to estimate TE and its explanatory factors. • The proportion of land used for intercropping had a significantly positive impact on TE (elasticity = 0.74). • High land-use efficiency outweighed possible low use efficiencies of other resources in intercropping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Economic agglomeration harms sustainable intensification of cultivated land use. • Pathways that economic agglomeration affects sustainable intensification are complex. • Sustainable intensification verifies "pollution halo" and "pollution haven" theories. • Integrated regional development systems can promote multi-objective synergies. The sustainable intensification (SI) of cultivated land use (CLU) is important for achieving global sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, in the rapid advancement of agglomeration economies, it remains unclear whether economic agglomeration (EA) affects SI. Combined with emergy theory, this study utilized socioeconomic and natural environment data from 31 provincial administrative regions from 1990 to 2017 to evaluate the SI level in China. It further analyzed the impact of EA on SI using a spatial econometric model that includes mediating effects. The results showed that the EA level in China continued to rise, whereas the SI level continued to decline from 1990 to 2017. The mediating effect analysis showed that fiscal support for agriculture and agricultural labor productivity have a suppression effect of |−4.186|% and |−2.002|% in the local region, while cultivated land-use intensity has partial mediation of 6.350% in the local region; and agricultural labor productivity has a suppression effect of |−4.680|% on the surrounding region, while cultivated land-use intensity has stronger partial mediation relative to the local region, even up to 10.402% on surrounding regions. This implies that the impact of EA on SI involves complex paths and spatial differences. This study provides a better understanding of the reasons for the continuous decline in the SI in agglomeration-type economic development and feasible policy proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China, being a significant agricultural country and the world's greatest carbon emitter, is today faced with the combined problems of improving agricultural economic quality and reducing carbon emissions, all while dealing with resource constraints. Exploring the nexus and internal mechanism between agricultural carbon footprint (CF), energy utilization and economic quality thereby implies practical significance. For these reasons, the current study intends to explore the nexus and internal mechanism between agricultural CF, energy utilization, and economic qualities of main grain-planting provinces in China. Multi-approaches like, Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, the Granger Causality Test based on the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), and Impulse Response and Variance Decomposition (IRVD) methods, and a time-series data in the duration from 1997 to 2019 are employed. The findings indicate that: 1) Agricultural CF, energy utilization and economic quality demonstrate an increasing trend; 2) There exists environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in agricultural CF in China's main grain-planting provinces; 3) Energy utilization negatively influenced agricultural CF in both the short-term and long-term; 4) In the short-term and long-term, a bidirectional causality exist among agricultural CF and economic quality, as well as a unidirectional causality from energy utilization to agricultural CF and economic quality. [Display omitted] • Agricultural CF, energy utilization and economic quality increased during the investigation. • Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) exist in China's agricultural CF. • Energy utilization negatively influenced agricultural CF both in the short- and long-term. • A bidirectional causality exists within agricultural CF and economic quality in the short- and long-term. • Unidirectional causalities exist from energy utilization to agricultural CF and economic quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study calculates industrial land green efficiency using SBM-Undesirable model. • Average ILGE in the eastern region is higher than central and western regions. • More cities with high ILGE appear to be concentrated in the eastern region. • Regional internal ILGE differences are gradually decreasing. In the context of the construction of an ecologically sustainable civilization and green development, the continuous improvement in industrial land green use has played an important role in China. Only a few studies have evaluated industrial land-use efficiency from the perspective of ecological economy. Considering energy consumption and undesirable outputs simultaneously, this study evaluated the industrial land green efficiency (ILGE) of 198 cities in China from 2007 to 2015 using the Slacks-based Measure (SBM)-Undesirable model, and spatial convergence methods were used to analyze the trend of ILGE. The study found clear regional differences in ILGE. The average ILGE in the eastern region was much higher than that in the central and western regions. From a temporal perspective, the average ILGE in all cities has gradually decreased since 2007 and fell to its lowest value in 2013. However, the ILGE showed a continuous upward trend in the final two years. Most cities with high ILGE values appeared to be concentrated in the eastern region. Fifteen cities with scores of 1.00 accounted for 8.6% of the total, indicating that they are the most efficient in the sample over all the years studied. Heilongjiang Province had the lowest ILGE, with 75% of the cities located in the lowest 30 places of the ILGE ranking. The national, eastern, and central regions showed an unstable short-term characteristic of σ -convergence since 2013. Absolute and conditional β -convergence existed in all regions, indicating that cities with poorer efficiency have a faster ILGE growth rate than leading cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]