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The rapid pace of urban development and farmer differentiation has led to large-scale migration of farmers to cities, resulting in the abandonment of rural homesteads in China. This study aims to explore the key factors influencing farmers' willingness and choices to withdraw from rural homesteads and find the key factor of different groups of farmer differentiation degree.Data from 479 farmers in Weinan and Shizuishan and multigroup structural equation model were used for analysis. The results showed that labor supply shortages in completely non-agricultural farmer households had the greatest influence on their willingness to withdraw from rural homesteads. Whether a withdrawal compensation could guarantee farmers' future livelihood has the greatest influence on willingness to withdraw from rural homesteads among non-agricultural and agricultural farmer households. The per-capita area of rural homesteads has the greatest influence on willingness to withdraw among completely agricultural farmer households.Regardless of the farmer differentiation degree, whether the withdrawal compensation can guarantee their future livelihood significantly affects farmers' willingness to withdraw from their rural homesteads. The policy implication of the study was that, for different levels of

The shortage of land resources has become a serious problem in China's rapid urbanisation. A recognised method for solving arable land resource shortage problems is to encourage marginal farmers to terminate their arable land use contracts with the government so that they can be transferred to farmers with better prospects. This paper analyses the drivers behind farmers' willingness to terminate their arable land use contracts based on survey data from agricultural households in Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province, China, using a multivariable logistic model. Results show that households led by male householders, with large families, fewer agricultural labourers, more plots of land, including family members with non-agricultural skills training and including family members who are covered by rural residents' health insurance, are more likely to terminate their contracts.

The increasing scarcity of cultivated land resources necessitates the continuous change in cultivated land functions. Cultivated land has gradually changed from being used for a single function to multiple functions. The use of cultivated land for multiple functions has become an important way to achieve the sustainable use, management, and protection of cultivated land. In this, the development of different functions of cultivated land must be coordinated. Thus, clarifying the evolution trend of the use of cultivated land for various functions, calculating the coupling and coordination degrees of these multiple functions, and identifying the driving factors in these uses play important roles in realizing the orderly development of cultivated land multifunctionality. This paper defined multifunctioning cultivated land as containing a production function, a social function, and an ecological function. Based on the socioeconomic panel data and geospatial data of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning, which are the major grain-producing areas of northeast China, in the years 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 we calculated the multiple function coupling coordination degree of cultivated land using the Coupling Coordination Degree Model and identified the driving forces in the evolution of the spatial-temporal pattern of cultivated land multifunctionality using Geodetector. The results show that from 2005 to 2020, there were significant regional differences in terms of the production, social, and ecological functions of cultivated land in the research areas. The multifunctional coupling coordination degree of cultivated land in the study areas was gradually improved. The spatial-temporal evolution of the multifunctional coupling coordination degree of cultivated land was found to mainly be influenced by the level of agricultural development, such as the level of per capita disposable income and the rate of effective irrigation of cultivated land. The government should attempt to guarantee the comparative benefits of agricultural production to increase the income level of farmers; increase investment in agricultural infrastructure construction to improve the level of agriculture development; and implement a strict farmland protection policy to achieve the continuous improvement of the productivity of cultivated land, realize the ordered development of coupling, and improve the coordination of the use of cultivated land for multiple functions. The results of this study are applicable not only to northeast China but also to other major grain-producing areas that are under pressure to protect their cultivated land and achieve the suitable use of cultivated land.

China’s rural land transfer market has been plagued by issues including poor information transmission, limited scale, and an incoherent structure. In this context, this study collected the data of 337 farmers in Qufu City, Shandong Province, and incorporated into the analysis the acquaintance-based nature of rural society that includes strong geographic ties. Taking the herd effect as the starting point, this paper it considers how farmers in the same geo-network affect the land transfer behavior of individual farmers, and adopts the Probit model to analyze the impact of geo-networks to verify the function of the herd effect in farmers’ land transfer behavior. Then, the IV-Probit model is applied to solve the endogenous problem of the herd effect. The results show that: (1) Farmers imitate the land transfer behavior of other farmers in the same geo-network. Geo-networks positively impact the land transfer behavior of farmers, and the herd effect is apparent in farmers’ land transfer behavior. (2) Farmers’ family background, resource endowment, and cognitive features are key factors that influencing farmers’ land transfer behavior. (3) Farmers’ land transfer behavior is more significantly influenced in groups with low and middle agricultural income than in groups with high agricultural income. This study aims to assist the government in giving full play to the positive role of the herd effect, promoting the leading role of village cadres as leader sheep, and smoothing the transmission of land transfer information. Governments should place more emphasis on developing land transfer platforms and invest more in the construction of farmland infrastructure. This paper may serve as a reference to achieve large-scale agriculture operation via land transfer and promote the prosperity of the land transfer market.