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PurposeThe multidimensional effects of farmland transfer in China have been profoundly unstudied. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on the effects of the intermediary role of agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) of farmland transfer on agricultural economic growth in China.Design/methodology/approachBased on the agricultural data of 30 provinces in China over the period 2005–2018, this paper uses the intermediary effect model to test the relationship between farmland transfer, agricultural TFP and agricultural economic growth. This paper employed an intermediary effect test model to investigate the intermediary role of agricultural TFP in the influence of farmland transfer on agricultural economic growth.FindingsThe findings indicated that farmland transfer has a significant effect on promoting agricultural economic growth. There is a significant “inverted U-shaped” relationship between farmland transfer and agricultural TFP. The sample value of 84.3% of farmland transfers in China is still within the TFP promoting effect range. In addition, farmland transfer has an indirect impact on agricultural economic growth through the channel of agricultural TFP. Agricultural TFP plays a significant intermediary role, but the effect is relatively lowOriginality/valueThis paper is the first to provide fundamental evidence on the impact of farmland transfers on agricultural economic growth in China, driven by agricultural TFP as an intermediary factor. Agricultural TFP can reduce the involution effect of farmland transfer and promote an indirect effect on agricultural economic growth.

Based on China’s new development philosophy and the connotation of high-quality agricultural development, this study constructed a six-dimensional comprehensive evaluation framework: innovation-effectiveness-sustainability-coordination-openness-sharing. The spatio-temporal-range-improved entropy approach and the Dagum Gini coefficient were applied to evaluate and analyze the level of regional disparities and the dynamic distribution characteristics of high-quality agricultural development in China in the period from 2010 to 2018. The result shows that the level of high-quality agricultural development in China has steadily improved in general, but there exist prominent structural problems. Concerning regional differences, it indicated a pattern dominated by the pattern of “high in the east and low in the west”, mainly arising from the inter-regional disparity, with a gradual downward trend during the selected period. This study also comprehensively explored the four-dimensional driving mechanisms (production conditions, productivity, production relations, and production efficiency), and further examined the driving paths of various variables and regional heterogeneity using a panel Tobit model.