Assessing the impacts of land fragmentation and plot size on yields and costs: A translog production model and cost function approach

Lu, Hua; Xie, Hualin; Yan-fen, HE; Wu, Zhilong; Zhang, Xinmin

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2018.01.001

Cited by 124 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…However, for farm households with medium and large-scale farmland, their families' labor force is not able to meet the demand for farming, and the cost of workers will increase substantially. Also, Lu et al [49] indicate that the expansion of the scale of operation leads to economies of scale. The farmers with large-scale land will invest in machinery, improving the degree of mechanization.…”

Section: Factors Affecting Labor Input and Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A possible reason is that the scale of different farmland and the grain yield per Mu show an inverted U-shaped relationship. Specifically, the land that is below the optimal scale will not be able to produce grain efficiently, even if there is a large amount of capital input [49]. Besides farmers' attitudes toward the use of fertilizers, pesticides significantly affect investment behavior.…”

Section: Factors Affecting Labor Input and Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Farmers Make Investment Decisions: Evidence from a Farmer Survey in China

et al. 2019

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Based on the grain production data hand collected in Mid-East China, a multinomial Logit model was employed to analyze factors that are critical to farmers’ investment decisions in food production. Reasonable explanations are provided to help understand differences between expected farmers’ investments in grain production and the actual results. It was found that the cost of machinery and the number of farmers is key factors affecting farmers’ willingness to adjust investment. Further research shows that most of the farmers who had the willingness to adjust investment did not implement the adjustments in the short-term. From the micro-adaptability expectation perspective, the time that it takes to adjust the planting area could explain farmers’ investment adjustment intention and the behavior. From the macro-investment perspective, short-term output elasticity of physical capital is less than long-term output elasticity. The differences between farmers’ willingness to invest and the actual results are therefore generated. These findings suggest that it is necessary to strengthen the application of big data technology in agriculture in order to improve the platforms’ efficiency in data releasing and reaching out to farmers to provide more accurate advice regarding investment adjustment.

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Section: Factors Affecting Labor Input and Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Factors Affecting Labor Input and Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Farmers Make Investment Decisions: Evidence from a Farmer Survey in China

et al. 2019

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“…Namely, scale economies lower the unit fixed cost of products by expanding production scale [34]. In the case of the agriculture sector, due to the indivisibility of mechanized operation [25], farm size enlargement can obtain scale economies for the following reasons. Small-scale farmers typically owned multiple small and dispersed plots.…”

Section: Theoretical Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, an increase in farm size and reduction in land fragmentation contributes to reduced production cost and improved technical efficiency [23,24]. Moreover, a negative relation between plot size and average cost also has been found more recently, indicating the presence of a scale economy within a plot [25]. In general, these studies mainly examine the cost advantage of large farms derived from scale-dependent mechanization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring a Moderate Operation Scale in China’s Grain Production: A Perspective on the Costs of Machinery Services

Xin

et al. 2019

Sustainability

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Due to the indivisibility of agricultural machinery in production, limited farm sizes have reduced mechanization efficiency and increased the cost of grain production in China. As a result, the development of a moderate-scale farming system has been proposed by academic communities and policy makers. However, it is still hotly debated how to determine a moderate farm scale. We offer a new perspective on the costs of machinery services. This manuscript employs the threshold model and uses the nationally representative data from the 2015 China Rural Household Panel Survey (CRHPS) to investigate the role of farm size expansion relative to per area machinery services expenditures (PAMSE). The empirical results reveal that there is a nonlinear relation between the farm size and PAMSE. Specifically, farm size expansion can reduce the PAMSE by improving mechanization efficiency in all cases, while the magnitude of cost-saving is progressively reduced in the process of farm scale expansion. In particular, a 1 mu (1 mu = 1/15 ha) increase in the farm scale could only lead to a 0.3% decrease in the PAMSE when the farm size exceeded 50 mu, which indicates that 50 mu is a minimum efficient farm scale to achieve most economies of scale. Therefore, we suggest that persistent efforts should be devoted to improving farmland circulation efficiency and developing scale farms. More importantly, governmental supporting policies, such as agricultural subsidies, need to attach more importance to these large farms.

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“…As the results show, most farmers engaged in agricultural production are over 45 years old, their education level is generally lower than high school, the number in each family engaged in the agricultural labor force is only 2 and the purpose of grain production is mainly to feed the family. The average farm size in the sample is 0.26 hectares, which is below the national average [62] and the average farm size of Jiangxi and Hunan province was 0.27 ha and 0.24 ha in 2016, respectively [63,64]. Land fragmentation is very serious in Jiangxi Province and Hunan Province and the topography also leads to high transaction costs for agricultural land transfer and the inability of machinery to effectively replace labor.…”

Section: Models and Descriptive Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Non-Agricultural Employment and Environmental Awareness on Farmers’ Willingness to Govern the Heavy Metal Pollution of Farmland: A Case Study of China

2019

Sustainability

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Heavy metal pollution of farmland is a significant issue affecting the quality of agricultural products and human health. Farmers’ behaviors can have a direct impact on the level of heavy metal pollution affecting farmland in China. Whether the heavy metal pollution of farmland can be effectively governed at a low cost depends on the farmers. This paper analyzes the mechanism by which the extent of non-agricultural employment and environmental awareness influences farmers’ willingness to govern the heavy metal pollution of farmland using microdata for farmers in China and conducts an empirical analysis via a logit model. The results show that farmers in China display low willingness to govern the heavy metal pollution of farmland and that the increase in non-agricultural income will not significantly improve this willingness. Environmental awareness and farmers’ willingness to govern the heavy metal pollution of farmland are closely related: the higher the environmental awareness of farmers is, the stronger their willingness to govern heavy metal pollution, and the higher the probability of their participating in fallow land treatment. The government can introduce incentives to improve farmers’ environmental awareness of the heavy metal pollution of farmland. In addition, the government should strengthen publicity about the positive effects of fallow land treatment and encourage farmers to participate in the governance of heavy metal pollution of farmland. Given increasing non-agricultural employment opportunities and the transformation of agricultural production modes, agricultural technical training provided by governmental departments can enable them to be more scientific and rational in their agrochemical selection and application, thus reducing or avoiding the heavy metal pollution of farmland at the source. Attention should be paid to the differences between farmers to ultimately reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of treatment.

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Assessing the impacts of land fragmentation and plot size on yields and costs: A translog production model and cost function approach

Cited by 124 publications

References 31 publications

How Farmers Make Investment Decisions: Evidence from a Farmer Survey in China

How Farmers Make Investment Decisions: Evidence from a Farmer Survey in China

Exploring a Moderate Operation Scale in China’s Grain Production: A Perspective on the Costs of Machinery Services

Impact of Non-Agricultural Employment and Environmental Awareness on Farmers’ Willingness to Govern the Heavy Metal Pollution of Farmland: A Case Study of China

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