Agricultural Land Consolidation Research Articles

Land consolidation and the development of rent relations in agriculture

The article analyzes the impact of agricultural land consolidation on the development of rent relations in the agrarian sector of the national economy.

A typical phenomenon of cultivated land use in China's economically developed areas: Anti-intensification in Jiangsu Province

Cultivated land utilization is related to national food security and sustainable development. The anti-intensification of cultivated land use (ACLU) is a typical phenomenon involving recessive function loss and the potential marginalization process in China's economically developed areas. This paper summarized ACLU using theoretical and empirical research paradigms and revealed the connotation and characteristics of ACLU from the three-dimensional perspective of input-utilization-output. The results confirm ACLU, which includes two connotations of recessive and dominant, is associated with the intensification process and mainly occurs in economically developed areas. As a result of the influence of labor and capital input weakening per unit area caused by the stakeholders' behaviors of cultivated land use, ACLU mainly presents extensive utilization such as agricultural land type conversion and planting system changes. Taking Jiangsu Province as a case, the ACLU trend shows a regular pattern of changing from a rapid rise in the early stage to a gradual decline in the later stage with socioeconomic development. Concurrently, ACLU has significant regional differences, and river network density is an essential factor affecting Jiangsu's provincial ACLU trend. Besides, the natural environment and socioeconomic factors have different performance characteristics in northern, central, and southern Jiangsu, and socioeconomic contributions have gradually increased from north to south. ACLU is mainly affected by human factors such as regional policy implementation and urban-rural dual structure system, leading to regional differences in ACLU's stage and performance characteristics. Overall, this study can offer ideas for exploring the sustainable intensification path of regional agricultural land utilization under the current rural revitalization background. Further, it can provide scientific reference for cultivated land use management, crop planting mode adjustment, and agricultural land consolidation direction in economic development pilot zone.

Isparta-İslamköy Örneğinde Arazi Toplulaştırma Çalışmalarının Mekansal Olarak Değerlendirilmesi

Bu çalışmada, Türkiye’de Tarım Reformu Genel Müdürlüğü tarafından yürütülen arazi toplulaştırma çalışmalarının ekolojik temele dayanan planlama yaklaşımı ile gerçekleştirilmesi; alan kullanım seçeneklerini bütünleştirilmesi; ekosistemlerin doğal yapısını bozmadan insanoğlunun yaşamsal faaliyetlerini yürütebilmesi ile optimal alan kullanımlarının belirlenmesine, katkı sağlanması amaçlanmıştır. Çalışma kapsamında, Isparta İslamköy ve yakın çevresinin doğal yapısı, mevcut alan kullanımları ve sosyo-ekonomik yapısı ortaya çıkarılmış; tarım, orman, çayır-mera, rekreasyon, yerleşim ve sanayi kullanım türleri için uygun alan kullanımları belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Uygunluk analizinin gerçekleştirilmesinde coğrafi bilgi sistemleri (CBS) ve çok kriterli analiz metodu kullanılmıştır. CBS aracılığı ile uygunluk kriterleri, değerleri ve katsayıları sorgulanarak her alan kullanım türü için uygunluk haritaları hazırlanmış, elde edilen uygunluk haritaları birleştirilerek en ideal alan kullanım haritası oluşturulmuştur. Sonuç olarak, İslamköy idari sınırları içerisinde mevcut alan kullanımları, çevre düzeni planı ve en uygun alan kullanım haritası karşılaştırılmış, köy gelişim alanları tespit edilerek blok planı modeli önerilmiştir.

Agricultural land partitioning model based on irrigation efficiency using a multi‐objective artificial bee colony algorithm

AbstractIn the process of agricultural land consolidation, the land parcels are optimally redesigned and rearranged in such a way that the dimensions of the resulting parcels are proportional to agricultural criteria such as irrigation discharge, soil texture, and cropping pattern. Besides these criteria, spatial factors like slope, road accessibility, volume of earthwork, and geometrical factors such as size and shape of parcels are also included in the design process of agricultural land partitioning. In this study, a land partitioning model was proposed using a multi‐objective artificial bee colony algorithm (MOABC‐LP) taking into consideration the mentioned factors. Initially, a feasible dimension range of parcels in a block was calculated based on irrigation efficiency. Two partitioning layouts were defined according to the topography and geometry of blocks. The proposed method was applied to a real study area and the results suggest that the land partitioning plan obtained by the MOABC‐LP model, in comparison with a designer's plan, not only makes the shape and size of parcels more compatible with the topographical and agricultural conditions of each block, but also reduces their cut‐and‐fill ratio.

How government-led land consolidation efforts achieve grain production stability? An empirical analysis in Hubei Province, China

China has been conducting massive land consolidation (LC) projects since the late 1990s to ensure national food security which has been one of the common issues in the world. How the implementation of LC projects affects grain production stability is a question should be answered. Basing on an empirical analysis at the county level in Hubei Province, China, this paper separates the trend component and the fluctuation component from a time series of grain production over 1991-2016 using the H-P filtering method. Then we estimate the impacts of LC projects and climate change on the trend and fluctuation rate of grain production for the entire Hubei Province. Moreover, the effects on the production of different major crops for the central, eastern, southwestern, northwestern and northern areas are also examined, respectively. The results show that: (1) the production trends for five subareas and the whole area all have followed a trajectory of “increase-decrease-increase” from 1991 to 2016. The magnitude of fluctuation rate was large but became smaller in recent years. (2) The contribution of LC to the long-term trends of grain production for the entire samples in Hubei Province mainly benefits from the growth in the cultivated land area through LC; more LC investment and newly-added arable land area promote the sudden increase in grain production above the long-term trends, while the impacts of LC area are negative. (3) The impacts of LC on the major crop production vary across areas. LC exerts significant impacts on the production of major crops in the central and eastern Hubei, and this effect persists to the following year. Similarly, this influence also exists in the southwestern and northern area, while becomes insignificant in the following year. No significant effect of LC variables is found in the northwestern area. These findings may provide reference for the government to address LC inefficiency and food security problems, and an effective and innovative mechanism combining the agricultural production, land consolidation and meteorological factors needs to be established to ensure food security and long-term and stable agricultural production. In addition, the regional difference in natural conditions and LC orientations should also be considered.

CADASTRAL EFFECTS OF THE CONSOLIDATION PROCEDURE

Agricultural land consolidation schemes have been implemented in Poland with European Union financial support since 2004. The improvement of farm layout facilitates the achievement of economic benefits by farmers. However, methods for full evaluation of the economic viability of consolidation projects are still lacking. The aim of the paper was an attempt at determining the cadastral effects of consolidation proceedings received by land owners and county administrator offices as a result of sorting out plot borders and land registration as a consequence of the consolidation procedure. Conducted analyses show that, in entities characterised by the most fragmented area structure of farms, the overall non-productive benefits obtained jointly by land owners and county administrator offices, as a result of completing the consolidation procedure, can exceed the total cost of carrying out consolidation. However, where farms are characterised by a larger average surface area of agricultural plots subject to consolidation and where the shapes of such plots are regular, much smaller benefits should be expected. The proposed solutions require further improvement and adaptation to local conditions. Still, even these pioneer studies clearly demonstrate that cadastral effects of consolidation proceedings can prove important in the discussion over the economic viability of consolidation projects. It can encourage land owners and county administrator offices to take advantage of consolidation schemes, and constitute a strong argument in favour of continuing to finance consolidation projects from public funds.

Effects of agricultural land consolidation on soil conservation service in the Hilly Region of Southeast China – Implications for land management

Land consolidation has a long history, and it has currently become one of the most extensive and well-organized human activities in China. Agricultural land consolidation (ALC) will change land use patterns, vegetation coverage, as well as the physical and chemical properties of soil through a series of engineering and biological measures that in turn affect the soil conservation service of ecosystems. This paper analyzes the effects of ALC on soil conservation service in the Hilly Region of Southeast China based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). The main results were as follows: (1) ALC improved the soil conservation service of cultivated land; (2) variations in the soil conservation service were strongly related to rainfall, slope, area of newly converted cultivated land, earth volume of land leveling, earth volume of topsoil stripping and backfilling, reconstructed farm roads, newly built production roads, length of new irrigation systems, newly built drainage systems, number of new dams, and newly built revetments; (3) the newly established multiple regression models used in this paper could describe the relationship between the soil conservation service and significant impact factors. This study will help researchers to better understand the interactions between land management and ecosystem service provisioning as well as provide a scientific basis for policymakers as they put forward new land management policies.

Effects of agricultural land consolidation on ecosystem services: Trade-offs and synergies

Agricultural land consolidation (ALC) has been used as an important and efficient development tool to improve agricultural production worldwide for decades, with numerous impacts on the ecological environment. How to coordinate the tradeoff relationships of agricultural production and other ecosystem services is a great challenge. Taking Jianxi Watershed in Fujian Province as an example, it was estimated three ecosystem services (crop production capacity, carbon storage, and soil conservation) and quantified the synergies and trade-offs among these three ecosystem services. Twenty-three factors were used to evaluate the influential mechanism of ALC on synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services. The results demonstrated that (1) from 2010 to 2016, the relationship between crop production capacity and carbon storage evolved from a synergistic to a trade-off relationship, while that between crop production capacity and soil conservation developed from a trade-off to a synergistic relationship; (2) after ALC, the strength of trade-offs between crop production capacity and soil conservation decreased from 0.354 to 0.198. However, the strength of trade-offs between soil conservation and carbon storage and that between crop production capacity and carbon storage increased from 0.302 to 0.322; and (3) the trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services changed due to changes in ALC measures. Finally, some suggestions of ALC measures were put forward to promote balanced and efficient development of various ecosystem services. ALC, considering trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services, and if applied sensitively, may be an instrument for delivering sustainable rural development in a wider context.

Effects of valley reshaping and damming on surface and groundwater nitrate on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Remote rural areas, which are generally the source regions for drinking water in small towns in China, experience nitrate pollution due to intensive agricultural activities. However, little is known about the nitrate sources of these waterbodies and how human activities affect the water quality in these rural areas. Here, a pair of rural watersheds on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) were selected for study. One of the watersheds, which provides drinking water for local villages and a nearby small town, has experienced valley reshaping, damming and agricultural land consolidation, whereas the other one was not affected by human activities. Water chemistry monitoring and environmental isotope analysis were combined to identify the nitrate sources of the surface and groundwater in the dammed and natural watersheds and to assess the effects of landform transformation and agricultural and living activities on water quality. The results demonstrated that nitrate concentrations in both watersheds were lower than 10 mg L−1. However, the seasonal nitrate contents in the surface (0.42–0.52 mg L−1) and groundwater (1.86–3.65 mg L−1) of the dammed watershed were significantly lower than those of the natural watershed (surface water: 0.92–2.07 mg L−1; groundwater: 2.73–8.21 mg L−1). Isotope analysis demonstrated that nitrate fertilizer, soil ammonium, and manure and septic waste were the main sources of nitrate in the surface water of the two watersheds, while the nitrate in the groundwater mainly originated from the nitrification of soil ammonium and manure and septic waste. Compared to the natural watershed, the dammed watershed had increased inputs of agricultural fertilizers in the surface water. However, there was no significant difference in the groundwater nitrate sources between the two watersheds. The results also demonstrated that denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) probably occurred in the groundwater during the wet season, while nitrification likely occurred during the dry and snowmelt seasons. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) showed that there were strong interactions between the surface runoff and the reservoir water in the dammed watershed, while in the natural watershed, streamflow had a close relationship with the groundwater. We concluded that valley reshaping, damming and agricultural land consolidation increased the nitrate input from mineral fertilizers in the watershed, but decreased the nitrate concentrations in the surface water through changing the transformation and transportation processes of nitrate. However, these activities had little influence on the groundwater, while the time lag between land consolidation and the groundwater quality response should be considered in the future. This study aids in developing strategies for the comprehensive management of watershed and drinking water sources in rural regions.

Village resettlement and social relations in transition: the case of Suzhou, China

China's modernisation and urbanisation are transformative, for places and people. Recently, under agricultural land consolidation and resident resettlement, a large number of rural villagers have been thrust into a compressed process of rural-urban transition. How are resettled villagers integrating into urban society? Specifically, how do they build and rebuild social relations – an important dimension of integration – in the new living environment? In what ways do the new relations resemble and differ from pre-resettlement patterns and those seen among regular residents? To answer these questions, we focus on a community of resettled villagers in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, compared against a reference group of residents in a nearby commercial housing complex. Our analysis of residents' social interactions draws from data collected though a questionnaire survey, supplemented by in-depth interviews. We find that most of the resettled villagers' social relations are place bound both before and after resettlement, with less detectable changes as opposed to differences from their counterparts in the reference group.

Barriers to the Promotion of Agricultural Land Consolidation in Rural Areas from Farmers' Point of View (Case Study: Fash Dehedtan of Kangavar County)

Purpose- The present study aimed to investigate the most important obstacles to the promotion of agricultural land consolidation in the rural areas of Kangavar County. This study seeks to answer a key question: What are the main obstacles to the implementation of agricultural land consolidation policy in the villages of the study area? Design/methodology/approach- The present research is an applied one conducted in a descriptive-analytical method; field work was used for data collection and factor analysis was used for data analysis. The population of the study included 1216 land users. Using Cochran's formula, 211 questionnaires were developed and randomly distributed among the users. The stratified sampling method was used to determine the number of samples in the villages. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the coefficient of validity of the questionnaire in the village; the validity of the questionnaire was 0.816, which indicated the data were suitable for the research. Findings- The findings show that ‘the factor of investment and fund’ accounts for 14.445% of the variance, which is the most important obstacle to the development of land consolidation in the rural areas. However, the lack of support of government agencies and organizations, infrastructural weaknesses, individual factors, lack of creativity, lack of intellectual participation and trust, lack of management and production practices, lack of knowledge and awareness, and lack of access to communication facilities in rural areas are important constraints on land consolidation in the rural areas of the study.

THE LAND REALLOCATION MODEL IN THE COURSE OF AGRICULTURAL LAND CONSOLIDATION IN UKRAINE

The issue of the effectiveness of agricultural land consolidation in the environment of land relations being reshaped, with Ukraine as the example has been scrutinized in the research. Land reallocation as the key constituent of land consolidation has been considered according to the existing approaches. Necessity for substantiation of the peerness of land plots to be reallocated has been singled out. Key factors influencing the peer agricultural land exchange in the process of reallocation have been defined. It is offered to define the peerness of agricultural land plots by a set of qualitative and spatial and technological characteristics. The improvement of the existing approaches to land reallocation by limiting for the reallocated land plots peerness by the preset characteristics has been suggested. The gist of the modelling is the minimization of distance from land plot to the farmhouse. Technical data characterizing the qualitative and spatial and technological characteristics of land plots at the reallotment have been defined. The assessment of the provided reallocation model with the example of the agricultural land mass has been provided. Land reallocation is accomplished by the voluntary land plot exchange. The analysis of the reallocation results using the provided model has been executed.

Agricultural risks and farm land consolidation process in transition countries: The case of cotton production in Uzbekistan

Cotton production substantially contributes to the GDP of Uzbekistan. It is produced under a state procurement policy, according to which farmers have to allocate half of their land for cotton, fulfill cotton output levels and sell the entire harvest of cotton to the state. Land is state owned and a land consolidation process is in place, where land allocated to a farm can be reduced if cotton production targets are not met. However, low production levels may not only arise due to bad management practices but also due to production risks, e.g., due to climatic variability or limited access to inputs such as irrigation water. In this study, we aim to assess policies that can improve cotton production levels and farm profits under land consolidation and agricultural risks. We use a recursive programming model, which considers risk-averse farmers and their farm size adjustments, together with irrigation water-crop yield response functions on different land productivity classes. We consider production, market and institutional risks and find that such risks affect resource allocation, production levels and thus also farm size developments. The farm land consolidation improves overall cotton output, yet, it reduces farm incomes as the state cotton procurement price is low. Under conditions of the state cotton procurement and land consolidation, increasing the cotton price can improve cotton production and farm profits and reduce farm size changes, but farm size changes still occur among farmers. Having secure land tenure together with land use flexibility and higher cotton prices allows farmers to improve incomes, reduce income disparity, diversify land uses, but results in lower cotton output than under the state cotton procurement policy.

Buried alive: Aquatic plants survive in ‘ghost ponds’ under agricultural fields

The widespread loss of wetlands due to agricultural intensification has been highlighted as a major threat to aquatic biodiversity. However, all is not lost as we reveal that the propagules of some aquatic species could survive burial under agricultural fields in the sediments of ‘ghost ponds’ - ponds in-filled during agricultural land consolidation. Our experiments showed at least eight aquatic macrophyte species to germinate from seeds and oospores, following 50–150years of dormancy in the sediments of ghost ponds. This represents a significant proportion of the expected macrophyte diversity for local farmland ponds, which typically support between 6 and 14 macrophyte species. The rapid (<6months) re-colonisation of resurrected ghost ponds by a diverse aquatic vegetation similarly suggests a strong seed-bank influence. Ghost ponds represent abundant, dormant time capsules for aquatic species in agricultural landscapes around the globe, affording opportunities for enhancing landscape-scale aquatic biodiversity and connectivity. While reports of biodiversity loss through agricultural intensification dominate conservation narratives, our study offers a rare positive message, demonstrating that aquatic organisms survive prolonged burial under intensively managed agricultural fields. We urge conservationists and policy makers to consider utilizing and restoring these valuable resources in biodiversity conservation schemes and in agri-environmental approaches and policies.

Community-based agricultural land consolidation and local elites: Survey evidence from China

Land consolidation is an essential aspect of rural restructuring in China. Community-based agricultural land consolidation projects were developed to restructure the agricultural sector by pooling fragmented land and leasing it as consolidated plots or employing laborers to farm the land. Despite the rapid growth in the number of villages that generally adopt the approach, the relative amount of farmland managed under the program remains low, and empirical studies explaining this variation are scarce. We investigate the drivers of land coverage under the program with a particular interest in the role of local elites and village characteristics. Using primary data from 120 villages in Suzhou City and Yangzhou City, China, our study shows that projects led by government officials achieve greater coverage. Other local elites do not play an important role in the process. Further investigation indicates that the roles of different types of elites change over time. We also find that structural village characteristics such as distance to town, village land endowment, and off-farm market participation substantially affect project outcomes. The results are robust to different samples and different specifications of the econometric model. Rather than generally excluding elites from leadership positions, policymakers should actively promote certain types of elites whose involvement might be critical for project success.

Spatio-temporal variation of agricultural land consolidation in China: case study of Huangshi, Hubei Province

ABSTRACTLand fragmentation and soil degradation are major barriers to agricultural production. Agricultural land consolidation (ALC) can effectively address these problems. A regional case study in Central China was used to analyze the spatial characteristics of the implemented ALC projects (ALCPs) from 2003 to 2010, and the planned ALCPs from 2011 to 2020. ALCPs were classified into basic farmland construction projects (BFCPs) and low-hilly land consolidation projects (LHLCPs). The spatial distribution of BFCPs and LHLCPs was presented on maps with a 1:10,000 scale. A comparative analysis showed that the landscape indices of the project areas varied significantly in different phases. The implemented BFCPs are more centralized in space than the implemented LHLCPs. The proportionality (p) was proposed to evaluate the rationality of ALC planning at the town level. Results showed an apparent imbalance of p values among different towns. Shape regularity and centrality are important criteria for selecting ALCPs at spatio-temporal level. The maps provide a patch-based overview of the distribution and aggregation of ALCPs from 2003 to 2020. The findings have implications on assessing rationality and time scheduling of ALCPs.

乳山市土地整治规划环境影响评价

近年来，农用地整理及宜农未利用地开发、工矿废弃地复垦、高标准基本农田建设和城乡建设用地增减挂钩等各类土地整治项目取得了显著成效，但土地整治规划对环境影响评价的研究尚处于探索阶段，从评价理论到评价方法等整个过程还不成熟。因此，本文以乳山市为例，在全面分析经济环境、社会环境和生态环境影响的基础上，建立了评价指标体系——指标权重法，综合评价了土地整治规划对环境的影响。研究表明，编制乳山市土地整治规划对整个环境影响是有利的。研究中对部分指标采用专家赋分法具有一定的主观性，需进一步研究。 In recent years, various land remediation projects, such as agricultural land consolidation, unused agricultural land development, industrial wasteland reclamation, high standard basic farmland construction being linked with the increase and decrease of construction land in urban and rural areas, have achieved remarkable achievements. However, analysis of the impact assessment that these projects have posed on the environment is still in the exploration stage, which means the whole process from the evaluation theories to the methods is still young. Hence, this paper takes Rushan city as the study area, based on a comprehensive analysis of the influence in economic, so-cial and ecological environment, successfully builds the assessment index system-index weight and comprehensively evaluates the effects of land remediation on environment. The result shows that Rushan land remediation project is beneficial to the environment. Yet, the expert assignment method used for the study of some index is somewhat subjective, and needs further study.

THE FORMATION OF INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT OF AGRICULTURAL LAND CONSOLIDATION IN UKRAINE

Every theory requires an application tool. Land consolidation is the multidisciplinary tool for sustainable rural development with its dynamic structure that gives possibilities getting the best solutions for land management decision. That is why the main purpose of the article is a theoretical study and development of scientific and practical recommendations concerning the formation of institutional environment of agricultural land consolidation in Ukraine. The subject of study is the formation of agricultural land consolidation. Methodology. The study used the following methods: dialectical, logical and abstract, system analysis (theoretical and methodological generalizations, defining the essence of the content of institutional environment of agricultural land consolidation). This paper identifies the role of the institutions in economic development and characterised the regulatory, procedural, distributive, informational, development and accumulation functions of agricultural land consolidation institution. As a novelty items offered and provided the detailed description of the main components of the institutional environment of agricultural land consolidation such as: traditional and mental, legal, causal, organizational and structural, and procedural. The essence of institutions of each of these components and their meaning and relationships are presented. Theoretically investigated that the formation of institutional mechanism of consolidation should be a symbiosis of both traditional and market institutions based on democratic principles under community participation. The article focuses on the feasibility of the formation of mechanism for monitoring the effectiveness of institutions. As the result of the study the author proposed to consider the institutional environment of agricultural land consolidation as a regulatory system harmonizing relations of the agricultural production, social and natural resources, designed to optimize the production, based on the actual requirements and restrictions of the existing institutes and institutions to guarantee a rational use of land resources. Practical implications. Analysis of current situation in Ukraine suggests that the urgent task is particularly not only to create, design and import of the land consolidation institutions but also to provide the diagnostic of their maturity and suitability for the current level of the land consolidation relations. This conclusion is supported with the lack of a specific state policy on development of land consolidation and distrust in government initiates. The author also provides a list of necessary actions required for the development of the agricultural land consolidation in Ukraine.

Land consolidation: An indispensable way of spatial restructuring in rural China

The implementation of new type industrialization and urbanization and agricultural modernization strategies lacks of a major hand grip and spatial supporting platform, due to long-term existed “dual-track” structure of rural-urban development in China as well as unstable rural development institution and mechanism. It is necessary to restructure rural production, living and ecological space by carrying out land consolidation, so as to establish a new platform for building new countryside and realizing urban-rural integration development in China. This paper develops the concept and connotation of rural spatial restructuring. Basing on the effects analysis of industrialization and urbanization on rural production, living and ecological space, the mechanism of pushing forward rural spatial restructuring by carrying out land consolidation is probed. A conceptualization of the models of rural production, living and ecological spatial restructuring is analyzed combining with agricultural land consolidation, hollowed villages consolidation and industrial and mining land consolidation. Finally, the author argues that a “bottom-up” restructuring strategy accompanied by a few “top-down” elements is helpful for smoothly pushing forward rural spatial restructuring in China. In addition, the optimization and restructuring of rural production, living and ecological space will rely on the innovations of regional engineering technology, policy and mechanism, and mode of rural land consolidation, and more attentions should be paid to rural space, the foundation base and platform for realizing urban-rural integration development.

A GIS-based Linear Programming Model for Optimizing Agricultural Land Levelling

Land levelling is an important process of the agricultural land consolidation projects. The land levelling process starts by determining the appropriate levels of the terrain and solves the earthwork allocation for the predetermined terrain levels. The recent attempt, reported in the literature, to find an optimal process is a GIS–based approach which solves the transportation problem by determing the designed terrain level and optimal hauling distances that result in the lowest hauling cost. In this study, the Vogel approximation method (VAM) was adopted in initializing the solution to the transportation problems, and the optimization of the solutions obtained by the VAM was examined using the modified distribution method (MODI). To verify the reliability of this combined method, a case study was carried out based on the proposed land levelling project at the Lixian District of Beijing, China. The results show that the optimal average hauling distance calculated from the proposed linear programming model is 79.53m shorter than that estimated using the empirical method, and the unit cost calculated from the linear programming model is 33.4% lower than the experienced cost. The improvements in the optimization of the hauling distance show that the cost of the agricultural land levelling can be efficiently lowered if an appropriate linear programming model is used.