Agricultural Development In China Research Articles

Safety assessment of agricultural products and the pesticide regulation trend in China

The sustainable development of Chinese agriculture needs to coordinate the quality and quantity of agricultural products. To verify whether government regulation can promote agricultural development by controlling pesticides, the indices of government regulation, quantity and quality of agricultural products, and pesticide use per area of cropland were calculated, and a comprehensive evaluation index and the coupling degree and coordination degree of agricultural products were analyzed by coupling function. The results showed that the coupling and coordination degree of the quality and quantity of agricultural products and the comprehensive index are improving. The regulation of pesticide use per area of cropland is a key mechanism in promoting the coordinated development of agricultural product safety. The regulation trend of agricultural development in China is to reduce pesticide usage appropriately and expand the production-possibility frontier of agricultural products.Graphical abstract

Analysis of the driving path of e-commerce to high-quality agricultural development in China: empirical evidence from mediating effect models

Analysis of the driving path of e-commerce to high-quality agricultural development in China: empirical evidence from mediating effect models

Empirical Research on Factors Influencing Chinese Farmers’ Adoption of Green Production Technologies

During a critical period of structural reform in China’s agricultural supply chain, accelerating the promotion and application of green production technologies emerges as a pivotal strategy to ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products while advancing agricultural modernization. This study empirically examines the factors influencing farmers’ adoption of green production technologies using an ordered logistic model based on survey data collected from 533 respondents in Shandong Province. The survey targeted regions where major economic crops such as corn and soybeans are cultivated, employing simple random sampling to ensure the data’s representativeness and reliability. The findings underscore several critical factors influencing farmers’ willingness to adopt green production technologies, including the presence of quality inspections, evaluations of restrictions on prohibited pesticide use, sales performance of green products, availability of government subsidies, and traceability of agricultural products. To foster greater adoption of green production technologies and propel the transformation of China’s agriculture, it is recommended to advocate and guide green agricultural practices, enhance green agricultural subsidy policies, and strengthen agricultural product market management systems. These measures are essential for ensuring sustainable agricultural development in China.

Design and research on structure of plateau hand-held cutting and sun drying machine

With the development of agricultural modernization, accelerating agricultural mechanization has become an important direction for the development of agriculture in China. However, agricultural mechanization is uneven and insufficient in terms of regions, industries, crop varieties, and production stages. Although there are already a large number of agricultural machinery products on the market, most of them are designed for large-scale crops in northern arid lands, lacking machinery suitable for barley and adaptable to small plots and sloping farmlands in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region. The development of a barley harvester adapted to plateau mountainous areas contributes to the development of special agricultural machinery in China, improves the uneven development of agricultural mechanization, and promotes agricultural development in plateau mountainous areas. This paper conducts research on the actual terrain of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, barley planting conditions, and harvester operational conditions. Based on the production needs of barley agriculture, the design is optimized and improved. Following the principle of overall coordination, the overall structural parameters of the harvester suitable for the operational requirements of plateau mountainous areas are determined. The structural design of key components such as wheelbase, axle spacing, ground clearance, harvesting mechanical arm, and harvesting mechanism is detailed. Additionally, SolidWorks software is used for three-dimensional modeling of the barley harvester. CAE technology is employed to analyze the static and dynamic performance of critical chassis components, validate theoretical calculations, and confirm final structural parameters. Furthermore, a dynamics characteristic model is established based on the optimized parameters to theoretically analyze the stability of the entire machine and verify whether the designed plateau barley harvester meets field operation requirements. Finally, Bluetooth communication technology is utilized to autonomously design control hardware and software, achieving intelligent control of the machinery.

The Influence of New Quality Productive Forces on High-Quality Agricultural Development in China: Mechanisms and Empirical Testing

The Influence of New Quality Productive Forces on High-Quality Agricultural Development in China: Mechanisms and Empirical Testing

Evolutionary Characteristics, Regional Differences and Spatial Convergence of China’s Sustainable Agricultural Development Level

Sustainable agricultural development is a fundamental requirement and a crucial goal of modern agriculture. It is also a significant means of enabling farmers to increase their incomes. This paper analyses the evolutionary characteristics, regional differences and spatial convergence of the level of sustainable agricultural development using kernel density estimation, Dagum’s Gini coefficient and the spatial convergence model based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2021.The results show that: (1) At the level of development, the level of sustainable agricultural development at the national level and in the three major regions has shown an upward trend with fluctuations, with the average level of development in the eastern and central parts of the country higher than the national average, and in the western part of the country lower than the national average; however, the growth rate in the western part of the country is the highest among the three major regions. (2) In terms of evolutionary characteristics, the level of sustainable agricultural development in the country and the three major regions is characterised by spatial agglomeration, with varying degrees of polarisation. (3) In terms of regional differences, the Gini coefficients for the country as a whole, within the three major regions and between regions, generally show a downward trend, with interregional differences remaining the main source of overall differences. (4) In terms of spatial convergence, there is σ-convergence and β-convergence in the level of sustainable agricultural development across the country and the three major regions, and there is a positive spatial spillover effect. The conditional β convergence results show that the eastern region has the fastest rate of convergence. The above findings provide a scientific basis for the formulation of policies related to sustainable agricultural development in China.

Mechanisms and Impact Effects of Digital Agriculture Development on Agricultural Eco-Efficiency in China

The green development of agriculture is an essential way to achieve high-quality agricultural development, and the development of digitalization has given new momentum to the green development of agriculture. In this study, based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2022, we measure the agricultural eco-efficiency and the level of digital agriculture development in China using the Super-SBM model with global reference and the entropy value method, respectively. The impact of the level of digital agriculture development on agricultural eco-efficiency is explored with the help of a regression model, and the mediating role of pesticide and fertilizer inputs in this impact pathway is explored using a mediating effects model. The study found that: (1) the level of digital agriculture development positively and significantly affects agricultural eco-efficiency to a relatively large extent; (2) the effect of digital agriculture development on the improvement of agriculture eco-efficiency is significantly heterogeneous in different regions; (3) pesticide and fertilizer inputs have a mediating role in this impact pathway. Therefore, the application and promotion of digital agriculture technology should be strengthened to build a green agricultural production and management system, so as to promote high-quality and sustainable development of Chinese agriculture.

Research on a Biofilter for a Typical Application Scenario in China: Treatment of Pesticide Residue Wastewater in Orchards

To reduce pesticide pollution and promote sustainable agricultural development in China, we designed a pilot-scale biofilter system to treat residual imidacloprid wastewater in an orchard. The biofilter system demonstrated a high rate of removal of imidacloprid from the biodegradation wastewater, with removal rates from the outlet exceeding 99% at different concentrations of pesticides. Among environmental factors, imidacloprid concentration at the inlet and biomixture significantly affected the activity of imidacloprid-degrading bacteria. The dominant microbial communities during the stable operation of the biofilter system included Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes at the phylum level and Bacillus, Methylobacter, and unclassified_f__Microbacteriaceae at the genus level. In future initiatives to improve biofilter performance and applicability, increasing attention should be paid to the dominant microbial communities, the number of biofilter units, and important environmental factors. Orchard workers in China should improve the existing treatment of residual pesticide wastewater to mitigate agricultural non-point source pollution.

The impact of land transfer policy on sustainable agricultural development in China

At present, China’s agricultural development presents problems such as increasingly tight constraints on water and soil resources, increased pollution in the process of agricultural production, and noticeable degradation of agricultural ecosystems. So, it is urgent to promote the sustainable development of agriculture. From the perspective of land transfer policy, based on the panel data of 30 regions in China from 2006 to 2020, this paper uses the entropy weight method to calculate the level of sustainable agricultural development. Based on the analysis of the impact mechanism of land transfer policy on sustainable agricultural development, the relationship between land transfer policy and sustainable agricultural development is empirically tested by the continuous difference-in-difference method. The study found that the overall level of sustainable agricultural development in China is relatively low but shows an upward trend. The land transfer policy significantly promoted the sustainable development of agriculture in China. This conclusion is still valid after a series of validity tests and robustness tests. Finally, the corresponding policy suggestions are put forward according to the theoretical analysis and empirical results. Future research will focus on indicators challenging to quantify in agricultural sustainable development and find effective methods to incorporate them into the indicator system. At the same time, find the data of Prefecture-level cities in major grain-producing areas and further improve the measurement and research of agricultural sustainable development.

The cropland intensive utilisation transition in China: An induced factor substitution perspective

Understanding the transition process of cropland-use intensification can help reconcile the relationship between food demand and ecological conservation. The transition of cropland-use intensification is a trend developing in the continuous reorganisation and optimization of factor inputs with the changes in socio-economics, policies and institutions. From the induced factor substitution perspective, a transition of cropland-use intensification occurs when the agricultural entities adjust the structure of factor inputs in response to changes in the relative prices of production factors. This paper established an analytical framework for identifying the transition of cropland-use intensification and conducted an empirical study based on evidence from China between 1978 and 2019. The empirical study revealed a four-phase transition process of cropland-use intensification in China, named the ‘labour-force-driven intensification’, the ‘yield-increasing-factors-driven intensification’, the ‘labour-saving-factors-driven intensification’, and the ‘innovation-driven intensification’. This paper also investigated the transition trajectory of cropland-use intensification in nine different agricultural zones and explored the influencing factors that contributed to the heterogeneity of the transition trajectory among different zones. Furthermore, this paper discussed the policy initiative to accelerate the transition of cropland-use intensification to the fourth stage to benefit the ecological environment and farmers’ livelihood and ultimately be of great significance in promoting the sustainable development of agriculture in China.

Effects of Combined Stress of High Density Polyethylene Microplastics and Chlorimuron-ethyl on Soybean Growth and Rhizosphere Bacterial Community

With the vigorous development of agriculture in China， plastic mulch film and pesticides are widely used in agricultural production. However， the accumulation of microplastics （formed by the degradation of plastic mulch film） and pesticides in soil has also caused many environmental problems. At present， the environmental biological effects of microplastics or pesticides have been reported， but there are few studies on the combined effects on crop growth and the rhizosphere soil bacterial community. Therefore， in this study， the high density polyethylene microplastics （HDPE， 500 mesh） were designed to be co-treated with sulfonylurea herbicide chlorimuron-ethyl to study their effects on soybean growth. In addition， the effects of the combined stress of HDPE and chlorimuron-ethyl on soybean rhizosphere soil bacterial community diversity， structure composition， microbial community network， and soil function were investigated using high-throughput sequencing technology， interaction network， and PICRUSt2 function analysis to clarify the combined toxicity of HDPE and chlorimuron-ethyl to soybean. The results showed that the half-life of chlorimuron-ethyl in soil was prolonged by the 1% HDPE treatment （from 11.5 d to 14.3 d）， and the combined stress of HDPE and chlorimuron-ethyl had more obvious inhibition effects on soybean growth than that of the single pollutant or control. The HiSeq 2 500 sequencing showed that the rhizosphere bacterial community of soybean was composed of 20 phyla and 312 genera under combined stress， the number of phyla and genera was significantly less than that of the control and single pollutant treatment， and the relative abundances of bacteria with potential biological control and plant growth-promoting characteristics （such as Nocardioides and Sphingomonas） were reduced. Alpha diversity analysis showed that the combined stress significantly reduced the richness and diversity of the soybean rhizosphere bacterial community， and Beta diversity analysis showed that the combined stress significantly changed the structure of the bacterial community. The dominant flora of the rhizosphere bacterial community were regulated， and the abundances of secondary functional layers such as amino acid metabolism， energy metabolism， and lipid metabolism were reduced under combined stress by the analysis of LEfSe and PICRUSt2. It was inferred from the network analysis that the combined stress of HDPE and chlorimuron-ethyl reduced the total number of connections and network density of soil bacteria， simplified the network structure， and changed the important flora species to maintain the stability of the network. The results above indicated that the combined stress of HDPE and chlorimuron-ethyl significantly affected the growth of soybean and changed the rhizosphere bacterial community structure， soil function， and network structure. Compared with that of the single pollutant treatment， the potential risk of combined stress was greater. The results of this study can provide guidance for evaluating the ecological risks of polyethylene microplastics and chlorimuron-ethyl and for the remediation of contaminated soil.

Re-measurement and influencing factors of agricultural eco-efficiency under the ‘dual carbon’ target in China

Given that agriculture is both a carbon source and sink, the sustainability goals of carbon peaking and neutrality place high demands on the green and low-carbon agricultural development in China, and the exploration of a realistic path for a sustainable agricultural development is urgently needed. Under the above ‘dual carbon’ target, this study focused on the key issue of how to improve China's agricultural eco-efficiency (AEE) and constructed an innovative AEE indicator system that can reflect carbon constraint and coordinated agricultural economic development, resource use and ecological environment. The super-efficient slack-based measured Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM-DEA) method, which considers undesirable outputs, was applied to re-measure the AEE of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2001 to 2020, and its spatial and temporal evolution was analysed in conjunction with kernel density estimation. The Tobit regression model was used to explore various influencing factors by region. The results show that the AEE re-measurements, which take into account the 'dual carbon' requirement, are significantly better than the traditional AEE. From 2001 to 2020, China had an overall V-shaped fluctuation curve AEE, with a small decline and several inter-annual fluctuations, and exhibited a large potential to rise. China's AEE showed a spatially uneven regional development at different stages of distribution and evident multi-polar differentiation. Inter-provincial differences were observed in China's AEE, and the vicious circle of low-level green and low-carbon agricultural development was difficult to break. Urbanisation had a significant positive effect on national and eastern AEE but a significant negative effect on central AEE. The agricultural carbon offset rate had a significant effect on AEE nationally and in the three regions. Thus, the introduction of ‘dual carbon’ target effectively drove the development of AEE. Agricultural industry structure inhibited the improvement of AEE nationally and in the western region. Agricultural economic development hindered the national AEE improvement but promoted that of the central region, where China showed an environment Kuznets curve. Hopefully, this study can provide data support and theoretical reference for the green and low-carbon agricultural development and help achieve the ‘dual carbon’ target.

Failure Process of High-Loess-Filled-Slopes (HLFSs) during Precipitation under Different Mitigation Measures

The problems of gully and soil erosion caused by large-scale urban construction and agricultural development in China have become more and more serious in recent years. In an effort to solve this problem, a series of gully stabilization and highland protection projects have been carried out on the Loess Plateau, and this has resulted in a large number of high-loess-filled-slopes (HLFSs). Although these filled slopes uses several different mitigation measures, the HLFSs have been eroded and destroyed under the action of water. In order to study the influence of different mitigation measures on the stability of HLFSs and their failure process, this paper uses a flume test of the effects of various mitigation measures on this failure process. The results show that: (1) the failure processes of slopes with different mitigation measures are obviously different. Slope deformation u with a declining gradient mitigation mainly occurs on the surface of the slope body, and although slope erosion is quite serious, the slope does not fail as a whole. Slopes with a stepwise drainage channel mitigation show little erosion, but material can easily slide along the horizontal drainage channels. (2) The slope deformation process is correlated with changes in pore-water pressure. When local instability occurs, there is always a pre-process of continuously rising pore-water pressure. When a failure occurs, the pore-water pressure of the soil at each position of the slope body suddenly fluctuates under instantaneous excitation. (3) The response of soil pore pressure and the development characteristics of tension cracks affect the deformation of the slopes, which is also the cause of the differences slope instability caused by different mitigation measures. These research results provide reference for the protection of HLFS engineering projects from heavy rains.

Unveiling the nexus between rural population aging, technical efficiency, and carbon emissions in Chinese agriculture.

According to the seventh national population census in China, the proportion of people aged 65 and above in the population reached 13.5%. The aging trend is more pronounced in rural areas, indicating that China has entered an aging society. This article focuses on agricultural carbon emissions in the context of aging, studying the impact of rural population aging on agricultural carbon emissions. Under the background of deepening population aging, let us discuss how to maintain the green and sustainable development of agriculture in China. Fixed effects and mediating effects models are used. Technical efficiency is used as a mediating variable to discuss the relationship between rural population ageing, technical efficiency and agricultural carbon emissions. This paper adopts the classical carbon emission calculation theory of IPCC to measure agricultural carbon emissions from 2010 to 2019, and China's plantation carbon emissions show an "inverted U-shaped" trend, reaching a high level in 2015 and then starting to decline. In addition, the fixed-effects benchmark regression found that the aging of the rural population promotes agricultural carbon emissions, and the technical efficiency of agriculture suppresses agricultural carbon emissions. Finally, the mediating effect model is applied to explore the relationship between the three. Using technical efficiency as the mediating variable, it is found that under the masking effect, rural population aging will weaken agricultural carbon emissions through technical efficiency, thus achieving the suppression of agricultural carbon emissions. The formulation and modification of agricultural carbon-reducing policy row policies should take full account of the broader context of rural population ageing; increase the interconnectedness and interaction between rural population ageing and agricultural production technology, and actively play a positive role in promoting the efficiency of agricultural technology as a result of rural population ageing; and, in accordance with the actual situation of agricultural research, appropriately increase the strength of financial support for agriculture to improve agricultural technology and promote low-carbon development in agriculture.

Development of Agriculture in Chinese Peripheral Rural Regions

Introduction. China has passed a long process on its way to the global leadership in industrial sector and services. Accompanied by rapid growth of the regional prosperity is though not equal among the territory of the country. There are several relative peripheral regions with lower population and agricultural predominance. To maintain territorial cohesion a number of top-down measures and bottom-up initiatives are required.
 Purpose. The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the territorial dimensions of maintaining a steady growth of China’s agricultural sector under the condition of the general population increasing and decreasing the share of rural population.
 Methods. The current research was carried out with application of the following methods: analysis and synthesis – to systemize the conceptual mainstream in the field of peripheral development; comparative analysis – to compare the development aspects in different regions of China depending from their urban/rural structure; deductions and inductions – to elaborate the key issues of agriculture development in Chinese peripheral rural regions; tabular and visual methods – for illustration of the research materials.
 Results. The paper overviews the dynamics of the Chinese population during the last 70 years. The urban-rural structure of the population is analysed in a spatial-temporal perspective. Traditional rural regions in China are determined. General overview of agriculture development in China has been done. From the regional perspective, the development reasons and conditions of the nine relatively typical agricultural areas in China are analysed. The trends of agriculture development in Chinese peripheral rural regions are considered.
 Discussion. Despite the great success of China in the fields of agricultural development and poverty reduction in depressed regions, there are aspects that require additional care: a broad area of issues concerning territorial cohesion, sustainable development, public- private cooperation.

Resilience of agricultural development in China's major grain-producing areas under the double security goals of "grain ecology".

The development of agriculture faces uncertainties due to global climate variability and the scarcity of agricultural resources. Enhancing agricultural development resilience is essential for improving agriculture's adaptability to the external environment and ensuring food security. It is imperative to prevent and control agricultural pollution as it worsens. Thus, enhancing the resilience of agricultural development requires balancing food security and ecological security. The present study constructs an evaluation system for agricultural development resilience in China with three levels: resistance, resilience, and reengineering ability. The agricultural development resilience of China's main grain-producing areas is evaluated using the entropy method, and regional differences are analyzed using kernel density estimation and the Theil index. The obstacle model was used to identify and analyze the obstacles that affect agricultural development's resilience to propose countermeasures. The results showed that (1) agricultural development resilience in China's main grain-producing areas has steadily increased from 0.317 to 0.427. The resilience of agrarian development in Heilongjiang, Shandong, and Henan provinces ranges from 0.473 to 0.575, which is far higher than the mean development level; (2) Regional differences in the main grain-producing areas are narrowing from 0.077 to 0.023; (3) The main grain-producing areas share common obstacle factors, emphasizing the critical role of technological innovation, investment, and machine-cultivated land resources in enhancing agricultural resilience against external risks. Paying attention to the amount of fertilizer usage is crucial to achieving ecological security goals.

Spatiotemporal Variability in Rainfall Erosivity and Its Teleconnection with Atmospheric Circulation Indices in China

Rainfall erosivity (RE) is a critical factor influencing soil erosion, and soil erosion is closely related to land ecosystem health and long-term sustainable utilization. To ensure regional stable food supply and ecological balance, it is crucial to study the spatiotemporal distribution and influencing factors of RE. This study focuses on China and its three natural regions using daily precipitation data from 611 stations from 1960 to 2020. The study analyses the spatiotemporal changes in RE. Rainfall events were classified as moderate, large, and heavy based on rainfall intensity. The RE contribution from different rainfall levels to the total RE was analyzed, and the key climatic drivers closely linked to RE were identified using random forest. The results demonstrate that (1) on a national scale, RE shows a significant increasing trend, marked by an 81.67 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1/decade. In the subregions, the Eastern Monsoon Region (EMR) and Qinghai–Tibet Plateau Region (QTR) show a significant increasing trend, with a greater change rate in EMR of 108.54 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1/decade, and the Northwest Arid Region (NAR) shows a nonsignificant upwards trend. (2) The average RE increases northwest–southeast nationwide, ranging from 60.15 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1 to 31,418.52 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1. The RE contribution generated by different rainfall levels to the total RE exhibits spatial variations. The dominant types show that EMR is influenced by heavy RE, NAR is dominated by large RE, and QTR is affected by moderate RE. (3) The REs are associated with teleconnection indices, but the impact of these indices varies in different regions. The Western Hemisphere Warm Pool has the greatest impact on the EMR, while the North Atlantic Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation are the factors influencing RE in NAR and QTR, respectively. (4) On a national scale, for every 1 mm increase in annual total rainfall, the RE increased by 8.54 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1, a sensitivity of 8.54 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1/mm. For the three subregions, there are differences in the sensitivity of RE to changes in annual precipitation. The highest sensitivity is found in EMR, at 8.71 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1/mm, which is greater than the sensitivity indices in NAR (6.19 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1/mm) and QTR (3.60 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1/mm). This study can provide theoretical references for future regional soil erosion prediction and sustainable agricultural development in China.

Does the Agricultural Subsidy Policy Affect Chinese Grain Production?—Evidence from DID Model

Agricultural development in China has commanded much attention in the new era. This paper uses the DID model to analysis the relationship between agricultural subsidy policy and grain planting structure in China from two perspectives of macro and micro. The novelty of this paper is that we have developed a theoretical model to estimate effect of agricultural subsidy policy on the grain planting structure and explore its path of action. The empirical results of this paper show that the agricultural subsidy policy mainly changes the input of grain production of farmers from the aspects of technology and cost, which greatly motivates the farmers to increase the land input in grain production, and its grain planting area and its proportion will both increase.

Research on the impact of domestic agricultural R&D on high-quality agricultural development in China

A fresh wave of technical change is seen as one of the most effective ways to achieve sustainable agricultural development due to the declining carrying capacity of resources and the environment. China, a nation with a sizable population, has drawn immense research attention over the following question: How can China promote agricultural transformation and achieve high-quality agricultural development through technological innovation? Based on the panel data that considers 28 provincial-level administrative regions in mainland China from 2010 to 2018, the study utilizes two-way fixed models; thus, it tests the impact of domestic agricultural research and development on high-quality agricultural development. Furthermore, it utilizes the moderating effect to verify the relationship between the two aforementioned factors under the influence of foreign technology introduction, human capital, and financial support. We observed the following: First, the high-quality agricultural development that characterized all the Chinese regions exhibited a steady upward trend. The industrial system, ecological system, and management system exhibited considerable development, whereas the development of the production system was lagging. Second, domestic agricultural research and development has promoted high-quality agricultural development. Third, under the moderating effect of foreign technology introduction, human capital, and financial support, the promotion effect of domestic agricultural research and development on high-quality agricultural development has gradually weakened. This study presents various proposals; thus, it strengthens the role of domestic agricultural research and development in promoting high-quality agricultural development.

Sugarcane/soybean intercropping with reduced nitrogen addition promotes photosynthesized carbon sequestration in the soil.

Sugarcane/soybean intercropping with reduced nitrogen (N) addition has improved soil fertility and sustainable agricultural development in China. However, the effects of intercropping pattern and N fertilizer addition on the allocation of photosynthesized carbon (C) in plant-soil system were far less understood. In this study, we performed an 13CO2 pulse labeling experiment to trace C footprints in plant-soil system under different cropping patterns [sugarcane monoculture (MS), sugarcane/soybean intercropping (SB)] and N addition levels [reduced N addition (N1) and conventional N addition (N2)]. Our results showed that compared to sugarcane monoculture, sugarcane/soybean intercropping with N reduced addition increased sugarcane biomass and root/shoot ratio, which in turn led to 23.48% increase in total root biomass. The higher root biomass facilitated the flow of shoot fixed 13C to the soil in the form of rhizodeposits. More than 40% of the retained 13C in the soil was incorporated into the labile C pool [microbial biomass C (MBC) and dissolved organic C (DOC)] on day 1 after labeling. On day 27 after labeling, sugarcane/soybean intercropping with N reduced addition showed the highest 13C content in the MBC as well as in the soil, 1.89 and 1.14 times higher than the sugarcane monoculture, respectively. Moreover, intercropping pattern increased the content of labile C and labile N (alkaline N, ammonium N and nitrate N) in the soil. The structural equation model indicated that the cropping pattern regulated 13C sequestration in the soil mainly by driving changes in labile C, labile N content and root biomass in the soil. Our findings demonstrate that sugarcane/soybean intercropping with reduced N addition increases photosynthesized C sequestration in the soil, enhances the C sink capacity of agroecosystems.