Farmland Protection Policies Research Articles

Evaluating the Strength of Local Legislative Frameworks to Protect Farmland: City of Richmond and Metro Vancouver, British Columbia

In this exploratory paper, we introduce a new method of plan quality evaluation to measure strength of policy focus. We demonstrate how the method can be applied to evaluate the strength of farmland protection policy in two local governments in the Province of British Columbia, Canada: the City of Richmond and Metro Vancouver Regional District. The method aims to not only describe strengths and weaknesses but also measure aspects of quality that help explain why a legislative framework is good. We suggest that this approach complements methods to evaluate effectiveness of farmland protection policies.

The impact of land transfer and farmers’ knowledge of farmland protection policy on pro-environmental agricultural practices: The case of straw return to fields in Ningxia, China

Farmers’ pro-environmental agricultural practices (PAPs) are important measures to limit agricultural pollution and improve farmland quality. Given the positive externality of PAPs, the Chinese government has proposed a series of farmland protection policies to encourage farmers to implement PAPs. However, land transfer, an increasingly common phenomenon, may affect the effectiveness of policies. This study aims to explore how farmers’ PAPs have been affected by land transfer and farmers’ knowledge of farmland protection policy (KFPP). A systematic theoretical framework for this relation is developed. The probit model is applied to empirically investigate the relationship between land transfer, KFPP and the PAP of straw return to fields based on data collected from 400 farmers in Ningxia Province in China. The findings reveal that farmers’ KFPP has a positive effect on PAPs. Rented-in land has a positive effect on PAPs, while rented-out land has a negative effect, which is significantly reduced with the adjustment effect of KFPP on land transfer. Our analysis provides policy implications for the successful implementation of PAPs. The positive effect of rented-in land and the negative effect of land fragmentation on PAPs suggest the importance of policies promoting land consolidation by incorporating plot-connecting interventions in the land rental market. The positive and significant effect of KFPP on PAPs suggests further enhancing farmers’ knowledge of farmland protection policy, for example, by improving information channels and extension services.

An analytical framework to consider social justice issues in farmland preservation on the urban fringe. Insights from three French cases

Preserving farmland on the urban fringe is challenging. We hypothesise that the inefficiency of some farmland protection policies may partly arise from a lack of consideration of their social impacts. This paper hence provides a 7-criterion analytical framework to examine the social justice issues raised by the implementation of planning policies. Applying it to three French policies reveals multi-dimensional inequalities arising from farmland preservation on the urban fringe. Regarding distributive justice, all three policies generate unequal access to resources (farmland, building rights) for different types of farmers. They also show spatial variations in regulations and disregard for the special needs of new farmers. Regarding procedural justice, on two of the criteria, ‘recognition of difference’ and ‘perception of injustices’, we find evidence of exclusion, domination and lack of recognition that some minority farmers or residents are inconvenienced by agricultural activities. All three farmland preservation policies allow established farmers to capture resources such as land and rights to build farm structures, hindering the renewal and diversification needed for multifunctional agriculture and local food systems.Our 7 justice criteria could help researchers in other contexts uncover similar forms of power, exclusion, injustice and inequality embedded in the elaboration and implementation of farmland preservation or other planning policies. The insights from three French farmland protection policies may help local authorities anticipate potential justice issues, develop capacities, and provide more inclusive and transparent procedures for expressing or preventing feelings of injustice.

Preserving Farmland on the Urban Fringe: A Literature Review on Land Policies in Developed Countries

This paper reviews the recent literature dealing with farmland protection (FP) policies in developed countries from a planning perspective, with a specific focus on the Mediterranean region. It provides coverage of French language papers that may have been omitted in previous reviews. While the Mediterranean is often pointed out as a region with acute challenges related to food security and a lack of effective planning policies, the literature underlines that issues related to FP policies are similar across the world. Hence, this review may bring valuable insights for more sustainable management of farmland on the urban fringe. It maps several interesting areas of research concerning the often implicit and disparate rationales of FP policies as well as the barriers and potential avenues for improvement for FP. It highlights that FP cannot rely merely on transferring policy tools that have proven successful elsewhere. It also reveals that land policies do not always take into account the specific needs of farming systems, as they often focus on land rather than on agriculture. Further research is thus needed to reveal the interaction over time between the use of certain FP tools and the unique local features of urban fringe agriculture. This review may be of interest to students and scholars, but also to practitioners, policy makers and local groups looking for innovative, more flexible or locally suited farmland protection programs.

Interaction between urban land expansion and land use policy: An analysis using the DPSIR framework

Many studies of urban land use have focused on understanding the process and drivers of urban land expansion (ULE). However, these studies rarely examined the long-term trends and abrupt change points of ULE. Moreover, the feedback loop between ULE and land use policy (LUP) has less been investigated. Thus, stakeholders sometimes experience difficulties when utilizing the existing ULE theories in urban land management practices and policy-making. In this study, we used the moving t-test method to detect the trend changes of urban land in China from 1981 to 2015 and a fixed-effects model to recognize the main drivers. The Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework was applied to synthesize the existing knowledge of ULE to understand the interaction between LUP and ULE. Empirical analysis of 224 main cities indicated that China witnessed varying patterns of ULE through three different stages from 1981 to 2015. It revealed that the accelerated conversion of farmland to urban uses, along with inefficiency land use, led to a variety of farmland protection policies and intensive land use policies. In turn, however, these policies possibly affected the drivers of ULE. The impacts of drivers associated with land demand exhibited an increasing trend. Based on our findings, we suggest that land use policies should take the complexity and systematicity of ULE into consideration in urban land management. Overall, the framework, method, and findings of this study can help to increase the effectiveness of land use policy, not only in China but also in other developing countries.

Analyzing the behavioural mechanism of farmland abandonment in the hilly mountainous areas in China from the perspective of farming household diversity

Revealing the mechanism under the occurrence of farmland abandonment from the perspective of farming household diversity is conducive to proposing well-directed farmland protection policies. With a thorough consideration and study of cases in some hilly mountainous areas in China, this paper uses behaviour decision models of farming households to systematically understand and analyse the behavioural mechanism leading to farmland abandonment by different types of farming households, including aged households, stable part-time households, unstable part-time households and pure households. The mechanism is empirically analysed with a logistic regression model by household survey data collected from Jiangxi and Guizhou, 2 Chinese provinces, and the results observed as follows: (1) age is a key determinant of farmland abandonment of aged households, and as the age of farm labourers increases by one year, the probability of farmland abandonment increases by 8.5 %; (2) off-farm labourers is a key determinant of farmland abandonment of stable part-time households, and for each additional number of off-farm labourers, the abandonment probability increases by 41.4 %; (3) plot features such as land quality, irrigation and distance to home, are the main determinants affecting farmland abandonment of pure households; and (4) high possibility for unstable part-time households not to abandon farmland. A series of policy measures targeted for diverse farming households are therefore finally proposed to alleviate the farmland abandonment in hilly mountainous areas and other areas with similar problems.

Decoupling of Land Use Intensity and Ecological Environment in Gansu Province, China

Land is the carrier of the production and living activities of human society and the basis of survival and development of all living organisms. With the continuous development of the social economy, the unreasonable use of land is becoming more and more serious, aggravating the deterioration of the ecological environment. Most studies in this field have mainly focused on land use changes and the corresponding impacts on the ecological environment, but relatively few studies have delinked the relationship between land use intensity and the ecological environment. Based on data on these two factors for Gansu Province from 1998 to 2017, we used the Tapio decoupling model to evaluate the decoupling relationship between land use intensity and ecological environment. From 1998 to 2017, the comprehensive land use intensity in Gansu province increased by 107.77%, and the comprehensive ecological environment index increased by 63.76%. In general, the relationship between land use intensity and ecological environment experienced five states, namely weak decoupling, strong negative decoupling, strong decoupling, expansive negative decoupling, and declining decoupling. During 1999–2013 and 2013–2016, land use intensity and ecological environment had decoupled, and the main reasons were as follows: (1) The Chinese government introduced a series of farmland protection policies and measures, controlled the area of newly added construction land, and reduced urban land expansion; (2) ecological restoration projects for mountains, forests, fields, lakes, and grassland strengthened the environmental protection in Gansu Province; and (3) in the process of economic development, the increased investment of technology and capital improved the land use efficiency, finally realizing the “double growth” of land use intensity and environmental quality. Based on these results, land use intensity and environmental quality are not necessarily contradictory, and a moderate improvement of land use efficiency and environmental protection can probably result in increased land use intensity and higher environmental quality.

Spatiotemporal characteristics analysis of multifunctional cultivated land: A case‐study in Shenyang, Northeast China

AbstractThe configuration of multifunctional cultivated land is critical for its protection. Although studies on multifunctional cultivated land have been conducted, there is a lack of information regarding the spatiotemporal characteristics and tradeoff synergy relationship of cultivated‐land functions at the same time on a nonadministrative unit scale. The purpose of this study was to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics and the tradeoff synergy areas from the perspective of multifunctional cultivated land for efficient use of land resources to minimize the conflict between people and nature. The fuzzy optimization model and spatial autocorrelation analysis method were used to study spatial distribution characteristics and the tradeoff synergy spatial patterns, respectively. The results showed that (a) the implementation of different improvement measures for the spatial distribution characteristics of cultivated‐land functions could also accelerate the coordinated development of cultivated‐land functions, (b) multiple functions of cultivated land not only had a synergy trend in time, but they also had a heterogeneity and fluctuation in spatial distribution, providing a direction for the new development or management pattern of cultivated land, and (c) results on the multifunctional evaluation and tradeoff synergy relationship of cultivated land provided the foundation for determining the short‐board function and upgrading direction of cultivated land. At the grid scale, the evolution of functional distribution characteristics and functional relationships are helpful for decision‐makers to implement accurately farmland protection policies and formulate farmland regulation rules.

Determinants of Farmland Abandonment on the Urban\u2013Rural Fringe

China’s urban explosion has resulted in a substantial loss of agricultural production on the fringes of many cities. Farmland is not only converted into urban uses but also taken out of production because it has lost its value for those who can farm it. This farmland abandonment process has received little research attention. This paper studies the abandonment of farmland around the rapidly urbanizing city of Wuhan and aims to identify its important determinants based on an extensive field survey among local farmers. Around 800 semi-structured field interviews were conducted to capture the parcel and location characteristics, farming practices, and household characteristics. Important parcel-related drivers of land abandonment are lack of family members to work the land and fragmentation of parcels. Spatial characteristics are less important, except for the presence of certain soil types that favour cultivation and designation under the farmland protection policy. The planted crop species and the option to transfer land to other farmers are important farming practices to continue cultivation. Moreover, farmers with a higher farming income and lower education levels are less likely to abandon their farmland. We suggest that land use policies can help in preventing further farmland abandonment by steering urban development away from the most suitable soils for farming and concentrating development to limit the fragmentation of parcels. Strengthening the land market and removing the remaining barriers for farmers to transfer land to colleagues can further help to keep farmland in production.

Farmers' Heterogeneous Willingness to Pay for Farmland Non-Market Goods and Services on the Basis of a Mixed Logit Model-A Case Study of Wuhan, China.

The exploration of different stakeholders’ heterogeneous willingness to pay for farmland ecological value is a fundamental part of understanding the total value of farmland protection and designing a scientific farmland protection policy. Unlike the homogenous assumption used in the previous studies, the mixed logit model of choice experiment method was applied to estimate respondents’ heterogeneous willingness to pay for farmland non-market value (represented by farmland area, farmland fertility, water quality, air quality, species richness, and recreational value) in this study. Data came from a sample of 289 farmers in Wuhan, China who were face-to-face interviewed. Results showed that: (1) Farmers were unsatisfied with the status quo of the present farmland ecological environment and were willing to pay to preserve all the attributes of farmland non-market value. (2) Farmers had a heterogeneous preference for the status quo and recreational value—the error variances of these two attributes were both significant at the 1% level, and their willingness to pay for the farmland non-market value in Wuhan was 1141.88 Yuan/hm2. (3) Farmers’ cognition degree of farmland importance and whether respondents bought medical insurance or not had significant impacts on their willingness to pay. The results can provide the basic foundation for accurate valuation of farmland non-market services, help farmland regulators make the right farmland conversion decisions, and improve the resource allocation efficiency of local financial expenditure during farmland protection in Wuhan.

Changes in quantity, quality, and pattern of farmland in a rapidly developing region of China: a case study of the Ningbo region

Analyses of the quantity, quality, and pattern of farmlands are important to adequately understand the changing trajectories of farmlands, and the effectiveness of farmland protection policies in rapidly developing China. In this study, an integrated approach incorporating remote sensing images, random forest (RF) classification, geographic information system (GIS), digital elevation model (DEM), land quality score (SQ), and landscape pattern indices was applied to analyze the features of farmland use change in China, taking the Ningbo region as an example. RF classification was chosen to extract farmland use information from Landsat images; GIS and DEM were applied to quantify changes in farmland areas and their spatial variations; SQ and landscape pattern indices were used to detect changes in farmland quality and pattern. The results showed a trend of decrease followed by increase in farmland quantity, a continuously decreasing trend in farmland quality, and continuously increasing trends in both farmland fragmentation and dispersion in the Ningbo region. Besides, there was also a distinct trend of farmland advancing upwards into hills with slopes larger than 6° and elevations higher than 20 m. Farmland protection policies, represented by the overall land use plans of Ningbo, proved to be effective in protection of only farmland quantity, rather than quality and pattern. Suggestions were given for the optimization of farmland protection policies by considering not only quantity and quality but also the farmland pattern in China.

Machine learning-assisted evaluation of land use policies and plans in a rapidly urbanizing district in Chongqing, China

Analysis of annual land use change is crucial to timely assessment of the impacts of land use policies, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas such as the Liangjiang New District of Chongqing, China. This research aims to assess the impacts of multi-level land use policies and plans and their effectiveness in protecting farmland, and to recommend policies to remedy defective ones. Markov Chain–Cellular Automata modelling was integrated with machine learning to predict future urbanization. The results show that prior to the establishment of the District in late 2010, the urban area grew at 13% annually because local policies promoted profit-motivated development. This rate declined drastically to 4% during 2011–2012 in direct response to the changed local land use policies and strict enforcement of national policies. These policies stabilized the urbanization rate at 7% over the subsequent years. The safeguard of previous farmland was possible only when the national policies were aligned closely with the local policies in their aim, provided both were rigorously enforced through a land management agency. Urban land in 2020 is predicted to growth by at least 464 km2 with some differences between two scenarios. In the baseline scenario (no change in policies), almost 70% of new growth will take place inside three industry zones and the duty-free ports. However, in the national overall plan scenario, a significant amount of marginal farmland will be changed into greenfields within the planned urban zones. It is recommended that a hierarchical farmland protection policy be implemented. It should incorporate the national policies that must be adapted to the local settings to achieve sustainable urbanization and to minimize farmland loss.

Spatiotemporal Variability of Soil Nitrogen in Relation to Environmental Factors in a Low Hilly Region of Southeastern China.

Soil total nitrogen (TN) plays a major role in agriculture, geochemical cycles and terrestrial ecosystem functions. Knowledge regarding the TN distribution is crucial for the sustainable use of soil resources. This paper therefore aims to characterize the spatiotemporal distribution of soil TN and improve the current understanding of how various factors influence changes in TN. Natural characteristics and remote sensing (RS) variables were used in conjunction with the random forest (RF) model to map the TN distribution in a low hilly region of southeastern China in 1979, 2004 and 2014. The means and changes of TN in different geographic regions and farmland protection regions were also analyzed. The results showed that: (1) the TN showed an increasing trend in the early periods and exhibited a decreasing trend from 2004 to 2014; (2) the geographic and RS variables played more important roles in predicting TN distribution than did the other variables; and (3) changes in the fertilization and crop planting structure caused by soil testing and formulated fertilization techniques (STFFT—Soil Testing and Formulated Fertilization Techniques) as well as farmland protection policies influenced the spatiotemporal variability of TN. Evidently, more attention should be focused on improving the quality and soil fertility in the surrounding low mountainous areas.

Spatial Variability of Local Rural Landscape Change under Rapid Urbanization in Eastern China

Understanding the characteristics of rural landscape change during the urbanization process is crucial to developing more elaborate rural landscape management plans for sustainable development. However, there is little information revealing how rural landscapes change at a local scale and limited evidence addressing how to improve the practicability of these management approaches. This paper aims to investigate local rural landscape compositions and patterns and to identify the spatial variability of local rural landscape change under rapid urbanization in eastern China to provide detail approaches to practicable and efficient local landscape management. The land use composition and landscape pattern from 2009 to 2012 were analyzed in three rural areas, namely, Daxing (DX) in Beijing, Quzhou (QZ) in Hebei Province and Changshu (CS) in Jiangsu Province. The results showed that the three rural areas varied in landscape pattern and land use composition change, even in the short term. Local farmland decreased slightly, demonstrating the effectiveness of the national farmland protection policy. Compared to the other two rural areas, CS was more diverse, fragmented and complex, and it had the greatest change rate between 2009 and 2012. In this rural area, semi-natural land dramatically increased, from 9.15% to 39.85%, and settlement construction unexpectedly decreased. QZ was characterized by a highly homogenous landscape dominated by farmland, which accounted for more than 80% of the total area, and it showed a slow decrease in farmland with weak increases in semi-natural land and construction. DX was characterized by a simple and homogenous landscape and had a median change rate of 9.32%, presenting a common land use change trend of a fast expansion in construction but decreases in farmland and semi-natural land. During decreases in highly valuable natural land, semi-natural land was important for nature conservation in rural areas at a local scale, but that process needs further improvement, especially in DX and QZ. Generally, local rural landscapes became more disaggregated and diverse during landscape change. Land use switches among farmland, orchards, nurseries, and other production lands were the major driving force for local change. Considering differential characteristics of landscape change among rural areas, we suggest that efficient landscape management requires the development of strategies that account for the spatial variability of urbanization effects. Subsidies for the management of semi-natural land with high natural value are meaningful for local natural conservation.

China should not massively reclaim new farmland

To protect farmland and ensure national food security and social stability, China implemented the Dynamic Balance of Total Farmland Area (DBTFA) policy in 1998. From 2000–2013, the amount of newly reclaimed land reached 2.47 million hectares. This massive reclaiming of farmland appeared to effectively halt the rapid loss of farmland in China. However, four aspects suggest that the DBTFA policy has become outdated and economically ineffective. First, bumper grain harvests and imports have provided China with an ample domestic food supply, which means it is no longer threatened by grain shortages; second, China does not have much land left suitable for farmland reclamation; third, the cost of land reclamation is very high; fourth, land abandonment is common in China. The massive amounts of newly reclaimed farmland have not been utilized effectively. Therefore, the key goal of the current farmland protection policy should be to protect high-quality farmland instead of reclaiming new farmland.

Growing centralization in China’s farmland protection policy in response to policy failure and related upward-extending unwillingness to protect farmland since 1978

Since 1978, China has experienced a rapid loss of arable land, leading to centralizing of farmland protection policies. To understand the growing centralization, this paper has used the lens of the interactions among (1) unwillingness to protect farmland among diverse actors, (2) policy failure and (3) policy change. The growing centralization is an adaptive response to the unwillingness to protect farmland from local up to provincial government levels, and its associated policy failure. The article suggests that gradual centralization over the last almost 40 years has gone through three phases: centralization to county-level, centralization to provincial-level, and intensifying technical supervision from central government. In the first phase, the unwillingness to preserve farmland appeared at the levels of the rural household, village and township; in the second phase, county- and prefecture-level governments began to lose willingness to preserve farmland; and, in the third phase, provincial governments’ willingness to preserve farmland weakened. The current centralized system has succeeded, for the most part, in addressing the problem of asymmetric information about farmland preservation between central and local governments, but the basic planning problem regarding loss of farmland remains a challenge.

Analyzing the Impact of Highways Associated with Farmland Loss under Rapid Urbanization

Highway construction has accelerated urban growth and induced direct and indirect changes to land use. Although many studies have analyzed the relationship between highway construction and local development, relatively less attention has been paid to clarifying the various impacts of highways associated with farmland loss. This paper integrates GIS spatial analysis, remote sensing, buffer analysis and landscape metrics to analyze the landscape pattern change induced by direct and indirect highway impacts. This paper explores the interaction between the impact of highways and farmland loss, using the case of the highly urbanized traffic hubs in eastern China, Hang-Jia-Hu Plain. Our results demonstrate that the Hang-Jia-Hu Plain experienced extensive highway construction during 1990–2010, with a clear acceleration of expressway development since 2000. This unprecedented highway construction has directly fragmented the regional landscape and indirectly disturbed the regional landscape by attracting a large amount of built-up land transition from farmland during the last two decades. In the highway-effect zone, serious farmland loss initially occurred in the urban region and then spread to the rural region. Moreover, we found the discontinuous expansion of built-up land scattered the farmland in the rural region and expressway-effect zone. Furthermore, farmland protection policies in the 1990s had the effect of controlling the total area of farmland loss. However, the cohesive farmland structure was still fragmented by the direct and indirect impacts of highway construction. We suggest that an overall farmland protection system should be established to enhance spatial control and mitigate the adverse impacts caused by highway construction. This work improves the understanding of regional sustainable development, and provides a scientific basis for balanced urban development with farmland protection in decision-making processes.

Farmland Conversion Decreases Regional and National Land Quality in China

AbstractMaintaining sufficient farmland to ensure food security and a strong rural economy is crucial for China. At the national as well as regional levels, we compared the quality of the land converted from and to farmland during the period 1986–2005, thus quantifying the change in farmland quality directly attributable to land‐use conversion. Specifically, we compared land cover maps compiled for the initial and final years of the study period at a 1:250,000 scale by institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and combined this with national land quality assessment data compiled at the beginning of the period. Comparison of the land cover maps revealed that over the 20‐year period 12·9 Mha of farmland were converted to other land uses and 14·0 Mha of new farmland were brought under cultivation. Large net increases in farmland area occurred in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, together contributing 3·5 Mha of the net increase in farmland area. Several developed provinces, e.g. Beijing (−21·20%), Shanghai (−15·81%), Zhejiang (−9·85%), Guangdong (−7·79%), and Tianjin (−6·35%), experienced rapid farmland decreases. Although there was a net increase in farmland, the most suitable and productive farmland decreased by 1·8% while low‐quality farmland increased by 1·4%. Thus, focusing solely on maintaining the total farmland area did not prevent overall loss of a substantial amount of high‐quality farmland. Farmland protection policies should therefore take into account both farmland quantity and quality. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Exploring Heterogeneous Preference for Farmland Non-market Values in Wuhan, Central China

The research question for this study is estimating the public’s willingness to pay for the public goods generated by farmland, and exploring respondents’ heterogeneity in their preferences for these goods. The approach used is a choice experiment, using respondents from the city of Wuhan, China. Six attributes representing public good values (farmland area, farmland fertility, water quality, air quality, species richness, and recreational value) and the level of private cost are selected in this study. A heteroscedastic conditional logit model is used to analyze the respondents’ willingness to pay for improvements in these public goods, accounting for systematic heterogeneity in public preferences. The results show the public are willing to pay to preserve the non-market values generated by farmland, with air quality valued most and followed by farmland fertility, farmland area, water quality, species richness and recreational value. In addition, respondents with higher income, and who are aware of the non-market values of farmland and have a willingness to pay for it have a smaller error variance, i.e., these respondents are more consistent in their choices. This study may help decision makers improving more differentiated farmland protection policies.

Farmland protection policies and rapid urbanization in China: A case study for Changzhou City

The purpose of this study was to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of farmland loss and fragmentation and to explore factors that may influence that loss and fragmentation. The study examined changes to farmland in a context of rapid urbanization in Changzhou City, China. It also examined farmland changes in the suburban areas outside the city and in the exurban regions. Time series data from 2004 to 2011 were used to conduct spatial analysis using landscape indices and to perform a redundancy analysis. The results found that farmland was steadily declining during the study period. Farmland also became increasingly fragmented and it moved from low elevation and a gentle slope terrain to higher elevation and a steep slope terrain while its center of gravity generally moved northward. China’s farmland protection policy, agricultural production level, and terrain conditions contributed most to farmland loss and fragmentation in the city. Farmland loss and fragmentation in the suburbs and exurbs were influenced mostly by prime farmland area, total population, and per capita net income of rural residents. To control farmland loss and fragmentation, laws regarding its conversion to built-up environments should be enforced. China’s overall land-use plan and laws of farmland protection are presently the best ways to effectively protect farmland loss and fragmentation.