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The purpose of this paper is to assess the links between basic farmland preservation and land transfers in rural China.

The Chinese provincial panel data from 2006 to 2016 were analyzed with the use of Arellano–Bond linear dynamic panel data estimations.

The basic farmland preservation policy negatively affects the land transfer rate. In addition, this policy is most likely to limit land transfers between local acquaintances in the major grain-producing areas. Further evidence indicates that the basic farmland preservation policy has a negative impact on land rentals in general. Considering that land transfers such as exchanges and take-overs are excluded from rental transactions between acquaintances, the policy’s constraints on land use are likely to hinder land rentals between acquaintances, which are market-oriented.

Overall, this study’s analysis suggests that the farmland preservation policy’s constraints on land use rights are likely to result in a major diminishment of the rural rental markets. Under this policy, land that is designated as basic farmland cannot be converted to another use. However, it remains possible to improve the productivity of agriculture through other means. These possible avenues for improvement include enhancing the efficiency of production through expanding the scale of farming operations and developing the social services aspect of agriculture (i.e. the basic farmland preservation policy is likely to realize more social revenue than can be gained from land transfers). Thus, the arrangement of the basic farmland preservation policy in China can be managed in a way that is both economical and reasonable.

To ensure food security, China has enacted several laws and regulations to preserve basic farmland, and it has promoted land transfers to improve farm productivity. Therefore, it is important to understand whether the basic farmland preservation policy restricts land use rights and hinders land transfers that could improve productivity. This study provides empirical evidence showing that the basic farmland preservation policy is actually not conducive to promoting land transfers and that it even discourages the market orientation of land rentals between acquaintances. In dealing with this issue, the Chinese Government should seek to balance the relationship between preserving basic farmland and promoting land transfers.

This study investigates the effect of renting in land on farm productivity, and the impacts of rented-in land size and transaction partner type on farm productivity.

Data from the 2015 China Household Finance Survey are analyzed using an extended regression model and the two-stage least squares method.

Farm households that rent in land are likely to achieve higher farm productivity, and ignoring endogeneity underestimates the positive effect of land renting-in. Further evidence indicates that rented-in land size has an insignificant impact on farm productivity, and that there is no difference in farm productivity between lessees renting-in land from acquaintances and those renting-in land from non-acquaintances. These results may be caused by the higher degree of marketization of land rentals between acquaintances in China. With increasing competition in agricultural factor markets, in theory, rented-in land size should not affect farm productivity.

Overall, the analysis suggests that renting in land improves farm productivity, which supports the land transfer policies that have been rolled out in recent decades in China. However, our finding that rented land size does not affect farm productivity, consistent with the results in the literature, implies that the Chinese government should no longer subsidize or prefer large farms with low productivity. More attention should be paid to small lessees and market-oriented land rentals between acquaintances. Promoting the marketization of land transfers inside acquaintance networks could realize the potential of the land market, especially if land transfers decrease.

This study identifies the effects of renting in land, rented-in land size and type of rental transaction partner on farm productivity using nationally representative data. The findings imply that the government should pay more attention to the marketization of land rentals between acquaintances. Although existing studies regard land rental between acquaintances as informal and of low efficiency, the recent evidence shows that China's land markets are changing, and policy makers should adjust their policies accordingly.

Purpose – The policy approach of multifunctionality – that agriculture has benefits beyond the production of food and fiber – has been debated within global trade negotiations. Little is known about the perceptions of agriculture's multifunctional nature at the local level. These perceptions may be particularly pertinent in rural locations undergoing rapid transformations of the agricultural system, economic base, and related land uses. This chapter describes research conducted to examine the perceptions of agriculture's impact on local communities and the policy choices needed to support agriculture's multifunctionality.

Methodology – Six focus groups were conducted in Pennsylvania, USA. Counties were selected to represent three differentiated rural spaces (contested, clientelist, preserved), in which production and consumption interests claims vie for control of rural land. Participants represented both production and consumption interests, and described their perceptions of local agriculture and policy preferences.

Findings – Production and consumption interests across the study sites expressed views consonant with global discussions, in that agriculture provides significant positive impacts and few negative. However, locally specific issues related to taxes, land use planning, and farmland preservation dominated discussion. Participants supported a mix of policy tools (voluntary, regulatory, educational), but gave little credence to federal programs.

Research limitations/implications – Policy initiatives to support agricultural multifunctionality need to be sensitive to local conditions and create an enabling environment to allow multiple stakeholders opportunities to identify issues and preferred policy mechanisms.

Originality – Previous research has identified multifunctionality concepts at the global level; this chapter localizes multifunctionality, and examines potential hurdles to implementation.

The purpose of the study is to test how land owners respond to the appreciation of land values in the presence of speculation. This paper introduces the concept of “land hoarding,” which is land owners' response to higher land prices by selling more land up to a point beyond which accelerated land price appreciation would lead to land hoarding. Specifically, this paper examines the effect of land value appreciation higher than the opportunity cost of selling the land (measured by treasury‐bill (T‐bill) rate) on land sale and land hoarding.

A theoretical framework is developed to understand the demand for agricultural land retention with and without speculation, the former informing land hoarding behavior. A linear regression model was introduced and estimated using ordinary least square (OLS) method. A panel data model and analysis is also introduced, and following appropriate model selection tests, a fixed effect panel data estimation method is implemented. Data from 48 states, spanning from 1950 to 2004, are utilized.

An inverse relationship is found between the rate of land value appreciation and the demand for land by farmers, suggesting that the standard direct relationship between appreciation and land supplied to development holds. However, the additional finding of an inverse relationship between the rate of land value appreciation in excess of the risk‐free rate of return and agricultural land development confirms the existence of an identifiable speculative demand component that involves land hoarding.

To the extent to which the findings are broadly applicable, one policy implication is that enhanced land retention can be achieved through market mechanisms. For example, the notion that reduced T‐bill rates can actually result in market triggered land preservation is an interesting policy related finding. Equally interesting is the notion that policies that can trigger increases in the rate of appreciation of farmland may also potentially result in the agricultural hoarding of land. Obviously, enhanced profitability in agriculture due to programs targeting viability, commodity price support, reduction of regulation or market expansion programs can potentially affect land retention.

This paper introduces the “land hoarding hypothesis.” High rates of land appreciation can be expected to signal that holding the land may yield better returns than selling it, suggesting that if rates of land appreciation become significantly high enough, farmers may begin to hoard land, not sell it, to maximize long‐term returns. This concept can be valuable to market‐based agricultural land retention programs at the urban fringe. By linking speculative behavior, land demand and existence of a hoarding behavior under some conditions, this paper adds value and originality to the literature.

In urban planning, peri-urban areas are often addressed with an urban-centric view on development, disregarding the multifunctional and dynamic opportunities that these spaces offer. As a consequence, we argue that land use functions such as agriculture do not reach their full potential, despite the increasing enthusiasm for peri-urban and urban agriculture. This chapter has a twofold structure: first it explores the opportunities and challenges for agriculture in peri-urban areas; and second, it studies success factors for envisioning processes promoting peri-urban agriculture in urban policy and planning.

Through action research, we gather and compare data from two envisioning processes in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Kortrijk. Both processes were initiated by the local authorities, with the purpose of developing a spatial vision for agriculture in peri-urban areas.

Results show that in both contexts, pressure on farmland is a key issue. In addition, we highlight that multifunctionality is rather complex, both in practice and from a governance perspective, but nevertheless promising as a territorial concept in envisioning processes. Regarding the envisioning process itself, the analysis shows that clarity and consensus on the objectives of the process, delineation of the study area, policy support, clear leadership, and inserting sound and reliable data into the process are important success factors.

This chapter provides insight into the visions, plans and strategies needed to embrace the potential of agriculture in peri-urban areas, through the exploration and valuation of participatory envisioning processes. Future research is needed to explore the implementation phases of envisioning processes in urban planning.

The purpose of this research was to identify the major environmental impacts occurring in Melo Creek, Minas Gerais, Brazil, especially as regards to its water quality.

Initial evaluation was based on aerial photograph interpretation. All the small creek catchments were delimited and 12 stream segments were chosen for sampling and analyses. The segments had their water discharge calculated and channel pattern described. Also determined for these segments were the physical and chemical parameters of the water, as well as the microbiological content. Both water and sediment samples were analyzed for metals and trace element quantification. Meanwhile, an environmental inquiry was conducted in all the small villages along the creek.

Data show a decrease in water discharge during the last decades, related to the increased destruction of the Atlantic Forest, especially at the riverheads and in permanent preservation areas (PPA). Most of the native vegetation was cut down to create farmlands and pasture. The water quality is also diminishing because for most of the properties, the main activities are pig raising and sugarcane liqueur production, which discharge their untreated effluents, along with domestic wastewater and sewage, directly into the creek. The results indicated that during its passage through the catchment, stream water became significantly contaminated with fecal coliform bacteria. As a consequence, the area possesses a high endemic disease index for water transmitted parasitism, especially for Schistosomiasis mansoni.

This was the first study done in the Melo catchment, a small rural basin without basic sanitation and with a highly prevalent schistosomiasis rate.

This chapter considers the place of responsibility in confronting ecological sustainability and social equity problems in the food system. We present two illustrations addressing the following question: In what ways does responsibility present a way to close the metabolic rift in line with the vision of the global food sovereignty movement? First, using the example of Metro-Vancouver in Canada, we consider the ways in which urban people claim responsibility for land protection through the concept of urban agrarianism, defined as an urban ethic of care for foodlands, with an associated responsibility to exercise solidarity with those who cultivate and harvest food. Second, we discuss how deepening relational responsibility in legal and regulatory frameworks might hold the corporate food regime accountable in the Canadian context to address their role in and responsibility for mitigating an increasingly risky world, as evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the responsibility of urban people to mobilise in solidarity with food movements, and against the corporate food regime in particular, will play a critical role in supporting the transition to sustainable and just food systems. This applies both to finding new ways to claim responsibility for this transition and to hold those actors that have disproportionately benefitted from the corporate food regime responsible. Such a reworking of responsibility is especially necessary as the context for food systems change becomes increasingly urbanised and risky.

–The purpose of this paper is to determine strategies in controlling over the function of paddy field in Central Java.

Purposive sampling was employed by having 12 people interviewed. Analytical hierarchy process was used to determine a strategy related to policy control toward agricultural land conversion.

The results indicated priorities which are recommended to include in the policy toward the function of the land conversion in Central Java. They are: first, the application of laws that regulate land conversion mechanism; second, tightening or restricting and prohibiting rules for anyone who wants to change the function of agricultural land; and finally, zoning or clustering region based on urban spatial and land use.

This study suggests that the government is expected to invest directly for agriculture and plantation by avoiding the use of existing rice field.

It is also advisable for government to utilize the available unused land.

This paper captures factual condition of the decrease of the land use for agriculture which has been very critical issues in any agrarian countries. This is essential to know the core of the problem and possible solutions for similar case in other typical nations.

Our global food system today is characterised by an unprecedented scale of centralisation, intensification and concentration. The record‐high food supplies are supposed to suffice the mouths of seven billion and famines become something in history, which is ironically not the case today. The purpose of this paper is to study whether the globalised food system in the current form is sustainable for all and whether the alternatives are available.

The paper will discuss the benefits of, as well as challenges facing, a localised food system. It will also analyse how the “Food Empire” undermines universal “food security” and “food sovereignty”, especially the way the underprivileged in the south are being exploited.

Created by several transnational corporations, the “Food Empire” dominates the global agri‐food industry, from agricultural inputs to food retails, under intensive globalisation of agri‐production and liberalisation of international trade. Instead of a globalised food system, this paper argues that it is better to have localised food systems as they can offer people an equitable access to food and ensure long‐term productivity of our farmlands as part of the agenda for sustainable development.

We have to review trade rules and stop the food war against nature, the poor and justice. “Free market” and “green revolution” in which many believe are not whole of the answers to achieve a sustainable food system, but only the “political will” to change the way food is produced and consumed from now on.