Off-Farm Income Shares and Farmers’ Adoption of Arable Land Protection Practices: Evidence from the Jianghan Plain, China

Yang, Gaodi, Yue, Meng, Jin, Shan, Coles, David and Frewer, Lynn (2026) Off-Farm Income Shares and Farmers’ Adoption of Arable Land Protection Practices: Evidence from the Jianghan Plain, China. Sustainability, 18 (17). p. 8731. ISSN 2071-1050

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Abstract

Using a Poisson regression model with a quadratic term and data from a 2022 survey of rice farmers across 10 counties in China’s Jianghan Plain, this study examines how the off-farm income shares are associated with the interplay between survival and sustainability imperatives in farmers’ adoption of arable land protection (ALP) practices. The results reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between the off-farm income shares and ALP adoption. However, the off-farm income shares are negatively associated with ALP adoption overall. The association is consistent with several channels: disruption of farming time, increased distance from cropland, reduction in operational scale, and weakened awareness of ALP. Furthermore, significant differences in ALP adoption are observed among full-time farmers, part-time I farmers, and part-time II farmers, with the latter exhibiting the lowest level of ALP adoption. These findings provide empirical evidence on how off-farm income shares correlate with land management decisions and offer implications for tailored agricultural policy interventions.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	off-farm income shares, arable land protection, inverted U-shaped relationship, economic rationality and ecological rationality, farmer heterogeneity
Divisions:	Land and Property Management
Depositing User:	Dr Andy Jin
Date Deposited:	11 Sep 2026 15:51
Last Modified:	11 Sep 2026 15:51
URI:	https://rau.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/17127

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