Transforming Agriculture, Farmland Use and the Environment in China

This multidisciplinary book examines the interactions between agriculture, farmland use and the environment in the farming regions of China through the frame of “theoretical explanations-spatial pattern and process analysis-mechanism analysis-simulation of future trajectories-policy recommendations”. Developing a general framework building on complex adaptive system theory, it provides the means to understand the changing agricultural practices and farmland use, and its environmental responses. Then, it explores the process of agricultural transformation in China via the lens of rural population, farmland use, and agriculture-related industry, as well as investigates the dynamics and performances of multifunctional agriculture. Taking a system perspective, this book, then, presents a rich blend of national and regional scale statistical analysis on the nexus between agriculture, farmland use and environment, combining quantitative and qualitative data and adding sophisticated criticaland theoretically-informed analysis. It also interrogates the what contributes to the environmental consequences and the ways in which those effects manifest. In order to predict the future trajectory of the evolution of their interactions, a system dynamics approach was employed to describe relationships among variables in complex agricultural system. Finally, this book formulates a range of sustainable agricultural policy recommendations. Together these elements make for an authoritative and important volume, which will foster a broader understanding of the subject matter of sustainable agriculture and farmland use, and how they are related to the environment. Knowledge derived from western literature, such as ‘sustainable intensification’ and ‘multifunctional agriculture’, can help to illuminate aspects of the experience of change in rural China and have been valuably employed to develop a more critical perspective and to engage with international debates; yet not all concepts are transferable, and we urgently need rural geography that is written from China articulating explanations and formulating concepts that are rooted in empirical research on the Chinese experience. This book is an important contribution to building this new literature.

Primarily intended for scholars and graduate students across a range of disciplines, such as geography, urban-rural planning, agricultural economics and sociology, and people engaged in rural planning, land management and agricultural governance, this book will prove to be an innovative and up-to-date resource.

This book reveals complex, often hidden dynamics and spatial-temporal heterogeneity of China's agricultural transformation. It is a must read for researchers interested in sustainable agricultural development, farmland conservation, rural well-being, and global sustainability debates.

Shenjing He

Professor of Urban Geography, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS)¿the University of Hong Kong

The book provides novel and original insights into a gamut of intersecting political, environmental, socio-cultural and economic forces that have restructured rural China. It is an essential and timely reference point to more effectively address societal and environmental challenges faced by China and other nations in the twenty-first century.

Darren Smith

Professor of Rural Geography, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS), Loughborough University