The ecological and economic effects of large-scale farmland management: a perspective from new agricultural business entities

New agricultural business entities serve as key organizational carriers of large-scale farmland management, which significantly enhances farmland resource utilization, drives rural industrial development, and protects the agro-ecological environment. Balancing the ecological and economic effects of large-scale farmland management remains a practical challenge. Therefore, using data from the 2015 China Micro and Small Enterprises Survey, this study selected 427 new agricultural business entities, specifically agribusinesses and farmers’ cooperatives, as our research sample. By using ordinary least square, instrumental variables and mediating effects, we explored the interaction mechanism between the ecological effect (fertilizer and pesticide inputs) and the economic effect (agricultural output value) of large-scale farmland management by new agricultural business entities. The results show that, firstly, a 1% increase in the scale of farmland management results in increases of 2.545%, 2.016%, and 1.753% in the input of fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural output value, respectively. The increase in fertilizer and pesticide inputs exceeds the increase in agricultural output value, aligning with the influence of farmland transfer area on the scale of farmland management. Secondly, the mechanism is that the ecological effect of the large-scale management of farmland promotes the economic effects, while economic effects inhibit ecological effects. Thirdly, at lower levels of large-scale management, the ecological effects are smaller than the economic effects, whereas at higher levels of scale, the ecological effects significantly exceed the economic effects. This study will provide an evidence base for new agricultural business entities to formulate relevant large-scale business plans.