Labor Migration Distance and Farmland Transfer in Rural China: Evidence From a Nationwide Household Survey

Farmland transfer is an essential pathway for achieving agricultural modernization, urban-rural integration, and comprehensive rural revitalization. Although it has been boosted by massive out-migration of rural labors in urbanizing China over the past decade, its share in total area of farmland remains relatively low. Given the common pattern of family-separation migration and spatially varying rate of out-migration, the corresponding partial model and geographical unevenness of farmland transfer-out probably account for this low transfer rate. Drawing on data from a nationwide rural household survey, this study quantitatively analyzes the impact of labor migration distance on households’ decisions to transfer out farmland, with a particular focus on differentiating its effects on partial versus complete transfer-out and examining their spatial heterogeneity. The findings reveal that while one fourth of households in rural China transfer out their farmland, over one-third of them spare part for self-cultivation. The positive effect of labor migration on farmland transfer-out varies with migration distance, exhibiting a U-shaped pattern, with intra-county migration exerting the greatest influence. Complete transfer of farmland is primarily driven by intra-county labor migration, while partial transfer is more strongly associated with inter-county migration. Farmland transfer-out and labor migration distance exhibit distinct spatial distributions, with the influence of migration distance on farmland transfer-out varying significantly across natural and economic geographical divisions. These results highlight the significance of nearby county-level urbanization in advancing both the scaling up of agricultural operations and the integration of rural migrants into urban citizenship.