Abandoned Farmland: Farmer’s Choice and Changes

“Abandoned Farmland (Liàohuāng)” refers to the abandonment of used land to a certain extent or to a certain degree by operators under the combined effects of social, economic, and natural factors, leading to waste, partial waste, or the underutilization of land resources. As early as China’s feudal era, abandonment had appeared on a large scale, mainly due to changes in population relations and the cycle of dynasties, especially wars. At the beginning of the reform and opening up, due to the expansion of farmers’ choices and the heavy burden of agricultural taxes, large-scale abandonment behavior occurred. This was a helpless choice for farmers. However, with the development of the market society to a certain extent, the increase in diversified employment opportunities for farmers, and the increase in farmers’ rationality, after considering the cost and benefits, some farmers are consciously choosing to give up planting some arable land under the control of maximizing benefits, forming a new period of abandonment behavior. Although food security is inevitable in the process of social development, this issue is contrary to China’s food security issue. How to effectively control this issue and how to handle the rational allocation of social resources need further study.