New agricultural operators and the local politics of land transfer in China

Abstract

Existing studies have shown how, under the policy agenda of agricultural modernisation, the Chinese government has promoted the large-scale transfer of rural land from smallholders to new agricultural operators (NAOs) such as agribusinesses, family farms, and professional cooperatives. Despite this national trend, there are important local variations in the extent and dynamics of land transfer, a topic that has remained underexplored in the literature. Using multiple-case methodology, this paper compares three cases of land transfer in a rural township in Shandong Province to examine how and why patterns of land transfer and management differ. Drawing on in-depth fieldwork and interviews, we reveal how trajectories of land transfer and agrarian transition are shaped by the different background and strategies of individual NAOs, which in turn structure the land and labour arrangements at each locality and give rise to distinct dynamics of interactions between the state, NAOs, and local communities. Our findings highlight the need to go beyond national statistics to explore the local politics of land transfer as well as the agency of NAOs in shaping diverse trajectories of agrarian transition.