Overcoming Fragmented Plot Barriers: How Cultivated Land Concentration Advances China’s Agroecological Performance

Reconciling grain production stability and agroecological sustainability is a key bottleneck for the high-quality development of China’s agriculture. As a critical form of cultivated land spatial restructuring, cultivated land concentration reshapes agricultural production and factor allocation, but whether it can break the long-standing trade-off between agricultural output growth and environmental protection remains unclear. Based on China’s prefecture-level panel data from 2000 to 2022, this study evaluates the impact of cultivated land concentration on agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP), identifies the underlying transmission channels, and assesses its spatial spillover effects. The results show that cultivated land concentration significantly improves AGTFP, and this green effect extends beyond local jurisdictions through positive spatial spillovers. The effect operates through the agglomeration of green finance and the development of agricultural production services. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that the effect is stronger in grain-dominated regions and weaker in highly mechanized areas. These findings contribute to reconciling national food security objectives with the long-term sustainability of China’s agroecosystems.