From “whether” to “how”: Smallholders' interest heterogeneity and local responses in farm-size transition—Evidence from central China's granaries

Debates on the farm-size transition are often framed as a binary opposition over whether it should be promoted, which fails to adequately capture the complexity of agrarian transition. This limitation stems in part from insufficient attention to the heterogeneity of smallholders' interests regarding the farm-size transition. To address this gap, we developed an analytical framework and examined the heterogeneity of these interests, their determinants, and village collectives' response mechanisms, drawing on a case study from central China's major grain-producing areas. The results reveal significant heterogeneity in smallholders' interests. Some smallholders support the farm-size transition because it reduces transaction costs and increases returns, whereas others oppose it, believing that “self-farming is more profitable” or relying on land for livelihood security. Additionally, some smallholders need to retain part of their land for sociocultural and everyday-life values, such as the symbolic value of farming as an occupation and the pursuit of food self-sufficiency. Key factors shaping this heterogeneity include age, the number of household laborers, contracted land area, economic status, non-farm employment and income, farming proficiency, and cash crop cultivation. In response, village collectives adopt a “dualistic pattern” of the farm-size transition. Building on these findings, the study conceptualizes this pattern as a governance mechanism aligned with the developmental characteristics of middle-income economies and argues that research on the farm-size transition in China's plain granaries should move beyond binary debates over whether to pursue it, toward a focus on how to advance it through refined governance.