This book focuses on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, using nationally representative datasets from the China Rural Household Panel Survey and China Labor-force Dynamics Survey to reveal the temporal and spatial evolution of cropland abandonment in rural China, and systematically examines the underlying drivers and governance strategies of farmers' cropland abandonment.

More specifically, this book creatively uses "People-Land-Money-Rights" as an analytical clue, and comprehensively employs modern econometric methods such as panel Tobit model, staggered DID model, and panel fixed-effect model to empirically investigate the impact of off-farm employment, land fragmentation, agricultural comparative return, and tenure insecurity on farmers' cropland abandonment. Based on these, this book also further explores the role of new agricultural business entities, farmland water conservancy projects, agricultural subsidy reform, and land tenure reform in curbing cropland abandonment. This book highlights the urgent need to address cropland abandonment and provides valuable insights into land protection in the context of food security and sustainable agriculture.

Linyi Zheng, Ph.D. in Management, is a Distinguished Associate Research Fellow and Master’s Supervisor at the China Academy for Rural Development (CARD) and School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, and currently holds concurrent positions including Deputy Secretary-General of the Disciplinary Special Committee, Chinese Society of Agricultural Technology Economics (CSATE); Secretary of the Professional Committee for Rural Development Discipline Construction, Chinese Society for Rural Development (CSRD); Committee Member of the Agricultural Modernization Branch, Chinese Agricultural Society (CAS); Committee Member of the Youth Working Committee, Chinese Society of Agricultural Technology Economics (CSATE); Young Editorial Board Member of China Land Science and Journal of Integrative Agriculture; and Associate Editor of Modern Agriculture. His primary research interests focus on land systems and land economics, the history of agricultural economic thought, and disciplinary development, and in recent years, he has presided over more than 10 projects funded by bodies such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Social Science Foundation of the Ministry of Education, served as the chief editor of Handbook of Chinese Agricultural Economics & Management, translated An Introduction to The Study of Agricultural Economics—the world’s first university textbook on agricultural economics—and published over 50 papers in leading domestic and international journals, including Economic Research Journal, China Economic Quarterly, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural Economics, Food Policy, Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Rural Studies, and Energy Economics.