From the perspective of social development laws, urbanization is an objective requirement and inevitable product of human economic and social development reaching a certain stage. The urbanization process, characterized mainly by the transfer of rural labor to cities and non-agricultural employment, has had a profound impact on rural development and farmland utilization. Due to institutional factors such as land and household registration, the characteristics of rural labor transfer in China are quite complex. In this context, studying the impact of population urbanization on farmland use holds significant theoretical and practical significance. Labor is an important input factor for farmland utilization. Population urbanization, on one hand, directly involves changes in the quantity of agricultural labor input; on the other hand, the linkage, subsidiary, and subsequent effects generated by labor transfer from non-agricultural employment transfer and urbanization transfer also have different impacts on farmland use.
Based on panel data from 1,961 counties nationwide from 2000 to 2014, and supported by urban-rural dual economic theory, rural labor transfer theory, smallholder economy and smallholder production theory, and property rights and institutional change theory, this study investigates the mechanism by which population urbanization affects farmland use efficiency, analyzes regional differences in the impact of population urbanization on farmland use efficiency, and proposes reform pathways for the impact of population urbanization on farmland use efficiency. The main questions are as follows: 1) Does rural labor transfer positively or negatively affect farmland use efficiency at the national level? Or do they show nonlinear relationships? What are its mechanisms and dynamic relationships? 2) What differences exist between regions regarding the impact of rural labor transfer on farmland use efficiency? 3) Based on the exploration results of the above questions, what reform path should be adopted to optimize the impact of population urbanization on farmland use efficiency?
