Impact of Land Transfer on Rural Industrial Revitalization in China

ABSTRACT Industrial revitalization is fundamental to rural revitalization, and land is crucial for rural industrial development. Based on the theory of multifunctional agriculture, the study constructs an evaluation index system for rural industrial revitalization using the entropy‐weighted TOPSIS method and examines the impact of land transfer on rural industrial revitalization in China from 2006 to 2020 through a Spatial Durbin Model. The results show that the land transfer rate generally exhibits an initial increase followed by a slight decline, with a spatial pattern of higher levels in the east and south and lower levels in the west and north, along with localized agglomeration. The level of rural industrial revitalization fluctuates with an upward trend, displaying a spatial distribution that is higher in the eastern and central regions and lower in the western, northern, and southern regions. Empirical results show that land transfer significantly promotes rural industrial revitalization. Land transfer facilitates rural industrial revitalization mainly by enhancing agricultural production capacity, agricultural economic and social performance, agricultural ecological performance, and the integration performance of rural industries. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that land transfer to new agricultural entities such as cooperatives and enterprises has a stronger positive effect. Significant regional disparities exist, with the most pronounced effect in the eastern region, followed by the central region and a relatively weaker effect in the western region. Based on these findings, this paper proposes three policy recommendations. First, continue to promote land transfer policies to advance moderate‐scale agricultural operations. Second, foster new types of agricultural operators. Third, standardize the land transfer process, improve the price formation mechanism, and establish an efficient land transfer market.