Introduction: China's rising farmland rental costs, driven by urbanization and market expectations, pose significant challenges to agricultural sustainability. This study investigates the impact of the Rural Collectively Owned Commercial Construction Land (RCOCCL) reform, a key policy to integrate urban-rural land markets, on farmland rental prices. Methods: Using county-level panel data(2013-2020) and a multi-period Difference-in- Differences (DID) model, we analyze the reform’s effects, with robustness checks (PSM-DID, heterogeneous DID) and mechanism tests. Results: We find that the RCOCCL reform significantly suppressed farmland rental price growth (p< 0.01), with effects strengthened by longer reform duration and rural digitization but attenuated by local government intervention. Heterogeneity analysis shows stronger impacts in geographically rugged and less-developed counties. Discussion: These results indicate that the reform helps mitigate land-market distortions, though local fiscal reliance and uneven digitization limit its effectiveness. Conclusion: We recommend spatially differentiated implementation, reduced administrative intervention, and integrated spatial planning to enhance equity and efficiency in farmland rental markets.
Li et al. (Tue,) studied this question.