The impact of high-standard farmland construction on the scale management of triple farmland and its policy implications

High-standard farmland construction is an effective measure to promote the transformation of agricultural production and operation modes and accelerate the construction of a strong agricultural nation. Based on survey data from 1,130 farming households in Shandong and Hebei provinces, this study employs Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Instrumental Variables (IV), and a moderating effect model to empirically analyze the triple farmland scale management effects of high-standard farmland construction from the systematic perspective of plot scale, management scale and contiguous scale. The research finds that: (1) High-standard farmland construction can expand plot size, increasing the average plot area per household by 31.8% and correspondingly reducing the number of plots by 1.431. (2) High-standard farmland construction can improve agricultural production efficiency, promote the scaling, standardization, and marketization of farmland transfer, thereby incentivizing farmers to expand their operational scale of farmland. (3) High-standard farmland construction facilitates specialized crop planting among farmers and encourages convergent planting in surrounding plots, thus effectively driving contiguous scale management. (4) The scale management effects are more pronounced for farmers with a junior high school education or above, those who have received agricultural technical training, those with larger initial contracted land areas, those who have completed land tenure confirmation, members of agricultural cooperatives, and those in plain areas or in Shandong. Regular maintenance of project facilities helps strengthen the triple farmland scale management effects of high-standard farmland construction.