Rational spatial arrangement of cropland fallow incorporating connectivity alleviates health-productivity conflict in China

Meeting rising food demand while addressing environmental pressures is a global challenge. Optimized cropland fallow (CF) is a critical strategy to balance human needs and land use, yet a standardized, quantitative framework for its national-scale spatial arrangement is lacking. We propose a spatial-coupling method integrating cropland health (CH), productivity (CP), and connectivity to design China’s 2020 CF arrangement. This framework designates 14.67% of the nation’s total cropland for fallow. Over 60% of these identified fallow areas, characterized by acute CH-CP conflicts and high spatial connectivity, are located in northern China (Northern Arid and Semi-Arid Zone: 32.17%; Loess Plateau: 20.38%; Huang-Huai-Hai Plain: 14.18%), clustering at their regional interfaces. Marked regional disparities indicate that fallow governance strategies should target productivity enhancement in the north and health restoration in the south. This study provides quantitative evidence for coordinating health and productivity in support of sustainable cropland use.