Tillage conditions or social economy? An analysis of the dominant driving force of farmland marginalization from the farmers' perspective

Farmland marginalization has been one of the main directions of land use transition in the process of industrialization and urbanization in recent years. With the increase in rural labor opportunity costs, the influence of natural resource endowment and socioeconomic conditions on farmers' farmland marginalization behavior at the micro level remains unknown, and the relevant literature is insufficient. In this study, the quantile regression method is adopted to explore the evolutionary trend of the role of tilling-based factors and socioeconomic factors under mild, moderate and severe marginalization levels of cultivated land. The results show that with farmland marginalization aggravation, the influence of tillage-based factors represented by tillage conditions on marginalization weakens while that of socioeconomic factors deepens. This study elucidates various regulation strategies at different farmland marginalization levels. At mild marginalization levels, attention should be given to improving tillage conditions; at moderate and severe marginalization levels, efforts should be made to improve the economic production capacity of farmland and promote the transfer of marginalized farmland to new agricultural business entities.