ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agricultural and Food Economics
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1501090
Measuring and Achieving Moderate-Scale Operation of New Agricultural Business Entities in Hilly and Mountainous Areas: An Empirical Study on Citrus, Pepper, and Grain Farming in Chongqing's Jiangjin Modern Agricultural Park, China
Provisionally accepted
- Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
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Moderate-scale agricultural operations are central to improving the quality and efficiency of modern regional agriculture and advancing agricultural modernization. It is particularly crucial for addressing persistent challenges such as land fragmentation, low mechanization efficiency, and population aging in hilly and mountainous areas. This study estimates the moderate operating scale for new agricultural business entities (NABEs) across various crop types and investigates strategies to achieve such scale. Drawing on data from 277 NABEs engaged in citrus, pepper, and grain farming in Chongqing's Jiangjin Modern Agricultural Park, we employ a translog production function to determine moderate-scale thresholds and a structural equation model(SEM) to examine both internal and external pathways toward achieving these thresholds. The findings show that the average moderate scale per labor for citrus, pepper, and grain-farming is 2.55 hm2, 2.67 hm2, and 1.72 hm2, respectively. Among the three, 13.33% of pepper-farming NABEs (16 households) reach the moderate scale, which is the highest share, while only 2.04% of grain-farming NABEs (1 household) do so, the lowest. Most NABEs operate either below or above the moderate scale. For NABEs exceeding the moderate scale, internal pathways are key (improving effective labor, adjusting business models, and investing in fixed assets and liquidity). For those below, external pathways matter (expanding their farming scale under suitable conditions). Specifically, citrus-farming NABEs should prioritize villages with higher per capita arable land and improved land conditions, while pepper-and grain-farming NABEs should focus on areas with higher per capita income and proximity to residential settlements. This study offers practical guidance for NABEs of different crops in hilly and mountainous areas to achieve moderate-scale operations through appropriate pathways, contributing to sustainable and efficient agricultural development in these regions.
Keywords: land management, Hilly and mountainous areas, New agricultural business entities, Moderate-scale operations, Internal and external pathways
Received: 24 Sep 2024; Accepted: 27 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Zhang, Zhang and Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shichao Zhang, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
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