Farm size and greenhouse gas emission: Do large farms in China produce more emissions?

Abstract

Farms are key to agricultural advancement and carbon emission reduction. Understanding the influence of farm size on emissions is vital for eco-friendly farming. Our study used an econometric model with instrumental variable adjustments to examine the effect of farm size on greenhouse gas emissions, revealing an inverted U-shaped relationship. The findings revealed that emissions increased with farm size until a peak and then decreased. We identified an optimal farm size range (0.45 km2 to 0.58 km2) for lower emissions, where the farm size maintaining the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per unit area was 0.58 km2, while the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per capita occured at a farm size of 0.69 km2. Reducing emissions intensity per unit area is easier than reducing GHG emissions per person. Policymakers should prioritise promoting the expansion to moderately sized farms as a means of achieving emission reduction targets rather than solely increasing the number of farms. Overall, these insights offer policymakers novel approaches for ecological farm planning and the transition toward a low-carbon agriculture sector.

Keywords

• econometric model
• agricultural area
• greenhouse emission
• optimum scale