Making Up for the Deficiency: The Role of Agricultural Subsidy Reform in Cropland Abandonment

ABSTRACT Cropland abandonment increasingly becomes a major concern for food security, but few scholars have assessed the role of agricultural subsidy reform in cropland abandonment. Using CLDS large‐scale farmer panel data, we adopt a PSM‐DID model to explore the link between agricultural subsidy reform and cropland abandonment. We find that agricultural subsidy reform significantly reduced cropland abandonment, resulting in a 1.7% decrease in the proportion of cropland abandoned by farmers. The effect is mainly achieved by improving the availability of agricultural subsidies. However, this effect is also moderated by agricultural comparative income and land titling and does not hold for farmers living in mountainous areas or lacking agricultural machinery. These insights into the role of agricultural subsidy reform in cropland abandonment can be leveraged to ensure food security in various countries.