Leveraging agricultural production trusteeship to enhance agricultural production efficiency, promote sustainable agricultural practices, and optimize resources: empirical evidence from China

Agricultural production trusteeship, through a “service-driven large-scale operation,” provides a new pathway for improving agricultural production efficiency and reducing resource waste. Based on micro-survey data from farmers in Shandong Province, and employing a research approach that combines theoretical and empirical analysis, this study reveals the mechanism by which agricultural production trusteeship impacts agricultural production efficiency. The research finds that agricultural production trusteeship has a significant positive effect on agricultural production efficiency, and this conclusion remains robust even after accounting for endogeneity issues. Agricultural production trusteeship enhances agricultural production efficiency by strengthening economies of scale, with indirect effects from economies of scale accounting for 45.63% of the total effect on agricultural production efficiency. Under full trusteeship, economies of scale become more pronounced, with the indirect effects reaching 51.23%. This study also demonstrates that the pathway of “land transfer → large-scale operation → economies of scale → agricultural production efficiency” is not the only route. The “service-driven large-scale operation” model under agricultural production trusteeship has significant potential to improve efficiency, reduce resource waste, and better fit the context of China’s smallholder economy. The paper provides policy recommendations for promoting agricultural trusteeship services, including developing context-specific trusteeship models, strengthening the role of village collectives, and increasing subsidies for agricultural machinery and equipment to trusteeship service organizations, in order to promote sustainable agricultural development and enhance resource use efficiency.