Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the expansion of agricultural production into marginal lands, also known as “wasteland,” and examine the association between political capital, household income, and using additional marginal lands for agriculture in the Xinjiang Uyghur...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the endogenous relationship between production specialisation and market commercialisation with an empirical study of farmers in Northwest China. Design/methodology/approach The three-stage least squares were used to address simultaneity and...

Substantial initiatives are occurring in developing countries to integrate forage crops into crop–livestock systems to improve farmer livelihoods and reduce soil erosion. In particular, government authorities in western China focus on improving farmer livestock profits through greater forage...

Limited agricultural land potential, poorly integrated markets and low rural incomes are all interrelated problems for agricultural households in western China. Within the wide range of development options available, this paper focuses on the impact of forage-growing subsidies and reducing...

Simulation models can help to identify the whole-farm economic and biophysical impacts of smallholder farmers altering their farming systems. Incorporating long-term climate-induced variability in crop and livestock production enables the implications for agricultural household income and risk...