Farmland Rental Market, Outsourcing Services Market and Agricultural Green Productivity: Implications for Multiple Forms of Large-Scale Management

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

General comments

You have an interesting topic and quite novel phenomena that you researched into. I think this research can be more beneficial for a wider audience if your overall findings and conclusions are clearly and properly situated within a global phenomenon like food security or so. Fortunately, you clearly indicate your research contribution to improving China's agricultural production which partly aligns with one of the food security dimensions i.e. food availability through production. If that is the case, then you simply connect it to the realisation of SDGs 1 and 2 as much as possible. 

Specific comments

Please check and reduce the many extremely long sentences in your work. They interfere with the flow of information you intend to convey. Relatively short sentences are clearer and easier to comprehend, in my opinion. 

Lines 216-220, 301-306, 444-449 etc.

Line 232 ... service is a phenomenon ... BUT NOT ... services is a phenomenon ...

Lines 283, 488 and 499 ... two markets ... BUT NOT ... two market ..., I believe.

Line 699 My understanding is that the second part of the sentence seems to want to counter the first part. In that case, then I suggest you replace "while" with "but" or "however"

In my candid and informed opinion, this work is scholarly enough to be published after these really minor suggestions to the authors. 

Once my bio-data you captured indicates that I'm not too inclined to mathematical calculations and the like, kindly let your subsequent review assignments to me take note of such.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The econometrics of this study are beyond my knowledge, so I cannot provide reliable feedback on these mathematics. I do, however, have some feedback, mainly on the background information provided. This paper is impressively concise, but perhaps a little too concise. 

- What does the services market look like? Is usually informal hiring of neighbors, groups of workers traveling among neighboring villages, etc.? And what are some specific examples of high value-added services?

- Line 65: It mentions "capitalism cannibalizing small-scale family producers." My understanding is that China wants to move toward more corporate production. Seems like this would be a plus for policymakers. 

- A few instances of "large-scale management" where "land-scale management" was probably intended. 

- Line 102: "How smallholder countries, such as China, view the relationship..." Does this refer to the views of the policymakers, the public, etc.?

- Line 160: A brief description of vertical labor diviion would be helpful. What tasks are considered "higher?" Which ones tend to be outsourced?

- Line 173: Clarify inter-household and intra-household moving costs. Is intra-household essentially the time cost of moving from parcel to parcel for the same household? Does inter-household moving cost involve monetary costs from non-walking transportation?

- Line 210: Is it common for land tenure to be insecure or uncertain in China? Is it just in a few remote or ineffectively-governed regions? This is not necessarily a critical addition, but a brief note on the severity and extent of this issue would be helpful to me. If the authors believe this is not worth the space, I respect their judgment.

- Line 211: How does mismatch among labor, capital, technology, and land emerge when farm size expands too much?

- Section 4.1: What characteristics are used to evaluate market maturity?

- Line 461: What does independence of the agricultural production services industry mean?

- Line 540: Isn't there a lot of overlap between cash crops and food crops? In this case, does cash crop refer only to non-food crops like cotton? Listing some primary examples of each would be helpful.

- Final paragraph: What are some specific policies or subsidies that might help? 

Wording errors in a few sentences, but overall very good.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf