Analysis of the evolution path and mechanism of China's agricultural agglomeration and geographic pattern
中国农业地理集聚格局演化及其机制

There have been few studies on the pattern of China's agricultural geographic concentration and mechanism of its evolution.Based on the calculation of barycenter coordinates,Gini coefficient,as well as spatial autocorrelation and specialization index of 12 crops in 1981-2008 in China,this paper analyses the spatial pattern and mechanism of agricultural agglomeration.It presents the following results.(1) Spatial concentration of China's planting gradually increased.At the same time regional specialization and regional diversification progressively strengthened.(2) China's planting transferred from the eastern provinces to the central and western provinces,for example,although the Sanjiang and Songnen plains were still important clustering areas,the significance of the former land of fish and rice gradually decreased.(3) Although the endowment of natural resources made the initial agricultural geographical pattern,the path creations caused by an accidental event or social variation revealed two important facts: opened the windows of local opportunity for the social agglomeration,and corrected and optimized the existing patterns of the natural agglomeration continuously.With the emergence of new enterprises or departments,the division of labor and their cooperation network arose,and the agricultural industrial clusters formed.If several paths were created simultaneously from different crops in different places,an organic and sustainable agricultural production system would form in the whole area.So,the evolution of agricultural geographic pattern experienced a process from the natural agglomeration to the social agglomeration with a perfect agricultural production system.In this process,the natural agglomeration plays a less important role than the social agglomeration.Technology and institution innovations would speed up the agricultural geographic concentration and spatial reconstruction.