Sending family members to work in the city is actually one of the best ways to stop farmers from overgrazing their land.
April 2, 2026
Original Paper
The Impact of Non-Pastoral Employment on the Alternative Grazing Behavior of Herding Households: Empirical Evidence from China’s agro-pastoral ecotone
SSRN · 6508270
The Takeaway
The typical narrative is that urbanization and the drain of rural labor lead to land neglect. However, this study found that the income from urban 'off-farm' jobs allows herding families to afford expensive sustainable alternatives like barn-feeding and purchased forage, which takes the pressure off natural grass and promotes healthier ecosystems.
From the abstract
Alternative grazing behaviors (AGB), such as cultivating pasture, purchasing forage, and barn-feeding, are increasingly recognized as key strategies to mitigate overgrazing in grasslands and enhance the livelihoods of herding households. In contrast to the free-range grazing method, which relies on natural grasslands, AGB methods typically require a greater labor investment. However, with the rapid advancement of urbanization in pastoral areas, the trend of non-pastoral employment among the labo