In China, the transfer of land management rights has always been a topic of much discussion, as it plays an important role in improving land use efficiency, achieving the optimal allocation of agricultural resources, and protecting farmers’ rights and interests. With the advent of an aging society, elderly farmers are becoming the main force of agricultural production, and their land transfer behavior influences the land transfer situation in China.

The active participation of stakeholders is a crucial requirement for effective land-use planning (LUP). Involving stakeholders in LUP is a way of redistributing the decision-making power and ensuring social justice in land-management interventions. However, owing to the growing intricacy of sociopolitical and economic relations and the increasing number of competing claims on land, the choice of dynamic land use has become more complex, and the need to find balances between social, economic, and environmental claims and interests has become less urgent.

Many studies have investigated the effects of large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) on livelihood, while the effects of LSLA by different actors on investment decisions and levels of investment have largely gone without academic scrutiny. Consequently, information concerning the implications of LSLA by actors on investment is scarce in the literature pertaining to policy.