Exploring the relationship and influencing factors of cultivated land multifunction in China from the perspective of trade-off/synergy

[Display omitted] •Revealed the characteristics of MCL values in China between 2010 and 2020.•Identified the trade-off/synergy relationship characteristics of MCL values in China.•Utilized Geographical detector to identify dominant and interaction factors for trade-off/synergy in MCL values. In China, the fast growth of the economy and society is causing a change in the multifunction of cultivated land (MCL), but there is still a lack of proper understanding of the structural connections between these internal functions. Based on exploring the theoretical concept of MCL and quantitative measurement, this paper applied the trade-off/synergy model and the bivariate spatial autocorrelation model to investigate the relationships between the various dimensions of MCL, and the influential factors was revealed by Geographical Detectors. Our research demonstrated that the function of China's cultivated land has obviously changed from a single grain production to a complex including social security, ecological and cultural functions during 2010–2020. Through quantitative measurement of MCL, the results show that, on the one hand, the total amount of MCL increases significantly over time; on the other hand, MCL shows a typical spatial differentiation characteristic of “high in the southern and low in the northern”. According to the analysis of trade-off/synergy, overall, the MCL presents a positive synergy situation, and this situation has been enhanced over time. As to the influencing factors, the socio-economic development, especially the rural development, significantly affected the trade-off/synergy. Moreover, multi-factor interaction considerably improves the explanatory power of the trade-off/synergy relationship for MCL. These results provide evidence for establishing a more efficient use of cultivated land and can also provide food security management strategies.