Abstract: Based on the monitoring data of family farms in 29 provinces（municipalities and autonomous regions） from 2016 to 2018, taking the planting family farms as the research object, the farm development maturity from five dimensions of farm scale, management capability, management cost, utilization intensity and development vision was evaluated. The key factors contributing to farm development maturity in different regions were analyzed by location entropy index, and the main path of farm cultivation was explored. The results showed that the total cost, net income, total income and labor productivity increased with the expansion of farm operation scale, while the land productivity decreased. The ideal management scale showed obvious high distribution in the north and low distribution in the south, which was generally suitable for the total amount of arable resources. Family farms in the non-agricultural economically developed areas showed a trend of developing to a moderate scale. The development maturity of farms in all provinces was generally enhanced, and the high value area was migrating from east and south China to north China, because of the limitation of the quality and scale of cultivated land, circulation of land, professional talents and technical development, the development of family farms in the western and some central provinces was relatively backward. Machinery input, farm area, links with co-operatives and leading enterprises, and land transfer rent showed the highest location entropy index, and the contribution to the development maturity of local farms was mainly restricted by regional agricultural planting technology, land resource endowment, economic development level and policy support.

Key words: family farm, development maturity, key factors, moderate management