Abstract: In recent years, large areas of cultivated land are increasingly occupied by fast-growing trees in China, especially by the pulpwood for the paper mill industry. The planting of fastgrowing trees results in the decline of the area and quality of the cultivated land. This paper aims to identify the driving factors of planting fast-growing trees through household surveys. A theoretical and statistical model is used to study the probability of fast-growing tree planting, based on a total of 282 valid questionnaires and 717 plots of cropland in two county-level cities, Pingdu and Gaomi of Shandong Province. The main results of the study are as follows: 1) More than 80 percent of fast-growing tree land area comes from the cultivated land, and now the cultivated land area occupied by fast-growing trees accounts for 3.9 per cent of the total. 2) Plot area has a negative impact on the planting of fast-growing trees, which means farmers do not like to plant trees in larger plots. 3) Age and educational level of the head of household, agricultural income, and land quality have no obvious impacts on the planting of fast-growing trees. 4) Fast-growing trees produce higher labor productivity. The households with a higher wage rate are more inclined to plant trees in cultivated lands. Small plots and long-distance commuting will obviously increase total labor input and intensity, which would likely result in the planting of fast-growing trees. 5) In the lands next to the fast-growing forests, farmers are more inclined to plant trees, which means that fast-growing trees have serious negative influences on their own lands as well as adjacent lands. In order to protect the basic croplands, more planting of fast-growing trees in cultivated lands should be avoided. More attention should be paid to the households with a higher wage rate and those out of home throughout the year. Finally, the government should do more work to enhance the land transfer.