Factors Affecting Green Agricultural Production Financing Behavior in Heilongjiang Family Farms: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Analysis of Influencing Factors and Mechanism of Farmers' Green Production Behaviors in China

The green production behavior of pig farmers is the basis for high-quality development in animal husbandry. In order to solve the problem of poor green production behaviors in small- and medium-sized pig farmers, it is necessary to analyze the influencing factors and how they interact with each other. The Rational Peasant Theory and Prospect Theory were used in this paper to analyze the occurrence motivation of the green production behaviors of small- and medium-sized pig farmers. The Logit model and the ISM analysis method were used to test the influencing factors and their mechanisms. This was conducted using data from a study of 747 small- and medium-sized pig farmers in Henan Province. The results show that the green production behaviors of small- and medium-sized pig farmers are motivated by internal expected return, affected by the monitoring pressure from external stakeholders and limited by their own resource capacity; the influencing factors of different green production behaviors are different, and there are more influencing factors of scientific disease control, standardized management and waste recycling than of rational feeding. The following shows how the influencing factors on pig farmers' green production behavior interact with one another: level of education → external pressure, farming conditions and operating characteristics → cognition of return → green production behavior (i.e., cognition of return is the direct factor; external pressure, farming conditions and operating characteristics are indirect factors; and level of education is the underlying factor). Some measures should be implemented to promote green production behaviors, such as the continuation of the support for green production, the strengthening of supervision and publicity, the increasing of investment in technology and equipment, and the improving of the green production literacy of farmers. In conclusion, this paper deepens the understanding of the mechanism of green production behaviors of small- and medium-sized pig farmers, and provides the theoretical basis and concrete measures for the government and for pig farmers.

Evaluating the Impact of Institutional Performance and Government Trust on Farmers' Subjective Well-Being: A Case of Urban-Rural Welfare Gap Perception and Family Economic Status in Shaanxi, Sichuan and Anhui, China

In the modern world, fostering comprehensive social sustainability has become one of the major concerns. Interestingly, rural livelihood may significantly comprise the compelling performance evaluations of governmental institutions' performances. Governmental institutions' performances in rural areas largely depend on whether they can gain relatively higher trust levels of marginal farmers. However, the critical interaction between these two prospects may foster farmers' subjective well-being (SWB). Therefore, the study aims to model and test institutional performance, government trust, and farmers' subjective well-being by utilising a survey of data from 963 farmer households in Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Anhui provinces, China. We have adopted structural equation modelling (SEM) to craft the study's findings. However, in the literature, political performance is widely quantified by the urban-rural welfare and economic status gap; thus, in the core model, we have incorporated and measured the mediating role of the urban-rural welfare gap and household economic status. The results show that institutional performance, social insurance performance, and ecological livability performance have a significant and positive impact on institutional performance and government trust and eventually derive farmers' SWB. However, the role of environmental livability performance is more substantial than social insurance performance in quantifying governmental trust and institutional performance. Moreover, it has a significant positive impact on the subjective well-being of farmers, and the effect of policy trust is not substantial. The results of further mediation and moderation effects show that social insurance performance and ecological livability performance can enhance the subjective well-being of farmers through the indirect transmission of institutional trust. In contrast, the mediating impact of policy trust is not significant. For farmers with higher economic status, institutional performance has a more substantial effect on the subjective well-being of farmers with a relatively smaller perception of the urban-rural welfare gap and lower family economic status.

Factors affecting the adoption of green prevention and control techniques by family farms: Evidence from Henan province of China

Encouraging farmers to adopt green prevention and control techniques (GCTs) is conducive to ensuring the quality and safety of agricultural products, the ecological environment and agricultural production in China. To explore the factors influencing vegetable farmers' adoption of GCTs, this study utilized the "information-motivation-behavior" intervention (IMB) model and ordered logistic model to empirically study the adoption behavior of 653 vegetable farmers in Henan Province, China. Estimation results indicated that the IMB model significantly predicted farmers' adoption of GCTs: 1) From the perspective of adoption decisions, 88.82% of the farmers have adopted GCTs, but the degree of adoption is low. 2) the farmers' adoption of GCTs IMB model specifies that higher levels of GCTs information, motivation, and behavioral skills should result in a greater likelihood of engaging in GCTs adoption behavior. 3) Motivation and behavioral skills are activated through information. 4) Finally, motivation can indirectly affect farmers' GCTs adoption behavior through behavioral skills. The results of this study support the need for the government to promote the use of GCTs for vegetable pest control, as well as advance integrated prevention and control in the agricultural industry.

Drivers of Farmers’ Intention to Use the Digital Agricultural Management System: Integrating Theory of Planned Behavior and Behavioral Economics

China’s fishery industry has national and international relevance whose aquaculture production accounts for more than 60 percent of the world’s total aquaculture production. But the average amount of pesticides used per hectare in China is roughly five times of the world average. The abuse of chemical fertilizers and drugs has brought chronic, long-term, and cumulative harm to both human beings and environment. The digital agricultural management system should be adopted to reduce non-negligible environment pollution and the quality and safety risks of aquatic products. So, it is essential to understand the factors that may influence the adopting intention of this digital management approaches. The present study aimed to examine the adopting intention of farmers toward the digital agricultural management system using two theories–the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the behavioral economics–as the research framework. The population was composed of farmers in the provinces of Guangdong province in south China of whom 219 farmers were sampled with stratified random sampling technique. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data, and it was revealed that this research framework could potentially predict intention. And we observed that the two biased belief of availability bias and loss aversion bias can be the main predictive influence factors of responsible behaviors in adopting the digital agriculture management system, which highlights the importance of framing recommendations in terms of losses rather than gain may be more effective to increase farmers’ intention to adopt the digital system on their farms.

Does farmers' agricultural investment is impacted by green finance policies and financial constraint? From the perspective of farmers' heterogeneity in Northwest China

Green finance is a situation in which finance and environmental conservation are combined. Green credit management is a crucial green financial mechanism for achieving a win-win situation with economic development and environmental conservation through prudent credit resource allocation. Similarly, the continued involvement of farmers in green finance policies as micro-actors is critical to policy execution in rural regions. In current research, we utilized 2520 micro-surveys to measure the effects of green finance policies on agricultural investment of farmers in a difference-in-differences framework and developed a mediation effect model based on the degree of coupling coordination between financial development and environmental sustainability. It investigates the effects of heterogeneity in farmers' management on the mediating effect of financial restrictions. The study results show that, in comparison to the favorable effects of green finance policies on agricultural investment of farmers, the inclusion of a financial constraint variable reduces that benefit. Furthermore, farmers that engage in non-agricultural management practices are more likely to benefit from green finance policies and are impacted by the intermediate mechanism's financial restrictions. The construction of a rural green financial system should accomplish differentiated positioning and rapid development.

Environmental Regulation, Rural Residents' Health Investment, and Agricultural Eco-Efficiency: An Empirical Analysis Based on 31 Chinese Provinces

This paper explores the effects of environmental regulation (ER) and rural residents’ health investment (RRHI) on agricultural eco-efficiency (AEE) to provide a reference for the Chinese Government and other developing countries for implementing environmental regulation policies and to provide new paths to further improve green development in agriculture. Using the panel data of 31 Chinese provinces from 2009–2018, the Super-SBM model was used to measure AEE. The role of ER on AEE was analyzed based on panel two-way fixed effects with endogeneity treatment and a robustness test, and this mediating effect analysis was conducted to analyze the role of RRHI in ER and AEE, examining the extent of the effect of ER on AEE in three regions of China—eastern, central and western—using a heterogeneity analysis. The results of the study show that: (1) from a national perspective, ER has a significant positive impact on AEE, showing that ER is effective at this stage; (2) when RRHI is used as a mediating variable, the rising ER’s intensity can promote AEE by increasing RRHI; and (3) the results of the heterogeneity analysis show that ER has the greatest impact on AEE in the economically developed eastern region; the western region with a weaker level of economic development is in second place. However, ER has a negative impact on AEE in the central region with a medium level of economic development. Thus, the impact of ER on AEE will show great differences depending on the stage of economic development.