The Effect of Land Right Stability on the Application of Fertilizer Reduction Technologies—Evidence from Large-Scale Farmers in China

The Impact of Different Uses of the Internet on Farmers' Adoption of Soil Testing and Formulated Fertilization Technology in Rural China

Soil testing and formulated fertilization technology can effectively solve the problem of the excessive and inefficient use of chemical fertilizers. Previous studies have found that the use of the Internet can increase the adoption of soil testing and formulated fertilization technology among farmers. However, they do not distinguish between the effects of the different uses of the Internet (with or without productive use) on the adoption of soil testing and formulated fertilization technology. This study investigates the Internet use of 5341 professional farmers in rural China in 2019, finding that 18.97% of them still use the Internet for only communication and entertainment and do not use any agricultural productive services on the Internet. The adoption rate of soil testing and fertilization technology among these farmers is only 23.77%, which is approximately 10 percentage points lower than that of farmers who use the Internet for productive purposes. The double robust model shows that the probability of the adoption of soil testing and formulated fertilization technology by farmers with productive use of the Internet increases by six percentage points, which is both statistically and economically significant. In the future, China should train more farmers to use the Internet for productive purposes; this will help more farmers, particularly those with low skills and low educational attainment, to use the Internet and play a positive role in promoting the Internet for green agricultural production techniques.

Can Higher Land Rentals Promote Soil Conservation of Large-Scale Farmers in China?

Based on theoretical analysis, this study empirically analyzes the mediating mechanism of how land rentals work on large-scale farmers to enhance soil conservation with survey data of 425 large-scale farmers in Shandong and Anhui Provinces, the main grain-producing regions of China, and further examines the moderating effect of agricultural extension services. The results show that: (1) The higher the land rentals, the greater the probability that large-scale farmers enhance soil conservation. (2) The mediating effect demonstrates that in a highly market-oriented rural land transfer market in China, the land lease term of large-scale farmers is longer with the increase of land rentals, thus motivating large-scale farmers to engage in soil conservation. (3) As shown by the moderating effect, agricultural extension services can further positively moderate the contribution of land lease term to large-scale farmers enhancing soil conservation. In order to encourage large-scale farmers to enhance soil conservation, on the one hand it is necessary to standardize the land transfer market and proactively guide large-scale farmers to extend the land lease term. On the other hand, it is indispensable to strengthen agricultural extension services and further broaden the access to soil conservation technologies for large-scale farmers.

Research on the Impact of Rural Land Transfer on Non-Farm Employment of Farm Households: Evidence from Hubei Province, China

Agricultural scale operations and industrialization promote the transfer of the rural labor force to the industry sector, and the non-farm employment of farmers plays a great role in increasing their income and reducing poverty. It is of great significance to explore the non-farm employment of farmers for the governance of relative poverty and the achievement of common prosperity. The propensity score matching (PSM) and generalized propensity score matching (GPSM) were used to analyze the impact of rural land transfer on farm households' non-farm employment. According to the PSM estimation, compared to the farmers' land not transferred, the rural land transfer significantly increased the proportion of non-farm employment personnel in farm households and the months of per year non-farm employment per person. The total land transfer, paddy land transfer and dry land transfer could significantly increase the proportion of non-farm employment personnel in farm households by 0.074, 0.029 and 0.085 units, respectively, and could significantly increase the months of per year non-farm employment per person by 0.604, 0.394 and 0.617 units, respectively. According to the GPSM estimation, different types of rural land transfer areas have significant positive effects on the proportion of non-farm workers and the months of per year non-farm employment per person, and show an obvious increasing trend of returns to scale, that is, the proportion of non-farm workers and the months of per year non-farm employment per person of farmers are higher than the increase in rural land transfer area. Additionally, the return to scale effect of dry land transfer area is more obvious. In order to raise the income of farm households and narrow the gap between urban and rural areas, the land transfer system can be further improved, urbanization with the county town as an important carrier can be vigorously promoted, the participation of farm households in non-farm employment in the local area can be promoted and the support policy system for non-farm employment of rural labor force can be improved.

Impact of the Cultivated-Land-Management Scale on Fertilizer Reduction—Empirical Evidence from the Countryside of China

Reducing the application of chemical fertilizers can improve the quality and promote the sustainable use of cultivated land, which is part of the green and sustainable development of agriculture. Based on the 2019 China Rural Household Panel Survey data, this article evaluated the impact of cultivated-land-management scale on fertilizer reduction via the OLS regression method. The results showed that, after controlling for other factors, the scale of cultivated land management is a strong factor affecting the intensity of fertilizer application by Chinese farmers. According to the results of quantitative analysis, the amount of fertilizer applied per hectare decreased by 20.6% for every 1 ha increase in the average grain sown area per household. The study also found that employing workers in agricultural production and operation can help achieve the aim of fertilizer reduction, but the fact that the head of the household is male, the increase in total household income and the increase in the proportion of household agricultural labor are not conducive to fertilizer reduction. A mechanism-of-action test showed that the expansion of the scale of cultivated land management can drive the reduction of chemical-fertilizer use by urging farmers to adopt agricultural technology and mechanized fertilization. Extensive research found that the fragmentation of cultivated land increased the amount of fertilizer applied per hectare by farmers. Therefore, the fragmentation of cultivated fields is a barrier to decreasing fertilizer application.