The Mechanism and Spillover Effect of Environmental Protection Training on the Green Production Efficiency of Livestock Farmers

As an information-guided environmental regulation method that can effectively improve farming practices, environmental training is widely used in the agricultural field. However, evidence on whether and how such training improves the green production efficiency of livestock farmers remains limited. This study investigates the effect of environmental training on the green production efficiency of hog farmers by explicitly accounting for spatial spillovers and exploring technology adoption as a mechanism pathway. Specifically, green production efficiency is first measured using the Super-SBM DEA model, and the spatial Durbin model is then employed to estimate both the direct effect and spatial spillover effect of training. The results of survey data from 371 hog farmers in China show that participation in training significantly enhances the green production efficiency of farmers, with positive spillover effects from neighboring farmers’ participation in training. Further mechanism analysis indicates that training promotes the adoption of clean production technologies, which in turn enhances green production efficiency. The positive effect of training is more pronounced among large-scale and better-educated farmers. Therefore, these findings suggest that policies should strengthen environmental protection training, promote the diffusion of clean production technologies, make better use of the demonstration households mechanism, and customize strategies to support the green transformation of hog farming.