Search Results (21)

Rural e-commerce, as a new industry and business model, shows high revenue potential, and new agricultural management entities are the main force of agricultural production in rural areas, but the overall participation of new agricultural management entities in rural e-commerce is still low. Therefore, this paper explores the factors affecting the participation of new agricultural management entities in rural e-commerce to increase their participation rate and thus enhance their sustainable business capacity. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, this paper empirically analyzes the factors influencing the rural e-commerce participation behavior of new agricultural management entities using structural equation modeling. It adopts multivariate ordered logistic regression modeling and multi-group structural equation modeling to explore the influence factors on the participation behaviors of different types of new agricultural management entities’ e-commerce participation behavior influence factor differences. The empirical results show that subjective norms, behavioral attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and social environment of new agricultural management entities have a significant positive effect on behavioral intention and an indirect impact on participation behavior; the perceived behavioral control and behavioral intention of new agricultural management entities have a direct and significant positive effect on participation in rural e-commerce behaviors; behavioral intention plays a mediating role in the relationship between perceived behavioral control and participation behavior, and the control variables have a significant positive effect on the participation behavior of different types of new agricultural management entities. The control variables for different types of new agricultural management entities participate in the rural e-commerce behavior of the influencing factors. There are significant differences; subjective norms, behavioral attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and other variables on different types of new agricultural management entities participate in the intention to join in the participation of different types of behavior and participation in the behavior of the existence of a different degree of significant positive impact. Therefore, to stimulate new agricultural management entities to participate in rural e-commerce enthusiasm, the actual needs of new agricultural management entities to carry out targeted e-commerce training, as well as different types of new agricultural management entities to develop differentiated e-commerce support strategies, to enhance their ability to operate sustainably. Full article

China’s agricultural sector is transitioning from extensive management to intensive management, and land transfer brings about changes in land use and management methods, which may encourage the agricultural sector to enter a sustainable development track, but this mechanism has not been effectively proven. Using the SBM-GML index to construct a green total factor productivity index to measure the level of sustainable agricultural development in each province (or autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government) and provincial panel data from 2010 to 2022, we applied a panel interactive fixed-effects model to empirically test the impact of land transfer on sustainable agricultural development, with a focus on analyzing the heterogeneity and related mechanisms of this impact. The results indicate that (1) land transfer significantly promotes sustainable agricultural development, and this conclusion still held true after robustness tests such as controlling for regional omitted variables, replacing dependent variables, changing the sample size, IV estimation, and GMM estimation. (2) The mechanism testing found that land transfer mainly promotes sustainable agricultural development by increasing the desirable output, and has no significant effect on reducing non-point source pollution. At the same time, land transfer mainly improves the desirable output through factor allocation effects rather than scale operation effects, thereby promoting sustainable agricultural development. (3) The heterogeneity analysis found that the higher the quantile of agricultural development level is, the weaker the role of land transfer in promoting sustainable agricultural development, indicating that land transfer has a greater impact on areas with poor agricultural development foundations, and areas with poor agricultural development foundations are more likely to obtain sustainable development space through land transfer. The impact of different land transfer methods and land transfer objects on sustainable agricultural development was heterogeneous. Compared with non-market transfer methods such as exchange and transfer, market-oriented transfer methods such as leasing and equity had a more significant impact on sustainable agricultural development. Compared to transferring land to ordinary farmers, transferring land to new business entities such as family farms, professional cooperatives, and enterprises can significantly promote sustainable agricultural development. Full article

The implementation of conservation tillage is crucial for the preservation and utilization of black soil. This study examined 297 new agricultural management entities in five pilot counties in the black soil region of northeast China. Using the SBM-Undesirable model, this study measured and evaluated the agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) of these entities. We further employed the Tobit model to explore the impact of conservation tillage on the AGTFP. The findings revealed that the average AGTFP value of the sample entities was 0.4364, indicating a generally low degree of AGTFP that exhibited significant variation. Improvement in input indicators (such as machinery) and undesirable output indicators (such as net carbon emissions) was particularly needed. Additionally, conservation tillage had a significant positive impact on AGTFP, with a higher number of applied technologies correlating with increased productivity. Material subsidies for conservation tillage offered greater direct cost relief and had a stronger positive effect on AGTFP in comparison with cash subsidies. Furthermore, apart from policy factors, key production and operation characteristics—such as access to agricultural materials—also significantly influenced AGTFP. The results of this study offer a valuable decision-making framework and scientific reference for countries in black soil regions worldwide, enabling them to enhance the conservation and sustainable utilization of this vital resource. Full article

At present, agricultural non-point source pollution has become the main source of water pollution, which mainly comes from the excessive use of agricultural chemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers. The TRS is another land system reform in China after the household contract responsibility system, which relaxes the management rights of rural land and clarifies the ownership of land. Using this land reform in China as a case study, this paper constructs panel data for 30 provinces in China to explore the impact of land tenure intensification on agricultural non-point source pollution, using the difference-in-difference (DID) model to identify the causal relationship between the two. The results show that the coefficient of the TRS policy variable is −4.056 at the 1% significance level, indicating that this round of land reform has suppressed agricultural non-point source pollution. The provinces that have implemented TRS have seen an average annual reduction of 405,600 tons in Agnps emissions compared to those that have not implemented TRS, and the scale operation of agriculture and the size of the agricultural economy act as two paths. Moreover, heterogeneity analysis shows that the policy effect of the provinces in non-major food-producing areas is smaller than that of the provinces in major food-producing areas, and the path to realization is also different. Therefore, we should continue to encourage large-scale agricultural operations, cultivate new agricultural business entities, and strengthen the inhibitory effect of TRS on agricultural non-point source pollution. Full article

With the growing trend of arable land abandonment, the potential threat to the security of the food supply has sparked public concern. In order to examine the impact of non-agricultural employment on food security, this study builds linear regression models for research based on panel data from counties in China’s old revolutionary base areas. The empirical results show that, although the impact of non-agricultural employment on total grain production is not significant, it has a significant negative impact on both area and productivity, which indicates that non-agricultural employment poses a challenge to food security. In addition, the study examines the potential benefits of non-farm employment on two aspects of food security, including intensive management and the increase of new business entities. Non-farm employment can also significantly promote intensive management, thereby reducing the food-security challenges brought by non-farm employment, while the benefits of new management entities are insignificant. These findings contribute to the optimization of economic policies related to agricultural development, including exploring land property rights reform systems to promote land transfer, strengthening labor quality improvement in the agricultural sector, and formulating supporting policies to stabilize non-agricultural employment in accordance with local conditions. Full article

In the last decade, digital twin (DT) technology has received considerable attention across various domains, such as manufacturing, smart healthcare, and smart cities. The digital twin represents a digital representation of a physical entity, object, system, or process. Although it is relatively new in the agricultural domain, it has gained increasing attention recently. Recent reviews of DTs show that this technology has the potential to revolutionise agriculture management and activities. It can also provide numerous benefits to all agricultural stakeholders, including farmers, agronomists, researchers, and others, in terms of making decisions on various agricultural processes. In smart crop farming, DTs help simulate various farming tasks like irrigation, fertilisation, nutrient management, and pest control, as well as access real-time data and guide farmers through ‘what-if’ scenarios. By utilising the latest technologies, such as cloud–fog–edge computing, multi-agent systems, and the semantic web, farmers can access real-time data and analytics. This enables them to make accurate decisions about optimising their processes and improving efficiency. This paper presents a proposed architectural framework for DTs, exploring various potential application scenarios that integrate this architecture. It also analyses the benefits and challenges of implementing this technology in agricultural environments. Additionally, we investigate how cloud–fog–edge computing contributes to developing decentralised, real-time systems essential for effective management and monitoring in agriculture. Full article

The de-agrarianisation of the labor force in the poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) inevitably influences households’ farmland management and farmland abandonment in the relocated areas. Drawing on survey data from 1079 households in Shaanxi, China, this study uses the Heckman two-stage model to empirically examine the relationship between non-farm employment and farmland abandonment in relocated areas. Additionally, it explores heterogeneity by considering the quantity and spatial distribution of non-farm employment, as well as the moderating effect of the withdrawal of rural homesteads (WRH). The results show that: (1) non-farm employment significantly promotes both behavioral and scale of farmland abandonment, with the magnitude of this impact varying based on the quantity of non-farm employment; (2) Heterogeneity analyses show that areas with non-farm employment exert a noteworthy positive effect on farmland abandonment. On average, farmers engaged in non-farm employment outside the county (NEO) exhibit a higher marginal effect on both behavioral and scale aspects of farmland abandonment compared to those engaged in non-farm employment within the county (NEI). Furthermore, only when the number of NEI reaches 3 does the probability and scale of farmland abandonment surpass those of NEO; (3) Mechanism analysis sheds light on the role of WRH, indicating that the cultivation of land in WRH weakens the promotion of farmland abandonment by non-farm employment, particularly in the NEI group. Conversely, the duration of WRH strengthens the contributions of non-farm employment to farmland abandonment, and this effect is concentrated in the NEO group. These findings underscore the importance of actively cultivating and introducing new types of agricultural management entities, promoting the moderate-scale operation of farmland, and encouraging the recultivation of withdrawn rural homesteads as strategies to curb farmland abandonment. Full article

This research delves into the intricacies of decision-making processes underpinning the willingness to upgrade technology within the burgeoning domain of intelligent pig farming in China, employing the UTAUT model to scrutinize how various determinants sway upgrade willingness and the ensuing behavioral modification. By applying the UTAUT model to intelligent pig farming, the inquiry evaluates the impact of performance expectations, effort expectations, social influence, and contributory factors on upgrade willingness and behavior, with data amassed from assorted novel agricultural management entities in China. The findings unveil that performance and effort expectations, social influence, and contributory factors have a favorable influence on upgrade willingness, while contributory factors, alongside the augmentation of upgrade willingness, positively affect upgraded behavior. This inquiry underscores the multifaceted interaction of factors guiding technological upgrade verdicts in intelligent pig farming, furnishing invaluable insights for comprehending technology adoption in agriculture. It lays a groundwork for devising strategies to spur technological advancements, harboring potential for wider applications across varied agricultural vistas. Full article

In the context of China’s rural revitalization and expanding digital economy, this study aims to elucidate how digital financial inclusion technologies can better allocate financial resources across newly evolved agricultural entities—such as family farms, farmers’ cooperatives, and agricultural enterprises. By employing structural equation modeling (SEM) based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), we identify key determinants affecting farmers’ credit availability. Our results emphasize the overwhelming role of Digital Financial Inclusion Technology Applications (DAs) in a wide range of financial variables, particularly credit availability (CA). Notably, performance expectation did not exert a significant impact on credit availability, while variables like effort expectation, facilitating conditions, and especially social influence were significant contributors. As for social impacts, social influence emerged as a multifaceted enabler, encouraging collective support within farmer communities and thereby facilitating credit accessibility. In conclusion, our study reinforces the critical influence of DAs in molding the financial landscape and recommends targeted interventions that leverage these technologies and social dynamics to boost financial inclusion and drive rural prosperity. Full article

This article aims to uncover the current knowledge on using bioconverted agricultural byproducts in the chicken diet and the impact of these byproducts on performance, product quality, and health status. Agricultural and agro-industrial activities generate thousands of tons of byproducts. Converting these agricultural byproducts into valuable entities would be an environmentally friendly, sustainable, and viable part of byproduct management. Upon recycling to make new products, the process contributes to socio-economic value and maintaining environmental health and paves the way for realizing energy security and a circular economy. The current paper identifies that solid-state fermentation has attracted more research attention than other fermentation counterparts because it requires minimal moisture, good oxygen availability, cheap media, low wastewater generation, low cost, a low processing scheme, low energy demand, and high productivity. This paper illustrates the role of proteolytic and lignin-degrading enzymes present in bacteria and fungi in the bioconversion process of complex polymers into smaller molecules of amino acids and simple sugar with a profound improvement in the palatability and bioavailability of agricultural products. In addition, the paper gives more detailed insights into using bioconverted agricultural products in chickens to improve performance, product quality, gut microbiota and morphology, and chicken welfare. In conclusion, the bioconversion of agricultural byproducts is an encouraging endeavor that should be supported by governments, research centers, universities, and non-governmental entities to improve the productivity of animal source foods by ensuring environmental sustainability and expanding food security efforts for national development. Full article

Viruses are abundant and diverse entities that have important roles in public health, ecology, and agriculture. The identification and surveillance of viruses rely on an understanding of their genome organization, sequences, and replication strategy. Despite technological advancements in sequencing methods, our current understanding of virus diversity remains incomplete, highlighting the need to explore undiscovered viruses. Virus databases play a crucial role in providing access to sequences, annotations and other metadata, and analysis tools for studying viruses. However, there has not been a comprehensive review of virus databases in the last five years. This study aimed to fill this gap by identifying 24 active virus databases and included an extensive evaluation of their content, functionality and compliance with the FAIR principles. In this study, we thoroughly assessed the search capabilities of five database catalogs, which serve as comprehensive repositories housing a diverse array of databases and offering essential metadata. Moreover, we conducted a comprehensive review of different types of errors, encompassing taxonomy, names, missing information, sequences, sequence orientation, and chimeric sequences, with the intention of empowering users to effectively tackle these challenges. We expect this review to aid users in selecting suitable virus databases and other resources, and to help databases in error management and improve their adherence to the FAIR principles. The databases listed here represent the current knowledge of viruses and will help aid users find databases of interest based on content, functionality, and scope. The use of virus databases is integral to gaining new insights into the biology, evolution, and transmission of viruses, and developing new strategies to manage virus outbreaks and preserve global health. Full article

Hydro-based morphological models are representations of the terrain related to the flow or storage of water in the landscape. However, their application in the context of an integrated environmental assessment has been scarcely explored in the literature, despite the well-known importance of water for ecosystems and land use planning. Here, we derive the HAND and TWI models, which present solid conceptual bases based on water–landscape relationships from digital terrain models. We aim to present these models as useful representations in the environmental assessment of watersheds as they are relatively easy to generate and interpret. To this end, we applied these models in a Brazilian watershed and evaluated their spatial and reciprocal occurrence in the hydrological landscape through geographic entities and their spatial relationships with other landscape elements such as land use. We argue that HAND and TWI are simple hydrological-based models with robust premises that can reveal intrinsic relationships between relief parameters and water, providing new perspectives for the environmental assessment of small watersheds. Their outcomes have tremendous implications for land management initiatives. Our results show that geometric signatures of the TWI appeared through all the structural units of the hydrological landscape. The plateau areas were most prone to water accumulation/soil saturation, followed by floodplains, hillslopes, and ecotones. Thus, there is a tendency for the greatest geometric signatures of water accumulation/soil saturation entities to be located near the higher-order channels as well as the greatest geometric signatures of the floodplains. Agriculture and planted forests increased with distance, while the areas occupied by forest remnants tended to decrease within a range of up to 50 m from channels. However, they were also found within 50 m around the springs, whereas open fields, urban areas, and water bodies remained stable. We argue that HAND and TWI are simple hydrological-based models with robust premises that can reveal intrinsic relationships between the relief parameters and water, providing new perspectives for the environmental assessment of small watersheds whose outcomes have tremendous implications for land management initiatives. Full article

Various new agricultural business entities in China are important business organizations to improve agricultural production and management efficiency, and to promote the professional and large-scale development of agriculture. Exploring the efficiency differences of different business entities and the importance of moderate management scale in promoting the modernization of agriculture development has important practical significance. Based on the theory and method of system engineering, this study takes the main grain production areas of Northeast China as an example, and analyzes the efficiency differences of various new agricultural business entities by using the survey data of agricultural business entities and data envelopment analysis. Moreover, it applies the DEA-GA-BP prediction model and the entropy method (gray correlation analysis method) to study the moderate scale of agricultural business entities. The results show that there are certain efficiency differences among new agricultural business entities, among which the family farm has the highest average cross-efficiency value, and the best operational scale of the family farm is when the land cultivation area input is 9015~10,000 mu. The most optimal ranges of its production input factors are obtained, but the performance of the technical efficiency of family farms needs to be improved. Based on this, it is proposed that the focus of the construction of new agricultural business entities should be on family farms, with the best ratio of production factors for reference, constantly optimizing the allocation structure of production factors on family farms and strengthening the effective application of advanced production technologies on family farms. Full article

Family farms are the “most-desirable”; new-style agricultural production and management entities in China at this stage, as well as their production behaviors, play an important role in achieving sustainability in agricultural development. The scientific evaluation of family farm management efficiency and the identification of an effective path to the high efficiency of family farms with different resource endowments are critical for family farms to transform from quantitative growth to qualitative improvement and develop in a sustainable and healthy way. Based on the data from a rural fixed observation point of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, this study randomly selected representatives from 532 family farms from 27 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China as research objects; calculated their total factor productivity based on the DEA model; and employed the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) method to identify the configuration models for a high total factor productivity, which combines the factors of land investment, capital investment, labor investment, education level of farm leaders, land transfer years, the introduction of new technology and new equipment, and financial support. It is found that the average efficiency of family farms in China is not high yet, and both the pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency have great room for improvement. The efficiency of family farms is not determined by one single condition, but by the combinations of multiple factors. The introduction of new technology and new equipment, long land transfer period, high input of production and labor, and financial support are the driving forces to improve the efficiency of family farms. This demonstrates that although the current family farms are still in the cultivation stage of capital and labor-intensive investment, they do not mainly rely on traditional agricultural productions such as labor to achieve high efficiency. The managerial implications are as follows. First, the strategy of intensive and efficient management instead of the blind expansion of land scale should be considered, the full play to the role of family labor while controlling the scale of employees is highly suggested. Second, attention should be paid to the accumulation of the human capital of family farm practitioners, which implies that more highly educated people for family farm management, as well as high-technical-skilled farm operators, should be employed. Third, it is necessary to create a good institutional environment for the development of family farms and to increase financial support such as credit loans for family farms. Full article

Farmers’ perceptions of land value determine how land is used, which, in turn, can affect the ecological protection and sustainable development of land resources. This study constructed an index system of farmers’ perceptions of the sustainable development value of agricultural land in four aspects: economic value, security value, ecological value, and emotional value. Using data from 1652 farm households in Shaanxi Province, China, we empirically analyzed the influence of farmers’ perceptions of sustainable development value on their intention to obtain financing secured by agricultural land. Farmers’ perceptions of sustainable development value were found to have a significant negative effect on their willingness for agricultural land secured financing, and social capital played a negative moderating role in the relationship between the two. Further, we found differences between ordinary farmers and new management entities in their value perceptions of agricultural land; thus, there was heterogeneity in the effect on intention to obtain financing secured by agricultural land. Based on the findings, we suggested ways to promote the market development of agricultural land financing, including guiding farmers to form sustainable perceptions of agricultural land value, and innovating mortgages secured by agricultural land with new management entities as the main demanders. Full article