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One of the effective ways to crack the "Three Rural Issues" and promote rural revitalization is to improve agricultural labor productivity (ALP). However, at this stage, improving China's ALP is still facing many obstacles and bottlenecks. Promoting migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship is an important breakthrough point for solving this problem. This paper regards the pilot policy of migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship as a quasi-natural experiment and empirically investigates the influence of migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship on ALP and explores its potential mechanism and heterogeneity using county area panel data from 2011–2019. It found the following: Firstly, the policy of migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship significantly increases ALP. Secondly, migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship indirectly leads to a rise in ALP through the promotion of agricultural mechanization production. Thirdly, the heterogeneity test demonstrates that migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship purposes have a significant influence in enhancing ALP in the eastern areas, plains areas and non-agricultural strong areas. The findings of this paper not only provide an important real-world basis for the government to further support migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship but also provide useful policy insights for the modernization and development of agriculture and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing global warming trend has resulted in the mass loss of most glaciers. The Urumqi Vally, located in the dry and cold zone of China, and its widely dispersed glaciers are significant to the regional ecological environment, oasis economic development, and industrial and agricultural production. This is representative of glaciers in Middle Asia and represents one of the world's longest observed time series of glaciers, beginning in 1959. The Urumqi Headwater Glacier No. 1 (UHG-1) has a dominant presence in the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS). This paper supplies a comprehensive analysis of past studies and future modeling of glacier changes in the Urumqi Valley. It has received insufficient attention in the past, and the mass balance of UHG-1 was used to verify that the geodetic results and the OGGM model simulation results are convincing. The main conclusions are: The area of 48.68 ± 4.59 km2 delineated by 150 glaciers in 1958 decreased to 21.61 ± 0.27 km2 delineated by 108 glaciers in 2022, with a reduction of 0.47 ± 0.04 km2·a−1 (0.96% a−1 in 1958–2022). The glacier mass balance by geodesy is −0.69 ± 0.11 m w.e.a−1 in 2000–2022, which is just deviating from the measured result (−0.66 m w.e.a−1), but the geodetic result in this paper can be enough to reflect the glacier changes (−0.65 ± 0.11 m w.e.a−1) of the URB in 2000–2022. The future loss rate of area and volume will undergo a rapid and then decelerating process, with the fastest and slowest inflection points occurring around 2035 and 2070, respectively. High temperatures and large precipitation in summer accelerate glacier loss, and the corresponding lag period of glacier change to climate is about 2–3 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of high grain production costs, which is not conducive to sustainable agricultural development and food security, is highlighted in the context of China's "large country and small household farmers". Reducing the grain production costs through factor allocation and organizational drive has become particularly important. Based on 768-grain peasant households in China, this paper uses OLS regression and robust regression to examine the effects of agricultural factor inputs and cooperatives on grain production costs. It analyzes the synergistic and substitution effects between farmers' factor inputs and cooperatives in grain production. It was found that: (1) in farmers' grain production, reductions in the grain production costs can be realized by expanding the area under cultivation, improving the use of agricultural machinery, and increasing technological inputs; (2) a reduction in the grain production costs can also be realized through cooperatives driving farmers into grain production; (3) cooperatives can provide farmers with various types of agricultural production services in grain production and cooperative-driven substitution effects between the agricultural factor inputs of farm households. The findings of this paper contribute to the enrichment of research in the field of agricultural production and are important for enhancing agricultural sustainability and reducing grain production costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large scale agricultural business entities (hereinafter referred to as "the large scale entities") are newly sprouted in the process of China's agricultural transformation from traditional production to modern mode, while the improvement of agricultural total factor productivity is an important driving force to realize agricultural transformation in China. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore whether the former has a promoting effect on the latter. First of all, the effective improvement of agricultural total factor productivity by the large scale entity development is analyzed from the two aspects of scale effect and technology utilization effect, and the effect mechanism is discussed in depth in this paper. Secondly, empirical test was carried out by using the panel data of prefecturelevel cities from 2015 to 2020. The benchmark regression results show that the development of large scale entities can significantly improve agricultural total factor productivity. The mechanism test results indicate that the development of large scale entities improves the agricultural total factor productivity by raising the agricultural mechanization level. The results of heterogeneity analysis show that the difference between large scale entities would affect the benchmarking results. Therefore, it is believed through the study as discussed in this paper that devoting greater effort to support the development of large scale entities is an important measure to improve agricultural total factor productivity and promote China's agricultural transformation, but it is necessary to act according to local conditions based on the difference of entity types in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting farmers' participation in rural industrial integration and driving farmers' agricultural production with cooperatives and agribusinesses are conducive to realizing cost saving, efficiency, and green production and guaranteeing food security and sustainable agricultural development. Based on the microsurvey data of 1039 grain farmers in Henan Province, China in 2022, this paper examined the impact of contractual choices of farmers' participation in rural industrial integration on agricultural green productivity while analyzing the mechanism of action by using OLS regression, a causal mediation analysis of instrumental variables, propensity score matching, and two-stage least squares (2SLS). The study found that: (1) farmers' participation in a contract, driven by cooperatives or agribusinesses to carry out agricultural production, is conducive to improving their agricultural green productivity, but the effect of each main body to drive farmers varies; (2) farmers' participation in a contract, through cooperatives or agribusinesses to obtain all kinds of agricultural production services—such as agricultural machinery services, agricultural supply services, and technical guidance services—improves the use of agricultural machinery, the standardization of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and other agricultural materials' use, increases technical guidance, and improves agricultural green productivity. The findings of this paper suggest policy and practical implications for safeguarding food security and promoting sustainable agriculture, as well as enriching research on agricultural productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conflict between agricultural production and environmental protection, especially vegetable production, is one of the world's most prominent concerns. The acceptance degree and possible response of new agricultural operation subjects, represented by Farmers Professional Cooperatives (FPCs), to green production policies are a core issue that must be considered when designing environmental policies in the future. Based on field survey data of 192 FPCs of vegetables in Shanghai, China, this paper uses a choice experiment method to test the willingness of cooperatives to adopt green production behaviors under different policy settings and to identify the differences under different operation scales. The results show that both mandatory policies and incentive policies have an impact on the willingness of cooperatives to adopt green production behaviors, but significant differences exist among FPCs of different operation scales. Specifically, the willingness of large-scale FPCs to adopt green production behavior is affected by key technology training and income subsidies, whereas the willingness of small-scale FPCs is only affected by income subsidies; the willingness of medium-scale FPCs is simultaneously affected by key technology training, income subsidies, and penalties. Therefore, when formulating relevant policies in the future, policy-makers should consider local conditions, including the endowment heterogeneity of the production and operation subjects, so as to enhance the level of green production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of provincial units in China from 2000 to 2020, this paper uses the entropy method to calculate agricultural environmental regulation level in China from the perspectives of afforestation projects, water conservancy projects and environmental protection projects. Then, this paper calculates agricultural non-point source pollutant emissions in China by using the unit survey and evaluation method, and calculates agricultural green productivity growth in China by using the SBM directional distance function and Luenberger productivity index. On this basis, the influence of environmental regulation on agricultural green productivity growth in China and its mechanism are empirically analysed. The results show that:(1) During the sample period, agricultural environmental regulation level and agricultural green productivity growth increased significantly, while the emission density of agricultural non-point source pollution decreased significantly; (2) On the whole, environmental regulation significantly promoted agricultural green productivity growth in China, which was mainly reflected in the promotion of agricultural green technology progress change; (3) Environmental regulation can significantly promote agricultural green productivity growth in China through the channel of agricultural innovation investment. The innovation of this paper lies in the measurement of agricultural environmental regulation, and the analysis of the moderating effect of agricultural innovation investment on the impact of environmental regulation on agricultural green productivity growth in China. The research conclusions of this paper verify the 'Porter Hypothesis' theory in the field of agriculture, and have guiding significance for China to promote agricultural green productivity growth by relying on environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmland transfer is a critical component in facilitating agricultural scale management and improving agricultural production efficiency. This study examines the spatial distribution of farmland transfer in China and identifies the factors influencing it, offering valuable guidance for advancing China's farmland transfer practices. Through the application of mathematical statistics and GIS spatial analysis, the study investigates changes in spatial patterns related to the scale, rate, mode, and recipients of farmland transfer across China's 30 provinces from 2015 to 2020. Geographical detectors are also employed to identify the key factors influencing the extent and pace of farmland transfer. The study reveals that between 2015 and 2020, China's farmland transfer area increased from 29,789 to 37,638 million hectares. Provinces with abundant farmland resources generally experienced larger farmland transfers, while economically developed regions and major grain-producing areas saw higher rates of farmland transfers. The predominant mode of farmland transfer in China was leasing (subcontracting), accounting for over 80% of the total transferred area. Large-scale grain growers and family farms were significant participants in farmland transfers, acquiring approximately 60.1% of the transferred lands, followed by professional cooperatives (21.5%), enterprises (10.4%), and other entities (7.9%). Key factors influencing the farmland transfer area include the "regional farmland area", the "proportion of family farms supported by loans", and the "proportion of non-agricultural population", with explanatory powers of 0.663, 0.319, and 0.225, respectively. Notably, there is a substantial interaction between the "regional farmland area" and factors such as the "proportion of family farms supported by loans" and the "grain yield per unit area", with explanatory powers reaching 0.957 and 0.901, respectively. These findings offer valuable insights for promoting farmland transfer in agriculturally rich regions. Factors affecting the farmland transfer rate include "grain yield per unit area", "GDP per capita", and the "proportion of non-agricultural population", each with an explanatory power above 0.500. Moreover, their interactive explanatory powers with other indicators exceed 0.600, indicating that provinces with high agricultural productivity or economic development levels are more likely to undergo farmland transfer. The paper concludes by proposing strategies and recommendations to promote farmland transfer in both "large agricultural areas" and "metropolitan suburbs." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale management is the key to realizing long-term agricultural growth in smallholder countries. Land-scale management and service-scale management are two forms of agricultural large-scale management. The former is committed to changing the small-scale management pattern, but the latter tends to maintain it. There has been a lack of discussion and controversy about the relationship between the two. From the perspective of market maturity, this paper explores whether the two are complementary or mutually exclusive and how their complementary or mutually exclusive relationship affects agricultural green productivity. The results show the following: Land-scale management and service-scale management are complementary, not superficially contradictory. The benign interaction between the two has a consistent improvement effect on green productivity in both the short and long term, which has spatial spillovers appearing in the long term. The reasons are as follows: The farmland rental market can reverse the inhibitory effect of the current low-maturity outsourcing services market on green productivity. The outsourcing services market can delay the arrival of the inflection point beyond which expansion of farmland rental transactions reduces green productivity, and amplify the positive effect of farmland rental on it. Although the degree of benign interaction between the two forms of large-scale management has gradually increased in recent years, it is still low overall. Agricultural large-scale management in China is still in the stage driven by land-scale management. Smallholder countries such as China need not worry prematurely about which large-scale management path to take, and they should treat both forms of large-scale management with an equal perspective to accelerate the high-level interaction between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of China's economy, China has become the world's largest carbon emitter. China not only has an obvious growth rate of industrial carbon emissions but also the intensity of agricultural carbon emissions is hovering at a high level. The development of China's agricultural economy has largely come at the expense of high emissions. Currently, under the background of global warming and difficulty in controlling greenhouse gas emissions, the development of low-carbon agriculture is an important way to realize the harmonious development of the ecological environment and economic growth and to promote the sustainable development of agriculture. The agricultural production efficiency is the main factor affecting the intensity of agricultural carbon emissions. Based on provincial panel data of China from 2010 to 2019, this paper establishes an indicator system and uses the super-efficiency SBM model to measure agricultural production efficiency. The regional agricultural carbon emissions were estimated using carbon-emission-related agricultural production activities. In order to study the nonlinear relationship between agricultural production efficiency and agricultural carbon emission intensity in the narrow sense, this paper uses a threshold regression model with agricultural carbon emissions as the threshold variable. Based on the analysis of China's agricultural production efficiency and agricultural carbon emissions from 2010 to 2019, an empirical test is conducted through a threshold regression model. The results show an "inverted U-shaped" relationship between agricultural production efficiency and agricultural carbon emission intensity. In areas with high agricultural production efficiency, the improvement of production efficiency can suppress the intensity of agricultural carbon emissions; in areas with low agricultural production efficiency, the improvement of production efficiency increases the intensity of agricultural carbon emissions. Finally, based on the research conclusions, this paper provides feasible suggestions and countermeasures for China's agricultural carbon emission reduction and improvement of agricultural production efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing green and low-carbon agriculture is an important and effective way to promote farmers' income growth. Given the country's "dual carbon" goal, the study of the impact of green and low-carbon agriculture on the income of farmers in ethnic minority areas is crucial for China to achieve the goals of socialist modernization and common prosperity. Taking Y Town, Zhijin County, Guizhou Province as an example, this paper uses the OLS regression method to empirically study the impact of green and low-carbon agricultural production methods on the income of farmers in ethnic minority mountainous agricultural areas based on the field survey data of 881 farmers. The regression results indicate that there is a positive correlation between green and lowcarbon agricultural production and the household income levels of farmers; adopting green and low-carbon agricultural production technologies can effectively promote the growth of farmers' household income. In addition, education level, health status, and the new rural social pension insurance have all had a significant effect on the income of rural households, however, due to the difficulty in establishing trust relationships, agricultural service outsourcing has reduced the household income level of farmers. As an example, the land transfer behavior in Y Town has no significant effect on increasing farmers' incomes. Finally, it is recommended to increase fiscal and financial support as well as effectively enhancing farmers' policy awareness and perception of green and low-carbon agricultural production technologies by improving farmers' general trust and institutional trust by strengthening farmers' agricultural education and skills training while cultivating technology-based farming. At the same time, it is necessary to break the geographical restrictions on land transfer scale and achieve moderate-scale land management while promoting the use and adoption of green and low-carbon agricultural production technologies, thereby improving agricultural production efficiency and product quality, and increasing the sustainable growth of farmers' income. The main contribution of this study is to expand the research scope of green and low-carbon agriculture to ethnic minorities and mountainous agricultural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on panel data from 2010 to 2020 of 151 A-share listed food-related enterprises in China, this research uses a fixed-effect model to analyse the impact of digital transformation on total factor productivity (TFP) in food--related enterprises. Our findings indicated that digital transformation has a positive and significant catalytic effect on TFP improvement in food-related enterprises. The mechanism test revealed that both cost-saving and innovation capacity enhancement effects of digital transformation contributed to the promotion of TFP improvement in these enterprises. Moreover, our heterogeneity analysis suggested that digital transformation is more effective in enhancing TFP in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the food-related industry, indicating that SOEs play a representative role in promoting advanced productivity in agricultural development. We also found that capital-intensive and technology- intensitve food-related enterprises were experiencing productivity paradox traps. Our results confirmed that digital transformation brings catch-up effects to labor-intensive food-related enterprises and those located in major grain production regions. Overall, this research can provide valuable insights for policymakers to upgrade the digital- -enabled food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Agricultural carbon productivity considers the dual goals of "agricultural economic growth" and "carbon emission reduction". Improving agricultural carbon productivity is a requirement for promoting green and low-carbon development of agriculture. Agricultural production agglomeration is widespread worldwide, but the relationship between agricultural production agglomeration and agricultural carbon productivity is inconclusive. This paper aims to study the impact of agricultural production agglomeration on agricultural carbon productivity, which is conducive to a better understanding of the relationships among agglomeration, agricultural economic development and carbon emission, better planning of agricultural layout to build a modern agricultural industrial system and achieve the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Design/methodology/approach: Based on China's provincial data from 1991 to 2019, this paper uses non-radial directional distance function (NDDF) and Metafrontier Malmquist–Luenberger (MML) productivity index to measure total factor agricultural carbon productivity. Subsequently, using a panel two-way fixed effect model to study the effect and mechanism of agricultural production agglomeration on agricultural carbon productivity, and the two-stage least squares method (IV-2SLS) is used to solve endogeneity. Finally, this paper formulates a moderating effect model from the perspective of the efficiency of agricultural material capital inputs. Findings: The empirical results identify that Chinese provincial agricultural carbon productivity has an overall growth trend and agricultural technological progress is the major source of growth. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between agricultural production agglomeration and agricultural carbon productivity. The input efficiency of agricultural film, machine and water resources have moderating effects on the inverted U-shaped relationship. Agricultural production agglomeration also promotes agricultural carbon productivity by inhibiting agricultural carbon emissions in addition to affecting agricultural input factors and its internal mechanisms are agricultural green technology progress and rural human capital improvement. Originality/value: This paper innovatively adopts the NDDF–MML method to measure the total factor agricultural carbon productivity more scientifically and accurately and solves the problems of ignoring group heterogeneity and the shortcomings of traditional productivity measurement in previous studies. This paper also explains the inverted U-shaped relationship between agricultural production agglomeration and agricultural carbon productivity theoretically and empirically. Furthermore, from the perspective of agricultural material capital input efficiency, this paper discusses the moderating effect of input efficiency of fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural film, agricultural machines and water resources on agricultural production agglomeration affecting agricultural carbon productivity and answers the mechanism of carbon emission reduction of agricultural production agglomeration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the core component of agricultural development projects, high-standard farmland construction is a reliable measure of agricultural production, and can be used to improve the economy in rural areas. Based on provincial panel data, this paper adopts the continuous difference-in-differences (DID) method to analyze the impact of China's high-standard basic farmland construction policy on the incidence of rural poverty and its mechanisms. The results show that this policy can significantly reduce the incidence of rural poverty by 7.4%, and if, after using robust standard error and bootstrap sampling 1000 times for a robustness test, the regression results are still robust, this also shows that this inhibitory effect is stable and persistent. It can be seen from a heterogeneity analysis that the implementation of the policy has a more significant effect on poverty reduction in areas with a higher incidence of rural poverty and a larger scale of land remediation, as well as areas in the eastern and western regions. A mechanism analysis shows that natural disasters, output value and technological progress play a partial intermediary role in the poverty reduction effects of high-standard basic farmland construction policy, and the intermediary effects are 5.79%, 44.03%, and 14.13%, respectively. This paper suggests that we should continue to promote the construction of high-standard basic farmland, explore suitable construction modes of high-standard basic farmland for different regions, continuously promote the process of agricultural modernization, and broaden the ways through which rural residents are able to accumulate capital to promote rural poverty reduction and revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The instability of farmland rights is the fundamental reason for the decrease in the "stickiness" of farmland in China. The Land Certificated Program (LCP) plays an important role in clarifying the ownership of land and stabilizing the property rights of land, as well as enhancing the land production function. Most existing literature focuses on the impact of the LCP on non-agricultural labor participation, while research on agricultural labor participation is scarce. This paper analyzes the impact of the LCP on farmland "stickiness" based on the perspective of land production function. This paper also applies propensity score matching (PSM) using CLDS data from 2016 and 2018 to evaluate the policy effect of the LCP on farmland "stickiness", and conducts heterogeneity analysis and the robustness test. In addition, this paper examines the mechanism of the influence of LCP on farmland "stickiness" by using the mediating effect model. The results of this analysis showed that: (1) The impact of the LCP on farmland "stickiness" is significant, as the rate of agricultural labor participation has increased by 4.8% to 4.9%. (2) The incentive effect is heterogeneous, and has significant impacts on non-professional households, as well as on small and medium-sized of farms. (3) The sensitivity test revealed that unobservable factors do not have an impact on the LCP estimation results, and the results of the PSM estimation were robust. (4) The policy effect of the LCP at the village level also confirms the robustness of the promotion effect and the mechanism. (5) Land production function has a partial mediating effect on the impact of the LCP on farmland "stickiness". Given these results, we must begin to consolidate, expand and make good use of the results of the LCP, support the connection between smallholders and modern agriculture, and enhance the land production function in order to stabilize agricultural production and realize agricultural modernization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the survey data of five large grain-producing provinces in China, this paper studies the effect of agricultural production trusteeship on agricultural carbon emission reduction by using a propensity score matching method. The empirical results show that the carbon emission of wheat reduces by 7.107 kg/mu, with a decrease rate of 15.5% after participating in agricultural production trusteeship. Among them, chemical fertilizers, manpower input, agricultural chemicals and diesel oil, respectively, reduce with rates of 14.2%, 27.7%, 14.1%, and 6%. However, there are differences in the facilitation effects of different trusteeship services, with the best promotion effect of field management services, followed by cultivation, planting and harvest services, and then agricultural material supply services, for which the average treatment effects on treated (ATT) is −6.160, −5.732 and −5.530, respectively. Meanwhile, there are differences in the promotion effects for farm households with different factor endowments. The promotion effect is better for small farm households with one type of agricultural machinery or less, and an operation scale of 7 mu or less. Therefore, in order to better play the role of agricultural production trusteeship in agricultural carbon emission reduction, the government should vigorously support its development and guide more smallholders to choose agricultural production trusteeship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, there has been insufficient study of whole food system greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, which limits the development of mitigation strategies and may preclude the achievement of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. The paper presents the development of a carbon extension of NUFER (NUtrient flows in Food chain, Environment and Resources use model), a food system GHG emission accounting model that covers land use and land-use change, agricultural production, and post-production subsectors. The spatiotemporal characteristics of GHG emissions were investigated for the Chinese food system (CFS) from 1992 to 2017, with a focus on GHG emissions from the entire system. The potential to achieve a low-carbon food system in China was explored. The net GHG emissions from the CFS increased from 785 Tg CO2 equivalent (CO2-eq) in 1992 to 1080 Tg CO2-eq in 2017. Agricultural activities accounted for more than half of the total emissions during the study period, while agricultural energy was the largest contributor to the GHG increase. In 2017, highest emitting regions were located in central and southern China (Guangdong and Hunan), the North China Plain (Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu) and Northeast China (Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia) and contributed to over half of the total GHG emissions. Meanwhile, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Tibet are shown as carbon sink areas. It was found that food-system GHG emissions could be reduced to 355 Tg CO2-eq, where enhancing endpoint mitigation technologies, transforming social-economic and diet conditions, and increasing agricultural productivities can contribute to 60%, 25% and 15%, respectively. Synergistic mitigation effects were found to exist in agricultural activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking China as an example, this paper analyzes the impact mechanism of agricultural green development and constructs a measurement system of agricultural green development level. The system includes seven subsystems (ensuring food security, optimizing agricultural structure, improving market mechanism, innovation-driven development, building ecological civilization, inheriting traditional culture, and benefiting the people) and 55 measurement indicators. Empirical research was carried out using entropy method and gray correlation to measure the level of green development of China's agriculture, analyze its spatial distribution law, and divide it into three levels according to the development level, then analyze the regional characteristics of each grade. The research shows that the overall level of agricultural green development in China is relatively low, and the constraints are obvious. It is easy to ignore the value of agricultural green development, and the phenomenon of non-green development still exists. Therefore, we must attach great importance to the green development of agriculture, change agricultural production from the pursuit of quantity to the pursuit of quality in the past, formulate an effective path to promote the comprehensive level of agricultural green development in the whole ecological chain, and build a collaborative research institution and information monitoring platform for agricultural green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of economy and the increasing improvement of agricultural production level, people's demand for fruits is also increasing year by year. China is the largest fruit production and consumption country in the world. According to relevant statistics reported for China, by the end of 2019, the total amount of various fruits sold had reached about 270 million tons, with apples accounting for 48% of the global output and pears accounting for 69% of the national total output. However, China's fruit picking is still dominated by manual picking process, which takes a lot of manpower and time to complete, therefore resulting in low fruit picking efficiency. Some farmers are unable to complete fruit picking in a short time, resulting in a large number of fruits unable to be listed, resulting in huge losses. To solve this problem, this paper focuses on the visual recognition and path planning for intelligent fruit-picking robot. Using robot to complete fruit picking is the best way at present. This paper establishes a picking robot recognition and positioning system based on stereo vision, which is used to identify and locate the fruits planted in the orchard area. The coordinate error of the target point of the intelligent fruit-picking robot coordinate system is less than 10 mm, which has high accuracy. Then, the path of intelligent fruit-picking robot is planned based on visual feedback algorithm and biological stimulation neural network. Our empirical evaluations suggest that the proposed robot walks in the planting park in the shape of "zigzag" and realizes full-coverage path planning after 6 turns. The results show the efficiency of the intelligent method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of high-standard farmland construction policy on green and low-carbon agricultural development, such policy has been ignored in literature from the perspective of policy evaluation and it is a promising cure for global warming. The effectiveness and impact mechanism of policy implementation are analyzed, it concludes that the policy significantly reduces agricultural carbon emissions by 12.3%, which benefits from the improvement of agricultural production efficiency. This paper opens a new window for policy-making for modern agriculture and the momentous challenge of the global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Irrigation & Drainage is the property of Journal of Irrigation & Drainage Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the context of food security, the market-oriented allocation of factors under the collective ownership system has had a profound impact on agricultural production. As a hot issue under the Household Responsibility System (HRS), the impact mechanism of farmland market transaction on agricultural production efficiency deserves discussion. Based on the stochastic frontier production function model, this paper analyzes the impact of farmland transfer on farmers' production technical efficiency under the external environmental factors by using the moderating effect and threshold effect. The study found that farmland transfer can improve farmers' technical efficiency. The market price of agricultural products and farmland transfer subsidies have a positive moderating effect on the impact of farmland transfer on technical efficiency. Furthermore, farmland transfer subsidy shows a nonlinear effect on the impact of technical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the reasonable calculation of water resources, evaluating the irrigation carrying capacity of farmland under the constraints of water resources is crucial for optimizing the spatial distribution of agricultural production and ecology and rationally adjusting the scale of agricultural production. This paper proposes an optimization framework based on Type 2 fuzzy chance-constrained programming (T2FCCP) to solve the problem of regional water resources optimal allocation and evaluation of farmland irrigation carrying capacity under uncertain conditions. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed framework, this paper conducts a case study on Lancang County, Puer City, Yunnan Province. Methods, such as watershed harmony evaluation method, remote sensing data, and shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), are applied and integrated into the proposed optimization framework to systematically deal with uncertainties in water resource systems and agricultural systems. The results include the costs and benefits of regional water and soil resources systems, water resources optimal allocation, and crop planting structure results under different SSPs in Lancang County, Puer City. The results also show that the total cost under T2FCCP is about 5% lower than that under fuzzy chance-constrained programming (FCCP) and about 17% lower than that under chance-constrained programming (CCP). By 2025, the water resources carrying capacity of different tributaries in Lancang County, Puer City will increase, and based on the evaluation results of agricultural production irrigation carrying capacity, suggestions are given to ensure agricultural production carrying capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unbalanced regional development in China has always been the focus of the government's attention. Agricultural development in China's main agricultural regions is characterized by relatively obvious features, which are mainly manifested in the excessive concentration of agricultural production on one crop or a few agricultural products. Whether this trend of concentration will help to improve the inequalities in China's educational development is an important question for this study. Based on China's population, education and agricultural data over the past 20 years, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of educational inequalities in five typical agricultural-producing provinces by calculating indicators such as the rationalization index of agricultural production structures, the average number of years of schooling of residents and the Gini coeffcient of education, in order to analyze the essential reasons for the development of education inequality in major agricultural producing areas. The results show that the urban-rural gap is an important factor affecting the equality of educational development in the main agricultural production areas; the reduction of the rationalization index of agricultural production structure can promote the improvement of inequality in educational development and narrow the urban-rural educational development gap; it also shows that the improvement of specialization in major agricultural producing areas is conducive to reducing educational inequality inmajor agricultural producing provinces; these conclusions provide a useful reference for narrowing the urban-rural education gap in the main agricultural production areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Feed Industry is the property of Liaoning Provincial Institute of Agricultural Mechanization and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recently, China has exerted great efforts to develop agro-industrial agglomerations and optimize the agricultural industry's regional distribution to increase farmers' income. This study posits that agro-industrial agglomeration should be "dual body," provides a theoretical framework for agro-industrial agglomeration's effects on farmer income, and uses a spatial panel model to prove its influence on farmers' income and the spatial spillover effect. The results show that agro-industrial agglomeration in a specific region significantly impacts farmers' income and also has a spillover effect on income in adjacent regions. Further research shows that, contrary to traditional agglomeration theory, agricultural industry agglomeration has little impact on farmers' agricultural production but primarily promotes the establishment and development of agricultural organizations, thus improving farmers' income. Finally, the paper discusses the positive and negative effects of agro-industrial agglomeration on the Global Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), and proposes some useful suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased nitrogen fertilizer use has greatly boosted the agricultural production in China, however, imposed considerable environmental issues. Reducing nitrogen use in agriculture is inevitable for China to achieve the sustainable development goals. This paper established a partial equilibrium model to evaluate the reducing effects on nitrogen use under scenarios of nitrogen optimized utilization and nitrogen use efficiency improvement among seven crops and seven regions in China. Simulations revealed that: (1) nitrogen optimized utilization helps to reduce 7.73% agricultural nitrogen use in China, soybean turns to be the only exceptional crop that nitrogen use would be doubled; (2) nitrogen use could be continuously decreasing with the nitrogen use efficiency improvement, the reducing rates are 8.28% to 27.91% under 10% to 40% improvement scenarios; (3) among the crops, soybean and peanut have far greater reducing rates than other crops, maize is simulated as the least sensitive crop; (4) East, North and Central China, contribute over 60% of nitrogen use in China, while in Northeast China, nitrogen use performs the least sensitivity to the modelling scenarios. Therefore, this paper suggests that policies and incentives on nitrogen optimized utilization and nitrogen use efficiency improvement are necessary, and heterogeneities in both crops and regions indicate that flexible adjustment strategies of cropping structures in different regions should be taken into consideration towards less agricultural nitrogen use in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital economy is gradually becoming a powerful engine for high-quality economic development in China and plays an important role in the construction of digital villages and the integrated development of rural industries. Starting from the mechanism of reducing transaction costs in the digital economy, it is a feasible perspective to analyze the role of the digital economy in promoting the integration and development of rural industries in China. This paper evaluates the impact of the digital economy on the development of rural industries in China, analyzes the current situation and problems in the construction of digital villages in China, and uses transaction cost theory to analyze the role of digital technology applications in reducing transaction costs in agricultural production, sales, and financial services. It finds out various rural industrial integration modes formed in the process of digital rural construction, and proposes policy suggestions to promote the integrated development of digital economy and rural industries in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Chinese Journal of Agrometeorology is the property of Editorial Board of Chinese Journal of Agrometeorology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Using a sample of 1166 maize-planting farmers from Liaoning province in China, in this paper, we provide a new explanation for the slow-proliferation situation of straw return. Both our theoretical and empirical results indicate that the low rate of adoption of straw return can be partly attributed to the farmers' choice to undertake off-farm work. Probit, PSM, IV-probit, and bivariate probit models are utilized to estimate the interdependent nature of these two simultaneous decisions, with an identified causal effect ranging from −0.115 to −0.287. Instead of the "income-increasing effect", our research supports the dominant existence of the "lost-labor effect". Furthermore, intelligent and risk-tolerant farmers undertaking off-farm work are found to have additional negative impacts on the likelihood of straw return adoption. With regard to the mediating mechanisms, we find that the choice of off-farm work may decrease the probability of raising cattle and also downscale arable land, thereby reducing the likelihood of straw return adoption. In line with our proposed model, fluid cognitive ability contributes to the farmers' adoption of straw return by increasing their learning and updating efficiency. In contrast, crystal cognitive ability deters the undertaking of nonfarm work by establishing a comparative advantage in agricultural production, thus indirectly promoting the proliferation of straw incorporation. According to our theoretical and empirical findings, the proper policy interventions proposed mainly include three points. First, governments should endeavor to increase agricultural specialization by further promoting arable land transfer and human capital accumulation in farming. Second, it is beneficial to facilitate the process of learning by doing and social learning by enhancing the human capital levels of farmers. Last, it is necessary to cultivate farmers' inclination towards long-term investment by explaining the concrete benefits of straw return to farmers on a timely basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is the largest soybean-consuming country in the world, but its self-sufficiency rate (SSR) of 16% is very low and it therefore has to heavily rely on imports. To solve the soybean dilemma in China, it is necessary to examine the maximum amount of soybean that could be grown on the land currently used, how much land could reasonably be used to expand soybean acreage, and whether China could sustainably increase soybean self-sufficiency to reduce the risks of import reliance. To answer these questions, our paper presents a high-resolution spatial analysis of potential soybean production in China using primary data of weather and crop production practices that govern this potential. We employed a "bottom-up" scaling protocol to estimate gaps between potential yield with optimal management and current yields in three major soybean-planting regions, namely, Northeast China, Central China, and South China. We found that current soybean yield gap (Yg) in China is 49% and 45% of potential yield under irrigated and rainfed cropping systems, respectively. By closing the yield gap, Northeast China could provide additional soybean production equivalent to 32% of the current national total. Our results show that SSR could only be increased to 21–23% in 2030 by Yg closure alone but could be increased to a maximum of 52% by combining Yg closure and a reasonable area expansion. Even so, at least 61.08 million tons of soybean accounting for 38% of global soybean trade would still need to be imported to meet future domestic demand. We discuss strategies for soybean production increase based on Yg closure in the most valuable areas and cropland expansion in a sustainable manner in order to increase SSR as well as lessen the import pressure on the global market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International environmental law is the basic charter for dealing with international environmental issues, and it plays an important role in international environmental governance. In recent years, China's economy has achieved great development, but environmental problems are also very prominent. International environmental law provides a basic reference for China's environmental governance, but it also brings challenges to the development of China's environmental productivity to a certain extent. At the same time, due to the unique dominant position of international environmental law, it has played a certain restrictive role in the development of China's environmental productivity. Based on this, in order to promote the sustainable development of China's economy, this paper took China's industrial and agricultural development as the research object. This paper has conducted research on China's industrial and agricultural environmental productivity, aiming to explore the role of international environmental law in China's environmental productivity. The article first analyzed the limitation of international environmental law on China's environmental productivity, and then on this basis, the article conducted a numerical simulation of China's industrial and agricultural environmental productivity. Finally, starting from the actual development situation, the paper aimed to find out the numerical deviation of China's environmental productivity changes through quantitative analysis. In the course of the research on environmental productivity development, the article found a strong correlation between environmental productivity and international environmental law in China. The correlation between environmental productivity and international environmental law reaches 59.93% in South China and 61.02% in North China. Also, after a series of comparative analyses, the article finds that changes in climate characteristics can exacerbate the regulation of China by international environmental law and seriously affect China's economic development. In this case, China's economy declined by 2.6% year-on-year, which further pushed China to practice sustainable development strategies. This shows that it is essential to study the relationship between international environmental law and China's environmental productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the wake of the severe impact of COVID-19 on the food security of the vulnerable groups in rural areas, the issue of how to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2 aims to "Zero Hunger" (SDG 2) and ensure the food safety of farmers has drawn unprecedented attention. Nutritional intake is generally used as an important indicator to reflect family food security. Under the background that Chinese farmers have gradually changed from the traditional diversified production mode to the specialized production of crops, the main purpose of this article is to explore what are the impact of crop specialization on farmers' nutritional intake? Could the specialization of crop production be taken as an important measure to ensure the food safety of farmers and achieve the SDG 2? Methods: Based on the micro-survey data from 866 farmer households in China, this paper using Seemingly Unrelated Regressions model, Group Regression model and Mediating Effect model to analyze the average and heterogeneous effects of crop specialization on the nutritional intake of farmers, as well as the mediating effect of income. In addition, robustness test and endogenous treatment were performed by using alternative explanatory variables and IV-2SLS method was used to estimate the results. Results: After correcting for endogenous bias, crop specialization had a significant negative impact on energy intake and fat intake of farmers at the statistical level of 5% and 1% respectively, especially for farmers in mountainous areas. Household income played a mediating effect on the effect of crop specialization on farmers' energy and fat intake, and the proportion of the masking effect was 8.43% and 8.96% respectively. In addition, household financial capital and social capital have a significant positive impact on farmers' nutritional intake. Conclusions: Crop specialization cannot guarantee the food safety of farmers in terms of nutritional intake. However, when the development trend of crop specialization is irreversible, more attention should be paid to improving the level of various livelihood capital of farmers, especially those in mountainous areas, and to continuously increasing their income to ease and ultimately eliminate the negative impact of crop specialization on farmers' nutritional intake, which finally make everyone realize the SDG 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing agricultural productivity and reducing carbon emissions are two major challenges that China faces. This paper explores how agricultural insurance affects agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) that addresses these two challenges. First, we adopt DDF-GML to measure AGTFP, and the Dagum's Gini decompositions results show the large differences in AGTFP, with transvariation between subregions contributing the most. Second, we find the U-shaped effect of agricultural insurance on AGTFP in a large country context. The result remains robust after adjusting for time, sample and estimation method of AGTFP. We also construct instrumental variables from the minimum distance from the centroid of counties within a province to the 45 ports in China and two-stage lagged agricultural insurance penetration (AIP) for AIP, and their squares as instrumental variables for AIP2. The conclusion remains robust in 2SLS model. Third, the findings confirm three channels for agricultural insurance to influence the AGTFP: environmentally friendly production, labor inputs and operation scale. We further propose policy advice to promote China's agricultural modernization and point out further research directions in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has recently become an agent of intensified agricultural production in Southeast Asia by constructing large‐scale irrigation systems. Funded with Chinese development finance, such infrastructure projects have been interpreted as a 'spatial fix' for capital accumulation in China, which helps explain the shifting balance of power within the region's political economy. However, we argue that explaining the local outcomes of these projects requires mapping out Chinese development finance in relation to the multi‐scalar network of actors, circuits of capital, and struggles over water that produce irrigated landscapes. We draw on our joint research about the Chinese‐funded and built Kanghot Irrigation Development Project in Cambodia. We explain how the construction of Kanghot was shaped by the historical and political relations between China and Cambodia. Since completion in 2016, Kanghot irrigation has transformed agricultural production by enrolling farmers into a network of volatile commodity markets and harmful pest ecologies. There have also been ongoing community struggles over Kanghot's water due to the project's design and institutional management. By broadening the idea of infrastructure as spatial fix to include these material and social processes of agrarian landscape production, this paper advances a political ecology of Chinese development finance in Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The development of digital inclusive finance appears to be able to solve the difficulty of traditional finance, which cannot completely cover agriculture and farmers and provides better financial services and products to Chinese farmers. Thus, it improves the farmers' enthusiasm for agricultural production. The purpose of this paper is to clarify whether this goal is indeed being achieved. Design/methodology/approach: This paper theoretically analyzes the mechanism that influences the effect of digital inclusive finance on rural households' agricultural production decisions and conducts an empirical study based on a sample from the Chinese family database (CFD). Findings: First, the development of digital financial inclusion in general can encourage rural households to reduce agricultural production. Second, the negative effect of digital inclusive finance on households' agricultural output is realized by widening the gap between the efficiency of non-agricultural economic activities and the efficiency of agricultural production. The wider the gap is, the lower the enthusiasm of households for agricultural production. Third, the mediating effect of "digital financial inclusion – difference in efficiency – agricultural output" has a significant negative effect on households with low agricultural production efficiency, but not households with high agricultural production efficiency. Digital inclusive finance has no significant effect on the difference in efficiency between the two economic activities of high-efficiency households, but a greater difference in efficiency between the two economic activities corresponds to higher enthusiasm of households for agricultural production. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to analyze the impact of digital financial inclusion on Chinese farmers' agricultural production. The findings of this study can provide policy-related insights to help local governments promote the development of digital finance in China's agricultural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the relationship between child rearing burden and farmers' adoption of climate adaptation technologies can be used to improve farmers' adoption of these technologies, thus reducing the impact of climate change on agricultural production and increasing agricultural output. However, with the full implementation of the Chinese three-child policy, the number of children in families will continue to increase and the cost of raising children will rise, which will have a crowding out effect on the adoption of climate adaptive technologies. In this context, we analyzed the impact and mechanism of child rearing burden on farmers' adoption of climate adaptive technology by Probit model and discussed its heterogeneity based on family life cycle theory. Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 511 farm households in the 3 provinces of China to produce the findings. We found that the child rearing burden had a significant negative impact on farmers' adoption of climate adaptive technology. The impact mechanism analysis showed that the child rearing burden mainly affected farmers' adoption of climate adaptive technology through three paths: risk appetite, economic capital and non-agricultural employment, with non-agricultural employment having the largest impact, followed by risk appetite and finally, economic capital. Furthermore, the effect of child rearing burden on the adoption of climate adaptive technology was heterogeneous amid different family life cycles: In the upbringing and burden period, the child support burden had a significant negative impact on the adoption of climate adaptive technology and the impact was greater in the upbringing period, while in the stable period, the child support burden had a significant positive impact on the adoption of climate adaptive technology. The influence mechanism was also heterogeneous in different family life cycles. This paper not only provides research evidence on the relationship between child rearing burden and farmers' adoption of climate adaptive technology, but also has certain empirical value for the formulation and implementation of supportive measures for improving fertility policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to clarify the temporal and spatial changes in the internal photothermal environment in an open-field agrivoltaic system (OAVS), this paper took the OAVS in eastern China as the research object and divided the internal area into the southern area, middle area and northern area, according to the spatial structure. Further, a photothermal environment test was conducted in the above three areas in the summer and winter. The results showed that the summer average daylight rate (Rm-avg) in the middle area was 66.6%, while the Rm-avg in the other two areas was about 20%, with no significant difference. In the winter, the light environment in the southern area was slightly better, and the Rm-avg in the above three areas was 26.4%, 24.7% and 19.7%, respectively. On the whole, the relationship between the thermal environmental factors and the solar radiation intensity was consistent. Further, a 3D model of an OAVS was established using Autodesk Ecotect Analysis 2011, and the internal light environment was simulated. Compared with the measured values, the relative error was less than 10%, which verified the reliability of the OAVS model. Then, the model was used to reveal the temporal and spatial changes in the light environment of the OAVS. The simulation results showed that the daylighting rate in the summer from the ground to the height of the fig canopy inside the system was 20.7% to 61.5%. In the winter, the daylighting rate from the ground to the height of the fig canopy inside the system was 17.7% to 36.4%. The effectiveness of the OAVS in reducing the level of solar radiation intensity depended on the time of day and the angle of the sun. At the spatial scale, due to the strong consumption of light by photovoltaic panels, there was a strong horizontal and vertical light environment gradient inside the system. In conclusion, the photothermal environment research of an OAVS based on Autodesk Ecotect Analysis 2011 can not only provide a basis for agricultural production and structural design such as span, height and the laying density of PV panels, but also expand its application to regions with different latitudes and longitudes and specific climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Agricultural Archaeology is the property of Agricultural Archaeology Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Facing the realistic threat of natural environment deterioration and frequent extreme weather, improving agricultural carbon productivity has become an objective requirement for achieving the goal of double carbon and for promoting the high-quality development of agriculture. As an important path toward improving land-use efficiency and promoting agricultural technological progress, land transfer has a potential positive effect on improving agricultural output and inhibiting agricultural carbon emissions. Based on the current situation of land transfer and the characteristics of agricultural carbon productivity in China, this study used the panel data of 30 provinces, from 2006 to 2019, in China to empirically test the relationship between land transfer and agricultural carbon productivity via the spatial Durbin model. The results show that (1) land transfer has a positive effect on agricultural carbon productivity; (2) agricultural carbon productivity has a spatial correlation, and the impact of land transfer on agricultural carbon productivity has a spillover effect; and (3) there are regional differences in the impact of land transfer on agriculture carbon productivity. Based on the results of the study, this paper puts forward policy recommendations from three aspects through which to optimize land transfer and enhance agricultural carbon productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data compiled by John Lossing Buck from his rural China survey conducted between 1929 and 1933 to analyze the impact of weather calamities and conflict on agricultural productivity, farm wages and nutrition intake. Our results support the conditions required for a Nutritional Poverty Trap (NPT) to be present, while anecdotal evidence points to the potential presence of a nutritional poverty trap for large segments of China's agricultural economy. We find a lagged effect of climate shock on nutrition, but find no evidence that the many conflicts of the day affected nutrition. This is more likely due to the avoidance of conflict zones by surveyors, but may also support the notion that the effects from conflicts were local and short-lived due to the resilience of farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the active promotion of the concept of common prosperity, farmland has once again become the focus of attention in political and academic circles, and many scholars have advocated the further visualization of the property value of farmland elements to increase farmers' income. To promote the coordinated development of China's food security and common prosperity strategies, this paper attempts to reveal the dilemma facing farmland capitalization. Theoretically, based on the factor allocation decision logic of full-time and part-time farmers, this paper proposed the dilemma of farmland capitalization between increasing food production and farm household income. We empirically constructed a model to measure farmland capitalization and characterized its degree in 27 provinces in China's mainland from 2004 to 2020. The study also provided empirical support for the theoretical analysis by using a threshold regression model and a mediating effect model based on 790 microsamples from typical provinces. The results found that: ① Farmland capitalization showed a trend of increasing year by year nationwide, with a spatial distribution pattern of spreading from the center to the surrounding areas, and the provinces with a higher degree of farmland capitalization were concentrated in the main grain-producing areas. ② The impact of farmland transfer prices on grain production had structural effects depending on the degree of farmland capitalization: In the moderate capitalization scenario (farmland capitalization≤1.011), farmland price increases promoted the expansion of food crop acreage; in the excessive capitalization scenario (farmland capitalization≥1.154), farmland price increases suppressed food crop acreage. ③ Farmland capitalization helped to meet farmers' psychological expectations on the value of farmland assets, and significantly increased farmers' income by promoting two paths: the outflow of farmland and off-farm employment. ④ Farmland capitalization in China was facing a dilemma between increasing food production and increasing farmers' income, which posed an important potential problem for national food security. The capitalization of farmland can not only improve the problem of insufficient property income in the income structure of farm households, but also promote the non-farm transfer of rural labor, but behind it is the fact that a large amount of farmland is 'nongrain.' In the future, the Chinese government should emphasize the production factor attributes of farmland, use policy tools to guide the rational return of farmland prices, improve the market for productive agricultural services, and prevent the risk of farmland over-capitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the development of the world shows that building a new countryside is the only way for all countries to move towards industrialization and urbanization. Whether from the perspective of world development or from the perspective of China's century-old villages, the development of rural agriculture is very important. Rural infrastructure construction is the key measure to promote all aspects of rural development. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current situation of China's rural infrastructure construction, study the factors affecting the development of rural infrastructure construction and find out the key reasons, so as to put forward suggestions on rural infrastructure construction and promote rural development. Therefore, this article uses the relevant data of China Rural Statistical Yearbook 2020 to analyze the influencing factors of China's rural infrastructure. The article divides rural infrastructure into three levels: agricultural production infrastructure, peasant living infrastructure and rural social undertakings infrastructure, and eight indicators are selected for each level. The article analyzes the new indicators system constructed from 24 original indicators using factor analysis. According to the analysis results, the article comprehensively analyzes rural infrastructure construction situation of 31 provincial administrative regions from three levels and comprehensive indicators. Finally, the articled reaches the following conclusions: the overall development of rural infrastructure construction in Jiangsu, Shandong and Henan provinces is the best, while the rural infrastructure construction in Hainan and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai and other provinces is the worst compared with other provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of carbon emissions of crop production provides paths for global warming mitigation. Existing studies have focused on the magnitude of the carbon emissions from crop production, which is unreasonable for inter-location comparison due to neglecting regional variations in cultivation technologies and planting scale. Different from the conventional idea, this paper estimated the carbon-emission density of crop production (CEDCP) based on carbon emissions per hectare of crop production. With the 30 Chinese provinces between 2000 and 2020 as the study area, temporal dynamics and spatial patterns of the CEDCP were explored, regional disparities of the CEDCP were discussed based on the Theil index, and the possibility of regional coordinated optimization for the CEDCP was explored by relying on the convergence tests. The results show that the average annual CEDCP in China was 1.462 t/hm2, reaching a peak of 1.576 t/hm2 in 2015. The national carbon-emission densities of agricultural materials, rice fields, soil management, and straw burning were 0.492 t/hm2, 0.390 t/hm2, 0.189 t/hm2, and 0.391 t/hm2, respectively. In many provinces, the CEDCP increased first and then decreased, presenting a spatial pattern of high in the eastern region and low in the western region. Regional disparities of CEDCP shrank early but expanded later, and the disparities within the western region had always contributed considerably to the overall disparities. The CEDCP had shown σ- and β- convergence in both national and regional scales, and the convergence process had positive spillover effects. These findings suggest that inter-provincial cooperation may facilitate the CEDCP to converge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data of 2015 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), this paper applies the intermediary effect model to identify the intermediate transmission mechanism in which farmland transfers affect agricultural production efficiency. The results show that the output value of households that have transferred farmland is increased by about 27% more than those that have not. In addition, the transfer of farmland has a more significant impact on the agricultural production efficiency of young and middle --aged families. The transfer of farmland from grain production areas has an increased tendency to household output value. The mechanism analysis shows that the transfer of farmland affects agricultural production efficiency in the following two ways. On the one hand, the transfer of farmland can help realize the effective replacement of labor by machinery, increase the mechanization degree of agricultural production, and realize the scale effect of farmland. On the other hand, based on the maximization of their own interests, farmers prefer to plant cash crops and improve agricultural production efficiency through the selection effect. By comparing the above two effects, we found that the planting selection behavior of compacting grain and expanding economic growth is more prominent. Therefore, this article proposes to promote the development of the farmland transfer market and make use of scale advantage. Meanwhile, the self-selection behavior of transferred farmers in planting crops should be valued and young people with advanced concepts to engage in agricultural production activities should be introduced, which inject "fresh blood" into agricultural modernization. However, we should also keep the red line of farmland and alert the phenomenon of "non-agricultural" and "non-grain" in the transfer of farmland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses an urgent threat, necessitating the implementation of measures to actively reduce carbon emissions. The development of effective carbon emission reduction policies requires accurate estimation of the costs involved. In situations where actual prices of commodities are not available in the market, shadow pricing provides a useful method to calculate relative prices between commodities with and without price information. However, most studies focus on the industry, with few contributions on agricultural sector. This paper estimates the shadow price of carbon emissions in the agricultural sector from a provincial perspective, incorporating the impact of livestock into the calculation of carbon emissions and shadow pricing. Our findings indicate that ignoring livestock may overestimate CSP values. On the whole, the level of carbon shadow price is rising, indicating good green development in China's agricultural sector. The two types of convergence results show that there is sigma convergence and beta convergence in the western and central regions, demonstrating a significant improvement in environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Irrigation & Drainage is the property of Journal of Irrigation & Drainage Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The transformation of agricultural production modes is an inevitable trend in China's agricultural development. It is important to study the willingness of smallholder farmers to adjust their agricultural production modes to promote the transformation of China's agricultural production modes. Agricultural production services are an effective way to realize the organic linkage between smallholder farmers and modern agriculture. To analyze the impact of agricultural production services on smallholder farmers' willingness to adjust their agricultural production modes, this study uses data from a thematic study of 590 smallholder farmers in the Huang–Huai–Hai regions in 2022 to measure the extent of smallholder farmers' full-cycle adoption of agricultural production services from the perspective of regional cropping systems for the first time and analyzes the impact of agricultural production services on farmers' willingness to adjust their agricultural production modes. The study results show that the extent of full-cycle adoption of agricultural production services significantly affects farmers' willingness to adjust their agricultural production modes. For each unit increase in the extent of full-cycle adoption of agricultural production services in line with the regional cropping system, the probability of farmers choosing "farmland transfer" and "agricultural production trusteeship" becomes 11.31 and 7.24 times higher than that of choosing "self-growing", respectively. Based on the research results, this paper proposes the following countermeasures: first, we should pay more attention to the supply and demand of agricultural production services, especially to support the key weak links in developing agricultural production services for the process of grain production. Second, we should undertake more active and effective publicity measures to make full use of expressions that are acceptable to farmers to improve their understanding of productive agricultural services further and enhance their willingness to adopt productive agricultural services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]