Can socialized agricultural services promote wheat growers' green production transformation? evidence from Henan, Shandong, and Shanxi in China.

Farmers' green production transformation can ensure the quality and security of agricultural products to a certain extent and alleviate the pressure of the agricultural environment. It is essential to understand the impact of socialized agricultural services on the degree of farmers' green production transformation. Based on 1018 survey responses of farmers in Henan, Shandong, and Shanxi provinces, this paper used the finite mixture model to calculate the degree of farmers' green production transformation and used the propensity score matching (PSM) model to construct the counterfactual hypothesis to estimate the average processing effect and heterogeneity of socialized agricultural services on the degree of farmers' green production transformation. The results showed that: 1 The production mode of wheat growers could be divided into traditional production mode and green production mode. The proportion of wheat growers engaged in green production accounted for 20.33%; their fertilizer application was reduced by 363.35 kg/hm², and their pesticide cost was reduced by 418.73 yuan/hm². 2 Fertilization services and plant protection services could significantly promote the wheat growers' green production transformation, and their average treatment effects were 0.109 and 0.152, respectively. Compared with fertilization services, plant protection services promoted wheat growers' green production transformation to a greater extent. After farmers purchased fertilization services and plant protection services, the corresponding chemical input costs per hectare were reduced by 204.06 yuan and 284.56 yuan, respectively. 3 The impact of socialized agricultural services on farmers' green production transformation was significantly heterogeneous. The average treatment effect on green production transformation was more significant for part-time farmers and farmers trained in agricultural technology who purchased the services. Therefore, we should vigorously cultivate the socialized agricultural service market, strengthen the support for such services in different sectors, guide farmers with different endowments to reasonably purchase such services, and promote farmers' green production transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]