Deep integration of digital economy and agricultural systems is essential for advancing modernization and sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas. This study constructs a comprehensive index system for both the digital economy and agricultural systems, grounded in an integrated economic-social-ecological framework of agricultural development and guided by the logic of digital infrastructure expansion. Based on this system, we measured the coupling coordination index between the digital economy and agricultural systems across 31 Chinese provinces from 2007 to 2022. A Panel Vector Autoregression (PVAR) model was further employed to investigate the key factors influencing the degree of coupling and coordination between the two systems. The results revealed a steadily increasing trend in the coupling coordination between the digital economy and agricultural systems in China. However, notable regional disparities persisted, with the eastern provinces demonstrating higher levels of coordination, while the western regions remained relatively underdeveloped. The analysis identified the lag in digital economy development as a primary constraint on coordination. Moreover, scientific and technological progress, educational advancement, optimization of industrial structure, and fiscal investment were found to significantly enhance the integration of the digital economy and agricultural systems. Overall, this study develops a systematic analytical framework that underscores the pivotal role of digital-agricultural integration in driving the modernization and sustainable transformation of agriculture and rural regions.

Since the 21st century, China has actively responded to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, growing regional disparities and imbalances across goals call for a systematic assessment of their evolution and underlying mechanisms. Using panel data for 31 provincial-level regions from 2000 to 2021, this study constructs a comprehensive indicator system covering all 17 SDGs and develops an integrated economic-social-ecological analytical framework combined with a coupling coordination model to examine the spatiotemporal dynamics and systemic interactions of sustainable development in China. The results show that: (1) China’s overall SDG performance has steadily improved, with the national average score increasing from 0.39 to 0.50, though it remains far from a high-level convergence stage; (2) significant spatial disparities persist, characterized by an “east – west gradient,” with interregional differences constituting the primary source of overall inequality; (3) substantial imbalance exists across goal dimensions, as economic and social goals have progressed more rapidly, while ecological goals lag behind and exhibit higher volatility, emerging as the key constraint on system-wide coordination; and (4) the economic-social-ecological system exhibits a “high-coupling, low-coordination” pattern, with improvements in coupling coordination driven mainly by gains in coordination rather than coupling strength, indicating that the principal challenge lies in imbalanced subsystem development rather than weak inter-system linkages. Based on these findings, this study suggests shifting from uniform policy approaches to region-specific and tiered governance strategies, strengthening constraint-oriented ecological governance, and promoting balanced, multi-dimensional development through institutional integration and regional coordination. The results provide empirical evidence for optimizing China’s sustainable development pathway and offer broader implications for developing countries seeking to achieve coordinated progress across multiple development goals.

In the context of global climate mitigation, low carbon energy transitions have become central to sustainable development. However, while pursuing environmental objectives, such transitions may also reshape patterns of resource distribution and participation through institutional arrangements, generating new forms of inequality across distributive, procedural, and recognition dimensions. China, as the world's largest developing country and a major carbon emitter, provides an analytically rich context for examining how low carbon transitions intersect with equity concerns. This study investigates three photovoltaic projects in China: the Tengger Desert New Energy Base in Ningxia, the Dezhou Rooftop PV Program in Shandong, and the Yancheng Solar-Fishery Integration Project in Jiangsu. Drawing on field interviews and policy document analysis, the study employs a thematic grounded coding approach to develop a four dimensional analytical framework covering spatial entitlements, revenue distribution, technological adaptation, and policy design. The findings show that vulnerable rural communities often face constrained spatial rights, limited benefit sharing, uneven adaptive capacity, and restricted participation in top down governance processes. Based on this analysis, the paper develops policy recommendations to enhance institutional inclusiveness, optimize benefit-sharing mechanisms, and strengthen local governance capacity. These insights provide both theoretical contributions to the study of energy justice and practical references for promoting equitable and sustainable energy transitions in the Global South.

Balancing ecological restoration and grain production is a core challenge for land management in arid and semi-arid regions. Large-scale ecological engineering programs are often assumed to constrain agricultural output through land-use competition, yet rigorous causal evidence on their long-term effects and underlying mechanisms remains scarce. This study investigates whether and how China's Three-North Shelter Forest Program (TNSFP) affects grain production. Guided by the social-ecological systems framework and ecosystem services theory, we hypothesize that large-scale ecological restoration can enhance agricultural output through improvements in ecosystem services rather than crowding out cropland. Using county-level panel data from China covering 2000-2022, we estimate the causal impact of TNSFP on grain production employing a difference-in-differences (DID) model, parallel trend test, placebo test, and multiple robustness checks. Grain production data are combined with satellite-derived vegetation indices, air quality indicators, and ecosystem quality measures to identify mechanism pathways. The results show that, first, the TNSFP significantly increases county-level grain production, and this positive effect remains robust after controlling for agricultural inputs, climatic factors, and socioeconomic conditions. The parallel trend test is passed, and the findings are further supported by placebo tests and multiple robustness checks. Second, mechanism analysis demonstrates that improved vegetation cover, enhanced air quality, and overall ecosystem quality jointly promote grain production, thereby supporting the proposed ecological pathways. Third, significant regional heterogeneity and moderating effects are observed: the policy effect is stronger in Northeast and North China, and is positively moderated by cropland area but negatively moderated by the relief degree of land surface. These findings provide new causal evidence that ecological restoration can generate synergistic benefits for land restoration and food production, offering important implications for sustainable land management in dryland regions.

The pressures of aging populations and land degradation together present a unique challenge to enhancing agricultural sustainability. This study moves beyond traditional single-method or static analytical frameworks by innovatively developing a multidimensional assessment model that integrates system dynamics, energy value analysis, and a composite landscape index. By incorporating the dynamic feedback processes among population structure evolution, land-use patterns, and agricultural production systems into a unified analytical framework, the primary objective of this study is to develop a context-sensitive and operational place-based solution matrix. Using China as a case study, our analysis indicates that the threat posed by population aging to agricultural labor and capital intensification is expected to peak between 2030 and 2045. In the baseline scenario, agricultural labor intensity in China is projected to decline by approximately 62.7%, while agricultural capital intensity is expected to rise by 12.76% by 2050. Additionally, the fragmentation of cropland in China has increased from 0.45 in 2006 to 0.58 in 2020, but with the acceleration of rural-urban migration, a positive trend toward land consolidation may emerge around 2040. Overall, by explicitly linking demographic transition, land-system evolution, and productivity assessment, the proposed framework provides a novel and integrative analytical tool for both researchers and policymakers. The results suggest that an integrated development policy based on the population-land nexus is critical to advancing agricultural sustainability.

CONTEXT Climate warming is widely regarded as a crucial driver of numerous global challenges, posing a significant threat to human survival and development. Among the various factors contributing to climate warming, the greenhouse gas emissions from high-carbon agricultural practices—such as the excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides, and plastic films—are particularly concerning. Therefore, it is essential to study the low-carbon production decision-making behaviors of agricultural producers to mitigate the negative impacts of agriculture on climate change. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether the implementation of low-carbon production behaviors in family farms is driven by individual emotional willingness or by external environmental opportunities, this study constructs a decision-making model of low-carbon production behaviors in family farms to analyze the factors that directly or indirectly drive the implementation of low-carbon production behaviors, and then more accurately describes and explains the behavioral choices of agricultural producers. METHODS This study links the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability model with the Cognitive-Affective-Conative model to form a comprehensive theoretical framework for decision-making on low-carbon production behavior in family farms. Meanwhile, this study empirically tested the hypothesized model using the partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis technique. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Low-carbon production opportunity and has a direct and positive effect on low-carbon production behavior. Low-carbon production cognition also affects low-carbon production behavior, but this effect is positive and indirect. Low-carbon production ability, low-carbon production motivation, low-carbon production affection, and low-carbon production intention play a mediating role in all hypotheses. Therefore, this study concludes that low-carbon production opportunity rather than cognition is the crucial element that directly triggers the behavioral response to low-carbon production in family farms. However, the internalization process of low-carbon production cognition still plays an important role in low-carbon production decision-making on family farms. SIGNIFICANCE Based on the dual identity attributes of “economic man” and “social man” in family farms, this study not only expands the theoretical framework for analyzing low-carbon production behaviors in agriculture but also emphasizes the positive impacts of the individual's emotional will and external environmental opportunities on the implementation of low-carbon production in family farms.

Countries around the world are making unremitting efforts to align agricultural practices more harmoniously with the ecological environment. In China, smallholder farmers are the primary‌ group practicing sustainable agriculture, yet their participation remains low. However, few studies have focused on the impeding factors stemming from inadequate socio-cultural conditions and possible negative emotions accompanying behavioral implementation. This study investigates the role of behavioral costs and emotional exhaustion in the intention to recycle agricultural wastes (AWs). It employed a sample of 902 Chinese farmers and the partial least squares structural equation model for empirical testing. The results are as follows. First, behavioral costs constitute obstacles stressors causing psychological stress to farmers, leading to emotional exhaustion and negative behavioral intentions to agricultural wastes recycling. For pesticide packages and mulch film, perceived effort and time costs significantly exhaust farmers’ emotional resources. Second, behavioral costs are significant antecedents of perceived behavioral control. Economic and effort costs are key factors that result in low perceived behavioral control in straw recycling. Third, awareness of consequences significantly enhances environmental attitudes or reduces emotional exhaustion, which in turn triggers recycling behavior for all types of AWs. Fourth, rational, ethical, and emotional psychological factors influence behavioral intentions differentially across AWs that have different behavioral costs. Interpersonal interactions effectively activate intrinsic moral and foster positive behavior in crop straw recycling.‌ Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Normative Theory of Values and Beliefs, and the Resource Conservation Theory, while incorporating behavioral costs and emotional exhaustion, an integrative framework encompassing rationality, morality, and emotions was constructed. The study reveals external barriers and implicit psychological obstacles to farmers’ participation in AWs recycling. The results suggest that reducing behavioral cost barriers and individual sensitivity to private capital losses are more effective ways.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, marks the beginning of a new era for humanity to move toward a sustainable society. The ecosystem and socioeconomic system constitute a more grand and complex system with a close relationship between socioeconomic and ecological elements. The realization of the value of ecological products plays a fundamental and complex role in promoting sustainable development goals. Through a literature review and practical experience in related fields, as well as analyses of three typical cases in different geographic locations in China, we find that the reform approach of turning "ecological resources into ecological assets, owned capital into share capital, and householders into shareholders" has broadened the opportunities to realize the value of ecological products. Specifically, the conversion of ecological value can be realized using ecological protection compensation, ecological industrialization operation, and the property rights trading of ecological resources. The realization of the value of ecological products provides a new model and practice for effectively responding to climate change, improving the quality and stability of ecosystems, promoting equity, and thus realizing sustainable development. China's experience and practices have improved the residents' well-being and financial standing while preserving ecology, and these successes provide references for countries facing development dilemmas similar to those in China.

The Sustainable Development Goals aim to achieve sustainable development by 2030, eradicate poverty, protect the planet, and promote prosperity, ensuring a peaceful and prosperous future for all. Advancing waste sorting and management in rural areas aligns with the new development philosophy and resonates with the core essence of Sustainable Development Goal 6. Through a literature review and practical experience in related fields, as well as an analysis of three typical cases in different geographic locations in China, it is found that introducing market mechanisms and the waste classification model with property enterprises as an important carrier has great potential to promote the work of rural domestic waste management. Through autonomous, co-governance, and hosted models, the transitional dependence on the government can be effectively alleviated, and the burden of governance on the government reduced. Simultaneously, villagers can enjoy better quality and more convenient public services, injecting new impetus into improving the rural habitat, which provides experience and lessons for developing countries to address the challenges of waste classification, especially in rural areas. The authors hope that by promoting the effective operation of waste separation and management, the rural landscape can be effectively upgraded.

Although virtual tourism (VT) has been touted as an effective alternative or transitional solution to tourism, few researches have been conducted on how to maintain and enhance visitors’ satisfaction with it and how to translate positive sentiments into on-site travel intentions. This study proposes a conceptual model under the uses and gratifications theory and attachment theory. It aims to investigate the gratification factors that improve tourist satisfaction of VT and to determine the effect of attachment to virtual reality (VR), satisfaction, and loyalty on the intention to visit the destination recommended. To test the model, a sample of 624 respondents was captured and the PLS-SEM was used. The findings suggest that informativeness, entertainment, and social interactivity determine tourists’ satisfaction, with entertainment being the most important factor. Attachment to VR has a significantly positive impact on improving satisfaction and transforming the uses and gratifications of VT into on-site visit intention. However, the positive impact of satisfaction with VT on on-site tourism intention reduces as the level of connection to nature increases. This study extends UGT theory and provides references for tourism practitioners and managers to enhance tourists’ VT satisfaction and to advance tourism speedy recovery.

Rational decision or moral norm factors are often used to explain pro-environmental behavior. However, the types of factors that influence farmers' high-cost production behavior (climate change adaptation and mitigation) have not been explored. In response, this study constructed competitive models from multi-theoretical perspective, including the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Value-Identity-Personal norm (VIP) model, which demonstrated rational decision-making factors and moral norm factors, respectively. We collected data from 912 farmers in the Jiangsu and Shaanxi provinces in China by means of a questionnaire survey and empirically tested the explanatory power of the models via partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggested that rational decision factors, including perceived behavioral control and attitudes, are better predictors of farmers' climate change coping behavior than moral norm factors, such as subjective norms. There remained a disconnect between the willingness to mitigate formed via perceived behavioral control and the actual behavior, and farmers who actually adopted mitigative climate-change behaviors still faced difficulties or had no control over the outcome. In addition, the effect of altruistic values on mitigating behavior (which predicts future benefits) was more pronounced. These findings pointed to rationality as the primary driver or motivation of pro-environmental behaviors in agricultural production, whereas the explanatory power of morality remained weak.

Using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and mulch in traditional agricultural production has caused serious environmental pollution. The practice has proven differences between farmers behaviors and intentions in transforming their production patterns, but the research on bridging the gap between them is still insufficient. This study explores the influence of farm household perceptions on green production and the role of government regulation based on a conditional process model with a sample of 352 farm households in Jiangsu, China. The results showed that farmers' perceived costs and benefits (economic, social, and environmental benefits) triggered positive decisions to go green. When farmers are aware of the cost, government regulation effectively bridges the gap between farmers' green production intention and behavior. When farmers perceive the economic and environmental benefits of green production, there is a threshold for the moderating effect. This study provides insights for bridging the deviations in farmers’ green behavior from a regulatory perspective for agricultural policymakers.

The promotion of low-carbon technologies (LCTs) is an important way to promote agricultural carbon reduction and respond to climate change. In this study, the intentions to adopt LCTs of 528 planting farms was investigated by random sampling, and the structural equation model was used for analysis. The study confirmed that the model combining theory of planned behavior (TPB) and theory of ‘value-belief-norm’ (VBN) is appropriate in predicting the adoption intention of LCTs. Importantly, there were differences in the formation mechanism of adoption behavior between traditional farmers (with lower levels of education, less experience and focus on short-term interests) and elite farmers (with higher levels of education, more experience and focus on long-term interests). The impact of behavior attitude on intentions of LCTs was not tenable for traditional farmers, while the effect of perceived behavior control on behavior of LCTs was not tenable for elite farmers. Overall, this study confirms the importance of designing differentiated low-carbon technology promotion programs. In the future research, we will continue to pay attention to the differences of agricultural low-carbon technology adoption in different regions, hoping to provide some inspiration for agricultural managers.

Achieving food security and improving nutrition is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. With rapid socioeconomic development, the dietary structure of the Chinese population has changed significantly, leading to increased demand for cultivated land. At the same time, rapid urbanization has continuously reduced the amount of cultivated land in China, and there is an urgent necessity for the nation to alleviate the shortage of cultivated land to meet the population's evolving dietary consumption needs. A review of the literature indicates that the use of mountainous areas to produce agricultural products for the population can effectively reduce the use of cultivated land on the plains and mitigate the shortage of cultivated land to meet dietary consumption needs. According to the different natural and socioeconomic conditions of mountainous areas, this study concludes that the adoption of mountain hillside, mountain understory, and mountainous limited cultivated land use patterns to develop agricultural production in mountainous areas is an effective approach to address the shortage of cultivated land caused by changes in the Chinese dietary structure.

Wind power is widely used and creates value worldwide. However, it also poses a threat to the survival of soaring birds. This study focuses on the role of government restrictions in mitigating the adverse effects of wind power on soaring birds. We used an overall research method to identify research questions, selected typical wind farms from different provinces and topographic landscapes in China for descriptive analysis, and supported by data from environmental impact reports, government gazettes, and walk-through surveys, analyzed and concluded that government restrictions can be used as a means of weakening the impacts of wind power generation on soaring birds. And our findings suggest that site control for wind farms that have not yet been established, restrictions on the timing of power generation for wind farms in operation, and ecological restoration of wind farms that have caused environmental damage are effective implementation options for government restrictions. Additionally, the policy strengths of the above government restrictions are guided, recommended, and mandatory, respectively. Government restrictions can serve as an effective means of mitigating the negative impact of wind power on soaring birds, generating economic value while maximizing the protection of soaring birds' subsistence. Based on our findings, we call on governments to pay attention to the negative impacts of wind farms on soaring birds and put forward three concrete and feasible recommendations, expecting countries to enact governmental constraints to find a balance between economic, social, and ecological benefits.

Vigorous emphasis has been placed on optimizing land spatial planning to protect carbon storage and enhance ecosystem resilience. What is the effectiveness of the Major Function-Oriented Zone (MFOZ) planning implemented to achieve this goal in China? Especially in urbanized areas where there are more pronounced conflicts between humans and land. Taking the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration as the target area, this study explored the response of carbon storage to land use/cover change (LUCC) and its vulnerability to ecological service functions under MFOZ planning. The 30 m × 30 m spatially resolved Landsat TM/ETM remote sensing images from 2000 to 2020 were used. The data preprocessing was performed mainly through radiometric calibration, clipping, and reclassification through the ArcGIS 10.7 software. Applying the InVEST model, which uses the LUCC map and carbon storage density of the four carbon pools, including above-ground carbon density, below-ground carbon density, dead organic carbon density, and soil organic carbon density, to evaluate the carbon storage under the current landscape or in the future, the results show that: (1) The BTH ecosystem experienced a carbon storage reduction of about 7.25 × 107 Mg from 2000 to 2020 due to the expansion of construction land, which crowded out cropland. Carbon storage in the BTH showed a high concentration in the “northeast-southwest” direction and a tiny distribution in the “middle-east” direction. (2) From 2015, the initial effects of the MFOZ planning were seen, with the ecological land in the Central Core Zone and Eastern Coastal Development Zone decreasing while the proportion of high-carbon storage areas in the Eastern Coastal Development Zone increasing. (3) Over the two decades, the land use intensity index improved by 4.65 overall, and vulnerability worsened from 2000 to 2015 and was alleviated from 2015 to 2020. This study will provide a scientific reference for optimizing urban spatial land use planning and promoting carbon sequestration in ecosystems.

家庭农场作为推进农业低碳转型的关键主体,探索其低碳生产行为的内在逻辑对农业高质量发展具有重要意义.依据江苏省472户家庭农场的调查数据,基于计划行为理论(TPB)和价值-信念-规范理论(VBN),运用结构方程模型探析了环境价值观对家庭农场低碳生产行为的作用机理.结果表明:①环境价值观对家庭农场低碳生产行为不存在直接的显著影响,前者对后者具有完全中介效应;②环境价值观与家庭农场低碳生产行为之间受到环境身份认同、个体规范、主观规范等多个中介变量的共同影响;③环境价值观对家庭农场低碳生产行为的作用机理可以通过TPB-VBN整合模型有效揭示;④环境价值观对家庭农场低碳生产行为的影响机理因农场目标导向不同而存在差异,环境身份认同、知觉行为控制和环境价值观分别在以声誉建设、经济利益和可持续发展为导向的家庭农场中发挥主要作用.

Although digital village projects have been vigorously promoted in China in recent years, the application rate of information and communication technology (ICT) is still low, while the ways in which governmental technology promotion turns into endogenous initiatives and the impact of informal institutions remains unclear. This study found that the neighbourhood effect, rather than institutional incentives, is decisive for ICT adoption. Perceived well-being benefit was found to be an indispensable internal driver for ICT adoption, whereas government incentives varied across industries, producing a variety of impacts. The findings of this study provide practical insights into the effective promotion of ICT adoption, suggesting that government and community forces should be integrated, and that both cognitive and affective psychological drivers should be considered.

Addressing poverty is one of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. Alleviating relative poverty by stimulating the endogenous motivation of poor people to improve their ability for self-proliferation and diffusion is the focus of attention worldwide. China, as the world’s most populous country, has already left absolute poverty, and the vast rural areas are facing the challenge of managing relative poverty. We use the Delphi method to select three representative cases from the typical cases of rural entrepreneurship published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and describe the diffusion process and poverty reduction effect of returning farmers’ ‘entrepreneurship’ through the whole process analysis method. We found that the entrepreneurship diffusion model based on returning farmers has a bright future and great potential to improve rural poverty. Using family and local ties and the internet, returning farmers can effectively spread their entrepreneurial experience to other poor households, lowering their entrepreneurial risks and barriers, and thus collectively bringing more farmers out of poverty. The entrepreneurship diffusion of returning farmers can increase farmers’ income, promote the employment and entrepreneurship of poor households and improve the rural ecological environment, thus alleviating the multidimensional poverty of farmers in economic, social and ecological aspects. This provides an experience and reference for developing countries to solve the problems of poverty, especially poverty governance in rural areas. It is worth noting that implementing the diffusion of entrepreneurship among returning farmers requires the support of appropriate policies and the active participation of local governments.