Strengthening grain systems against climate-related disturbances is essential for food security, particularly in a country such as China, where feeding a large population must be balanced with limited arable resources. Using panel data for 31 provincial-level regions over 1997–2022, this study assesses resilience in China’s grain sector through a super-efficiency SBM approach. It then investigates regional inequality, temporal distributional change, spatial dependence, and interregional transmission by combining the Dagum Gini coefficient with Moran’s I, Markov transition analysis, kernel density analysis, and a spatial Durbin specification. The empirical evidence indicates that overall resilience in grain production increased during the sample period, although the national average remained at a relatively low level. Regional gaps also expanded, with within-group variation and transvariation contributing most to the disparity. In addition, provinces exhibited significant positive spatial dependence, with evident clustering among both high-resilience and low-resilience areas. The distributional results further point to a polarization tendency, while the transition analysis suggests strong persistence and limited short-term upward mobility; however, provinces located near higher-resilience areas were more likely to move to a better state. Spatial econometric results further show that agricultural technicians, fiscal support, mechanization, irrigation, and industrial upgrading influence resilience differently across regions. Overall, the results point to the importance of differentiated policy design, stronger cross-regional coordination, and continued technological upgrading in strengthening grain production resilience and safeguarding long-term food security.

PurposeEnsuring rural migrants' access to sustainable income forms the foundation of urban integration. This study examines how China's household registration system reform (HRSR) affects the sustainable income of migrant households by addressing institutional barriers within the urban-rural dual structure.Design/methodology/approachThis study develops a theoretical framework that incorporates the HRSR and sustainable income. Based on this framework, it employs a difference-in-differences (DID) model to empirically investigate the impact of the HRSR on household sustainable income. It also explores heterogeneous effects based on human capital, factor reallocation effects, regional context and conducts mechanism analysis.FindingsThe results show that the HRSR significantly enhances sustainable income of rural migrant households. While the reform raises wage, property, and transfer income, it reduces operating income. Heterogeneity analysis indicates stronger effects for rural migrant households with higher human capital, those participating in land transfer, and those migrating to more developed and better-connected regions. Mechanism analysis shows that the HRSR improves sustainable income by enhancing nonfarm employment stability, financial asset allocation effectiveness, and access to public services.Originality/valueThis study offers new insights into how institutional reforms like the HRSR affect sustainable income at the household level. The findings have important implications for promoting the integration of rural migrant households into urban areas.

Improving household financial health has become a central goal of inclusive finance initiatives as digital finance continues to reshape financial access globally. This study investigates how digital finance influences household financial health in China and whether its benefits extend to families facing different types of risk. Using nationally representative household panel survey data from three survey waves for the period of 2015 to 2019, we empirically identify both the direct effects of digital finance and the mechanisms through which these effects operate. The results show that the greater use of digital finance is associate with improvements in household financial health. Further analysis demonstrates that these gains are driven by expanding access to financial information, diversifying financial products, and strengthening social interaction. Moreover, the presence of robust digital infrastructure amplifies these positive effects. Importantly, digital finance helps households maintain stronger financial health when confronted with health, unemployment, and income risks. Overall, the findings highlight digital finance as an effective pathway to financial resilience and provide practical insights for policymakers seeking strengthen digital financial inclusion in developing economies.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has been recognized as a crucial approach to enhancing agricultural productivity, resilience, and sustainability. However, despite its well-documented benefits, CSA practices adoption remains relatively low, particularly in developing regions. This study investigates the impact of income inequality on CSA practices adoption in the Yellow River Basin, China, using survey data from 3486 wheat-farming households and econometric modeling. The results reveal that income inequality significantly reduces CSA practices adoption, primarily by restricting access to credit and information. In contrast, exposure to natural disasters and engagement in cash crop cultivation are associated with increased CSA practices adoption. Moreover, the negative impact of income inequality is more pronounced for high-input CSA practices, whereas its effect on low-input CSA practices is relatively limited. The results underscore the necessity of targeted policy interventions to enhance financial accessibility and information dissemination, thereby mitigating the adverse effects of income inequality and promoting broader CSA practices adoption among farmers.

Although online credit is recognized as one of the promising approaches to solving the problem of difficult access to loans for Chinese farmers in theory, there is still actually a lack of enthusiasm among farmers for its adoption. This study is dedicated to exploring the reasons why farmers don't adopt online credit from the perspective of perceptions. Based on field survey data involving 698 farmers in Shaanxi province, six constructs derived from the extended theory of planned behavior are designed to identify the specific characteristic typologies of farmers' online credit perceptions using the K-means clustering method. Furthermore, the characteristics associated with farmers online credit behavior and intention are examined by an ordered logistic regression model. The results of cluster analysis reveal that five groups with differentiated perception characteristics are partitioned and labeled as (1) Socially influenced non-believers, (2) Socially independent non-believers, (3) Just see fraud skeptics/Socially independent skeptics, (4) Suspicious but socially influenced, and (5) Neutral independent and no distinctive perception. The results of ordered logistic regression show that distrust and suspicion among farmers towards online credit have significant relationships with shaping their behavior and intention. Concurrently, it cannot be overlooked the association between subjective norms and farmers' online credit attitudes and perceptions. Additionally, farmers' online credit behavior and intention also have correlations with various socio-demographic factors, including gender, age, education, physical health condition, off-farm work, and broadband coverage.

Despite the increased attention given to promoting women's economic empowerment in recent years, particularly in rural areas, its impact on family financial well-being remains unclear. This study aims to explore the relationship between the two based on survey data collected from China rural areas. The study's findings indicate a positive correlation between women's economic empowerment and financial well-being. Mechanism analysis reveals that enhanced economic empowerment increases women's educational attainment and social interaction, thereby increasing the likelihood of improved financial well-being. Additionally, the impact of women's economic empowerment on financial well-being significantly differs depending on whether the family is located in plain areas; families in non-plain areas experience a more pronounced effect. Further analysis reveals that entrepreneurial scale negatively moderates the relationship between women's economic empowerment and financial well-being, with this effect being particularly pronounced in non-plain areas. This study highlights the importance of enhancing women's economic empowerment and promoting small-scale entrepreneurship in rural areas as key strategies for improving family well-being.

In the context of high-quality development of inclusive finance, the farmer entrepreneurship is important for rural economic development. This paper bases on the survey data, establishes a framework for evaluating financial resilience through three dimensions and examines the influence of financial resilience on farmers’ entrepreneurial decision-making. Results show that financial resilience can significantly improve farmers’ entrepreneurial decision-making, increase risk-taking capacity and social capital as mechanisms, and the risk-taking mediation effect is greater. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that gender can make a difference in entrepreneurial decisions. Moreover, the effect is more pronounced in male decision-makers. In order to increase women’s economic independence, women’s entrepreneurial enthusiasm should be enhanced. The study offers new insights for enhancing entrepreneurial activity in rural areas and provides a fresh perspective on supporting women’s development.

Farmland mortgage financing policy has been actively carried out and intertwined with mass entrepreneurship strategy in China in recent years. Using survey data of 1,947 rural households in pilot counties of farmland mortgage loans (FMLs), we contribute to the literature by examining the impact of financial literacy on rural households’ entrepreneurship with considering the heterogeneity between agricultural and non-agricultural entrepreneurship and exploring how financial literacy affects entrepreneurship through FMLs. The results show that financial literacy has a significant and positive impact on both rural households’ agricultural and non-agricultural entrepreneurship. Moreover, households with higher level of financial literacy show a higher probability in the application for and approval of more FMLs. This study provides strong evidence that the impact of financial literacy on farm households’ agricultural entrepreneurship is partially mediated by FMLs, while that impact on their non-agricultural entrepreneurship is partially suppressed by FMLs. We further find that financial literacy can also increase rural households’ entrepreneurial income through their approval of FMLs. These findings suggest that systematical financial literacy training programs are needed to popularize FML products and services and facilitate rural households’ entrepreneurship.

Nudging the adoption of agricultural green production technologies (AGPTs) by cotton farmers is a practical need to implement the national “green development” strategy. Based on the micro-survey data of 502 cotton farmers, this paper empirically analyzed the influence and driving mechanism of cotton farmers’ participation in cooperatives on their adoption of green production technology from the perspective of their inner cognition and external regulation by using the propensity score matching (PSM) model and the intermediary effect model. The study found that (1) the importance of agricultural green production technology to cotton farmers was in the order of soil testing and formula fertilization technology, green prevention and control technology, deep tillage technology, water-saving irrigation technology, new variety technology, and straw-returning technology. (2) Participation in cooperatives can significantly improve the adoption of agricultural green production technologies by cotton farmers, with an increase of about 27.16%, and the improvement effect on technology-intensive production links is pronounced. (3) By improving the inner cognition and external regulation of cotton farmers, cooperatives can enhance the green endogenous power of cotton farmers, improve environmental external constraints, and become an intermediary path to guide cotton farmers to adopt agricultural green production technology.

The application of smart agriculture is increasingly becoming a critical force in transforming the traditional methods of agricultural production in China. This change, based on technological innovation, is essential to promoting a sustainable production system in family farms. This study is based on the resource orchestration theory to investigate how smart agriculture affects the diversity of green production technologies (GPTs) on family farms. Based on a sample of 563 family farms surveyed in 2022, this study utilizes propensity score matching (PSM) methods and instrumental variables to analyze the effect of smart-agriculture adoption on the diversity of GPTs on farms. The findings reveal that smart agriculture has significantly increased the diversity of GPTs on farms by 8.5%. Network consulting services, value-added products, and environmental monitoring services are potential impact mechanisms underlying the positive effects of smart agriculture on the diversity of GPTs on farms. Furthermore, the increased diversity of GPTs is more significant on purely plantation farms, farms without contract farming, and farms with high levels of mechanization.

Improving farmers’ entrepreneurial performance is the inherent requirement for the in-depth implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. Based on the survey data of 788 entrepreneurial farmers in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, we use multiple linear regression model and quantile regression model to empirically test the impact of green entrepreneurship on farmers’ agricultural entrepreneurship performance and its three dimensions. The results show that green entrepreneurship has a significant positive effect on farmers’ agricultural entrepreneurship performance, and positively impacts farmers’ agricultural entrepreneurship performance at different quantile levels. Among them, the improvement is the largest for farmers with low entrepreneurship performance and the smallest for those with medium entrepreneurship performance. Green entrepreneurship significantly positively influences the economic performance, environmental performance and social performance of farmers’ agricultural entrepreneurship, and positively impacts the three dimensions of farmers’ agricultural entrepreneurship performance at different quantile levels. Among them, it greatly impacts farmers with low performance, and has the smallest effect on those with high performance. Therefore, green entrepreneurship can not only improve the performance of farmers’ agricultural entrepreneurship, but also narrow the gap of economic performance, environmental performance and social performance of farmers’ agricultural entrepreneurship. Green entrepreneurship becomes an effective model to improve the performance of farmers’ agricultural entrepreneurship.

In the context of increasingly severe resource and environmental constraints, accelerating family farms to take the path of green agricultural development is an urgent practical problem to be solved. The bancassurance interaction, an innovative form of financial support policy for agriculture, can effectively alleviate the risks and credit rationing problems faced by family farms in the operation process, provide new opportunities for green production of family farms, and is of great significance to promoting sustainable agricultural development. This study uses data from 564 planting family farms in Shaanxi Province to analyze the impact of the bancassurance interaction on adopting green production technology in family farms and its mechanism, paying particular attention to the heterogeneous effects of the family life cycle and family economic level. The results of this study show that the bancassurance interaction has a significant positive impact on the adoption of green production technology by family farms. Compared with agricultural credit and insurance, the effect of the bancassurance interaction on adopting green production technologies is more evident. The analysis of the impact mechanism shows that the bancassurance interaction can promote the adoption of green production technology in family farms through three channels: increasing investment in agricultural production, expanding the scale of land management, and strengthening exchanges of green technology. Among them, the effect of increasing agrarian production investment is the most pronounced. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of the bancassurance interaction on the green production technology of family farms varies significantly according to the family life cycle and economic level. Family farms at the dependency stage and low-income level were more willing to adopt green production technologies driven by the bancassurance interaction. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously innovate the interaction mode between banks and insurance companies, rationally allocating agricultural production factors and combining the actual situation of each family farm to strengthen the leading role of the bancassurance interaction in adopting green production technologies and promoting high-quality agricultural development.

Achieving green, healthy, and cyclical development in China’s pig industry not only enables the adjustment of the rural industrial structure but also helps meet community demand for safe meat, thus playing a critical role in promoting sustainable agricultural development. This research utilizes panel data from 21 provinces (districts) in China from 2004 to 2021 to construct an evaluation system for green total factor productivity in pig breeding (PGTFP). The super-efficient slacks-based measure (SBM) model is employed to measure PGTFP. Conversely, regional disparities in PGTFP are determined using the Dagum Gini coefficient method. Furthermore, we analyzed the convergence of pig breeding in different regions. The findings indicate that PGTFP in China exhibits fluctuations, with the highest PGTFP, observed in areas of constrained development. Development differences in PGTFP across China have gradually diminished, with the greatest development differences observed within potential growth areas. Furthermore, disparities between focused development areas and potential growth areas are the most pronounced and are primarily attributable to the super-variable density. Both α- and β-convergence are observed for PGTFP at the national level and within each breeding area. However, the α-convergence pattern during COVID-19 is not obvious. Consequently, the formulation of differentiated farming development strategies and fostering the coordinated development of pig breeding in all regions have become imperative. Meanwhile, preparing contingency prevention measures to promote stable and high-quality pig breeding is necessary.

Broad and sustainable public participation are the basis of successful domestic waste management (DWM).However, households' participation preferences have not been fully analyzed; the current study addresses this gap.Using data from a survey of Chinese rural households, we applied multinomial logit models to explain how institutional trust influenced rural households' participation preferences in DWM under household differentiation.The results show that institutional trust and household differentiation have a significant impact on households' participation preferences.Specifically, institutional trust promotes households' preferences for labor and capital and capital only participation methods.Household participation method preferences differ based on households' characteristics.However, lower-differentiation households with lower-educated members, more permanent residents, and fewer migrated members preferred labor only, followed by labor and capital and capital only methods, while higher-differentiation households preferred not to participate.Given the disappointing performance of implemented policies in enhancing the participation of households thus far, it may be time to cultivate household's trust in institutions and explore differentiated participation methods such as labor and capital, capital only, and labor only.

Using an in-the-field discrete choice experiment on 336 farmers from rural China, this study aims to determine whether farmers optimize debt according to the optimal capital structure models and assess whether there is evidence of risk balancing behavior among Chinese farmers when they make financing decisions under risk constraints. Results suggest that farmers will increase leverage with greater profits, reduced interest rates, reduced business risk, lower risk aversion, and increasing prudence; they will reduce credit demand with increased collateral requirements, shorter repayment terms, and reduced loan usage flexibility. We also found significant heterogeneity among farmers and substantial differences across areas.

文中基于山西和陕西两省788户创业农户调研数据,实证检验政府规制对农户绿色创业意愿的影响,并构建有调节的中介效应模型分析其作用机制.结果表明:1)政府规制显著正向影响农户绿色创业意愿.2)绿色创业认知在政府规制影响农户绿色创业意愿中发挥部分中介作用,该中介效应占总效应的21.33％.3)绿色创业的环境友好性、前景广阔性、风险可控性三者在政府规制对农户绿色创业意愿的影响中起到中介效应,而在上述中介效应中,环境素养起到了调节作用.

[目的]土地细碎化与传统分散式经营一定程度阻碍了农业适度规模经营与农民创业,探索土地流转对农民创业的影响,对加速农业现代化发展、实现农民增收具有重要意义.[方法]文章阐释土地流转影响农民创业的机理,并依据陕西、宁夏、山东3省(区)1947份农户调研数据,运用Probit模型实证检验土地流转对农民创业的影响,同时进一步测度社会资本是否发挥调节作用.[结果](1)转入土地正向促进农民创业基本决策,而转出土地负向抑制农民创业基本决策,显著性水平分别为1％和5％.(2)进一步划分创业类型后显示,转入土地能显著促进农民开展涉农创业,而转出土地能促进农民开展非农创业.(3)社会资本的调节作用显著,具体表现为,整合型社会资本在转入土地影响涉农创业中发挥调节作用,而跨越型社会资本在转出土地影响非农创业中发挥调节作用.[结论]因此,建议持续推进土地流转政策的深化改革,确保从土地流转到农民创业的顺利衔接;加强农民创业培训体系建设,考核培训后的效益效果,通过提升培训质量助推农民创业;鼓励农民增强社交意识,灵活运用社会网络获取资源,并通过积极社交打通阶级壁垒、促进信息流动,加速创业的开展.

Agricultural green production has been regarded as an effective way to solve the increasing level of agricultural environmental pollution and the frequent safety crises of agricultural products. As the main decision makers of agricultural production, farmers’ agricultural green production behavior directly determines the process of agricultural green development. However, few studies have explored farmers’ agricultural green production behavior from the perspective of environmental literacy, and the formation mechanism of farmers’ agricultural green production behavior is still unclear. This study aims to clarify the effect of environmental literacy on farmers’ agricultural green production behavior and its impact mechanism. Based on survey data from 830 farmers in China, this study constructs comprehensive index systems to evaluate farmers’ environmental literacy and agricultural green production behavior, and adopts multiple linear regression models and quantile regression model to explore the impact of environmental literacy on this behavior. Meanwhile, the mediation effect model is used to explore the mediation effect of agricultural green production cognition and agricultural green production willingness in the influence of environmental literacy on farmers’ agricultural green production behavior. Three conclusions arise. First, farmers’ environmental literacy and agricultural green production behavior are at the middle level, both of which should be strengthened. Second, environmental literacy has a significant positive impact on farmers’ agricultural green production behavior. Finally, environmental literacy influences farmers’ AGP behavior through the independent and chain mediation effects of AGP cognition and AGP willingness. Environmental literacy has heterogeneity impact on farmers’ agricultural green production behavior under different level of agricultural green production and external environment. This research not only provides theoretical support for the study of farmers’ agricultural green production behavior from the perspective of environmental literacy, it also provides a reference to the relevant government departments so that they can guide farmers to adopt more agricultural green production behavior.

In this study we investigated informal transactions amongst Chinese farmers through the lens of social interactions. Along these lines we developed a theoretical model to investigate kindness and the conditions under which a fairness equilibrium in informal credit markets might operate. We use an in-the-field discrete choice experiment to approximate our utility interdependence specification. These include the nature of the relationship between lender and borrower; beliefs from previous interactions about what action the borrower might take; and higher order interactions such as social and peer pressures to make familial loans. Attributes include the loan amount, repayment terms and interest rates and likelihood of payoff (based on borrower reputation) and to capture emotional kindness including inequity aversion, we include attributes related to relative financial position and loan purpose. Using conditional and mixed logit models, we find statistic support for both rational kindness and emotional kindness in ways that are consistent with mutual-max and mutual-min outcomes.

新型农业经营主体是促进农业现代化发展和保障国家粮食安全的重要力量.探寻政策演变与实践响应拟合程度是解决新型农业经营主体培育现实困境的有效途径.本文基于2013—2020年中央一号文件精神,厘清政策在新型农业经营主体定位、要素供给和发展导向方面的变化;利用软件Citespace以文献计量分析法剖析主体培育的现实困境,识别、评价政策目标与实践响应偏差.研究结果显示:新型农业经营主体培育过程经历了发展摸索期和创新探究期两个阶段,政策供给呈现第一阶段要素匹配平衡和第二阶段要素匹配乏力的特点;两阶段内实践发展对政策演变追踪程度较高,实践反馈出主体培育多元化需求,并在主体发展路径讨论上有效补益于后续政策制定;在政策对主体实践矛盾性分析方面存在定位与定性不平衡、金融资源普适性与区域性不平衡以及经济诉求与治理诉求不平衡问题.本文深化了新型农业经营主体培育政策与实践响应关系及其相互作用下阶段性状态的研究,明确了宏观政策对培育实践的指导作用,揭示了新型农业经营主体培育后期实践对政策倒逼的现象.