It is essential to fully empower the digital economy and promote sustainable, high-quality agricultural growth to maximize the synergistic reduction effect of agricultural pollution and carbon emissions (SREAPCE), particularly in light of the Dual Carbon Goal and the shift towards digital greening. Using panel data from 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta between 2011 and 2022, this study employs two-way fixed effects, mediation effect, and spatial Durbin models to explore how the digital economy influences the SREAPCE. The results reveal four key findings: (1) The digital economy can significantly enhance the SREAPCE while reducing both agricultural carbon emissions and agricultural non-point source pollution. (2) The spatial spillover effect of the digital economy exerts a significant negative impact on the SREAPCE. (3) Agricultural human capital, agricultural science and technology progress, and environmental rights trading play mediating roles in the process through which digital economy development affects the SREAPCE. (4) Notably, the digital economy’s promotional effect on the SREAPCE is more pronounced in food-producing areas, riverine cities, and non-pilot low-carbon cities than in other regions. Therefore, efforts should be made to continuously advance digital economy development, strengthen policy support for agriculture, and take measures to improve the levels of agricultural human capital, agricultural science and technology progress, and environmental rights trading in the agricultural sector. Additionally, emphasis should be placed on collaboratively upgrading the digital economy level in food-producing areas and riverine cities, enhancing farmers’ digital literacy, and further boosting the SREAPCE.

How to encourage farmers to recycle pesticide packaging waste (PPW) is key to improving rural habitat. Previous literature has focused more on the role of policy interventions from a formal system perspective. Based on the perspective of combining informal and formal systems, this study empirically explores the impact of neighborhood effects and policy interventions on farmers’ PPW recycling behavior by using data from the China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS) and constructing an ordered probit model. The results show that neighborhood effects and policy interventions have a significant positive impact on farmers’ PPW recycling behavior, respectively, and the conclusion still holds after robustness test. In addition, neighborhood effects and policy interventions have substitution effects on farmers’ PPW recycling behavior. Finally, the heterogeneity analysis show that neighborhood effects generate significant incentive advantages for high-income farmers, elite farmers, and less-developed regions, whereas policy interventions are the opposite of it. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of rural neighborhoods and implement policies that varied by people and regions, thereby improving farmers’ PPW recycling behaviors.

Urbanization results in drastic land use/cover change (LUCC) and ecological resilience (ER) issues, which has become an important and urgent question of regional sustainability. This study applied the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) to represent the ER, and further combined ordinary least squares (OLS), and the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to analyze the spatiotemporal variations of ER and LUCC at the regional and city scales from 1990 to 2020 in Hangzhou Bay Metropolitan Area (HBMA), explore the relationship between ER and LUCC, and apply for urban resilience management zoning. The results demonstrated that the ER in HBMA showed a characteristic of “slightly worse overall and improved locally”, the mean value of which decreased from 0.508 in 1990 to 0.502 in 2020. Specifically, the ER in Shanghai, Shaoxing, and Ningbo increased, and others decreased. ER exhibited a very obvious spatial aggregation feature of “high value in the southwest and low value in the northeast”. The spatiotemporal dynamic feature of LUCC from 1990 to 2020 depicted that the expansion of construction land was at the expense of occupying cropland. The LUCC degree and population have significant negative effects on the ER. The ER management zoning of HBMA could be divided into five zones, namely the ecological core protection area, ecological monitoring area, ecological optimization area, ecological restoration area, and ecological potential governance area. Results of this study could provide a more comprehensive understanding of ER change in metropolitan areas and the implication of resilience management was provided to improve the adaptation and sustainable development of the coastal urban area.

The extension of organic fertilizers helps improve soil quality and reduces non-point source pollution caused by excessive use of fertilizers, however, whether the application of organic fertilizers (OFA) contributes to an increase in farmers' income is a matter of debate. This paper discussed how the application of soil-testing formulas and outsourcing services that some or all links of agricultural production to professional organizations moderate the income-increasing effect of OFA, and Multinomial Endogenous Switching Regression Model (MESR) is selected to do the empirical test. The results indicate that OFA with soil-testing formula and OFA with outsourcing service can effectively increase farmers' income, in specific, OFA with soil-testing formula increases the net monetary income of wheat growing on per hectare (ha) of land by 2150 Renminbi (RMB), and OFA with outsourcing service increases the net monetary income of wheat growing on per ha of land by 3950 RMB, however, OFA has no effectiveness on increasing farmers' income if neither soil-testing formulas nor outsourcing services is available. The influence mechanism of OFA to improve farmers' income is to increase crop yield, but OFA has no effectiveness on increasing the price of products. A systematic extension services including the extension of organic fertilizers, soil testing formulas and outsourcing services should be formed in the future.

Based on the perspective of combining informal and formal systems, this paper empirically explores the impact of neighborhood effects and policy interventions on the deviation of farmers’ willingness and behavior of domestic waste separation (DWS) by using data from the China Land Economy Survey (CLES) and constructing a probit model. It should be explained that the neighborhood effect in this paper refers to the fact that the behavior of farmers is highly susceptible to the behavior of their neighbors in the process of production and living. The results of the study show that neighborhood effects and policy interventions have a significant negative impact on the deviation of farmers’ willingness and behavior of DWS, respectively. Comparison of marginal effects shows that neighborhood effects > environmental advocacy > reward and punishment policies. From the interaction effects as a whole, neighborhood effects and policy interventions have complementary effects on the deviation of farmers’ willingness and behavior of DWS, with the complementary effects of neighborhood effects and environmental advocacy being more significant. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that neighborhood effects completely replace the inhibitory effect of policy interventions on the deviation of high-income farmers’ willingness and behavior of DWS, but have no effect on political elite farmers. The interaction between neighborhood effects and policy interventions has complementary effects on low-income farmers and ordinary farmers, with the complementary effects of neighborhood effects and environmental advocacy being more significant.

The excessive use of chemical fertilizers (OCF) is one of China’s main sources of agricultural nonpoint source pollution. It is debatable whether outsourcing service adoption (FOS) reduces OCF. This article argues that farm size and plot size can moderate the effectiveness of FOS in reducing OCF. Particularly, organizations earn more profits when they provide outsourcing services to large-sized farms and plots, thereby preventing their opportunistic behavior and reducing the OCF. Based on the survey data of wheat growers from six major grain-producing counties in Anhui Province, China, the Cobb–Douglas production function is used to measure the OCF, and ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation is used as a benchmark. In addition, propensity score matching (PSM) is used to eliminate the selection bias, and two-stage least squares estimation (IV-2sls) is used to eliminate endogeneity. The results indicate that approximately 90% of the sampled households used excessive fertilizers, signifying that the excessive use of chemical fertilizers in China’s agricultural production remains a serious problem. FOS reduces the OCF on large farms and plots. However, the effectiveness of FOS in reducing OCF disappeared when it was provided to small farms and plots. Extending FOS and organizing efficient land transfers should receive equal consideration from policymakers.

Human reclamation activity can significantly affect the balance of ecological processes and elements in the coastal wetland ecosystems. The coupling mechanism of C:N:P stoichiometry plays a vital role in exploring ecological processes and nutrient cycle in plant–soil systems which is still unclear in the coastal area after long-term reclamation. The carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in plant and total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) content of the soil in a coastal reclamation area of Jiangsu Province, China were measured, and the coupling mechanism of plant and soil C:N:P stoichiometry were further analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM). Results showed that the sediments in coastal wetland gradually transformed into arable soil and accumulated nutrition through the process of dehydration and desalination after reclamation. Soil TOC, TN, and TP content increased with the increasing reclamation time. Soil C:N ratio varied between 3.99 and 49.71, soil N:P ratios from a low of 0.11 to a high of 2.87, and soil C:P ratio fluctuated between 3.43 and 15.17. Plant C concentration decreased with the increasing reclamation time, while plant P and N content increased. Plant C:N ratios vary between 8.56 and 403.86, plant N:P ratios from a low of 0.72 to a high of 15.91, and plant C:P ratios vary between 65.60 and 1045.07. The growth of plants in the coastal reclamation area was supposed to be limited by the N element. Plant P element might be the medium between plant C and N. Soil WC significantly affected plant C:P, and soil EC had a significantly positive influence on plant N:P. This study highlighted that the coupling of C:N:P stoichiometry in plant and soil were tight and soil N:P could be a good predictor of plant C:P and N:P ratios.

Quantitative analysis of the species composition and succession law of a plant community in a coastal reclamation area is of great significance for revealing the community construction and species coexistence mechanisms, and provides a basis for the rational use and conservation in coastal reclamation areas. Through the investigation of natural plant communities in Dongtai reclamation area and the adjacent national nature reserves in Jiangsu Province, eastern China, the composition and succession of plant communities were studied. A quantitative method was explored to analyze the process of plant succession and its representative species. The results showed that (1) A total of 65 species were found in the vegetation survey. These belonged to 26 families and 61 genera, and Poaceae is the most common plant species. The plant communities in the unreclaimed areas were mainly composed of Poaceae and Cyperaceae. The plant species increased after reclamation, which were mainly composed of Poaceae and Asteraceae; (2) The plant coverage greatly reduced after three years of reclamation, from 80% of the tidal flat to 37.34%, then gradually increased, and remained generally between 50% and 70%; (3) The above-ground biomass of the plant community was sharply reduced after reclamation, from 1.823 kg/m2 in the tidal flat to 0.321 kg/m2 in three years of reclamation, and then maintained at 0.11~0.27 kg/m2; (4)The species succession process of the plant community in the coastal wetland ecosystem that was affected by the reclamation activities transformed from a halophyte community that was dominated by a salt marsh plant community (Suaeda salsa, Spartina alterniflora, Scirpus mariqueter, and Phragmites australis) to a mesophyte plant community that was constructed with pioneer species such as Setaria viridis, Eleusine indica, etc., and eventually succeeded to a xerophyte plant community that was dominated by Humulus scandens and Cyperus difformis, etc. Reclamation activities have a profound impact on the characteristics and succession rules of natural vegetation communities along coastal wetland ecosystems. The period of seven years is presumed to be the tipping point in the succession of the plant community in coastal reclamation areas. The results of this study can provide a basis and reference for ecological protection and restoration in coastal reclamation areas.

The quantitative analysis of the urban-rural integration development (URID) level and its driving factors is of great significance for the new-type urbanization of urban agglomerations. This study constructed a multidimensional framework in the perspective of a population–space–economy–society–ecology framework to measure the URID level from 2000 to 2020 and further explored the driving mechanism of the URID changes by a geographical detector model in the Hangzhou Bay urban agglomeration (HBUA). The results showed that the land-use change in the HBUA from 2000 to 2020 showed a typical characteristic of the transition between cultivated and construction land. The URID level in the HBUA improved from 0.294 in 2000 to 0.563 in 2020, and the year 2005 may have been the inflection point of URID in the HBUA. The URID level showed a significant spatial aggregation with high values. Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Ningbo were hot spots since 2015, and the cold spots were Huzhou and Shaoxing. The population and spatial integration had more important impacts on URID levels in 2000, 2005, and 2020, while economic and social integration had more significant impacts on URID levels in 2010 and 2015. This study provided a deeper understanding of the evolution of URID in an urban agglomeration and could be used as a reference for decision makers.

To improve the living conditions in rural regions, encouraging farmers to recycle pesticide packaging wastes (PPWs) is crucial. This paper, therefore, seeks to theoretically analyze the impact of subsidies, social norms, and other complementary factors on farmers' attitudes towards recycling. The empirical test is then conducted using survey data from the four counties in Qiantang River, Zhejiang province, the source area. The results suggest that providing subsidies and forming social norms would encourage farmers to recycle PPWs. The efficacy of subsidies as a tool to enhance farmers’ PPW recycling behavior can be improved with an increase in farm size. Nonetheless, subsidies fail to motivate farmers with high incomes to recycle PPWs. In this case, social norms can be used to significantly strengthen the recycling behavior of farmers with high incomes and village cadres. The descriptive social norms governed by village rules and regulations can prompt farmers to recycle PPWs. However, the imperative social norms forced by the government cannot. In general, subsidies and social norms have complementary effects in encouraging farmers to recycle PPWs. When encouraging large-scale farmers to recycle PPWs, subsidies are more suitable, while subsidies can partly be substituted by social norms when promoting village cadres to recycle PPWs. Social norms exclusively dominate when encouraging high-income farmers to recycle PPWs.

This study overviewed the development of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) with four stages and its contribution to poverty allevation and environment based on hickory production practices in Lin'an, China. The study analyzed the driving forces of hickory production including policies, technologies and market. Finally, it outlined the experience of hickory industry development in China, including cooperation between local governments, universities and farmers' organizations to impel technologies innovation; popularize the ecological and sustainable management of NTFPs and collaborate those small holders through the foundation of farmers' cooperation organizations and encourage the popularization of internet based e-commerce in rural areas.

通过分析退耕还林生态补偿机制研究现状,阐释了退耕还林可持续性问题与破解思路,归纳了退耕还林工程在生态环境质量改善、生态系统服务功能提升、农户生计变化与福祉保障等方面的影响,进而提出基于生态系统服务与农户福祉交互耦合实现退耕还林生态补偿机制创新路径.未来的研究需要紧密结合"十四五"乃至今后更长时期区域可持续高质量发展与森林生态补偿制度创新需要,关注退耕农户福祉改善的迫切需求,厘清生态系统服务供给与退耕农户福祉变化的内在联系,明确生态系统服务与农户福祉交互耦合的退耕还林可持续高质量发展生态补偿标准形成机制与对象的空间选择机制,推动退耕还林生态系统服务功能供给能力有效地转变为现实而长期改善人类福祉的能力,为建设生态文明和美丽中国做出新的更大贡献.

农业机械化水平是衡量现代农业发展的关键指标,农户是农机投资和提供农机服务的主力军.本文基于2019年福建、四川、山西的1433个农户的微观调查数据,分析了农户加入合作社对其提供农机服务行为及其经济效益的影响.研究结果表明:相较于未加入合作社的农户,加入合作社的农户提供农机作业服务行为的动机更强,经济效益水平更高.而且不同地形条件、不同经营规模的农户加入合作社对其提供农机服务行为及经济效益影响不同,坡度低的地形条件下及中规模农户加入合作社对其提供农机服务行为及效益更显著.由此,本文提出四点政策建议:一是充分发挥农民专业合作社作用,引导农户提供农机服务;二是加强坡地基础设施和小型农机建设;三是激活农机服务市场,支持不同规模农户提供农机服务;四是鼓励农机服务规模经营发展,提高农机服务专业化水平.

In recent years, the problem of migrant workers' excessive labor has attracted much attention. The implementation of the integration policy of urban and rural medical insurance has broken the urban-rural dual division system. While improving migrant workers' health and sense of social integration, can they effectively alleviate their overwork? Based on the panel data of China Labor Dynamics Survey (CLDS) in 2016 and 2018, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of the integration of urban and rural medical insurance on migrant workers' overwork by using the differential difference model (DID). The research shows that the integration of urban and rural medical insurance can significantly alleviate the excessive labor of migrant workers; Heterogeneity analysis shows that, comparing with the new generation, the eastern region, the tertiary industry and low education level migrant workers, it is more obviously that the integration of urban and rural medical insurance alleviates the overwork of the older generation, the central and the western regions, the secondary industry and high education level migrant workers. Path analysis shows that the integration of urban and rural medical insurance will improve the social identity and health level of migrant workers, and then reduce the probability of migrant workers' overwork.

This article examines the impact of the stability of the management rights of transferred land (TLMR) on the adoption of technologies aiming to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers (ARFTs) based on the survey data of large-scale grain growing households in Anhui, China. Using the IV-Probit model, the present paper defines the stability of TLMR and the results estimated by IV-Probit model shows that a one-year extension of land lease period can increase the probability of using organic fertilizer and soil-testing formula fertilizer by 3.16% and 4.92%, respectively, while contract breaching in the lease period can reduce the probability of using organic fertilizer and soil-testing formula fertilizer by 46.9% and 51.38%, respectively. However, the land-lease period and land transfer contract breaching in the lease period have no significant effect on the use of farmyard manure by large-scale grain growing households. The main conclusion is that improving the stability of TLMR is conducive to prompting large-scale grain growing households to adopt ARFTs, especially the adoption of organic fertilizer and soil-testing formula fertilizer. The government should improve the stability of TLMR by standardizing the form and content associated with land transfer contracts and setting the minimum land-lease term.

The adoption of green production behaviors (GPBs) in non-timber forest product (NTFP) operations can improve soil quality and mitigate run-off and soil erosion in mountainous areas, which can support sustainable industry development. Selling NTFPs by e-commerce rather than traditional face-to-face trading can expand markets, prevent any high-quality product premium being lost to profit-seeking middlemen, and reduce the information asymmetry about the quality of products. Therefore, improvements in product quality can achieve a price premium, which can stimulate rural households engaged in NTFP operations (i.e. NTFP households) to adopt GPBs. This study uses survey data from 429 NTFP households in Zhejiang Province in southeastern China and econometric modelling to test whether e-commerce can foster NTFP households' adoption of GPBs The results show that the NTFP households are not commonly adopting GPBs but e-commerce does encourage their adoption of GPBs. In particular, e-commerce has a positive effect on the NTFP households' use of organic fertilizer and formula fertilizer (informed by soil testing). E-commerce has a negative effect on the households’ use of high-toxicity pesticides and the frequency of using pesticides. Compared with small-scale NTFP households whose forestland size is lower than the mean of the total sample (i.e. <1.91 ha), e-commerce has a stronger effect on the adoption of GPBs by large-scale (i.e. >1.91 ha) NTFP households. The implication for policymakers from these findings is that e-commerce can be used to drive NTFP households to adopt GPBs in countries with free markets and functioning e-commerce platforms.

The application of organic fertilizer is conducive to improving the quality of cultivated land. Previous studies suggest that the small scale of operation is the key factor restricting the application of organic fertilizer in China. However, the application of organic fertilizer has not increased alongside the increase in the scale of agricultural land management in China which is associated with an increasingly active land transfer market (i.e. farmers renting their farmland to and from other farmers). It is therefore necessary to determine the key factors restricting the application of organic fertilizer by large-scale farmers in China. A survey was conducted of large-scale grain-growing households (with managed lands of at least 3.33 ha) from Anhui Province in the east of China. The study aimed to test the effect of land transfer quality on the application of organic fertilizer by large-scale farmers. The ‘quality of transferred lands’ incorporates the level of fragmentation of transferred lands and the stability of transferred land management rights. Probit and Tobit models were used as a benchmark, the IV-Probit model and IV-Tobit model were used to eliminate the endogeneity, and the Heckman two-stage model was used for further empirical tests. The results show that the ratio of the crop planting area where organic fertilizer was applied to the total crop planting area was only 22 %, indicating that large-scale farmers are not commonly applying organic fertilizer. The average area of transferred plots of land and the land lease term have significant positive effects on the probability and intensity of large-scale grain-growing households applying organic fertilizer. The number of transferred plots of land and land transfer contracts being broken during the lease term have significant negative effects on the probability and intensity of large-scale grain-growing households applying organic fertilizer. It can be concluded that the key to encouraging large-scale farmers to apply organic fertilizer is to increase the quality of land transfers, including a realization of contiguous land transfers and improving the stability of transferred land management rights.

Coastal ecological protection and restoration projects aimed to restore and recover the ecological environment of coastal wetland with high-intensity human reclamation activity, while the integrity of the coastal wetland system with human reclamation activity and the ability of individual land use types to control the overall system were not fully considered. In this study, a six-stage land use conversion network was constructed by using a complex network model to analyze coastal land use dynamic changes in the coastal reclamation area located in eastern China from 1977 to 2016. The results showed that land use types had gradually transformed from being dominated by natural types to artificial types, and the speed of transformation was accelerating. The proportion of un-reclaimed area decreased from 93% in 1977 to 46% in 2007, and finally fell to 8% in 2014 and 2016. Tidal flat and halophytic vegetation were the main output land use types, while cropland, woodland and aquaculture pond were the main input land use types. Cropland had the highest value of betweenness centrality, which played a key role in land use change from 1992 to 2014. The land use system of the coastal reclamation area was the most stable in 2002–2007, followed by 1984–1992, and the most unstable in 2007–2014. The Chinese and local government should carry out some measures to improve the land use in coastal wetland ecosystems, including the allocation and integration of land use for production space, living space, and ecological space, and develop multi-functionality of land use to realize the coastal high-quality development and coastal ecological protection and restoration.

本文为比较不同类别信息对淡水养殖户采纳两型生产技术的影响效应,在对农户采纳技术行为进行理论分析的基础上,构建以社会网络作为工具变量的回归模型.结果表明,①获取技术信息对农户采纳两型农业技术有显著的促进作用,在不考虑技术信息内生性的情况下,获取技术信息的影响会被低估;②不同类别信息对农户采纳两型农业技术的影响程度不同,获取技术使用信息对农户采纳两型农业技术的影响程度大于获取技术市场信息.在使用信息中,操作信息比经验信息对农户采纳技术的促进作用更大;在市场信息中,价格信息比质量信息对农户采纳技术的促进作用更大.

自2009年以来实施的中央财政林业补贴政策旨在促进营林主体的投入和降低营林活动的风险,但在具体实施中是否达到预期政策目标仍值得讨论.本文重点分析林地经营规模对林业补贴政策实施对象的选择及其效果的影响,继而讨论林业补贴政策的公平性与有效性问题,这对于今后完善林业补贴政策,明确林业补贴项目实施主体,判断林业补贴政策的瞄准度具有重要研究价值.本文基于浙江省调研点数据,运用Logit和三重差分模型分别分析了林地经营规模对中央财政林业补贴政策实施对象选择及其效果的影响.研究结果表明:(1)随着农户林地经营规模增大,成为林业补贴户的概率增加.现有林业补贴政策实施中,地方相关部门从降低监督交易成本出发,在实施对象选择上会尽量鼓励让规模户参与,从而就受益面而言,该政策实施难以确保公平性.(2)相对于普通农户,林业补贴政策的确刺激和提升了规模户生产要素投入和收入,但并不显著.从目前来看,现有政策没有完全达到预期政策设计效果,瞄准度有待加强.在此基础上,本文提出了建立具有"特惠+普惠"性质的林业补贴政策体系、加强政策宣传力度提高政策透明度、强化林业补贴项目监管机制等相关建议.