The Impact of Agricultural Cooperatives on the Adoption of Technologies and Farm Performance of Apple Farmers in China

This study examines the impact of agricultural cooperative membership on the adoption of technologies and farm performance, using data collected from 481 apple farmers in China. Specifically, the study first examines the impact of cooperative membership on investment in organic fertilizer, farmyard manure and chemical fertilizer using a recursive bivariate probit model. Second, the causal link between cooperative membership and adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) technology is analyzed by employing an endogenous switching probit model. Meanwhile, a treatment effects model is employed to further analyze the impact of IPM adoption on apple yields, net returns and agricultural income. Third, this study examines the impact of cooperative membership on apple yields, net returns and household income using an endogenous switching regression model. Fourth, a treatment effects model is employed to analyze the impact of cooperative membership on return on investment (ROI). Finally, the determinants of marketing contract choices including written contracts, oral contracts and no contracts, and the impact of marketing contracts on net returns are analyzed. The empirical results show that cooperative membership exerts a positive and statistically significant impact on the probabilities of investing in organic fertilizer and farmyard manure. Cooperative membership exerts a positive and significant impact on IPM adoption, and IPM adoption increases apple yields, net returns and agricultural income. Moreover, cooperative membership exerts a positive and significant impact on apple yields, farm net returns, household income and ROI. The results further indicate that written contracts increase apple farmers’ net returns, while oral contracts exert the opposite effect. Finally, the findings show that education, household size, farm size, labor input, asset ownership and access to credit exert positive and significant effects on the choice of cooperative membership

China’s experience with mobile payments highlights the pros and cons of a cashless society

An increasing number of people are using mobile devices – their smartphone, a smartwatch or tablet – to pay for goods and services. Mobile devices allow people to complete transactions without using cash or a traditional bank card, making shopping quicker and easier

Why using more fertiliser and feed does not necessarily raise dairy farm profits but increases climate harm

New Zealand is in an unusual position in the developed world when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. About half of all emissions come from agriculture, and almost a quarter can be attributed to biological emissions (nitrous oxide and methane) from the dairy sector

Market participation and subjective well-being of maize farmers in China

This study explores how maize farmers’ market participation influences their subjective well-being, utilizing the 2020 China Rural Revitalization Survey data collected by the Chinese Academy of Social Science. Three variables, including market participation (a binary variable), sales ratio (a continuous variable), and sales frequency (a categorical variable), are utilized to measure maize farmers’ market participation patterns comprehensively By estimating a conditional mixed process model, this study finds that maize farmers’ market participation significantly improves their subjective well-being captured by happiness, life satisfaction, and confidence about the future by 0.672, 0.925, and 1.125 points, respectively. Maize income mediates the positive association between farmers’ market participation and their subjective well-being. The disaggregated analyses reveal that farmers at the household income tertiles 2 and 3 obtain a higher level of happiness, life satisfaction, and confidence about the future. Meanwhile, market participation significantly improves life satisfaction and confidence about the future of farmers experiencing natural disasters, while it increases the happiness of farmers who do not have such experiences. Farmers’ market participation significantly improves their objective well-being regarding pork consumption and milk consumption by 68 g/capita/day and 56 g/capita/day, respectively. Further analysis confirms that market participation intensity, reflected by sales ratio and frequency, significantly increases farmers’ subjective well-being. These findings highlight that the government should devote more efforts to inciting maize farmers to participate in market transactions to increase farmers’ incomes and subjective well-being

Promoting sustainable agri-food production to achieve food and nutrition security: The role of soil conservation practices

This study examines the role of soil conservation practices (SCPs) in promoting sustainable agri-food production to achieve food and nutrition security. It uses the endogenous treatment regression model to address the selection bias associated with SCP adoption. We examine the data sourced from the 2020 China Land Economic Survey, collected by Nanjing Agricultural University, China. First, we analyze the association between the adoption of SCPs and rice yield; we focus on rice as it is the most common food staple globally. Then we examine the links between the SCPs and the consumption of ten specific foods (rice, pork, beef, poultry, fish, egg, bean products, vegetables, fruits, and vegetable oil). This allows us to glean insights into how SCPs may affect changes in dietary patterns in rural communities. The findings show that adopting SCPs is associated with a 7% increase in rice yield. We find that education, farm size, the slope of the farm, and owning real estate are positively associated with the adoption of SCPs, whereas encountering pest infestations reduces one’s likelihood of adopting them. As for rice yields, they are positively associated with household size, economic status, soil fertility, plot slope, and having a higher percentage of adults over 65. The findings also show that adopting SCPs can influence the dietary patterns of farming households. Specifically, those who adopt SCPs increase their consumption of fruits and protein-rich food such as pork and fish; however, adopting SCPs is associated with lower consumption of vegetables

Sharing energy poverty: The nexus between social interaction-oriented gift expenditure and energy poverty in rural China

This study examines how social interaction-oriented gift expenditure affects the energy poverty of rural households in China, accounting for energy inaccessibility, unaffordability, and multidimensional energy poverty. A conditional mixed process model was used to estimate the 2016 and 2018 China Family Panel Studies survey data and address the endogeneity of gift expenditure. The results suggest that social interaction-oriented gift expenditure could crowd out rural residents' energy expenditures and drive them to energy poverty. Specifically, every 100 Chinese yuan per capita increase in gift expenditure increases the probability of energy inaccessibility by 2.1 % and energy unaffordability by 1.5 %–1.6 %. This increase also increases the likelihood of rural households being trapped in multidimensional energy poverty by 1.9 %. Furthermore, household deposits mediate the positive associations between gift expenditure and rural energy poverty. Our findings suggest that regulating rural residents' behaviors of giving monetary gifts could help alleviate rural energy poverty

Can citrus farmers earn more from selling online?

Online sales are essential for linking smallholder farmers to a wide range of markets. In essence, online sales not only influence the income received from selling a specific product but also generate spillover effects on total farm income and household income because they promote the sales of other agricultural products and generate regional off-farm work opportunities (e.g. product sorting, packaging, and delivery). Taking citrus as an example, this study explores the income effects of online sales with a focus on net returns from citrus production, net farm income, and household income. We used an endogenous treatment regression model to address the self-selection bias issues of online sales and estimated data collected from 926 citrus-producing households in Jiangxi Province, China. The results show that online citrus sales boost income growth in rural China. Specifically, online sales significantly increased net returns from citrus production, net farm income, and household income by 5,000 Yuan/capita, 8,580 Yuan/capita, and 17,830 Yuan/capita, respectively. The income-enhancing effects of online sales are greater for female household heads than they are for their male counterparts. Our findings emphasise the importance of promoting online sales to improve rural household welfare

Impact of agricultural commercialization on dietary diversity and vulnerability to poverty: Insights from Chinese rural households

In this study, we examine the role of agricultural commercialization in influencing rural households’ dietary diversity and vulnerability to poverty. The instrumental variable (IV)-based approaches, including IV-Poisson and IV-Probit models, are employed to estimate the data collected through the China Land Economic Survey project. The results show that a higher level of agricultural commercialization is positively and significantly associated with higher dietary diversity and lower vulnerability to poverty. The poverty-reduction effect of agricultural commercialization is robust to the adjusted poverty line. Further analysis reveals that increasing the level of agricultural commercialization significantly increases the consumption levels of legumes, fruits, livestock meat, and poultry meat. The findings highlight the importance of linking farmers to markets for commercializing agricultural products, a practical way to improve rural household welfare and reduce the risk of falling into poverty

Farmers’ organizations and sustainable development: An introduction

This special issue features 14 new research papers investigating the role of farmers’ organizations (e.g., collective action, self-help groups, producer companies/organizations, and cooperatives) in supporting sustainable development. The key findings include: (1) farmer groups and cooperatives promote farmers’ adoption of good farm management practices, new agricultural technologies and sustainable farming practices, although not substantially improving farm yield; (2) outsourcing services provided by agricultural cooperatives help to increase the technical efficiency of crop production; (3) cooperative membership enhances members’ bargaining power and enables them to sell their products at higher prices; (4) cooperatives motivate rural laborers to work in off-farm sectors, while self-help groups empower rural women in decision-making; (5) internet use improves agricultural cooperatives’ economic, social, and innovative performances; (6) direct administrative intervention supporting cooperative development may lead to the emergence of shell cooperatives; (7) participation in forest farmer organizations enables wood value chain upgrading; (8) increasing the cooperative size in terms of income, equity, and assets increases the profitability of savings and credit cooperatives; and (9) creating cross-border cooperation between cooperatives generates benefits for all parties involved. These findings can inspire the design of policies aimed to support farmers’ organizations in achieving sustainable development goals

Market participation and subjective well-being of maize farmers

This study explores how maize farmers’ market participation influences their subjective well-being, utilizing the 2020 China Rural Revitalization Survey data collected by the Chinese Academy of Social Science. Three variables, including market participation (a binary variable), sales ratio (a continuous variable), and sales frequency (a categorical variable), are utilized to measure maize farmers’ market participation patterns comprehensively By estimating a conditional mixed process model, this study finds that maize farmers’ market participation significantly improves their subjective well-being captured by happiness, life satisfaction, and confidence about the future by 0.672, 0.925, and 1.125 points, respectively. Maize income mediates the positive association between farmers’ market participation and their subjective well-being. The disaggregated analyses reveal that farmers at the household income tertiles 2 and 3 obtain a higher level of happiness, life satisfaction, and confidence about the future. Meanwhile, market participation significantly improves life satisfaction and confidence about the future of farmers experiencing natural disasters, while it increases the happiness of farmers who do not have such experiences. Farmers’ market participation significantly improves their objective well-being regarding pork consumption and milk consumption by 68 g/capita/day and 56 g/capita/day, respectively. Further analysis confirms that market participation intensity, reflected by sales ratio and frequency, significantly increases farmers’ subjective well-being. These findings highlight that the government should devote more efforts to inciting maize farmers to participate in market transactions to increase farmers’ incomes and subjective well-being