Farmers’ social networks’ effects on the sustainable production of fresh apples in China’s Shaanxi province

Introduction: Recently, the public and policymakers have acquired knowledge of the detrimental effects of pesticide use in agriculture. These include the threat to the health of chemical applicators and the threat that pesticide residues pose to the safety of food. The present study focuses on the farmers’ social networks from a new perspective, along with the farmers’ concurrent agricultural business and their impact on the farmer’s safe production behavior.Methodology: The Endogenous Switching Probit Regression model and Binary Probit Group Regression model were employed for the empirical analysis of survey data collected from 585 households in the Xianyang, Yan’an, and Weinan districts of Shaanxi province, China.Results and Discussion: The results revealed that farmers’ social networks can greatly affect farmers’ safe production behavior. Additionally, we noted that the farmers’ social networks may play a positive role in promoting the farmers’ safe production behaviors of both concurrent agricultural business and non-concurrent agricultural business farmers. Moreover, their correlation coefficients were found significant at a confidence level of 5%. Our findings suggest that the government needs to construct social networks among farmers by setting up a communication platform and promoting the acquaintance of safe production through reciprocal culture

Exploring stakeholder preferences and spatial heterogeneity in policy scenario analysis for vulnerable ecosystems: A choice experiment approach

The importance of understanding people's preferences and the well-being of river systems cannot be overstated when it comes to the effective restoration and long-term management of these systems. This study aimed to determine the preferences of people in the Hei River Basin of China regarding the conservation, restoration, and development of ecological systems and their associated services. The research utilized a combination of random parameter logit models for distance decay. The study collected data using a choice experiment method and separated the study area into three distance-based groups: group I (within 25 km), group II (25 to 50 km), and group III (beyond 50 km). The findings showed that there was spatial heterogeneity among the people, with a higher willingness to pay for high-quality agricultural production and the lowest willingness to pay for oasis. The results revealed a complex pattern of spatial heterogeneity and indicated the need for increased awareness programs, environmental education, and the promotion of social responsibility towards environmental protection. It is essential to implement environmental policies, restore properties, and preserve ecological systems to achieve sustainable development and a sustainable environment. The findings highlight the importance of considering spatial heterogeneity and the need for increased environmental awareness, education, and policy implementation. This research can contribute to developing effective strategies for the preservation of river systems and ensuring sustainable development and a sustainable environment

Bioenergy consumption, carbon emissions, and agricultural bioeconomic growth: A systematic approach to carbon neutrality in China

China is the world's largest fossil fuel consumer and carbon emitter country. In September 2020, China pledged to reduce carbon emissions, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Therefore, this study aimed to contribute to the literature and show the pictorial nexus of bioenergy and fossil fuel consumption, carbon emission, and agricultural bioeconomic growth, a new pathway towards carbon neutrality. For this study, time-series data from 1971 to 2019 were used to analyze the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing and novel dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (DYNARDL) simulation models. Initially, the unit root tests results showed that all variables were stationarity at the level and first difference. The presence of cointegration between selected variables was confirmed by the results from ARDL bound test. In addition, the results of long-run and short-run nexus show an increase in bioenergy consumption that caused an increase in agricultural bioeconomic growth both in the long and short-run nexus. A decrease in fossil fuel consumption was shown to result in increased agricultural bioeconomic growth with respect to both long- and short-term effects. Furthermore, the results of the novel dynamic ARDL simulation model demonstrated that a 10% positive shock from bioenergy consumption caused an increase in agricultural bioeconomic growth, while at the same time, a 10% negative shock in bioenergy consumption led to a decrease. A 10% negative shock from fossil fuels caused an increase in agricultural bioeconomic growth, whereas a 10% positive shock from fossil fuels led to a decrease. Therefore, this study suggests that China needs to switch from fossil fuel and other non-renewable energy consumption to sources of bioenergy and other renewable energy consumption to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060

Foreign direct investment, financial development, energy consumption, and air quality: A way for carbon neutrality in China

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