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Agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China is the prominent area for agricultural production, but it is also the most typical ecological fragile area with frequent drought disasters. Taking Yulin City at Shaanxi Province in China as the case area, the paper aims to investigate the spatio-temporal changes of agricultural vulnerability to drought in China's agro-pastoral ecotone in the period 2000 to 2020. The results show that: 1) the agricultural vulnerability to drought in Yulin City has shifted from high vulnerability in the period 2000–2010 to low vulnerability in the period 2011–2020. 2) There exist obvious spatio-temporal differences of the agricultural vulnerability to drought in Yulin City during the research period. 3) Four sensitive events and 14 resilient events were identified in the research and the crops of Yulin had become more resilient to drought. Finally, the paper put forward with policy implications to make adaptive strategies of agriculture to climate change in China's agro-pastoral ecotone in the future, e.g., carrying out agricultural zoning based on agricultural production conditions, intensifying the construction of disaster prevention and relief system, and integrating with modern agricultural technology to develop new type agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of e-commerce participation on household development resilience using a sample of 1229 households in the Shandong and Shaanxi provinces of China in 2022. It constructs the developmental resilience index of farm households from three dimensions of economy, society and culture using the entropy method, and establishes a counterfactual framework using the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method. The results suggest that participation in e-commerce has a significant and positive impact on farming household development resilience. The PSM method estimates that participation in e-commerce increases the developmental resilience of farming households by 9.63% compared to non-participation, with economic, social, and cultural resilience increasing by 9.29%, 9.84%, and 9.92%, respectively. The robustness test results confirm the findings. Further analysis reveals that participation in e-commerce enhances farm household development resilience through three mechanisms: improving economic efficiency, network relationship linkage, and risk appetite. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of e-commerce participation on household development resilience varies among farmers with different endowment constraints. In particular, farmers with more years of education and cooperative members benefit more from e-commerce participation, especially live and platform e-commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers' participation in public affairs is the combined effect of informal and formal institutions. In order to improve the current situation of low willingness of Chinese farmers to participate in living environment improvement, and to enhance the motivation of farmers and the effectiveness of living environment improvement, this paper incorporates the clan network in the informal institution and the perceivable authority of village chiefs in the formal institution into a unified analytical framework, divides the clan network into two dimensions (scale and strength) and explores the influence of the clan network and the perceivable authority of village chiefs on farmers' participation in rural living environment improvement. Finally, an empirical test is conducted using survey data from 683 farming households in the provinces of Henan, Shaanxi and Sichuan. The results show that the strength of the clan network and the perceivable authority of the village chiefs have a significant positive effect on the farmers' participation in rural living environment improvement, while the scale of the clan network does not have a significant effect on farmers' behavior. The perceivable authority of the village chief has a positive moderating effect between the clan network and farmers' participation in rural living environment improvement, while the heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect of the clan network on farmers' participation in the rural living environment is reduced for those who have worked outside, far away from the village. It is suggested that the protection of traditional clan relations should be emphasized, and the positive role of clan agents and their influence should be effectively utilized in promoting the improvement of the rural living environment at the grassroots level. Moreover, it is necessary to carry out timely training of professional knowledge and skills for grassroots leaders, propagandize and interpret policies, thus increasing the enthusiasm of farmers to participate in the improvement of the rural living environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production mode of "high input, high yield and high waste" in the agricultural system poses a serious threat to the environment and the quality of agricultural products. Accelerating the adoption of green agricultural technology (GAT) by farmers is an emergency measure. However, according to microsurvey data, many farmers give up GAT within a year after adopting it. The implementation of this measure has been anticlimactic. Based on a survey of 1138 kiwi growers in Shaanxi Province, China, this paper builds a theoretical model and conducts empirical exercises to gain insight into the effects of perceived value, government support and their interaction with kiwi growers' sustainable application of GAT. We find that perceived value and government support have a significant impact on the sustainable application of GAT. Government support plays a moderating role in the influence of perceived value on the sustainable application of GAT. Furthermore, in order to overcome the potential endogeneity problem caused by the two-way causal relationship between subjective variables, "owning a smartphone" was selected as the instrumental variable. The 2SLS model was used for endogeneity analysis, and the OLS model was used for the robustness test. This paper discusses the relevant theories and policy implications of environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive farming behavior is a key strategy for farmers to cope with climate change. This paper aims to explore the potential impacts of climate change information sources on farmers’ adaptive farming behavior. This paper clarifies the internal mechanism of three typical information sources, namely government departments, scientific research institutions and neighborhood communication, affecting farmers' adaptive farming behavior. Based on the sample data of 1200 farmers in the main wheat producing areas of Shaanxi Province, the theoretical conjecture is empirically tested. The results showed that the climate change information from government departments and scientific research institutions has a significant positive impact on farmers' adaptive farming behavior, but in the case of considering the three sources of information at the same time, the information source of scientific research institutions has the strongest positive impact on farmers' adaptive farming behavior. After farmers have access to climate change information exchanged by government departments, scientific research institutions and neighbors, their differences in climate change adaptive farming behavior mainly depend on their climate change cognition rather than subject trust factors. Formally organized climate change information represented by government departments and scientific research institutions has a more significant positive impact on farmers' adaptive farming behavior, but this impact depends largely on whether the information obtained by farmers can improve their climate change awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of China's rural homestead withdrawal policy has been a topic of great interest in recent years. However, little is known about its impact on farmers' homestead withdrawal behavior from the perspective of psychological resilience. This study aims to evaluate the impact of psychological resilience on farmers' homestead withdrawal behavior and to explore its mechanism and heterogeneity, as well as its impact on compensation choices. The research data was collected through a survey of 657 rural households in Shaanxi and Shandong provinces. The probit model and mediation effect model were used to analyze the data. The results demonstrate that psychological resilience positively affects farmers' homestead withdrawal behavior; this finding is robust. Specifically, the positive influence of stability and adaptability dimensions of psychological resilience is more significant. Moreover, the effect of psychological resilience varies across different family life cycles, and it has a stronger promoting effect on the homestead withdrawal behavior of child-raising families. Mechanism analysis indicates that psychological resilience can promote homestead withdrawal behavior by reducing farmers' land dependence consciousness and improving farmers' risk preferences. Finally, farmers with strong psychological resilience are more inclined to choose cash compensation. Based on these findings, this paper proposes targeted policy recommendations for rural homestead system reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Different from general agriculture, tobacco agriculture in China adopts the production mode of farmers' cooperatives to instruct farmers to engage in tobacco agricultural production under a policy of tobacco control. In addition to providing convenience for industry technical standardization, the policy goal aims to cope with the impact of production risk shocks and ultimately ensure the modernization and transformation of the tobacco industry and the stability of income of farmers. Objective: This study intends to explore the influence mechanism of the different degrees of cooperation and participation in cooperatives on the income of tobacco farmers from the perspective of risk shocks. Methods: Through the quantitative methods of the OLS regression model, hierarchical regression model and moderation model, this paper analyzes the data of 393 farmers engaged in tobacco agricultural production in Shaanxi Province obtained from survey and empirically analyzes the relationship between the degree of cooperation and participation in cooperatives and income. Interaction terms between risk shocks and cooperation are introduced to verify the regulatory effect of participation in tobacco farmers' professional cooperatives on mitigating risk shocks and improving agricultural income. Results and conclusions: The results show that while risk shocks, including natural risks, market risks and policy risks, negatively affect the income of tobacco farmers, the degree of cooperation and participation has a significant positive effect on the income of tobacco farmers, and the degree of peasant households' participation in the professional cooperative of tobacco farmers as a moderator variable has a regulatory effect on mitigating the impact of risk shocks on the income of tobacco farmers. The mechanism of action is that tobacco farmers participate in cooperatives to a higher degree, which can further promote the association of farmers and jointly resist risk shocks by reducing production costs, improving the technical level, and strengthening risk prevention and other measures to improve the income level. Significance: It would be helpful to encourage tobacco farmers to take the initiative to participate in the daily management‐related affairs and decisions of cooperatives, strengthen technical training, obey cooperative management, and actively respond to cooperative policies to effectively resist risk shocks and stabilize farmers' income level and family welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The de-agrarianisation of the labor force in the poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) inevitably influences households' farmland management and farmland abandonment in the relocated areas. Drawing on survey data from 1079 households in Shaanxi, China, this study uses the Heckman two-stage model to empirically examine the relationship between non-farm employment and farmland abandonment in relocated areas. Additionally, it explores heterogeneity by considering the quantity and spatial distribution of non-farm employment, as well as the moderating effect of the withdrawal of rural homesteads (WRH). The results show that: (1) non-farm employment significantly promotes both behavioral and scale of farmland abandonment, with the magnitude of this impact varying based on the quantity of non-farm employment; (2) Heterogeneity analyses show that areas with non-farm employment exert a noteworthy positive effect on farmland abandonment. On average, farmers engaged in non-farm employment outside the county (NEO) exhibit a higher marginal effect on both behavioral and scale aspects of farmland abandonment compared to those engaged in non-farm employment within the county (NEI). Furthermore, only when the number of NEI reaches 3 does the probability and scale of farmland abandonment surpass those of NEO; (3) Mechanism analysis sheds light on the role of WRH, indicating that the cultivation of land in WRH weakens the promotion of farmland abandonment by non-farm employment, particularly in the NEI group. Conversely, the duration of WRH strengthens the contributions of non-farm employment to farmland abandonment, and this effect is concentrated in the NEO group. These findings underscore the importance of actively cultivating and introducing new types of agricultural management entities, promoting the moderate-scale operation of farmland, and encouraging the recultivation of withdrawn rural homesteads as strategies to curb farmland abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shifting from a land-scale operation to a service-scale operation of agricultural production chain outsourcing services (APOS) is crucial to achieving innovation in agricultural-scale operation techniques. Using propensity score matching (PSM) and data from 1027 farm households in Guanzhong Plain, Shaanxi Province, we empirically assessed the impact of APOS on agricultural output level and output risk. First, age, gender, health, education, training, number of outworkers, land tenure, land contiguity, and subsidy satisfaction had a substantial beneficial influence on the involvement of farm families in APOS. Second, involvement in APOS may greatly increase the amount of agricultural production and lower the risk associated with farm families' agricultural output. Moreover, the participation in outsourcing services for agricultural machinery use and field management significantly increased agricultural output and decreased output risk, but the participation in agricultural machinery use outsourcing services increased yield and reduced risks more significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's approach to addressing rural poverty has evolved from a thorough resolution of absolute poverty to a focus on providing essential support for vulnerable individuals and improving the income and welfare conditions of those who are relatively poor, taking into account multiple dimensions. This study utilizes a dataset consisting of 526 research sets collected from the central region of Shaanxi Province. The research employs structural equation modeling to examine the fractal multidimensional relative poverty trap experienced by farm households. Additionally, the study investigates the behavior motivation mechanism that can potentially alleviate the multidimensional relative poverty trap at the farm household level. The study found that (1) farm households in the central Shaanxi region are caught in a multidimensional relative poverty trap, with education poverty and health poverty having a conduction and amplification effect; health poverty and education poverty amplify employment poverty; and consumption poverty amplifies education poverty and health poverty, and education poverty further amplifies information poverty. (2) Multidimensional relative poverty in farming households creates a self-reinforcing poverty trap, and community relative poverty amplifies the multidimensional poverty trap in farming households. (3) Farmers can overcome the multidimensional relative poverty trap through the behavior motivation mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conversion of farmland to forestland not only changes the ecological environment but also enriches the soil with organic matter and affects the global carbon cycle. This paper reviews the influence of land use changes on the soil organic carbon sink to determine whether the Chinese “Grain-for-Green” (conversion of farmland to forestland) project increased the rate of SOC content during its implementation between 1999 and 2010 in the hilly and gully areas of the Loess Plateau in north-central China. The carbon sink was quantified, and the effects of the main species were assessed. The carbon sink increased from 2.26×106 kg in 1999 to 8.32×106 kg in 2010 with the sustainable growth of the converted areas. The black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) soil increased SOC content in the top soil (0–100 cm) in the initial 7-yr period, while the sequestration occurred later (>7 yr) in the 100–120 cm layer after the “Grain-for-Green” project was implemented. The carbon sink function measured for the afforested land provides evidence that the Grain-for-Green project has successfully excavated the carbon sink potential of the Shaanxi province and served as an important milestone for establishing an effective organic carbon management program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent Five-Year Plans and No. 1 Central Documents have emphasised the need for Chinese agriculture to play multiple functions to enhance rural development, alleviate rural poverty and increase agricultural productivity. The concept of Chinese agriculture as multifunctional is explored, linking it to specific policy aims, with three key historical phases of the development of multifunctional agriculture (MFA) recognised. MFA has progressed rapidly in rural-urban fringes across China, and its recent evolution is investigated herewith within two case-study districts (Baqiao and Lintong) in the megacity of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Since the economic reforms of the late 1970s, farmers in the area have greatly increased horticultural production to supply the substantial local urban market, displacing traditional grain cultivation, although much high-quality farmland has been lost to urban development, especially in Baqiao. The city has also supplied tourists for farm-based tourism activities (nong jia le), including pick-your-own fruit. A questionnaire survey of sample farm households in 17 villages in the two districts generated detailed information on land management, including farm-based enterprises, participation in co-operatives, marketing, and both recent and future planned changes to farms. Factor analysis of mixed (qualitative and quantitative) data (FAMD) and hierarchical clustering of principal components (HCPC) were used to examine typical characteristics of MFA in the peri-urban fringe. This yielded five principal dimensions of farming, with on-farm environmental actions as a key characteristic. There were also three different clusters of farmers, differentiated between commercial horticultural production, contrasting less intensive part-time farmers with farmers in co-operatives and/or producing for 'dragonhead' enterprises. Renewed government support for grain cultivation to increase food availability has led to a minor reversion to cereal production, while multifunctionality has been impacted negatively by the Covid pandemic, with reduced tourist numbers. Loss of revenue from tourism is prompting farmers to search for other income streams via increased agricultural outputs, new marketing outlets, and contributions to a more diversified rural economy involving value-adding to agricultural products. • Multifunctional agriculture (MFA) has featured in recent Chinese government policies. • The paper investigates Xi'an's peri-urban MFA using factor analysis of mixed data. • Pro-environmental land management by older farmers is a key dimension in local MFA. • Farm-based tourism and commercial horticulture benefited from key government supports. • Maintaining MFA offers potential for productivity and closer rural-urban integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-timber forest product plantations (NTFP plantations), also known as "economic forests" in China, refer to forest plantations cultivated for the production of non-timber products such as fruits, nuts, oils, seasonings, and medicinal materials. With a rapid increase in the total area in the past two decades, NTFP plantations have become an important type of forestland use in China. The shift of agricultural labor to the non-agricultural sector caused by rising salaries in China will inevitably have a great impact on land use, forestry, and agricultural production. To understand the effects of off-farm employment on the development of NTFP plantations in China, a total of 709 valid household questionnaires from Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces were collected. Heckman's two-stage model was employed in the empirical analysis. The results of the study show that off-farm employment has a significant positive effect on both the probability that a household has planted NTFP plantations and the plantation area. Households engaged in off-farm employment would prefer to plant NTFP plantations. Moreover, the higher the degree of participation in off-farm employment, the more likely households are to choose to plant NTFP plantations. The area of NTFP plantations would increase with the increase in off-farm employment degrees. Besides, the age and education level of the household head show a positive effect on the NTFP plantation planting. The implication of the results is that with a continuing increase in the proportion of off-farm employment, NTFP plantation cultivation could also continue to expand. Funds are still an important constraint for households to choose to plant NTFP plantations. Therefore, if policymakers want to promote the development of NTFP plantations on collectively owned forestland, they should first resolve households' financial constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the increased expansion of the non-agricultural industry spurred on by vigorous urbanization, labor migration or transfer from farm to urban regions is to become more predominant in China. Studying the effect of labor transfer on farmers' willingness to withdraw from land is conducive to deepening the understanding of the reality of the "separation of human and farmland". As most rural livelihoods, directly and indirectly, depend upon farming, the socio-economic impact of leaving the homestead fosters profound research value. Moreover, it would provide a decision-making reference for the government to improve the design of the rural land withdrawal system and related support policies. This article uses the survey data of 953 farmers in Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Anhui, China, to empirically analyze labor transfer's effect on farmers' willingness to withdraw from farmland. We construct a bivariate Probit model by eliminating the endogenous issue to craft its findings. This study outlines its findings: (i) 61.805% of the farmers were unwilling, and 18.048% were willing to withdraw from the contracted land and homestead. While 12.067% of the farmers were only willing to withdraw from the contracted land, 8.080% of the farmers were only willing to withdraw from the homestead. Further testing found a positive correlation between farmers' willingness to withdraw from contracted land and the homestead. (ii) The overall labor transfer of households can increase the willingness of farmers to quit contracted land and homestead farming. The incomplete labor transfer of households can improve the willingness of farmers to quit contracted land. Still, it has no significant impact on the willingness of farmers to quit their homesteads. The family's complete labor transfer incentivizes farmers' willingness to withdraw from contracted land and the homestead, which is more potent than incomplete family labor transfer. (iii) Incomplete labor transfer of female households has an incentive effect on farmers' willingness to quit contracted land, and the effect is more robust than that of incomplete household labor transfer. Seemingly, complete female labor transfer of households has an incentive effect on farmers' willingness to quit contracted land and the homestead, and the effect is stronger than the complete labor transfer of the family. Because of this, the government should respect the wishes of farmers and strengthen the effective connection and mutual promotion between the homestead and contracted land withdrawal policy. Moreover, pay concentrated attention to the vital role of different types of labor transfer, and targeted labor transfer mechanisms should be used to guide farmers in an orderly manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The irrational use of pesticides has raised a negative influence on the environment and food security. Therefore, it is imperative to comprehend the current status of pesticide residues in the soil for agricultural production and their impact on the ecological environment. The effect of the main pesticides accounted for soil contamination (such as chlorpyrifos, deltamethrin, cypermethrin, and lambda-cyhalothrin) were studied in 115 representative soil samples (collected from a greenhouse and agricultural field, in Shaanxi, China). The avoidance test of earthworms to soil with studied pesticide was studied. Among them, chlorpyrifos has the highest residue concentration in the soil. Distinct geographical areas and types of land usage had different pesticide distributions. The detection rates of deltamethrin in Guanzhong were higher in greenhouses than in fields. The results manifested that the detection rates of chlorpyrifos and cypermethrin in greenhouses were higher in northern and southern Shaanxi. In addition, the concentration levels of pesticides in different soils are as follows: field soil > orchard soil > vegetable soil, and the concentration of chlorpyrifos was much higher in comparison to other pesticides. The results of the earthworm toxicity experiments showed that the soil treatments with the addition of pesticides caused toxic reactions in earthworms as compared to control treatments (without pesticide application). The earthworms exposed to toxic conditions showed morphological changes in their epidermis. Significant avoidance behavior was observed by earthworms, with avoidance rates exceeding 55%. The research results revealed the residual amounts of organophosphorus and pyrethroid pesticides in Shaanxi Province and their effects on the morphology and behavior of soil animals, providing a reference for pesticide application and control in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning in 1964, the PRC party-state orchestrated the resettlement of thousands of young people from cities to erosion-prone areas in China's Loess Plateau to form "water and soil conservation teams" (shuitu baochi zhuanyedui). Although their ostensible mission was to limit erosion by building terraces and planting trees, documents related to conservation teams emphasized their capacity to thoroughly reform urban youth while mobilizing them to do the work of remaking the environment. Provincial and county archives, along with fieldwork conducted at the site of one water and soil conservation team in Shaanxi province's Baishui county, indicate that conservation teams did not realize either of these objectives. Due to urban youth's inexperience with agriculture and conservation, they did little to promote environmental management. At the same time, unruly teenagers who migrated to the countryside to join conservation teams, as well as the cadres who oversaw them, continued to engage in transgressive behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The SWAT model is used to quantitatively analyze the regional soil and water loss affected by different climate changes. • The evaluation and prediction model of agricultural sustainable planting is constructed in case of Yulin City, China. • With fixed precipitation, the increase and decrease of 5 °C temperature would lead to an extreme change rate of soil loss. • With fixed temperature, the increase and decrease of +20 % precipitation would lead to an extreme change rate of soil loss. • Slope change and crop rotation should be adopted to realize the coordination of soil conservation and agricultural benefits. As different hydrological phenomena caused by different climates have a far-reaching impact on agricultural sustainable development, analysis of the impact of soil erosion on agricultural sustainable planting under different climates was conducted. The SWAT model was used to quantitatively analyze the regional soil and water loss affected by different climate changes. In addition, the evaluation and prediction model of agricultural sustainable planting was constructed with EPIC software, in order to achieve the agricultural sustainable planting by selecting appropriate crops. Based on the analysis of Yulin City in Shaanxi Province, the results showed that: with fixed precipitation, the increase and decrease of 5°C temperature would lead to a change rate of soil loss of -27.78 % and 9.52 % respectively; with fixed temperature, the increase and decrease of +20 % precipitation would lead to a change rate of soil loss of 21.43 % and - 38.10 % respectively. The situation of soil erosion under the slope environment was more serious, and the yield of grain and farming income decreased. It is necessary to choose reasonable planting methods and environmental control policies to reduce the impact of soil erosion on agricultural sustainable planting. Currently, conservation tillage is adopted as the control measure in Yulin. The results of this paper indicated that slope change and crop rotation should be adopted simultaneously to realize the coordination of soil and water conservation and agricultural benefits under the climate change background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, agricultural cooperatives—particularly what China calls Farmers’ Specialized Cooperatives—have experienced rapid expansion in China. After more than two decades of growth and policy support, what is the overall performance of the ever-increasing numbers of these cooperatives? We visited 50 cooperatives across the country, most of which had officially been lauded as successful, to make a first-hand evaluation of their overall status and performance. We argue that, judging by either international or Chinese standards, the vast majority of these agricultural cooperatives are not authentic and fail to deliver expected benefits to smallholders. We categorize them into five types: genuine cooperatives, shell cooperatives, de facto private agribusinesses, decooperativized cooperatives, and failed cooperatives. Four barriers impede the long-term prospects of authentic cooperatives: social differentiation, lack of trust, unpredictable markets, and poor policy design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]