New Farmers’ Quality And Safety Control Behavior Of Fresh Fruits

Affected by the Internet economy profoundly,the group of "New Farmers" came into being and showed strong vitality.As a product of the new era,the emergence and development of New Farmers are closely related to the development of the Internet and social media,the change of people’s consumption structure and the change of consumption mode.We Chat is currently one of the most popular social media platforms in China.Many New Farmers sell agricultural products on We Chat,especially fresh produce,where the phenomenon of We Chat marketing of fresh fruit is particularly common.To respond the quality and safety concerns of consumers on the social media marketing platform,New Farmers should pay more attention and maintain the quality and safety of the agricultural products they sell on We Chat.The Internet gene is the biggest characteristic that distinguishes New Farmers from other agricultural practitioners.According to the different modes of production and marketing,there are three types of New Farmers: 1.self-producing and direct marketing oriented,2.purely sales-oriented,and 3.integrated.Specifically,self-producing and direct marketing oriented New Farmers participate in the production process of agricultural products but only sell their own products on Internet.The key point of their quality and safety control of agricultural products is mainly reflected in their production behavior.Purely sales-oriented New Farmers only sell agricultural products on the Internet platforms and are not involved in the production process themselves.The key point of their quality and safety control of agricultural products can be reflected by their quality and safety knowledge of the products they sell.Integrated New Farmers not only sell their own agricultural products but also sell agricultural products from other suppliers.Therefore,they should not only control the quality and safety of the agricultural products produced by themselves but also control the quality and safety of the agricultural products they sell from other suppliers.The main purpose of this research is to analyze the quality and safety control behavior and influencing factors of different types of New Farmers on agricultural products.The research object is mainly New Farmers who sell fresh fruits on We Chat.There are two main reasons for choosing fresh fruits New Farmers on We Chat platform: one is that it is very common for New Farmers to sell fresh fruits on We Chat;Second,the quality and safety of fresh fruits are more concerned by consumers.Through snowball sampling surveys,a total of 869 questionnaires of New Farmers who sold fresh fruits on We Chat were obtained in this study.Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior(TPB theory)and behavioral decision theory(SOR theory),we construct the general theoretical framework of different types of New Farmers’ fresh fruits quality and safety control behavior and its influencing factors.Under the guidance of this framework,the relevant empirical analyses were carried out.The main research content and conclusions are as follows:Firstly,the Heckman two-stage model,the probit binary selection model,and seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model were used to analyze the impact of subjective norms,quality safety cognition,perceived behavioral control,personal characteristics,and production and operation characteristics on the self-producing and direct marketing oriented New Farmers and Integrated New Farmers’ quality and safety control behavior of fresh fruits produced by themselves.The empirical results show that: 1)in terms of subjective norms,the variables of consumers’ attention to food safety or high quality with high price have a positive impact on the quality and safety control behavior of New Farmers,indicating that market incentives are the important motivation for New Farmers to implement quality and safety control behavior.2)In terms of quality and safety cognitive,the more the New Farmers know about “Quality and Safety Law of Agricultural Products of the People’s Republic of China”,the higher probability that they will implement agricultural product production record behavior and selfinspection behavior;the more the New Farmers know about pesticide residues,the more likely they are to use biological pesticides.It shows that the quality and safety cognition of New Farmers has a positive effect on their quality and safety control behavior of fresh fruits.3)In terms of perceived behavioral control,on the one hand,some supportive resource variables,such as government support in policy,capital and technology,can reduce the difficulty for New Farmers to implement quality safety control behaviors(including “San Pin Yi Biao” certification behavior,production record implementation behavior,self-inspection behavior,biological pesticides use behavior,and organic fertilizer application behavior),and increase their enthusiasm for quality safety control;On the other hand,obstacle factors will prevent New Farmers from implementing quality and safety control behaviors.For example,excessive certification cost and complicated certification process will negatively affect New Farmers to implement “San Pin Yi Biao” certification,and insufficient inspection capabilities will negatively affect New Farmers to implement self-inspection behavior.4)In terms of personal characteristics,New Farmers with a stronger sense of responsibility consciousness for quality and safety are more inclined to implement quality and safety control behaviors.5)In terms of production and operation characteristics,the number of employees and agricultural products brand variables will also positively affect some of the quality and safety control behaviors of New Farmers.Secondly,using a seeming unrelated ordered probit model,we analyzed the influence of subjective norms,quality and safety cognition,and personal characteristics on the quality and safety knowledge level between purely sales-oriented New Farmers and Integrated New Farmers of the fresh fruits they sell on We Chat from other suppliers.The empirical results show that: 1)as for We Chat marketing influencing factors in subjective norms,consultation frequency of consumers about the quality and safety information and word-of-mouth effect of consumers will affect New Farmers’ quality and safety knowledge level(including the use of pesticides,fertilization and quality and safety certification)of the fresh fruits they sell on We Chat.If the New Farmers feel that the supervision of the We Chat platform is more stringent,they will pay more attention to the quality and safety of the fresh fruits they sell.In addition,if the government’s supervision is stronger and consumers pay more attention to quality and safety issues,New Farmers will get more quality and safety information of the fresh fruits they sell on We Chat.2)As for quality and safety cognitive factors,if the New Farmers have a higher awareness of pesticide residues,they will know more information about the use of pesticides on fresh fruits they sell;If the New Farmers have a higher awareness of organic fertilizer,they will know more information about the application of fertilizers on fresh fruits they sell;If the New Farmers have a higher awareness of “San Pin Yi Biao” of agricultural products,they will know more information about the quality certifications of fresh fruits they sell.3)As for personal characteristics,quality and safety related training experience of agricultural products or food can promote New Farmers to learn more about the quality and safety information of fresh fruits they sell on We Chat.Thirdly,the independent-sample T-test is used to compare and analyze the quality and safety control behavior between self-producing and direct marketing oriented New Farmers and Integrated New Farmers of the fresh fruits produced by themselves,the quality and safety knowledge level between the purely sales-oriented New Farmers and Integrated New Farmers of the fresh fruits they sell on We Chat from other suppliers.The results show that there is no significant difference in the quality and safety control behaviors between selfproducing and direct marketing oriented New Farmers and Integrated New Farmers.And the Integrated New Farmers are more aware of the quality and safety knowledge of the fresh fruits they sell from other suppliers on We Chat than purely sales-oriented New Farmers.The major policy implications are as follows: from the perspective of consumers,they should enhance the awareness of the quality and safety of agricultural products,and improve the ability to obtain quality and safety information.From the perspective of the We Chat platform,We Chat should take the responsibility of supervision and strengthen the quality and safety regulation of the agri-products sold in its platform.From the perspective of New Farmers,it is necessary to strengthen their quality and safety responsibility consciousness and cognition of agricultural products.Finally,from the perspective of government,there are three measures which the government can take: 1)The government should strength the relevant laws,regulations,and policies on the quality and safety supervision of New Farmers;2)The government should increase the support for New Farmers on quality and safety control;3)It is also necessary to reduce the problem of adverse selection caused by information asymmetry and form a market mechanism for high quality with high price of agri-products.