| The excessive application of chemical inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides not only directly leads to a series of ecological problems such as the decline of arable land quality,loss of trace elements and sudden reduction of biodiversity,but also frequently induces agricultural product quality and safety incidents,which seriously hinders the smooth implementation of China’s ecological civilization construction and quality agricultural strategy.To this end,the Central Government’s "No.1 Document" has proposed for eight consecutive years(2015-2022)to strengthen the prevention and control of agricultural surface pollution and vigorously promote the use of "low-input","non-polluting" and "sustainable" methods.and "sustainable" as the characteristics of environmentally friendly agricultural technology.However,due to the low awareness of environmental protection among Chinese farmers,the backward ecological culture of villages,and the high cost and externalities of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies,the adoption rate of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies is still low,and the adoption rate of cash crops is significantly lower than that of food crops.Therefore,how to promote the widespread adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies by farmers has become an important challenge for the current high-quality agricultural development.The diffusion and adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies is a complex and dynamic process that requires the collaborative governance of multiple subjects,and the complex social relationships among different subjects form the social structure of farmers’ environmentally friendly agricultural generation.According to social embeddedness theory,the adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies by farmers is not only influenced by relational embeddedness such as trust and reciprocity,but also influenced and constrained by multidimensional social structures such as structural embeddedness,cultural embeddedness and policy embeddedness.Based on this,this paper uses data from 884 apple farmers in Shaanxi,Henan,and Gansu.Based on the social embeddedness theory,farmer behavior theory,and agricultural technology diffusion theory,this paper summarizes and analyzes the current situation and problems of farmers’ adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies,and constructs the social embeddedness degree of farmers from four dimensions: cognitive embeddedness,network embeddedness,cultural embeddedness,and policy embeddedness.Based on a summary and analysis of the current situation and problems of farmers’ adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies,we construct a measurement index system for farmers’ social embeddedness in four dimensions: cognitive embeddedness,network embeddedness,cultural embeddedness,and policy embeddedness.The main findings of this paper are as follows.(1)Through the analysis of the current situation of farmers’ adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies,it was found that the sample farmers had the highest comprehensive cognitive level of physical prevention and control technologies,the second highest comprehensive cognitive level of orchard grassing technologies,and the lowest comprehensive cognitive level of soil testing and fertilization technologies.The willingness of the sample farmers to adopt all three environmentally friendly agricultural technologies exceeded 50%,among which the largest number of farmers were willing to adopt soil testing and fertilizer application technology with 61.31%,followed by orchard grassing technology with 57.47%,and lastly,physical prevention and control technology with 57.01%.In terms of adoption decision,49.55% of the sample farmers adopted orchard grassing technology,24.55%adopted physical control technology,and only 12.33% adopted soil testing and fertilization technology.In terms of the number of adoption,the largest number of farmers adopted one environmentally friendly agricultural technology,accounting for 45% of the total sample;the second largest number of farmers adopted two environmentally friendly agricultural technologies,accounting for 15% of the total sample;and only 2% of farmers adopted three environmentally friendly agricultural technologies.The farmers in the sample generally thought that the ecological improvement effect of environment-friendly agricultural technologies was greater than the economic enhancement effect.(2)Through measuring and analyzing the social embeddedness of farmers,it was found that the social embeddedness of farmers in different provinces varied,with the highest social embeddedness index in Shaanxi Province,the second highest in Henan Province,and the lowest in Gansu Province.In terms of different embeddedness dimensions,the cognitive embeddedness index of farmers in Henan Province is the highest,followed by farmers in Shaanxi Province and the lowest in Gansu Province;the network embeddedness index of farmers in Shaanxi Province is the highest,followed by farmers in Henan Province and the lowest in Gansu Province;the cultural embeddedness index of farmers in Shaanxi Province is the highest,followed by farmers in Gansu Province and the lowest in Henan Province;the policy embeddedness index of farmers in Gansu Province is the highest,followed by farmers in Shaanxi Province and the lowest in Henan Province.(3)By analyzing the effect of social embeddedness on farmers’ cognition of environmentfriendly agricultural technologies,we found that social embeddedness had a significant effect on farmers’ cognitive level of orchard grass-growing technology,soil-measurement and fertilization technology,and physical prevention and control technology.Among the embeddedness dimensions,cognitive embeddedness and cultural embeddedness had significant positive effects on the cognition of the three environmentally friendly agricultural technologies;network embeddedness significantly increased farmers’ cognition of orchard weeding technology and soil testing and fertilization technology;political embeddedness significantly increased farmers’ cognition of orchard weeding technology and physical prevention and control technology.Information access played a significant mediating effect between social embeddedness and farmers’ knowledge of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies.Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the positive effect of social embeddedness on farmers’ perceptions of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies was greater for those who were older,smaller in size,and did not join cooperatives.Further study found that there was a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between social embeddedness and farmers’ perceptions of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies,and excessive social embeddedness reduced their perceptions of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies.(4)By analyzing the effect of social embeddedness on farmers’ willingness to adopt environmentally friendly agricultural technologies,we found that social embeddedness significantly and positively influenced farmers’ willingness to adopt orchard grassing technology,soil testing and fertilizer application technology,and physical control technology.Among the embeddedness dimensions,cognitive embeddedness had a significant effect on the adoption intention of all three environmentally friendly agricultural technologies;network embeddedness only had a significant positive effect on the adoption intention of orchard grass growing technology and soil testing and fertilizer application technology;cultural embeddedness significantly increased the adoption intention of orchard grass growing technology and soil testing and fertilizer application technology;policy embeddedness significantly increased the adoption intention of soil testing and fertilizer application technology and physical control technology.Policy embeddedness significantly increased farmers’ willingness to adopt soil formula fertilization and physical control technologies.Risk perception played a significant mediating effect in social embeddedness and farmers’ willingness to adopt environmentally friendly agricultural technologies,and the share of apple income played a significant moderating effect.Regional heterogeneity analysis showed that social embeddedness had the largest effect on farmers’ willingness to adopt environmentally friendly agricultural technologies in Gansu Province,followed by farmers in Shaanxi Province,and the lowest in Henan Province.(5)By analyzing the effect of social embeddedness on farmers’ adoption behavior of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies,we found that social embeddedness significantly and positively influenced farmers’ adoption decisions of orchard weeding technology,soil testing and fertilization technology,and physical prevention and control technology.Among the embeddedness dimensions,cognitive embeddedness and network embeddedness significantly increased the likelihood of adopting orchard grass and soilformulated fertilizer technologies;cultural embeddedness significantly increased the adoption propensity of orchard grass technology;and policy embeddedness had a significant positive effect on the adoption decisions of all three environmentally friendly agricultural technologies.Social embeddedness and its dimensions all had significant positive effects on the number of farmers’ adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies.The household life cycle plays a significant moderating effect in the social embeddedness influence on farmers’ adoption decisions of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies.Specifically,social embeddedness has no significant effect on the adoption behavior of farm households in the empty nest period,and has a significant positive effect on the adoption behavior of farm households in the other four stages(dependency period,burden period,stability period,and support period).(6)By analyzing the effects of social embeddedness on the adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies by farmers,we found that both social embeddedness and environmentally friendly agricultural technology adoption behavior can significantly increase the income level of apple farming by farmers,and environmentally friendly agricultural technology adoption behavior plays a significant mediating effect in the relationship between social embeddedness and farmers’ income from apple farming.Social embeddedness has a significant positive effect on the ecological effect of farmers’ adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies.Among the embeddedness dimensions,cognitive embeddedness significantly improves farmers’ evaluation of the ecological effects of orchard weeding technology and soil formula fertilization technology;network embeddedness significantly and positively influences farmers’ evaluation of the ecological effects of orchard weeding technology;policy embeddedness significantly and positively influences farmers’ evaluation of the ecological effects of physical prevention and control technology.(7)We should improve farmers’ technical awareness by popularizing knowledge of environment-friendly agricultural technologies;build a technical exchange network platform and improve the demonstration mechanism of "elite" farmers;enhance the cultural soft constraints of rural communities to create an environment-friendly agricultural production atmosphere;optimize agricultural subsidy policies and implement an environment-friendly production-oriented To alleviate the dilemma of environmental-friendly agricultural pollution control in China,we have been working to release the effectiveness of guiding policies and regulations to encourage farmers to adopt environmentally-friendly agricultural technologies,and to innovate agricultural extension service models to improve the adoption of environmentally-friendly agricultural technologies. |
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