Impact of farmer group participation on the adoption of sustainable farming practices—spatial analysis of New Zealand dairy farmers

This paper analyzes the impact of participation in farmer groups on dairy farmers’ adoption of sustainable farming practices in New Zealand. A spatial propensity score matching method is used to consider the spatial dependence and social connections between farmers in the decision-making of farmer group participation and adoption of sustainable farming practices. The results show that farmers’ decisions of farmer group participation are affected by their neighbors’ choices, and participation in farmer groups has a positive effect on farmers’ adoption of sustainable farming practices. The findings indicate the important role of social interactions in farmers’ voluntary uptake of sustainable agricultural practices. Overall, the positive effect of farmer group participation on the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices highlights learning and knowledge spillover among farmers, which emerges as important to the formulation of sustainable farming policy.     

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.     

从“家庭农场”到“农民合作”:恰亚诺夫的合作化思想及其对中国现代农业发展的启示

农民经济理论和农民合作社理论是恰亚诺夫农业经济思想的两个重要组成部分。恰亚诺夫以家庭农场研究为基础,关注如何在以小农户为主体的基础上实现农业的大生产,提出了以合作社为载体的纵向一体化,构建了"小农场+合作社+支持型国家"的现代农业发展模式。本文通过介绍和补充恰亚诺夫关于农民合作社的研究论述与主要观点,强调指出了恰亚诺夫农业经济思想对当下促进小农户与现代农业有机衔接的中国农业发展所具有的实践价值与理论意义。     

农户生态耕种采纳行为影响因素实证研究——基于江西省1488份农户的调查数据

基于江西省11市47县(区)1488份农户调查问卷数据,运用多元有序Logistic模型,分析并探究农户生态耕种采纳行为的影响因素。结果表明:家庭总人口具有显著的负向影响;兼业程度、农业收入占比、家中是否有村干部、是否参加新农保、是否有农业补贴、是否为家庭农场、是否加入合作社、近年耕地质量变化、相关信息获取难度等9个变量具有显著的正向影响。农户对生态耕种行为采纳的均值只有4.74项,总体偏低,生态耕种行为有待推广与应用。论文探究了农户生态耕种采纳行为的影响因素,为生态耕种的推广、实现耕地资源的可持续发展、激励农户生态耕种政策的制定提供了参考。     

试论我国农民专业合作社成员权救济制度的构建

农民专业合作社是我国目前提高农民收入,实现农业专业化、产业化、规模化生产经营,解决"三农"问题,建设社会主义新农村的重要途径。2005年通过的《中华人民共和国农民专业合作社法》为我国农民专业合作社的发展提供了重要的法律保障。但合作社成员权救济制度的缺失,使得不能实质实现对合作社成员权利的保障,同时也制约了农民专业合作社的发展。我国应逐步建立健全农民专业合作社成员权救济制度,保护农民合作社成员合法权益,为我国农民专业合作社的健康发展保驾护航。     

农民专业合作社收益分配机制及影响因素分析

收益分配制度是确定农民专业合作社和社员关系的关键因素。从决策机制、股权结构、合作社文化等方面分析我国不同地区农民专业合作经济组织收益分配制度,发现多种因素影响我国农民专业合作社分配制度,应从完善合作社社员大会制度、规范合作社的股权结构、完善分配制度等方面建立和完善农民专业合作社盈余分配机制,以实现合作社社会公平和经济效率的双重属性,促进农民专业合作社持续、健康发展。     

我国农民专业合作社国内研究文献综述

在梳理近几年尤其是2007年以后我国农民专业合作社国内相关研究文献的基础上,本文对目前我国农民专业合作研究状况进行了归纳和总结,认为我国农民专业合作社研究视角上从合作社本质、功能等一般理论研究逐步转向我国合作社治理结构、合作社运行绩效、农户合作意愿等的实证研究,更加强调合作社研究的现实意义;在研究方法上,从以理论分析为主的定性研究方法逐步转向问卷调查、因子分析、回归分析、机构方程模型等定量研究方法,整体学术研究水平不断提升。论文最后对我国农民专业合作社研究状况做了简单评价,认为农民专业合作金融问题、农民合作社与政府关系问题、农民专业合作联社问题以及农民专业合作社的股份化和企业化倾向问题需要进一步加紧研究,以解决我国农民专业合作社发展的现实问题。     

False prosperity: Rethinking government support for farmers’ cooperatives in China

The rapid development of farmers’ cooperatives in rural China cannot be separated from government support. To ensure the growth of farmers’ cooperatives, the Chinese government uses it as a key performance indicator for its local institutions. Superficially, rural China's cooperative population and membership size witnessed rapid growth during the first decade after the Farmers’ Specialized Cooperatives Law was enacted in 2007; however, such government intervention also leads to non-standard phenomena due to market distortion. Using nationally representative survey data from 504 cooperatives in Jiangsu, Jilin, and Sichuan provinces, this paper provides a reliable estimate of the “shell cooperative” rate around 2014. The empirical study sheds further light on the role of government during the period of rapid but chaotic growth by a subset containing 241 marketing cooperatives. Results show that direct administrative intervention leads to the emergence of many shell cooperatives (approximately 37%). Further study also confirms that task-oriented policy support is only positively associated with the nominal coverage ratio but has no significant relationship with cooperatives’ function. This study provides new insights into the formation of shell cooperatives and suggests that direct administrative intervention may not be a good strategy for promoting the sustainable development of farmers’ cooperatives.     

要走向农民合作社联盟吗——美国衣阿华州农民合作组织考察报告

目前,我国农民专业合作社发展势头强劲,但在发展过程中也暴露出许多问题。通过对美国衣阿华州农业合作社及其联盟组织的发展现状进行考察,发现美国农业合作社非常兴盛,遍布农村区域,为广大农场主提供了生产、储运、销售以及生活等方面的服务,在国民经济中发挥着重要作用。     

Cooperative membership and new technology adoption of family farms: Evidence from China

Various policies have been implemented to encourage the development of family farms and cooperatives in the past decade in China. New technology adoption is a crucial part in promoting the performance of family farms. However, empirical evidence on whether and how cooperatives would facilitate family farms to adopt new technologies remains unclear. To address the gap, this paper examines the impact of family farms’ cooperative membership on new technology adoption (i.e., new varieties, new machinery, new fertilizers, new pesticides, new pest control techniques, new production methods and new management methods). Using novel survey data from 848 family farms in China, and employing both propensity score matching approach and endogenous switching probit model, we find that for family farms, cooperative membership has positive and significant impacts on new technology adoption. When looking into different types of technology, we find that the impacts are larger on the adoption of new methods than new techniques. Moreover, the impacts are larger for family farms with lower operation income and smaller size. The findings provide important insights for policymakers tasked with promoting agricultural technology adoption.     

农户技术选择的微观动机与宏观行为分析——兼论农户个体选择与村落群体选择的相容性

利用多人集体行动博弈分析了农户技术选择行为。结果表明,分散农户的微观行为很难形成一致性的集体行动,也很难实现农村社会宏观行为的最优化。实际调查结果显示:不同群体的农户的技术选择行为不相同;种养规模越大的农户越倾向于选择正规途径获得农业新技术,种养规模越小的农户越倾向于从民间途径获得农业新技术;以政府为主导的技术供给模式并没有获得农民的完全认可。最后提出:提高农户的组织化水平、提高技术供给主体的供给实力,是突破农户自身无序选择、实现农村社会宏观行为最优的有效手段。     

What influences agricultural professionals' views towards organic agriculture?

Organic agriculture is a farming system that is considered by some to have beneficial impacts on the future sustainability of agriculture. Although some research has studied the attitudes of consumers and farmers, in particular what factors influence the willingness of consumers to pay organic premiums and what factors influence farmers to adopt organic farming, no studies have considered what influences the attitudes of agricultural professionals (extension officers, scientists, academics and researchers). Given the key role that agricultural professionals play in influencing farmer adoption of agricultural innovations and conducting research, their views on farming systems may be critical for overall adoption. This study reports the results of a telephone survey conducted in 2004, with 185 agricultural professionals surveyed for their views towards organic farming. A particular aim was to study how increased knowledge and experience influenced attitudes towards organic agriculture. Using an ordered probit regression framework, some of the significant key influences on attitudes towards organic farming were: knowledge; experience; education; informational; occupational effects; and attitudes on the individual aspects of organic agriculture. The study finds support for the hypothesis that professionals with increased organic knowledge and experience are more likely to think favourably about organic agriculture.     

Female leadership,internet use,and performance of agricultural cooperatives in Vietnam

Supporting agricultural cooperatives might contribute to the livelihood improvement of many small-scale farmers in developing countries. This research examines the factors affecting the internet use of agricultural cooperatives with a focus on female leadership, its effects on cooperatives’ economic, social, and innovative performance, and the distributional effects of internet use on economic performance. Our analysis relied on the data of 3,512 agricultural cooperatives collected in 2021 from Vietnam. We addressed the endogeneity issue of internet use in impact assessment by employing an instrumental variable approach. Our results show that female leadership was positively and significantly associated with internet use and that internet use had a positive and significant effect on returns on assets, returns on equity, labor productivity, payment per laborer, contribution to labor union and insurance per laborer, and innovation in products of agricultural cooperatives. In addition, unconditional quantile regressions show that internet use in agricultural cooperatives exacerbated income inequality. Enhancing female leadership and promoting rural education were recommended to improve agricultural cooperatives’ performance.     

农民专业合作社科技扶贫理论逻辑与实践研究

农民专业合作社作为高度组织化的规模主体,在中国农村科技推广、扶贫攻坚、人才培养等方面发挥着不可替代的作用。首先,在分析中国农村科技扶贫现实意义和困难挑战的基础上,认为加快构建合作社科技扶贫体制机制成为现阶段农业发展的必由之路;其次,从提高异质化贫困农户科技使用效率、推动政府科技扶贫工程实施、降低农业科技对接交易成本及提高农业科技服务能力等方面剖析合作社科技扶贫动力机制,并探讨合作社科技扶贫实践应用情况;最后,提出推进合作社科技扶贫实践的相关对策建议。     

基于波特模型的农民专业合作社竞争力分析

20世纪90年代初开始,在全国掀起的以农民专业合作社为组织的农业产业化经营热潮成功地缓解了农民小生产与大市场的矛盾,但农民专业合作社竞争力尚未能从根本上改变农民在市场交易中的弱势地位,农民仍然无法分享产业链条中的加工增值和销售利润。文章以农民专业合作社为研究对象,寻找影响农民专业合作社在社会主义市场经济中的各种竞争因素,以提升农民专业合作社竞争力。     

农业合作社的环境适应性分析

本文从演化视角对欧美农业合作社的外部市场战略和内部组织结构进行了回顾,并从成员异质性视角对中国农民专业合作社的发展进行了探讨。研究表明,农业合作社之所以能在市场竞争中获得生存和发展,最主要原因在于能够调整市场战略和组织结构,以适应内外部环境的变化。因此,促进农民专业合作社的健康持续发展,需要统筹考虑外部环境因素和内部成员因素。     

契约农业与养殖户收入：理论线索和经验证据

契约农业是小农户衔接现代农业的有效途径,也是我国农业产业化发展的主导形式。本文构建契约农业影响养殖户收入的理论分析框架,利用610份肉牛养殖户的微观调查数据,运用倾向得分匹配法,实证检验了契约农业对养殖户收入的影响及其作用机制。参加契约农业能显著提升养殖户收入水平,销售合同和生产管理合同均能显著增加养殖户收入,其中生产管理合同的影响程度更大。组群差异分析发现,契约农业对养殖年限、养殖规模和养殖培训等不同组群养殖户收入具有异质性影响。养殖成本和养殖技术在契约农业与养殖户收入之间起到显著的中介作用,即契约农业通过规模效应和技术效应促进养殖户增收。养殖接力在契约农业对养殖户收入提升的过程中起到正向调节作用。政府应积极创造有利条件鼓励和引导契约农业的发展;根据养殖户资源禀赋特征,完善公司与养殖户利益分配机制;通过“干中学”效应,推进新技术的推广和应用;在契约农业中着力推广“母畜分户饲养、仔畜集中育肥”的接力式养殖经营方式,以推动畜牧产业的可持续、高质量发展。     

农村应对循环经济的对策思考

在农村发展循环经济是建设资源节约型社会和环境友好型社会的基本要求,可以提高农民收入,改善农村生活生产环境,能减轻农业环境污染,更好地保护农村生态环境,有助于推动农村经济的可持续发展。但目前在我国农村发展循环经济面临的障碍是农民过于注重短期利益,政策保障体系还不够健全,发展循环经济技术比较落后,多数农民对发展循环经济的重要性缺乏正确的认识。为此,必须转变农民认识观念,建立健全发展循环经济的政策保障体系,完善激励约束机制,加快农村基础设施建设,实现农业生产的社会化分工与产业化经营,加强农业生产先进技术体系建设,增强循环经济发展的技术创新能力,并搞好农民生产技能培训等工作。     

Do outsourcing services provided by agricultural cooperatives affect technical efficiency? Insights from tobacco farmers in China

In this study, we assess whether household outsourcing production tasks provided by tobacco cooperatives affect household technical efficiency, using the survey data from 449 households in Guizhou Province, China in 2014. The one-step estimation of the stochastic frontier production function is employed. We also use the instrumental variable approach to address the potential selection biases that may arise from unobserved factors that are correlated with both outsourcing service adoption and technical efficiency. The empirical results show that the farmers’ decision to outsource agricultural services provided by cooperatives has a positive effect on technical efficiency. The effects of outsourcing on technical efficiency are highly heterogeneous at different production stages. It is also interesting to note that the magnitudes of outsourcing effects on technical efficiency are similar between labor-intensive services and technology-intensive services.     

Does farmer economic organization and agricultural specialization improve rural income? Evidence from China

This paper builds simultaneous equations model based on survey data of 2445 Chinese villages to do empirical analysis of the relationship among farmer economic organization, agricultural specialization and rural income. It finds that raising the level of agricultural specialization can improve rural income significantly, and the development of farmer economic organization is an effective way to raise the level of agricultural specialization; The factors, which affect whether farmers participating in farmer economic organization, are characteristics of farmers, situation of farmer economic organization and relevant policies promoting the development of farmer economic organization. Therefore, it has great significance to agricultural specialization and rural income growth for government to take measures to promote development of farmer economic organization.