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Farming experience and farmers’ adoption of low-carbon management practices: the case of soil testing and fertilizer recommendations in China

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Abstract

In response to global climate change, the Chinese Government has taken numerous measures to promote low-carbon management practices, but the overall adoption rate has been lower than expected. Empirical studies on the path dependence of farming experience, that is, long-standing planting concepts that will hinder farmers from adopting new technologies, have not been reported. Hence, to fill the research gaps, this paper uses survey data from 805 rice farmers in Zhejiang, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces, China, to examine the impact of farming experience on the adoption of soil testing and fertilizer recommendations. The results show that farming experience significantly negatively affects the adoption of low-carbon practices, especially among farmers with low resource endowment. However, farmers, who make decisions based jointly on farming experience and social networks, are more likely to adopt low-carbon practices. This means that as long as farming experience is used reasonably, for example, by broadening the social network of farmers and urging them to form a decision-making method that comprehensively utilizes farming experience and social networks, it can also demonstrate value. Our findings contribute meaningfully to the development of efforts to promote the adoption of low-carbon management practices in China.

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Data availability

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences Foundation of China (72073048); National Social Science Foundation of China (15AZD071).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Economics and Management, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, China

    Weizhen Yu

  2. College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Xiaofeng Luo

Authors
  1. Weizhen Yu
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  2. Xiaofeng Luo
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Contributions

Weizhen YU conducted an empirical analysis on the impact of planting experience on rice farmers’ low-carbon management practices, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. Xiaofeng Luo reviewed and edited the manuscript, and was responsible for project management and fund acquisition. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Weizhen Yu.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Informed consent for publication was obtained from all participants.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Baojing Gu

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Yu, ., Luo, X. Farming experience and farmers’ adoption of low-carbon management practices: the case of soil testing and fertilizer recommendations in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 6755–6765 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16166-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16166-6

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