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Examination of the relationship between agricultural carbon emission efficiency and food quality and safety: from the perspective of environmental regulation

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Abstract

An important breakthrough in the coordinated development of China’s low-carbon goals and food security strategies is agricultural development oriented toward quality, safety, green, and low carbon. This study integrated command-control and market-incentive environmental regulation (ER), agricultural eco-efficiency (ACEE), and food quality and safety (FQS) into a unified theoretical framework. The unexpected output-oriented Super-SBM model was used to calculate the ACEE of China’s provinces and cities from 2011 to 2020 and test the bidirectional causality between ACEE and FQS through the system generalized moment estimation model. A dynamic panel smooth transition (PSTR) model was used to explore the nonlinear impact mechanisms of different types of ERs on ACEE and FQS. The results showed that there was a long-term, two-way causal relationship between ACEE and FQS. The impact of environmental regulations on ACEE and FQS has a nonlinear relationship. Among them, the role of market-incentivized ER is more significant. Therefore, building an interregional coordinated development mechanism, improving the utilization rate of agricultural resources such as fertilizers and pesticides, and coordinating the positive effects of different types of ERs are the keys to improving the ACEE and ensuring the coordinated development of FQS.

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Funding

Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Class A) “Key Technologies and Demonstration of the Path to Poverty Alleviation and Rich People” (XDA23070400); This paper was funded by China Scholarship Council (202306510042).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Ruixue Wang, Yiliang Fang, Wanting Bai & Jiancheng Chen

  2. Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Xiangzheng Deng

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xiangzheng Deng

Authors
  1. Ruixue Wang
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  2. Xiangzheng Deng
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  3. Yiliang Fang
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  4. Wanting Bai
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  5. Jiancheng Chen
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Contributions

Conceptualization: J.C.; methodology: J.C., R.W.; field investigation: R.W., Y.F., W.B.; data analysis: R.W., X.D.; writing—original draft preparation: R.W.

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Correspondence to Jiancheng Chen.

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Ruixue Wang’s research direction is agricultural economic theory and policy.

Jiancheng Chen’s research direction is agricultural and forestry economic theory and policy.

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Wang, R., Deng, X., Fang, Y. et al. Examination of the relationship between agricultural carbon emission efficiency and food quality and safety: from the perspective of environmental regulation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 481–493 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31214-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31214-z

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