24 pages, The production mode of “high input, high yield and high waste” in the agricultural system poses a serious threat to the environment and the quality of agricultural products. Accelerating the adoption of green agricultural technology (GAT) by farmers is an emergency measure. However, according to microsurvey data, many farmers give up GAT within a year after adopting it. The implementation of this measure has been anticlimactic. Based on a survey of 1138 kiwi growers in Shaanxi Province, China, this paper builds a theoretical model and conducts empirical exercises to gain insight into the effects of perceived value, government support and their interaction with kiwi growers’ sustainable application of GAT. We find that perceived value and government support have a significant impact on the sustainable application of GAT. Government support plays a moderating role in the influence of perceived value on the sustainable application of GAT. Furthermore, in order to overcome the potential endogeneity problem caused by the two-way causal relationship between subjective variables, “owning a smartphone” was selected as the instrumental variable. The 2SLS model was used for endogeneity analysis, and the OLS model was used for the robustness test. This paper discusses the relevant theories and policy implications of environmental management.
Mills, Jane (author), Gaskell, Peter (author), Ingram, Julie (author), Dwyer, Janet (author), Reed, Matt (author), Short, Christopher (author), and University of Gloucestershire
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2016-06-15
Published:
United Kingdom: Springer Nature
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 130 Document Number: D11282
16 pages., via online journal, The United Kingdom’s approach to encouraging environmentally positive behaviour has been three-pronged, through voluntarism, incentives and regulation, and the balance between the approaches has fluctuated over time. Whilst financial incentives and regulatory approaches have been effective in achieving some environmental management behavioural change amongst farmers, ultimately these can be viewed as transient drivers without long-term sustainability. Increasingly, there is interest in ‘nudging’ managers towards voluntary environmentally friendly actions. This approach requires a good understanding of farmers’ willingness and ability to take up environmental activities and the influences on farmer behavioural change. The paper aims to provide insights from 60 qualitative farmer interviews undertaken for a research project into farmers’ willingness and ability to undertake environmental management, particularly focusing on social psychological insights. Furthermore, it explores farmers’ level of engagement with advice and support networks that foster a genuine interest, responsibility and a sense of personal and social norm to sustain high quality environmental outcomes. Two conceptual frameworks are presented for usefully exploring the complex set of inter-relationships that can influence farmers’ willingness to undertake environmental management practices. The research findings show how an in-depth understanding of farmer’s willingness and ability to adopt environmental management practices and their existing level of engagement with advice and support are necessary to develop appropriate engagement approaches to achieve sustained and durable environmental management.
