Work

The Impact of Farmers’ Digital Participation on Cultivated Land Ecological Protection

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The increasingly severe ecological and environmental problems in rural areas pose a serious threat to agricultural sustainability and human well-being. Protecting the ecological environment of cultivated land is fundamental to ensuring food security and achieving sustainable development goals. The effective integration of digital technology into farmers’ production and daily life is a key driver for transforming farming practices and advancing the ecological protection of cultivated land. This study draws on data from the 2020 China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS) to systematically examine the impact of farmers’ digital participation on the ecological protection of cultivated land. The main findings are as follows: (1) Digital participation significantly promotes ecological conservation of cultivated land, with each unit increase associated with a 7.8% reduction in fertilizer use intensity; (2) the results are robust across various empirical strategies, including instrumental variable estimation, the ERM approach, residual analysis, and alternative indicator specifications; (3) mechanism analysis indicates that digital participation reduces fertilizer use through three main channels: expansion of social networks (accounting for 7.10%), enhancement of subjective cognition (29.66%), and adoption of agricultural technologies (10.18%); and (4) heterogeneity analysis shows that the protective effects on cultivated land are more pronounced among households with off-farm employment experience, in villages where leaders have higher educational attainment, and in regions with more advanced digital environments. Based on these findings, the following policy recommendations are proposed: enhancing digital infrastructure in rural areas, strengthening the training of agricultural practitioners, and developing localized digital environments tailored to local conditions.

Source: Sustainability

DOI: 10.3390/su17136191

Authors: Qinghua Xin, Baijun Wu, Yaru Shi

Institutions: East China University of Science and Technology, Qufu Normal University

Language: English

Topic: Digitalization and Economic Development in Agriculture

Subfield: Strategy and Management

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Life on land, Zero hunger

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896