Yong Liu

More than a decade ago, the Chinese government created several agricultural programs with the objective to promote food security and to foster environmental sustainability via the adoption of more eco-conscious practices in agriculture. While the overall application rate of chemical fertilizer has significantly declined, the adoption of low-carbon technologies promoted through these initiatives remains relative low—partly due to the lack of a wide-reaching systems to implement the recommended practices and farmers' lack of awareness and knowledge about the technologies. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of technical training on low-carbon management practices, specifically on the adoption of soil testing and formulated fertilization technologies. We hypothesize that technical training and education facilitates the adoption of promoted technologies. Data for this research come from a random sample of 1115 rice farmers in Hubei, China. Using a logistic regression, we empirically examine the effect of having received formal technical training within the last 12 months on the likelihood of adopting low-carbon technologies. To account for potential heterogeneity and selection bias, we employ counterfactual framework and propensity score matching and estimate the average treatment effect for those who have received formal technical training. Our results revealed a positive and significant association between formal technical training and rice farmers’ adoption of low-carbon technologies, with an average treatment effect of 0.2078. Males, younger farmers, and members of agricultural cooperatives were more likely to adopt soil testing and formulated fertilization technologies. Further, a gender analysis, conducted only with those who indicated having received technical training on low-carbon technologies, showed that trained females were more prone to adopt these technologies than trained males. Our findings provide and discuss meaningful implications for the development of future efforts to promote the adoption of low-carbon agricultural technologies in China.

This study examines public employees’ donations to a workplace giving campaign at a large public university in the south-east of the United States. First, we employed logistic regression to predict the likelihood of donating through workplace giving programmes using a sample of employees at a large public university (N = 11,726). Second, we estimated an ordinary least squares regression to identify the significant predictors of donation value with a subsample of employee donors (n=1,832). Third, we developed donor profiles (for example, clusters) of employee benefactors using K-medoids clustering. Factors such as sex, age, education and salary were significant predictors of both being a donor and the donation amount. Additionally, employment duration was significantly related to being a donor and the donation amount, while job classification only predicted being a donor. Employee donors fell into five distinct clusters. These findings contribute to our knowledge of workplace giving campaigns and can be used to develop strategic marketing campaigns.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between the adoption of soil nutrient management practices and climate resilience. We hypothesized that adopting soil testing and formulated fertilization would positively impact farmers’ ability to absorb and recover from climate-related shocks and stresses. We employed three economic indicators as proxies for climate resilience: net agricultural income, rice yield, and rice productivity. Data came from a random sample of 753 rice farmers in Hubei, China. We undertook a two-step analysis approach. First, we estimated a Probit model to predict the discrete choice variable of adopting soil testing and formulated fertilization and then used ordinary least squares regression models to examine the effect of soil nutrient management and other control variables on climate resilience indicators. Second, we performed endogenous switching regression to address the potential selection bias in the choice of adopting soil nutrient practices. Our results showed that younger, those with higher levels of education and large-scale farmers were more likely to adopt the soil testing and formulated fertilization. Our study provided evidence that the adoption of soil testing and formulated fertilization significantly enhanced the climate resilience of rice producers in central China. The adoption of soil nutrient management technologies increased net agricultural income, rice yield, and productivity, with estimated causal effects of 5.63% (p < 0.01), 4.44% (p < 0.01), and 2.84% (p < 0.05), respectively. Our findings provide further insight into the role and importance of soil nutrient management in promoting climate resilience in China.

This study examined the last four decades of the existing academic literature related to the environmental impacts of using cover crops in agricultural production systems. Data were collected from the Web of Science database, resulting in a sample of 3,246 peer-reviewed articles published between 1980 and 2021. We combined two advanced scientometrics analysis software (i.e., CiteSpace 6.0.R1 and Gephi 0.9.2) to identify the trajectory of the literature, hotspots, and frontiers. We developed authorship-, institution-and country-levels networks to examine academic cooperation over the last forty years. Our findings revealed that the number of peer-reviewed outputs documenting the environmental effects of cover crops has consistently increased, with a notable rise in publications between 2015 and 2021. Eighteen salient research topics were identified in the literature, including winter cover crops' effects on soil health, cover crops' effects on nitrous oxide emissions, and the relationship between cover crops and nitrate leaching. Based on the citation-clustering analysis, the trajectory of the literature may be divided into three stages. Studies in Stage 1_A (1980-2000) mainly assessed the role of cover crops in nitrogen management. In Stage 1_B (2001-2010), the research evaluated the impact of using different cover crop mixtures on farming systems. In Stage 2 (2011-2021), studies primarily addressed the environmental impacts of cover crops, particularly their effects on physical and chemical soil properties. Finally, the countries with the most outputs were the United States, Brazil, and Spain. The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service was the main contributor to the literature on the environmental impacts of cover crops.

This study examined the impact of eight climate change adaptation practices on technical efficiency (TE) among 843 rice farmers in Central China. Data were collected across ten counties in Hubei province in 2019. Given that spatial dependency is present in social and economic systems, we accounted for the spatial autocorrelation of TE. Particularly, we estimated both a one-step nonspatial stochastic frontier model and a spatial stochastic frontier model. We verified that spatial spillovers were present in the TE of rice farmers, suggesting that the nonspatial stochastic frontier model underestimated TE. Results showed that adopting climate change adaptation strategies significantly affected TE. These effects, however, varied in directionality by the different adaptation measures evaluated in this study. Overall, adjusting preparation dates, improving irrigation systems, and increasing cultivated areas positively affected TE at 1%, 0.1%, and 5% significance levels. In contrast, the coefficients for both using flood-tolerant rice varieties and adjusting sowing dates were negative and significant at 5% and 10% significant levels. Interestingly, the effects of using high-yield rice varieties and adjusting fertilizer use were not significant. Finally, this study did not find any evidence that adaptation intensity affected the TE of rice production. Based on these results, we discussed implications for future climate-smart agriculture programs addressing the adverse effects of climate change on agricultural production in China.

This study aims to explore gender-based differences in financial socialization and their effects on financial knowledge in Turkey—a nation that provides a distinctive case study since it combines economic modernization with a strong adherence to traditional gender role beliefs. We used the Social Learning Theory and Social Role Theory as guiding frameworks for this cross-sectional study. The sample of the study consisted 513 adult participants. About half (50.7%) of the sample was composed of female respondents, and the average age of respondents in the total sample was 31.2 years old (SD=12.09). Our results indicated that financial knowledge levels remain low in Turkey. Despite the implementation of recent national financial education programs, a gender gap in financial knowledge exists, where Turkish women are more disadvantaged in terms of financial knowledge. Mothers and siblings are influential role models and source of financial knowledge for female respondents well into adulthood, more so than males. Irrespective of gender, parental direct teaching is a catalyst for increased levels of financial knowledge. On the other hand, parental role modeling is associated with lower levels of financial knowledge, even when controlling for socio-demographic variables. Our findings shed light on relevant aspects to be considered when developing financial literacy programs and interventions that may potentially improve the national financial.