The application of green prevention and control techniques (GCTs) is a vital measure for improving the quality of agricultural products and enhancing the safety of the ecological environment and agricultural production. However, realistically, limited by the small-scale, part-time and decentralized business model, the adoption of GCTs by family farms in China faces practical problems such as insufficient internal transformation force and ability, as well as low external supervision efficiency. To reveal the directions of promoting family farms' GCTs adoption behavior, we establish a comprehensive theoretical model through the application of a novel integrated approach combining two dominant psychological theories of behavior change: the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM). We apply this framework to targeted research of vegetable growers in Henan Province in China using survey data (sample n = 653) analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM). The integrated TPB-NAM model provides insight into both internal motivation and external environmental conditions for farmers' predicted adoption of GCTs. First, internal motivation, value cognition and personal norms are all driving factors affecting the GCTs behavioral intention of vegetable family farms. When GCTs are driven by the dual motivations of "self-interest" (personal norms) and "others-interest" (value cognition), personal norms can be activated by two factors: awareness of consequences and responsibility attribution. Furthermore, social norms, capital endowment and government regulation are the pressure and obstacle factors affecting the GCTs application of vegetable family farms. Social norms can indirectly affect the application of GCTs by forming personal norms. In addition, there are differences between the influencing factors and mechanism of GCTs adoption behavior intention of family farms of different sizes. Based on this, we propose some specific policy suggestions from three aspects: enhance value cognition, improve environmental awareness and responsibility perception, fill in the shortcomings of capital endowment, and implement differentiated incentive and restraint policies.

Encouraging farmers to adopt green prevention and control techniques (GCTs) is conducive to ensuring the quality and safety of agricultural products, the ecological environment and agricultural production in China. To explore the factors influencing vegetable farmers’ adoption of GCTs, this study utilized the “information-motivation-behavior” intervention (IMB) model and ordered logistic model to empirically study the adoption behavior of 653 vegetable farmers in Henan Province, China. Estimation results indicated that the IMB model significantly predicted farmers’ adoption of GCTs: 1) From the perspective of adoption decisions, 88.82% of the farmers have adopted GCTs, but the degree of adoption is low. 2) the farmers’ adoption of GCTs IMB model specifies that higher levels of GCTs information, motivation, and behavioral skills should result in a greater likelihood of engaging in GCTs adoption behavior. 3) Motivation and behavioral skills are activated through information. 4) Finally, motivation can indirectly affect farmers’ GCTs adoption behavior through behavioral skills. The results of this study support the need for the government to promote the use of GCTs for vegetable pest control, as well as advance integrated prevention and control in the agricultural industry.