Agricultural extension, as an important part of modern agriculture, can promote the scientific transformation of the traditional agricultural production model. This paper analysed the impact of university agricultural technology extension on efficient and sustainable agriculture using difference-in-differences model (DID). The results showed that university agricultural technology extension plays a facilitating role by influencing the coordinated development and green development dimensions in efficient and sustainable agriculture; there is a moderating effect of modern agricultural industrial parked in university agricultural technology extension and efficient and sustainable agriculture; there are significant differences in the impact of university agricultural technology extension on efficient and sustainable agriculture across regions and different levels of development. The findings have important implications for evaluating the effectiveness of current university agricultural extension policies and how to further promote university agricultural extension. The study also established an evaluation index system for efficient and sustainable agriculture, explored the mechanism of university agricultural extension in promoting efficient and sustainable agriculture, and enriched relevant theoretical research.

Innovation and entrepreneurship play a key role in the development of a country’s economy and society. In recent years, along with the comprehensive implementation of China’s rural revitalization strategy, the government has issued many policies to support and benefit farmers, and the investment environment in villages has been greatly improved, attracting more and more migrant workers to return to their hometowns to start businesses. Improving the entrepreneurial ability of China’s returning migrant workers is very important. A review of the previous literature showed that both internal personal factors and external environmental factors can affect the entrepreneurial ability of entrepreneurs. Combining the results of the questionnaire survey, this paper incorporates eight internal personal factors and eight external environmental factors into the index system for assessing entrepreneurial ability and uses a combination of SWOT analysis and AHP analysis to prioritize the factors influencing the entrepreneurial ability of returning migrant workers in China. The results are as follows: (1) The factors influencing the entrepreneurial ability of returnee entrepreneurs could be divided into two types: the individual factors of returnee entrepreneurs, and the external environmental factors. (2) Among the internal factors, technical experience and business management ability are the two main factors influencing entrepreneurial activity. (3) Among the external environmental factors, the opportunity for industrial structure adjustment and low technical content would have a higher influence on the entrepreneurial activity of returnee entrepreneurs. Accordingly, this study proposes some policy recommendations on how to improve the entrepreneurial ability of returnee entrepreneurs. Finally, the research methodology of this paper can be used as a reference for other scholars, and the research results can also be used for administrators to develop relevant policies to better improve the entrepreneurial ability of returnee entrepreneurs.

The gentle development of the economy is an important link to realize sustainable development in a holistic way. In recent years, due to the notable decline in the scale of exports and investment, China’s economic growth has decreased significantly, and consumption has become the main force driving economic growth. Promoting sustainable economic development is an important problem in the current development of China. In this study, the ELES model was adopted to analyze how the consumption structure is affected by the income structure among rural residents in China. The results show the following: (1) The income structure of rural residents has a significant impact on the consumption structure, and their consumption behaviors conform to the “mental accounting” hypothesis. (2) Net property income and net transfer income account for a small proportion, but marginal propensity to consume (referred to as MPC) is relatively large. Net operating income and wage income form a large proportion of disposable income with low MPC. (3) In the future, expenditures on food, tobacco, and alcohol will slow down remarkably, and more money will be spent on healthcare, transportation and communication, and housing, forming an increasing proportion of expenditures. In summary, this study suggests that scientific and effective policy measures should be issued to boost the income level of rural residents in a targeted manner, optimize the income structure, and improve the rural consumption environment, so as to comprehensively promote rural consumption.

This study used structural equation model (SEM) to investigate the mechanism of integrated development of rural industries (IDRI) on the performance of college students’ returning entrepreneurial enterprises (CSREE). The results show that: (1) IDRI significantly promotes the performance of CSREE, which is consistent with the theory of “sixth industry”. (2) The length, width, and depth of rural industrial integration have a significant effect on CSREE. Among them, the depth of rural industrial integration has the greatest degree of direct influence on CSREE, followed by the width of rural industrial integration, and finally the length of rural industrial integration. (3) IDRI indirectly has a positive impact on the performance of CSREE through internal technological innovation ability and cooperative development ability. Seize the great opportunity of rural integration development to further improve the performance of CSREE. The specific ways are as follows: (1) The government should make overall planning, first determine the local leading industries, establish the whole industrial chain, and give full play to the various functions of agriculture. At the same time, the government should actively guide agricultural enterprises to develop in the direction of internal integration of planting and breeding, three-dimensional agriculture, and other industries, extend the length of the industrial chain, broaden the width of the industrial chain, and deepen the depth of industrial integration, so as to optimize the external environment for college students to return home and start businesses. (2) In the process of returning to their hometowns to start businesses, college students should attach importance to improving internal technological innovation capability and cooperation development capability, cultivate “internal strengths”, and comprehensively improve enterprise performance.

The rapid new-style urbanization process in China has had a significant impact on the inheritance and protection of local culture. This paper quantitatively analyzes the spatiotemporal difference regarding the coupling coordination between the inheritance of local culture and the new-style urbanization process in China. It is found that during the period between 1991 and 2017, the coexistence of inheritance of local culture and new-style urbanization in China has successively undergone three stages, and at present, the coupling coordination between these two processes is still at a relatively low level, featuring significant differences across various regions and a progressive decrease in the degree of coupling coordination from east to west in China. However, the economically underdeveloped regions, especially ethnic minority regions, are under far greater pressure in terms of coordinated coexistence of both the inheritance of local culture and new-style urbanization.

Based on theoretical analysis, this study empirically analyzes the mediating mechanism of how land rentals work on large-scale farmers to enhance soil conservation with survey data of 425 large-scale farmers in Shandong and Anhui Provinces, the main grain-producing regions of China, and further examines the moderating effect of agricultural extension services. The results show that: (1) The higher the land rentals, the greater the probability that large-scale farmers enhance soil conservation. (2) The mediating effect demonstrates that in a highly market-oriented rural land transfer market in China, the land lease term of large-scale farmers is longer with the increase of land rentals, thus motivating large-scale farmers to engage in soil conservation. (3) As shown by the moderating effect, agricultural extension services can further positively moderate the contribution of land lease term to large-scale farmers enhancing soil conservation. In order to encourage large-scale farmers to enhance soil conservation, on the one hand it is necessary to standardize the land transfer market and proactively guide large-scale farmers to extend the land lease term. On the other hand, it is indispensable to strengthen agricultural extension services and further broaden the access to soil conservation technologies for large-scale farmers.