The slowdown in income not only hinders the sustainable development of farmers but also exacerbates ecological and environmental problems. Likewise, the digital economy model represented by e-commerce has become a key path for growing farmers’ income. This article is based on 2020 China Rural Revitalization Survey data and uses the OLS and mediation effect models to examine the impact and mechanism of e-commerce operations on farmers’ income. The research results indicate that e-commerce operations can significantly improve the income level of farmers. After robustness and endogeneity tests, this conclusion still holds. The mechanism analysis results indicate that e-commerce operations promote farmers’ income growth by enhancing information acquisition, reducing operating costs, and enhancing financial support. The results of the heterogeneity analysis indicate that the impact of e-commerce on farmers’ income is heterogeneous in terms of income structure, education level, and regional distribution. Specifically, e-commerce significantly increases farmers’ agricultural operating income, non-agricultural operating income, and transfer income but significantly reduces their wage income. At the same time, e-commerce has a more significant income-increasing effect on highly educated and central and western farmers. Therefore, in promoting the development of a rural digital economy, it is necessary to improve the supporting facilities of e-commerce in rural areas; strengthen the supply of information, technology, capital, talent, and other elements; continue to improve the inclusiveness of rural e-commerce; and promote the sustainable growth of farmers’ income. The above findings not only provide new channels and ideas for farmers to increase income through e-commerce operations, but also help relevant decision-making departments to formulate new policies to promote farmers’ income growth and the development of e-commerce in China.

Promoting chemical fertilizer (CF) reduction is an inevitable requirement for achieving high-quality agricultural development, and high standard farmland construction (HSFC) provides a new path for promoting CF reduction. Takes the implementation of HSFC policy as the starting point, this paper uses the provincial panel data of China from 2005 to 2017 to analyze the impact of HSFC policy on CF reduction and its mechanism of action by using the continuous difference-in-difference (DID) model and mediating model. The baseline regression results show that implementing the HSFC policy has reduced the amount of CF per unit area by 8.9 % on average, which has a significant policy effect. The mechanism analysis shows that the HSFC policy can promote CF reduction by improving the agricultural mechanization level and expanding the scale of operations in agriculture. The results of heterogeneity analysis show that in the natural geographical location dimension, the effect of HSFC policy on CF reduction in the eastern and central regions is more obvious; In the dimension of functional areas of grain production, the impact of HSFC policy on CF reduction in major grain-producing regions is more obvious. Therefore, in the future, it is necessary to continue to vigorously promote the HSFC and give full play to the effective role of HSFC in CF reduction. China should vigorously promote the development level of agricultural mechanization and the large-scale operation of agriculture and further strengthen the HSFC in the western region and non-major grain-producing areas.

Agricultural machinery socialization services are an important means of alleviating poverty and promoting agricultural modernization. Based on 2750 items of survey data from farmers in Henan Province, this paper empirically tests the impact and mechanism of agricultural machinery socialization service adoption on the relative poverty of farmers by using a binary logit model and mediation effect model. The results show that the adoption of agricultural machinery socialization services has a significant negative impact on the relative poverty of farmers. The reduction in natural risk plays an intermediary role in the impact of the adoption of agricultural machinery socialization services on the relative poverty of farmers. The size of the household labor force and the land operation scale affect the poverty reduction effect of agricultural machinery socialization services. It can be seen that in the relative poverty governance stage, we should improve the development of the agricultural machinery socialization service system, enhance the risk resistance of farmers, build a supporting system for farmers’ employment skills training, and encourage an orderly connection between the large-scale operation of agricultural land and the large-scale operation of services so as to fully realize the poverty reduction role of agricultural machinery socialization services.

Income inequality impedes rural economic development. As the digital economy advances, e-commerce (EC) offers a novel solution to reduce rural income inequality. Based on the framework of the equality of opportunity theory, this research utilizes data from China Rural Revitalization Survey, using the RIF model and mediation effect model to investigate the influence and mechanisms of e-commerce operations (EOs) on the farmers’ income gap (FIG), while also analyzing the heterogeneity of EO’s effects on the FIG. Consequently, the impact of the varying scales and modes of EOs on the FIG is further examined. The findings indicate that EO can substantially diminish the FIG, as corroborated by robustness and endogeneity tests. The findings of the intermediate effect indicate that EO diminishes the FIG by reducing the disparity in labor endowment. The heterogeneity study results indicated that EOs are more effective in reducing the FIG in western China, major grain-producing areas, and mountainous areas. Further discussion reveals a stronger reduction effect of large-scale and platform EC. This study provides micro-level evidence that the digital economy empowers farmers for sustainable development and prosperity. The government should improve rural EC support and create a mechanism for disadvantaged rural populations. To reduce EC development discrepancies and promote farmer equity, specific assistance programs for undeveloped regions are needed. Local governments can also strengthen skill training programs for farmers, especially low-income ones, to boost labor skills. Finally, they can assist rural EC’s transformation to large scale and flat, maximize its role in employment, and narrow the FIG.