Reducing fertilizer use and increasing its efficiency will improve the quality of farmland and resource conservation. These are necessary steps to achieving green development in agriculture. Nevertheless, fertilizer-reduction and efficiency-increasing technologies (FREITs) remain limited. To improve the situation, 538 farmers in Jiangsu and Hubei Provinces were surveyed with the goal of measuring the information acquisition ability (IAA) of farmers using an Item Response Theory (IRT) model. A model of improved technology selection was employed in conjunction with an IV-probit model to examine the impacts of IAA on farmers’ adoption of FREITs. The results showed that 34.76% of the surveyed farmers had adopted FREITs, with 12.45% and 26.02% having adopted Soil Testing and Formula Fertilization Technology (STFFT) and Organic Fertilizer Replacement Technology (OFRT), respectively. Second, farmers who used more information access channels had greater IAA, which significantly improved their adoption of FREITs. Third, participation in technical training and an increased degree of technical understanding increased the probability of farmers adopting FREITs. The results remained robust after accounting for endogeneity and correlation. Consequently, enhancing farmers’ IAA, organizing technical training, and improving technical publicity will promote the adoption of FREITs.

Excessive fertilizer input and inefficient utilization in agricultural production have caused significant negative environmental impacts. Based on provincial panel data in China from 2005 to 2021, this study adopts the full-cost insurance pilot launched in 2018 and uses the DID method to empirically analyze its impact on fertilizer application intensity and utilization efficiency. The study reveals the following findings: (1) Implementing full-cost insurance can reduce fertilizer application intensity by 21.761% and increase utilization efficiency by 1.915%. (2) Full-cost insurance reduces fertilizer application intensity and improves fertilizer utilization efficiency by expanding the land scale and reducing the agricultural labor force. (3) Full-cost insurance significantly improves fertilizer utilization efficiency in high-risk and low-risk areas. Nevertheless, while the policy significantly reduces fertilizer application intensity in high-risk areas, its effect on low-risk areas is not apparent. (4) Full-cost insurance has an environmental protection effect. It can significantly reduce 11.593% of nitrogen pollution emissions, 2.577% of phosphorus pollution emissions, and 35.400% of equivalent pollution emissions. The implementation of full-cost insurance plays an important role in reducing fertilizer use and improving utilization efficiency. So, we should continue to intensify the promotion of full-cost insurance policy to fully leverage the advantages of agricultural insurance and promote sustainable agricultural development.

Enhancing farmers’ behaviors toward cultivated land quality protection is a crucial support in achieving sustainable agricultural development and the national food security strategy. This study aims to investigate the impact of land transfer-in on farmers’ behaviors regarding cultivated land quality protection, explore the underlying mechanisms, and analyze group heterogeneity. To achieve this, the study empirically estimates the impact of land transfer-in on farmers’ behaviors in protecting cultivated land quality using micro-survey data from 743 households in Hubei Province, while addressing endogeneity and conducting robustness checks. The study further explores the mechanisms and heterogeneity of the effects of land transfer-in on farmers’ cultivated land quality protection behaviors. The results reveal that (1) land transfer-in significantly increases the likelihood of farmers taking actual actions to protect cultivated land quality and enhances their awareness, thereby promoting protective behaviors; (2) land transfer-in facilitates these protective behaviors mainly through income incentives and social network interactions, while rental constraints may have a suppressive effect; (3) full-time farmers, those with higher agricultural literacy, those who access agricultural knowledge online, and those affected by natural disasters are more likely to engage in proactive land quality protection behaviors after land transfer-in.

Improving the quality of rural human settlements is a key objective in China’s rural revitalization strategy. The purpose of this study is to construct and evaluate the quality of rural human settlements in China from a micro perspective. To achieve this objective, the main tasks include constructing an evaluation system for rural human settlement quality from a micro perspective; measuring the overall and dimension-specific quality levels of rural human settlements using the entropy method based on data from 108 villages in Shandong, Jilin, and Hubei provinces; and further analyzing the influencing factors of rural human settlement quality, focusing on village per capita income, resident population, fire incidents, and agricultural input prices. The findings reveal the following: (1) The overall quality of rural human settlements in Hubei, Shandong, and Jilin is at a moderate-to-low level, with no significant differences among provinces. (2) Among the various dimensions of rural human settlement quality, economic development and public services score higher, whereas living facilities and sanitary conditions score relatively lower, reflecting the inertia of long-term resource allocation and the lagged effects of emerging projects. (3) An increase in village per capita net income and the resident population significantly improves rural human settlement quality, whereas incidents such as village fires and sharp increases in agricultural input prices significantly reduce it. This study provides empirical insights into the mechanisms affecting rural human settlement quality from a micro perspective and offers policy implications for its targeted improvement.

The key strategic point for facilitating domestic circulation is to enhance and expand household consumption. Based on a survey of 1080 farming households in Hunan, Hubei, and Jilin Provinces, this study examines the impact of digital finance use on the scale and structural upgrading of household consumption among farmers. The findings indicate that digital finance use effectively expands the scale of household consumption and promotes structural upgrades. The results remain robust through various endogenous and robust methods. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the benefits of digital finance use are greater for middle- to high-income groups and those with lower education levels, indicating the presence of a digital divide effect. Furthermore, the construction of village communities, skill training, improvements in village logistics services, and the availability of medical clinic facilities can enhance the consumption-promoting effects of digital finance use. Mechanism analysis shows that digital finance primarily operates through alleviating credit constraints, enhancing risk prevention, and improving financial returns to influence the scale and structural upgrading of household consumption. This study provides policy insights for rural revitalization and unlocking the consumption potential of rural residents.