As a cornerstone of agricultural modernization, agricultural mechanization plays a pivotal role in driving rural revitalization and establishing agricultural competitiveness. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of happiness economics, this study investigates the impact, mechanisms, and heterogeneous effects of agricultural machinery adoption on farmers’ subjective well-being, utilizing comprehensive household survey data collected from Jiangxi Province in July 2023. The empirical results demonstrate a significant positive correlation between agricultural machinery adoption and farmers’ subjective well-being, a finding that remains robust after addressing endogeneity concerns through instrumental variable approaches. The mechanism analysis reveals that the enhancement of well-being is primarily mediated through facilitated transitions to non-agricultural employment. The purpose of the mechanism analysis is to explain why agricultural mechanization adoption improves farmers’ subjective well-being. This analysis finds that agricultural mechanization adoption improves farmers’ subjective well-being by helping them transition to non-agricultural employment more smoothly. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the beneficial effects are more substantial among male farmers, individuals with higher educational attainment, and younger demographic groups. These findings suggest that policy interventions should focus on enhancing innovation in agricultural machinery technology, optimizing subsidy programs for agricultural equipment, improving rural education systems, and facilitating the structural transformation of rural labor markets.

Based on real county-level surface ozone and PM2.5 data, an econometric model was constructed to comprehensively consider its impacts on rice yield in China. At the same time, other economic, climate, and regional variables were included in the econometric model to accurately measure the interaction between surface ozone and PM2.5 on rice yield in China. The results showed that an increase in ozone concentration in different periods and an increase in PM2.5 in the growth period would reduce the rice yield. The interaction coefficient between ozone and PM2.5 suggests that PM2.5 partially mitigated the amount of ozone absorbed by rice plants, which in turn had a positive effect on rice yield. Therefore, while controlling PM2.5 and reducing near-surface ozone concentration, it is necessary to comprehensively consider its impact on rice yield.

Introduction: E-commerce is a powerful tool for promoting the green food consumption in rural areas. It can effectively break through the shackles of poor information flow, low income and traditional consumption patterns. This study explores the impact of e-commerce operations on green food consumption of rural residents, focusing on its role in enhancing information access, improving income, and upgrading logistics. It provides a new theoretical support for promoting green food consumption and ensuring food safety. Methods: Based on survey data from 2,805 rural residents across 10 provinces in China, this study employs a binary Probit model and a mediating effect model to examine the impact and mechanisms of e-commerce operations on green food consumption of rural residents, while also testing for heterogeneous effects. Furthermore, it investigates the differential influences of e-commerce operation models, operation scales, product types, and types of green food. Results and discussion: The findings indicate that e-commerce operations significantly promote green food consumption of rural residents, and this conclusion remains robust after multiple robustness and endogeneity tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that e-commerce facilitates green food consumption by improving household income, enhancing information acquisition, and strengthening logistics infrastructure. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect is more pronounced among rural residents with higher social capital, in the central and eastern regions, and in major grain-producing areas. Additional results suggest that platform e-commerce, large-scale operations, and businesses involving primary processed products exert stronger effects on green food consumption, while e-commerce operations more effectively boost the consumption of green vegetables and dairy products. Overall, by examining e-commerce operations, this study provides an in-depth analysis of how online market participation fosters green food consumption of rural residents, offering important insights for advancing sustainable consumption in the context of digital economy transformation.

Enhancing farmers’ enthusiasm for grain cultivation is crucial for ensuring national food security. Based on survey data from the “Double Hundred and Double Thousand” farmers in Jiangxi Province, this study measures farmers’ enthusiasm for grain cultivation through their double-cropping rice cultivation behavior and employs Probit and Tobit models to empirically analyze the impact of farmers’ digital literacy on their enthusiasm for grain cultivation in traditional double-cropping rice production areas of Jiangxi, as well as its underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal: (1) Improving farmers’ digital literacy exerts a significantly positive influence on their enthusiasm for grain cultivation, promoting double-cropping rice adoption and expanding cultivation areas in traditional production regions. This conclusion remains robust after rigorous testing. (2) Mechanism analysis identifies three pathways: accelerating farmland transfer-in, facilitating the utilization of agricultural machinery socialization services, and promoting the adoption of green grain production technologies, through which enhanced digital literacy drives double-cropping rice cultivation and elevates cultivation enthusiasm. (3) Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the positive effect of digital literacy on double-cropping rice cultivation is more pronounced among farmers with higher educational attainment and the level of household part-time farming. Therefore, policies should prioritize elevating farmers’ overall digital literacy, narrowing digital capability gaps, refining land transfer procedures and mechanisms, leveraging the advantages of farmers’ cooperatives, and advancing the dissemination of agricultural machinery socialization services and green grain production technologies.

Nutrient-enriched functional agriculture is identified as an effective economic approach to address hidden hunger. Using selenium-enriched rice as a case study, this paper employs experimental methods to investigate the impact of nutritional information intervention on farmers’ willingness to adopt new crop varieties for nutrient enhancement. The analysis considers the moderating effects of value propositions, farm scale, and sources of nutritional information on this relationship. Results indicate that (1) nutritional information intervention significantly positively influences farmers’ adoption willingness. (2) The relationship between nutritional information intervention and farmers’ adoption willingness is not subject to the moderating influence of farmers’ value orientation. (3) The relationship between nutritional information intervention and farmers’ adoption willingness is moderated by farm scale. (4) The relationship between nutritional information intervention and farmers’ adoption willingness is moderated by the source of nutritional information. In conclusion, it is recommended to strengthen nutritional information intervention.