This study applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) to gauge technical efficiency and allocative efficiency in China’s beef cattle-fattening industry using survey data. The Tobit model considers the salient determinants that drive these efficiencies. The results indicate that (1) large-scale farms exhibit robust TE and pure technical efficiencies (PTE), whereas scale efficiencies (SE) diverge significantly between large and medium-sized operations. The cost efficiency (CE) of smaller farms lags behind their larger counterparts, with the latter displaying greater revenue efficiencies (RE) and profit efficiency (PE). (2) The influence of identical factors on the efficiency of beef cattle fattening production can vary, sometimes antithetically, across different scales. Local policy interventions must be differentiated according to farm type and size. (3) The unique context of China’s national conditions and the status quo of livestock farming render the dual implementation of environmental regulations and technological subsidies less viable for Chinese beef cattle farms. These entities should prioritize production over technological innovation and advancement. Policymakers should adopt strategies such as targeted skill/technological training for farm managers at particular scales of operation. This could represent a critical trajectory to augment the efficiency of beef cattle production and increase beef yield in China.

Given the increasingly prominent environmental issues that adversely affect global sustainable development, this study, grounded in situated cognition theory and social cognition theory, constructs a moderated serial mediation model to investigate the mechanisms and boundary conditions through which environmental education influences higher education students’ ecological behavior. Based on a survey and analysis of 3961 higher education students, the findings reveal that (1) theoretical education and practical education exert significantly different pathways to ecological behavior, with practical education demonstrating a significant positive direct behavioral driving force, whereas the direct effect of theoretical education is not significant and operates mainly through indirect psychological transmission; (2) ecological values and ecological cognition serve as serial mediators between environmental education and ecological behavior; (3) the degree of theory-practice transformation positively moderates the relationship between practical education and ecological cognition, while ecological action competence positively moderates the relationship between ecological cognition and ecological behavior. The results indicate that while strengthening students’ environmental education, universities should also focus on cultivating their ecological action competence—the key competence that transforms ecological cognition into actual behavior—and strive to enhance the teaching effectiveness of transforming theoretical education into practical experience.