This study investigates the environmental protection behavior of farmers in the Guanzhong Plain region and the factors influencing their participation, in order to improve the enthusiasm of farmers’ participation and promote the formation of “good governance” in rural ecological environments. Based on interviews with 295 farmers, the influence of psychological cognitive factors on farmers’ intention and behavior to participate in environmental protection was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling under the extended theory of planned behavior, and the moderating effect of policy environment in the relationship between farmers’ intention to participate and participation behavior was revealed. The research results show that: (1) The current situation of farmers’ participation in environmental protection is generally characterized by “strong intentions and weak actions”. (2) Participation consciousness and benefit perception have a greater impact on farmers’ intention to participate in environmental protection, perceived behavioral control has a smaller impact, and subjective norms do not have a significant impact. (3) Perceived behavioral control and participation intention have a greater influence on farmers’ participation in environmental protection behavior, subjective norms have less influence, and there is no direct influence of perceived benefits and participation awareness on farmers’ participation behavior, i.e., farmers’ participation intention has indirect influence on participation behavior. (4) The moderating effect of policy environment indicates that policy environment has a significant positive effect on the relationship between farmers’ participation intention and participation behavior.

Soil-testing formula fertilization technology is a powerful tool for preserving arable land and ensuring food security. The purpose of this study was to investigate farmers’ acceptance intentions and behavioral responses to soil-testing formula fertilization technology. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this paper adopts the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method, with 295 farmers in the high-standard farmland project area of Shaanxi Province as samples. The research results show that attitude (ATT), subjective norms (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) all had a significant positive influence on farmers’ behavioral intentions. The order of impact effects from large to small is ATT > SN > PBC. The ecological rationality of farmers, communication and demonstration between neighbors, and effective technical training, as well as consulting and guidance services, can better enhance farmers’ intentions to apply soil-testing formula fertilization technology. This study could help to provide references for policymaking to improve the adoption of soil-testing formula fertilization technology.

The adoption of environmentally friendly farmland conservation techniques by farmers is an important way to effectively curb agricultural surface pollution and promote the conservation of farmland quality. Based on 425 farmers’ in-depth interview data, a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method was used to construct a psychological cognition (farmers’ awareness and willingness to participate)—external context (organizational linkages and government regulation)—behavioral effect model to reveal the conditional configuration and multivariate paths of psychological cognition and external contextual factors influencing farmers’ behavioral effects on the adoption of environmentally friendly farmland conservation technologies. The results show that individual behavioral decision factors do not influence the behavioral effects of farmers. The results show that individual behavioral decision factors are not necessary to drive the effective adoption of environmentally friendly farmland conservation technologies and that multiple decision factors interact to form three sets of configurations that enhance the behavioral effectiveness of farmers, summarized as the willingness-to-participate dominant model, the internal and external constraints dominant model, and the external context dominant model.

Exploring the formation mechanism of farmers’ behavioral intention to adopt electricity to replace coal (INT-CE) is important for adjusting energy policies in the context of passive energy transition. Based on the integrated framework of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Normative Activation Model (NAM), taking farmers in Yulin City, Shaanxi Province as the research sample, the formation mechanism of INT-CE is empirically analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). INT-CE was influenced by both self-interested and altruistic motives, with self-interested motives having a greater impact. The results show that: (1) Subjective attitudes and perceived behavior control have significant positive effects on low-income farmers' transformation intention, the influence coefficients are 0.170 and 0.331, respectively. (2) Perceived behavior control has a significant positive impact on the transition intention of middle - income farmers, the coefficient is 0.155. (3) Subjective norms have significant positive impacts on the energy transition intention of high-in- come farmers, the coefficient is 0.261. Attitude has the greatest influence on INT-CE. The effect of past habits on INT-CE was not significant, but was controlled by attitudes and perceptual behaviors. Outcome awareness and responsibility attribution indirectly enhance INT-CE through personal norms. The government should consider farmers' self-interest and altruistic motives when motivating INT-CE. On the one hand, positive concepts of energy conservation should be fostered and farmers' knowledge of energy conservation should be enhanced. On the other hand, the education of farmers should be strengthened to make them realize the ecological damage caused by non-clean energy. At the same time, the influence of relevant groups on INT-CE should be further emphasized to play the role of demonstration and leadership, to enhance farmers' environmental awareness and to cultivate a sense of social responsibility to protect the ecological environment.

Adaptive farming behavior is a key strategy for farmers to cope with climate change. This paper aims to explore the potential impacts of climate change information sources on farmers’ adaptive farming behavior. This paper clarifies the internal mechanism of three typical information sources, namely government departments, scientific research institutions and neighborhood communication, affecting farmers' adaptive farming behavior. Based on the sample data of 1200 farmers in the main wheat producing areas of Shaanxi Province, the theoretical conjecture is empirically tested. The results showed that the climate change information from government departments and scientific research institutions has a significant positive impact on farmers' adaptive farming behavior, but in the case of considering the three sources of information at the same time, the information source of scientific research institutions has the strongest positive impact on farmers' adaptive farming behavior. After farmers have access to climate change information exchanged by government departments, scientific research institutions and neighbors, their differences in climate change adaptive farming behavior mainly depend on their climate change cognition rather than subject trust factors. Formally organized climate change information represented by government departments and scientific research institutions has a more significant positive impact on farmers' adaptive farming behavior, but this impact depends largely on whether the information obtained by farmers can improve their climate change awareness.