Consumer behavior changes differently in emergencies. Understanding consumer food stockpiling behavior during COVID-19 pandemic can provide critical information for governments and policymakers to adjust inventory and response strategies. This paper analyzed consumer food stockpiling behavior, including the change of food reserve scale and willingness to pay for fresh food reserves in COVID-19. Our paper shows that the scale of food reserve extends from 3.37 to 7.37 days after the outbreak of COVID-19; if available, consumers on average are willing to pay 18.14 yuan (60.47%) premium for fresh products reserves. The result shows that food stockpiling behavior is fueled by a set of multiple motivations and subjective risk perception. Female, high education level and high-income consumers were more likely to reserve larger scale food reserves, but consumers’ willingness to pay for fresh food reserves is determined by income. This study was conducted when new infection cases continued to rise in the world. The story of food stockpiling during the COVID-19 pandemic in China is similar with the rest of world. Consumer stockpiling behavior in China can also be expanded to other countries to predict the change of food demand and understand more about consumer preferences in emergencies.

The implementation of new agricultural technologies has become a driving force for cleaner production on smallholder farms. Particularly, identifying technologies could enhance the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural production, both of which are serious challenges. In this context, evaluating the adoption of certified seed and its impact on efficiency gains and waste reduction is highly fundamental for sustainable smallholder food production. This perspective was not always considered in previous studies. We address this research gap using cross-sectional data from wheat farmers in northern Kazakhstan. A multi-stage sampling procedure is employed while the sample-selection stochastic production frontier (SPF) is applied for a robust estimation. Results reveal that increased crop income, access to credit and education positively influence the adoption of certified seed while membership in cooperatives and distance from the market are negative determinants. We also find that adopters are 10.3% “cleaner in production” than non-adopters. A comparison was made between the conventional SPF and the sample-selection SPF to evaluate the credibility of the estimation. It was found that the estimates from the conventional SPF were biased by 10%. This study provides insights into two policy and scholarly questions, namely, how effective the adoption of certified seeds is in promoting cleaner production among wheat farmers and how it can be promoted among wheat farmers. Therefore, our study presents substantial empirical evidence to encourage investment in or to promote certified seed adoption in wheat production.

Supply shortages and competitive disadvantages are the main problems faced by China’s hog sector. The non-essential import of pork products, triggered by competitive disadvantages, poses great challenges to hog farms. Structural changes are an important policy concern in China and elsewhere. Previous literature has ignored whether the ongoing structural changes from backyard to large farms can contribute to sustainable development. This study adopts the micro-level data of hog farms collected from Jiangsu Province, and uses a two-step metafrontier model and a primal system approach. The empirical results reveal that the ongoing structural changes are capable of boosting the growth in output in China’s hog sector, since the stronger increase in comparable technical efficiency compensates for the inappropriate technology. Furthermore, the ongoing structural changes are also beneficial in the reduction of production costs and in improving competitiveness in China’s hog sector. The decline in technical and allocative inefficiency costs, particularly for technical inefficiency costs, contributes to the cost advantage with the increasing farm size.

Rural women constitute a substantial portion of the global agricultural workforce yet remain marginalized in access to credit, agricultural inputs, and information. This persistent exclusion not only constrains their productivity but also undermines efforts to build resilient and sustainable food systems. As climate variability increasingly threatens smallholder farming, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has gained prominence as a viable approach to enhance agricultural sustainability, productivity, and adaptation. However, adoption of CSA among smallholder women farmers remains patchy and elusive. In response, development actors have promoted village savings and loan associations (VSLAs) to enhance women’s access to financial services. Yet, whether—and through which mechanisms—women participation (WP) in VSLAs influences CSA adoption remains insufficiently understood. To address this knowledge gap, the study investigates the pathways through which WP in VSLAs influences CSA adoption, considering the mediating role of agricultural informatization (AgI). A cross-sectional, mixed-methods design was employed, using a multistage random sampling technique to survey 436 smallholder women farmers in rural Zambia. Quantitative data were collected through a pre-tested structured questionnaire, supplemented by qualitative data from key informant interviews. Mediation analysis, using the Sobel test and bias-corrected bootstrapping, was applied to estimate pathways, while propensity score matching (PSM) was used to check the robustness of results. Findings reveal that WP in VSLAs significantly boosts CSA adoption, with a total effect size of 47%. Notably, 66% of this effect is mediated through AgI, underscoring the critical role of digital tools in supporting agricultural processes and translating financial inclusion into sustainable farming outcomes. By advancing policy discourse on the intersection of financial inclusion, gender equality, and sustainable agriculture, this research provides valuable insights for informing inclusive agricultural policies and development programs aimed at shaping future interventions in global agricultural development.