ORIGINAL RESEARCH

published: 02 June 2022

doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2022.909803

How Does Social Embeddedness

Affect Farmers’ Adoption Behavior of
Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology?
Evidence From Jiangsu Province,
China
Huawei Zheng 1,2, Jing Ma 1,2, Zhaoyu Yao 1* and Feng Hu 3*
1
School of Humanities and Social Development, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China, 2The Key Laboratory of the
Coastal Zone Exploitation and Protection, Ministry of Natural Resources, Nanjing, China, 3School of Resources and
Environmental Science, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China

Agricultural carbon emissions, which are the second largest source of greenhouse gas
emissions in China, not only place great pressure on emission reduction but also seriously
Edited by:
Shaoquan Liu, affect food security and sustainable development of agriculture. As farmers are the direct
Institute of Mountain Hazards and users of cultivated land and the main adopters of agricultural technology, their adoption
Environment (CAS), China
behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology directly determines its promotion and
Reviewed by:
Shili Guo,
subsequent emissions reduction. It is of great theoretical and practical significance to
Southwestern University of Finance analyze farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology and their
and Economics, China
influencing factors. Based on social embeddedness theory and the survey data of 688
Xiaowen Dai,
Sichuan Agricultural University, China farmers in Jiangsu Province, this study applied a logistic model to analyze the impact of
*Correspondence: government support, farmers’ cognition, social capital, personal characteristics, and family
Zhaoyu Yao characteristics on farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology. The
[email protected]
Feng Hu
results showed that (1) only 58.72% of farmers have adopted such a technology, which
[email protected] needs to be further improved; (2) government support and farmers’ cognition had
significantly positive influences on farmers’ adoption behavior; (3) social capital is an
Specialty section:
important factor affecting farmers’ adoption decisions, where social trust, networks, and
This article was submitted to
Environmental Economics and norms play a significant role in promoting the adoption of low-carbon agricultural
Management, technology; and (4) party membership and household-contracted farmland area also
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Environmental Science had positive influences on farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon technology.
Received: 01 April 2022 Therefore, to continue developing low-carbon agriculture, it is recommended to further
Accepted: 19 April 2022 strengthen government support, raise the price of low-carbon agricultural products,
Published: 02 June 2022
strengthen environmental supervision, and build a social embedded environment
Citation:
according to local conditions, and further improve farmers’ social trust, enrich social
Zheng H, Ma J, Yao Z and Hu F (2022)
How Does Social Embeddedness networks, improve social norms, and give full play to the guiding and exemplary role of
Affect Farmers’ Adoption Behavior of social capital. Additionally, it is also recommended to reinforce education and training to
Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology?
Evidence From Jiangsu raise farmers’ awareness regarding low-carbon agricultural technology, thereby guiding
Province, China. them to actively adopt these technologies.
Front. Environ. Sci. 10:909803.
doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2022.909803 Keywords: sustainable agriculture, social embeddedness theory, social capital, factor analysis, logistic model

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Zheng et al. Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology Adoption

1 INTRODUCTION cognition (Hou and Hou, 2019; Yang and Dong, 2019; Shang
and Yang, 2021; Zhao and Zhou, 2021).
Climate change has brought upon adverse effects on human The existing research results have important value and
production and life, becoming a global concern for the enlightenment for this study, but most studies mainly start
international community (IPCC, 2014; Rees et al., 2016). from the internal factors of farmers or families and ignore the
Agriculture, an important factor in climate change, has premise that the current application of low-carbon agricultural
become the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions technology is mainly promoted by the government. Under the
(Shang and Yang, 2021). At the United Nations Climate Change current background of China’s grass-roots governance system
Conference in Paris, China promised to peak its carbon emissions and agricultural green and low-carbon development, local
around 2030 and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of governments are still the main promoters of the application of
GDP by 60–65 percent compared to that of 2005 (Hou and Hou, low-carbon agricultural technology. It is necessary to include
2019; Zhao and Zhou, 2021). China’s high-input and output external factors such as government support into the analysis of
agricultural production mode inevitably produces several farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural
greenhouse gases, which contributes to the continuous growth technology. Most of the existing studies analyze farmers’
of agricultural carbon emissions and seriously affects China’s adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology from
food security and sustainable development of agriculture (Liu the perspective of economics and psychology, ignoring the impact
et al., 2019; Shang and Yang, 2021). Low-carbon agricultural of social capital on farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon
technologies, which can improve the agricultural ecology and agricultural technology. Some studies involve the social
reduce carbon emissions, have begun to attract the attention of motivation of farmers’ adoption behavior, but the selection of
the government. Developed regions such as Europe and the indicators is not systematic and the dimension of indicators is
United States have proposed these technologies, including single, and a set of multi-dimensional social embeddedness index
precision agriculture and conservation tillage, and reduced system suitable for the reality of rural society in China has not
the use of chemical fertilizers to minimize emissions been formed. In view of the above shortcomings, this study
(Hutchinson et al., 2007; Todd et al., 2009). China has also attempts to make the following improvements: Relying on the
issued a series of incentives and policies to vigorously promote social embeddedness theory of new economic sociology, starting
low-carbon agricultural technology. These policies involve from the role of farmers’ “economic and social people”, this paper
agricultural waste treatment, resource recycling, or reducing constructs a multi-dimensional framework of influencing factors
the input of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. As farmers are of farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural
the direct users of cultivated land and the main adopters of technology and systematically analyzes all kinds of factors
agricultural technology, their adoption behavior of low-carbon (government support, social capital, farmers’ cognition,
agricultural technology directly determines the degree to which personal characteristics, and family characteristics) under a
the technology is promoted, as well as the effects of agricultural unified framework.
carbon emissions reduction (Hou and Hou, 2019; Zhao and Jiangsu is a major agricultural province in China, with various
Zhou, 2021). Therefore, it is key to promote low-carbon ecological types and unique agricultural production conditions. It
agricultural technologies, reduce agricultural carbon is known as “the south of the Yangtze River with mountains and
emissions, and realize sustainable agricultural development rivers and the land of fish and rice.” Jiangsu is a major grain
to guide farmers away from the high-input and output producing province in China, the largest japonica rice producing
production mode and toward low-carbon agricultural province in southern China, and also an advantageous area for
technology. the production of high-quality weak gluten wheat in China. Corn,
Research on low-carbon agricultural technologies has mainly peanut, rape, a variety of miscellaneous grains, miscellaneous
focused on the importance of low-carbon agricultural beans, and other characteristic grain crops are all over the
technologies (Freibauer et al., 2004; Kroodsma and Field, 2006; province. Jiangsu is not only a large agricultural province but
Norse, 2012; Vinholis et al., 2021), adoption of low-carbon also an economic province located in the east coast of China.
agricultural technologies by farmers (Yang and Dong, 2019; Strong economic strength provides solid support for agricultural
Shang and Yang, 2021; Zhao and Zhou, 2021), the production. The construction of agricultural infrastructure is
corresponding adoption effects (Todd et al., 2009; Norse, 2012; relatively perfect, the level of agricultural science and
Fan and Wei, 2016; He et al., 2021), and the development paths of technology is high, and the contribution rate of agricultural
these technologies (Arima et al., 2014; Rees et al., 2016; Piwowar, science and technology is much higher than the national
2019; Xiong et al., 2021). Some studies have used logistic models, average level, which makes Jiangsu have a strong
Heckman sample models, structural equation models, and other comprehensive agricultural production capacity. Jiangsu is one
methods on survey data to analyze the influencing factors on of the earliest provinces in China to explore low-carbon
farmers’ adoption behaviors toward low-carbon agricultural agriculture, and the construction of low-carbon agriculture has
technology (Hou and Hou, 2019; Liu et al., 2019; Li et al., always been in the forefront of the country. In recent years,
2021; Shang and Yang, 2021; Zhao and Zhou, 2021). Their Jiangsu has continuously improved the legal and policy support
studies have shown that the behavior influencing factors system for low-carbon agriculture and carried out rich forms of
predominantly included the farmers’ individual characteristics, low-carbon agricultural practice, such as vigorously developing
family characteristics, arable land resource endowment, and organic agriculture, promoting the comprehensive utilization of

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Zheng et al. Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology Adoption

straw and the substitution of agricultural chemicals, and decisions are usually made on a household basis, and decision
promoting low-carbon agricultural technology so as to behaviors are influenced by both individual and household
continuously improve the level of green and low-carbon characteristics (Kong et al., 2004; Korir et al., 2015; Long
development of agriculture. Therefore, the study of farmers’ et al., 2016). Therefore, this study divided the autonomy
adoption behavior and its influencing factors of low-carbon factors into these two categories.
agricultural technology in Jiangsu has an important Farmers of different ages and identities have different social
reference value. experiences, physiological, psychological, and participation
Based on the social embeddedness theory and the survey data of abilities and have different expectations in adopting low-
688 farmers in Jiangsu Province, this study uses logistic model to carbon agricultural technologies, reflected by their adoption
analyze the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption behavior of low- behavior choices. Therefore, in this study, the age and party
carbon agricultural technology, with the aim of providing a reference membership of farmers were chosen to characterize the farmers’
basis for the formulation and implementation of the government’s individual characteristics.
low-carbon agricultural technology promotion policies. Household characteristics mainly include the contracted
farming area and economic status of the household, with
different household characteristics leading to different
2 THEORETICAL ANALYSIS AND motivations for adoption behavior and thus different choices.
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES Farmers with a high proportion of farm income have more capital
to invest in agricultural production and are more likely to adopt
2.1 Theoretical Analysis Framework low-carbon agricultural technologies. Farmers with larger
In 1944, Polanyi proposed the concept of “social embeddedness of contracted farming areas are more dependent on agricultural
economy”, which marked the initial formation of social embeddedness production and are more likely to adopt low-carbon agricultural
theory (Polanyi, 1944). In 1985, Granovetter further developed the technologies when the government is vigorously promoting
theory and put forward the view that “economic behavior is embedded them. Therefore, we selected the area of contracted farmland
in social structure”, arguing that human economic activities are always and the proportion of farm income to characterize farmers’
embedded in social structure, that they are not completely isolated and household characteristics.
atomized, and that rational economic behavior is always subject to the
influence of surrounding social relations (Granovetter, 1985). By 2.2.2 Decomposition of Embedded Factors
integrating the zero-embedded position of economics and the Government support. China has successively introduced a series
strongly embedded position of sociology, social embeddedness of low-carbon agriculture policies and incentives to vigorously
theory has a higher explanatory power for human economic promote low-carbon agricultural technologies. The general
activities and provides a scientific method for studying economic requirements of laws, regulations, policies, and measures at the
behavior and social phenomena around the world. national level are consistent (Tian et al., 2015; Tan et al., 2021). In
The social embeddedness theory provides a new theoretical the specific implementation processes, the local governments’
perspective for the research on farmers’ adoption behavior of low- policies and measures are somewhat emphasized, which will have
carbon agricultural technology. The farmers’ adoption behaviors varying degrees of impact on the farmers’ adoption behavior of
are embedded in the rural social structure and are affected by low-carbon agricultural technology. The local governments’
“autonomous factors” such as individual characteristics and support for the promotion of low-carbon agricultural
farmers’ family characteristics. These factors will in turn affect technology is shown in the form of paying attention to low-
the autonomy of adoption behavior and determine to a large carbon agricultural technology, raising the price of low-carbon
extent the initial adopting intent. The “embedded factors” such as agricultural products, and strengthening environmental
government support, social capital, and farmers’ cognition supervision, which will affect farmers’ adoption of low-carbon
restrict or promote the farmers’ adoption behavior of low- agricultural technology. Therefore, this study chooses the
carbon agricultural technology, and can even change their government’s attention to low-carbon agricultural technology,
initial behavior intentions, which has an important impact on the price guarantee of low-carbon agricultural products, and the
the final adoption behavior of farmers. Based on this theoretical strength of village environmental supervision to represent the
analysis and social embeddedness theory, our study analyzed the government support in the “embedded factors.”
influence of autonomous and embedded factors on farmers’ Farmers’ cognition. Farmers’ cognitive level is an important
adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology from factor influencing their production behavior decisions. Farmers’
five dimensions: personal characteristics, family characteristics, technology adoption behavior is constrained and influenced by
government support, social capital, and farmers’ cognition. their behavioral habits, perceptions, and their own experiences
(Gao et al., 2020; Tan et al., 2021). In agricultural production, the
higher the farmers’ awareness of environmental protection or the
2.2 Decomposition of Autonomous Factors role of low-carbon agricultural technologies, the higher the
and Embedded Factors adoption rate of suggestions and measures that protect the
2.2.1 Decomposition of Autonomous Factors agricultural environment, and the more they positively
The household contract system is the basic system of agricultural promote low-carbon agricultural technologies. It has been
production in China. Agricultural production and management found that farmers with high awareness of low-carbon

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Zheng et al. Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology Adoption

agricultural technologies are more likely to adopt them (Li et al., significantly affect the farmers’ adoption behavior of low-
2021). This study therefore focused on low-carbon agricultural carbon agricultural technology, and family characteristics of
technology understanding as a cognitive embedded factor and farmers have a significant positive impact on the farmers’
analyzed its effect on farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology.
agricultural technology. Based on this analysis of the embedded factors, this study
Social capital. This includes social trust, norms, and assumed that government support, farmers’ cognition, and social
relationship networks, which can improve social efficiency capital all have an impact on the farmers’ adoption behavior of
through cooperative behavior (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1990; low-carbon agricultural technology, thus lending to the
Putnam et al., 1994; Ostrom, 2000). Social capital is a whole entity corresponding research hypotheses: Government support has a
consisting of three mutually influencing and closely linked positive impact on the farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon
factors, including social networks, social trust, and social agricultural technology, farmers’ cognition has a significant
norms, which can affect farmers’ adoption behavior of low- positive impact, social trust has a positive impact on the
carbon agricultural technology (Michelini, 2013; Zhang et al., farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural
2015). Social trust, which can reduce the cost of social technology, social norms have a significant positive impact on
communication, boosts the efficiency of social operations and the farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural
promotes the realization of collective action. It is the core technology, and social networks have a positive impact on the
discourse of the social capital theory (Zhang et al., 2020). farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural
Good social trust can generate or encourage a tacit technology.
understanding of cooperation and the sharing of agricultural
environmental information among the participants to promote
low-carbon agricultural technology. It also advances the usage of 3 DATA SOURCES AND RESEARCH
the agricultural information to formulate and implement targeted METHODS
low-carbon agricultural technology promotion measures. As an
important channel for social capital to play its role, social norms 3.1 Data Sources
are the code of conduct for people to participate in social life and Jiangsu Province is located in the scenic and fertile Yangtze River
an important support for realizing mutual assistance and Delta, which is a vast plain with superior natural conditions and a
cooperation (Lyon, 2000; Ostrom, 2000). Social norms form a good economic foundation. The province boasts of an area of
reciprocal or binding mechanism through the reciprocity and 107,200 km2, which accounts for 1.1% of China’s landmass. In
integrity between the participants of an agricultural environment, this province, there are 13 cities and 96 counties, and the resident
which reduces the cost and difficulty and improves the level of population is 84.7726 million. Additionally, in this province, the
agricultural environmental governance. Social norms help to overall GDP, the per capita GDP, and the per capita disposable
form the constraint function of low-carbon agricultural income of residents are 10271.898 billion, 121231, and 43390
technology promotion, to externally or internally restrict yuan, respectively (Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of statistics and
farmers’ agricultural environmental behavior, and to encourage Jiangsu survey team of National Bureau of Statistics, 2021). This
farmers to adopt low-carbon agricultural technology. Social province has unceasingly improved on its management and
networks promote close relationships through constant control systems for agricultural resources and environment. It
interactions and reinforce a sense of social responsibility and has promoted green, low-carbon, and recycling-based modes of
resource sharing awareness among participants during production and has accelerated the development of low-carbon
interactions within the network, which enhances participants’ agriculture. Jiangsu Province is at the forefront of modern
sense of identity and belonging to the social community (Tsang, agricultural construction in China. In 2020, the province built
1998; Bandiera and Rasul, 2006). The participants in low-carbon 240000 ha of high-standard farmland. The mechanization rate of
agricultural technology promotion have a strong sense of trust crop cultivation and harvest reached 80%, and the contribution
and belonging in the social network, which can realize the sharing rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress reached
of agricultural knowledge and information, promote the smooth 70%. Moreover, this province has progressed in the development
and orderly expression of environmental demands and of the agricultural ecological environment, priority has been given
coordination interests of the participants, and form a “bottom- to the prevention and control of agricultural non-point source
up” decision-making mechanism for promoting low-carbon pollution, and the “zero-growth” action plan to reduce the use of
technology. Social networks help to shape the communication chemical fertilizers and pesticides has been implemented. There
function of low-carbon agricultural technology promotion and to has therefore been a decline in the total use of chemical fertilizers
incite farmers’ adoption of low-carbon agricultural technology. and pesticides in the whole province. With the steady promotion
of utilizing agricultural waste, the recovery rate of waste
2.2.3 Research Hypothesis agricultural film has reached 87%, the comprehensive
Based on the aforementioned analysis of autonomous factors, it is utilization rate of crop straw has reached 95%, and the
assumed that both individual and family characteristics of comprehensive utilization rate of livestock and poultry manure
farmers will impact the farmers’ adoption behavior of low- has reached 97%.
carbon agricultural technology, hence the corresponding In this study, we used both stratified and random sampling
research hypotheses: Individual characteristics of farmers and administered a questionnaire survey to farmers. The survey

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Zheng et al. Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology Adoption

TABLE 1 | Meaning and assignments of variables.

Category Name Meaning and assignments

Dependent variable farmers’ adoption behavior adoption or not: Yes = 1; No = 0

Embedded factors Degree of attention Not paying attention = 1, generally = 2, paying great attention = 3
Strength of environmental supervision Lower = 1, generally = 2, higher = 3
Price guarantee degree Lower = 1, generally = 2, higher = 3
Farmers’ Cognition Don’t know = 1, know = 2
Social trust Factor analysis score
Social norms Factor analysis score
Social networks Factor analysis score

Autonomous factors Age Continuous variable

Party membership party members = 1, not party members = 0
Proportion of agricultural income Continuous variable
Household-contracted farmland area Continuous variable

was conducted between July of 2016 and April of 2017 in Xuyi of agricultural income and the area of household contracted
County, Guanyun County, Xinghua City, Jingjiang City, Lishui cultivated land were selected as independent variables
District, and Jiangning District. The questionnaires were (Table 1). In regard to government support, the government’s
administered to 714 farmers, and after verification, 688 attention to low-carbon agricultural technology, strength of
questionnaires were found to be valid. The average age of the village environmental supervision, and price guarantee degree
farmers was 53 years, and the average area of contracted farmland of low-carbon agricultural products were selected as independent
cultivated by each household was 0.36 hm2. The proportions of variables (Table 1). For the farmers’ cognition, the low-carbon
respondents who have had a primary or secondary school agricultural technology understanding was selected as the
education were approximately 14.68 and 32.27%, respectively. independent variable (Table 1).
In regards to the annual household income of the respondents, The independent variable social capital was measured from
the minimum and maximum were 6,500, and 1.9 million, three dimensions: social network, social norms, and social trust
respectively, and the average agricultural income proportion of (Michelini, 2013; Zhang et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2020). The
the farmers was approximately 22.38%. indicators for social trust were “degree of trust in the township
government,” “degree of trust in village cadres,” “degree of trust
3.2 Variable Selection in neighbors,” and “degree of trust in highly respected villagers.”
3.2.1 Dependent Variable The indicators for social norms were “whether one will be
Low carbon agricultural technology refers to various methods and punished or queried for not participating in collective
means adopted by agricultural producers in the process of activities” and “ease of borrowing money based on the
agricultural production and management to reduce energy establishment of good interpersonal relationships with
consumption, emissions, and pollution so as to minimize surrounding people.” The indicators for social networks were
carbon emissions in the process of agricultural production and “frequency of contact with relatives” and “frequency of contact
reduce its impact on society, mainly including soil testing and with acquaintances” (Table 1).
formula fertilization technology, pest control technology,
biological pesticide use technology, straw returning technology, 3.3 Model Building
less tillage and no tillage technology, soil subsoiling technology, 3.3.1 Factor Analysis Method
food safety production technology, and so on. Factor analysis is a multivariate statistical analysis method that
The dependent variable was “farmers’ adoption behavior of extracts a few factors that could reveal vital information from
low-carbon agricultural technology,” which was reflected by the many original variables while ensuring the minimization of
question, “Do you adopt low-carbon agricultural technology?” information loss (Dong et al., 2020; Zaleski and Michalski,
(Answer: Yes/No). “Yes” meant that the farmer was willing to 2021). Its basic idea is to group variables based on correlation
adopt low-carbon agricultural technology and was assigned a such that the correlation is higher between variables in the
value of 1, otherwise a value of 0 was assigned. The results same group and lower for variables in different groups. Each
obtained showed that in the survey sample, 58.72% of farmers group of variables represents a basic structure called a common
have adopted low-carbon agricultural technology, indicating that factor. An indicator system was formed for social capital
the adoption level of low-carbon agricultural technology needs to measurement and used for factor analysis to measure that of
be further improved. farmers, based on its three aspects: social trust, social norms,
and social networks.
3.2.2 Independent Variable
Among the farmers’ individual characteristics, age and party 3.3.2 Logistic Model
membership were selected as independent variables, and The dependent variable is a binary variable comprising “adopt
among the farmers’ household characteristics, the proportion low-carbon agricultural technology” and “not adopt low-carbon

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TABLE 2 | Factor loading matrix after rotation.

Original variable F1 F2 F3

Degree of trust in the township government 0.825 −0.006 0.096

Degree of trust in village cadres 0.892 0.041 0.101
Degree of trust in neighbours 0.791 0.099 0.016
Degree of trust in highly respected villagers 0.794 0.095 0.067
Whether one will be punished or queried for not participating in collective activities −0.004 −0.037 0.876
Ease of borrowing money based on the establishment of good interpersonal relationships with surrounding people 0.131 0.137 0.535
Frequency of contact with relatives 0.011 0.876 0.065
Frequency of contact with acquaintances 0.128 0.866 0.073

agricultural technology.” Thus, to analyze influencing factors of

TABLE 3 | Estimated results on factors that influence farmers’ adoption behavior
farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural of low-carbon agricultural technology.
technology, a logistic regression analysis was performed
(Zhang et al., 2020), Variable M1 M2

Age −0.021 (0.006) −0.010 (0.007)

pi
In
  α0 +  βi xi + ε. (1) Party membership 1.075 (0.164)*** 0.797 (0.178)***
1 − pi Household-contracted farmland area 0.075 (0.027)*** 0.074 (0.028)***
Proportion of agricultural income 0.001 (0.003) 0.002 (0.003)
pi
In Eq. 1, 1−p i
represents the ratio of the probability of adoption of Degree of attention 0.732 (0.134)***
low-carbon agricultural technology to the probability of farmers’ Strength of environmental supervision 0.271 (0.128)**
non-adoption of low-carbon agricultural technology Price guarantee degree 0.245 (0.124)**
Farmers’ cognition 0.584 (0.184)***
(i  1, 2, ..., n). Additionally, pi denotes the probability of the
Social trust 0.224 (0.098)**
ith farmer adoption of low-carbon agricultural technology, Social networks 0.215 (0.114)*
whereas 1 − pi denotes the probability of the ith farmer non- Social norms 0.206 (0.091)**
adoption of low-carbon agricultural technology. α0 represents a Constant term 0.510 (0.367) −5.522 (0.862)***
constant term, while xi , βi , and ε represent the independent -2Log Likelihood 863.330 775.653
Cox & Snell R2 0.096 0.204
variables (divided into embedded factors and autonomous Nagelkerke R2 0.129 0.275
factors), the partial regression coefficient, and the stochastic
disturbance term, respectively. Notes: *, **, and *** passing the significance test at statistical significance levels of 10,5,
and 1%, respectively; the values in parentheses are standard errors.

4 RESULTS AND ANALYSES in village cadres,” “degree of trust in neighbors,” and “degree of
trust in highly respected villagers,” which reflected social trust.
4.1 Social Capital of Farmers The load coefficients of Factor 2 were higher in “frequency of
To determine whether the questionnaire data were suitable for contact with relatives” and “frequency of contact with
factor analysis, the validity of the social capital questionnaire was acquaintances,” which reflected social networks, and the load
first tested. The test results showed that the KMO value reached coefficients of Factor 3 were higher in “whether one will be
0.725 and that Bartlett’s test statistics reached 1622.886, which punished or queried for not participating in collective activities”
passed the significance test at p < 0.01, indicating that the data and “ease of borrowing money based on the establishment of
were suitable for factor analysis (Liu and Zheng, 2021; Zaleski and good interpersonal relationships with surrounding people,”
Michalski, 2021). Thus, factor analysis was performed, and which reflected social norms. The load coefficients of the three
common factors were extracted. In accordance with the common factors to the original variables were all above 0.5, there
principle that the eigenvalue should be greater than 1, the was no cross loading of the original variables on the common
common factors were examined, and eventually, three factors, and the original variable displayed good discriminant
common factors were obtained. The total variance validity and convergent validity (Zhang et al., 2020). Therefore,
contribution rate of the three common factors was 67.658%, according to the factor coefficient matrix, the three common
which implied that the common factors could replace the overall factors F1, F2, and F3 were measured to score social trust, social
data on farmers’ social capital and indicated that the results of the networks, and social norms, respectively.
factor analysis were effective. To better dissect the common
factors, the factor analysis model was subjected to orthogonal 4.2 Regression Analysis Results
rotation so as to bring their load coefficients closer to 1 or 0. After To explore the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption behavior
four iterations, the orthogonal rotation of the factor analysis of low-carbon agricultural technology, an analysis method that
converged to generate the factor loading matrix (Table 2). allowed model comparison was employed. First, the autonomous
Table 2 shows that the load coefficients of Factor 1 were higher factors (farmers’ individual and family characteristics) were fed
in “degree of trust in the township government,” “degree of trust into the logistic regression model to obtain the benchmark model,

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Zheng et al. Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology Adoption

namely, Model 1. Based on Model 1, embedded factors including to change agricultural production methods, and significantly
government support, farmers’ cognition, and social capital were increase farmers’ adoption of low-carbon agricultural
included. This model was referred to as Model 2 (Table 3). The technologies, thereby increasing the probability of farmers to
chi-square test values obtained from Models 1 and 2 both reached adopt low-carbon agriculture technology.
the 1% significance level, indicating that the regression model is
generally applicable. The estimated results from the logistic 2) The influence of farmers’ cognition on the adoption behavior
regression models shown in Table 3 reveal that including the of low-carbon agricultural technologies.
core independent variables of social capital in Model 2 resulted in
a considerable increase in Cox & Snell R2 and Nagelkerke R2, Farmers’ cognition had a significant positive effect on low-
while the explanatory power became stronger. Therefore, carbon agricultural technology adoption behavior and passed the
subsequent analyses were based on the estimated results of significance test at the 1% level, which once again supports the
Model 2. research hypothesis (Table 3). This suggests that farmers with
high awareness of low-carbon agricultural technologies are more
4.2.1 Influence of Embedded Factors on Farmers’ likely to adopt them. One possible explanation is that as farmers’
Adoption Behavior awareness increases, they begin to pay attention to the
Model 2 showed that government support, farmers’ cognition, agroecological environment and care about promoting low-
and social capital are major factors that influenced farmers’ carbon agricultural technologies. This in turn further
adoption of low-carbon agricultural technology, and that they motivates farmers to adopt such technologies and makes them
affected the adoption behavior to varying degrees. more willing to actively improve the agroecological environment.
It is also possible that the increase in farmers’ awareness level will
1) The impact of government support on the farmers’ adoption be further internalized in the farmers’ own rational choices to the
behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology. same benefit to adoption behavior.

Government support had a significant positive impact on the 3) Influence of social trust on farmers’ adoption behavior of low-
farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology carbon agricultural technology.
(Table 3). The degree of attention had an impact on the farmers’
adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology at the Social trust positively influenced the farmers’ adoption
significance level of 1%, the impact of village environmental behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology at a
supervision on the farmers’ adoption of low-carbon significance level of 5%, supporting the first research
agricultural-technology can pass the 5% significance test, and hypothesis (Table 3). When other conditions remained
the price guarantee degree of low-carbon agricultural products constant, the probability that farmers will exhibit adoption
can affect farmers’ adoption of low-carbon agricultural- behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology increased by
technology at the 5% significance level, therefore supporting 25.11% per each raised level of social trust, indicating that
the research hypothesis. farmers with high level of social trust were more likely to
The government, especially the local government, plays a adopt low-carbon agricultural technology compared with those
prominent guiding role in the process of agricultural with low level of social trust. In rural communities, the level of
production by farmers. Therefore, government support also social trust is an important factor in the promotion of
had a great impact on the farmers’ adoption behavior of low- cooperation. Low-carbon agriculture is a systematic project
carbon agricultural technology. The policies and measures that requires substantial manpower and financial input, as well
formulated by the government enabled farmers to form a basic as coordination and cooperation among participants. To a certain
understanding of these issues and actively drove them to extent, the level of trust provides a good guarantee for
participate in modern agricultural production. Farmers were cooperation, stimulates farmers to adopt spontaneous
encouraged by a series of government low-carbon agricultural participation behavior and carry out mutually beneficial
technology measures and were thus more willing to adopt this cooperation, and lowers transaction costs, thereby encouraging
technology. The government effectively increased the price of farmers to adopt low-carbon agricultural technology.
low-carbon agricultural products and increased the price
guarantee of low-carbon agricultural products, which can 4) Influence of social networks on farmers’ adoption behavior of
improve the vitality of low-carbon agricultural products, low-carbon agricultural technology.
enable farmers to produce low-carbon agricultural products
with good income guarantee, stimulate farmers’ enthusiasm Social networks positively influenced the farmers’ adoption
for changing agricultural production methods, and strengthen behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology at the significance
farmers’ spontaneous low-carbon agricultural production level of 10%, thus supporting the second research hypothesis
behavior, thereby promoting farmers to adopt low-carbon (Table 3). When other variables remained constant, the
agricultural technologies. The government strengthens the probability that the farmers’ adoption behavior skewed in
environmental supervision of villages and strengthens the favor of low-carbon agricultural technology increased by
supervision of low-carbon agricultural development, which can 23.99% per each raised level of social network, indicating that
restrain farmers’ agricultural production behavior, drive farmers farmers with stronger social networks were more likely to adopt

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Zheng et al. Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology Adoption

low-carbon agricultural technology compared with those with a 1% level, and the study hypothesis was tested. It indicated that
lower weaker social networks. In rural communities, farmers with farmers with the status of Communist Party of China were more
higher levels of social networks found it easier to obtain and share willing to adopt low-carbon agricultural technology. A possible
information resources on low-carbon agricultural technology, explanation is that compared with farmers who are not party
and this enhanced their willingness to participate in rural members, farmers with the status of party members participate in
collective actions. Furthermore, farmers with high levels of more public affairs in the village, have more open vision, and are
social networks had more stable social resources; and as more receptive to new practices. They have a relatively better
carriers of agricultural environmental information, they understanding of the critical role of low-carbon agricultural
contributed to agricultural environmental information spillover technology in agricultural sustainable development. Thus, they
and knowledge dissemination. This further encourages them to show more enthusiasm in their willingness to adopt low-carbon
participate in low-carbon agriculture. Farmers with higher agricultural technology.
contact frequencies with relatives and acquaintances generally Household-contracted farmland area had a significant and
possess more social resources, which helps them to exercise their positive influence on farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon
strong communication and social mobilization skills, thereby agricultural technology and passed the significance test at a 1%
promoting the adoption of low-carbon agricultural technology. level, indicating that farmers with a larger household contracted
farmland area were more willing to adopt low-carbon agricultural
5) Influence of social norms on the farmers’ adoption behavior of technology. A possible explanation is that, compared with
low-carbon agricultural technology. farmers with smaller farmland areas, those with larger
household-contracted farmland areas are more dependent on
Social norms positively influenced the farmers’ adoption agricultural production and are more concerned about low-
behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology at a carbon agriculture when the government promotes its
significance level of 5%, which supports the first research development. Consequently, they possibly possess a greater
hypothesis (Table 3). When other conditions remained understanding of the nature and future expectations of low-
constant, the probability that farmers exhibited positive carbon agricultural technology, and this causes them to show
adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology more interest in such a technology.
increased by 22.88% with each raised level of social norms,
indicating that farmers with high level of social norms were
more likely to adopt low-carbon agricultural technology 5 CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY
compared with those with low level of social norms. The rural IMPLICATIONS
social norms can play a binding role and have a significant
positive affect on farmers’ adoption of low-carbon agricultural 5.1 Conclusions
technology. Norms stipulate what is permitted and what is not, Government support had a significant positive impact on the
and informal norms such as village rules, folk conventions, and farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural
folk customs can greatly encourage collective cooperation. With technology, while the degree of attention impacted it at the
the acceleration of urbanization, some moral rules in rural significance level of 1%. The impact of village environmental
cultures have been deconstructed, but they continue to play a supervision on the farmers’ adoption of low-carbon agriculture-
role in regulating the behavior of villagers. In rural society, if technology can pass the 5% significance test, and the price
members do not participate in collective activities which are guarantee degree of low-carbon agricultural products at the
necessary, they will be talked about by other villagers. Hence, 5% significance level has an impact on the farmers’ adoption
when making behavior choices, other members need to take into of low-carbon agriculture-technology agricultural. Farmers’
consideration the pressure of public opinion in the village. There cognition had a significant positive impact on farmers’
is no doubt that such moral pressure is an intangible constraint adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology
on the villagers; therefore, farmers’ participation in collective (significance level of 1%).
affairs will increase significantly because of the guidance of The social capital is a major factor that affected farmers’
norms. In addition, a good relationship with the community adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural technology.
will help when the farmer needs to borrow money. Farmers Social trust, social networks, and social norms positively
become willing to interact with the community and to establish influenced the farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon
good relationships so that they can benefit from such agricultural technology at 5, 10, and 5% significance levels,
relationships and obtain needed resources in the future. respectively, indicating that social trust, social networks, and
social norms play a significant role in the enhancement of
4.2.2 Influence of Autonomous Factors on Farmers’ farmers’ adoption of low-carbon agricultural technology.
Adoption Behavior Party membership showed a significantly positive influence on
Model 2 showed that, among the autonomous factors, party the farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon agricultural
membership and household-contracted farmland area passed technology. Farmers with the status of party members of
the significance test (Table 3). Party membership had a Communist Party of China displayed greater willingness to
significant and positive influence on farmers’ adoption of low- adopt low-carbon agricultural technologies. Additionally, the
carbon agricultural technology and passed the significance test at household-contracted farmland area also had a significantly

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Zheng et al. Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology Adoption

positive effect on the farmers’ adoption behavior of low-carbon turn also increases their trust in low-carbon agriculture policies. It
agricultural technology (significance level of 1%). also reduces the transaction costs associated with the
Overall, this study made some interesting findings. The implementation of low-carbon agriculture.
government support, social capital, and farmers’ cognition It is also recommended to promote social trends of mutual
significantly enhanced farmers’ adoption levels of low-carbon trust, facilitate win-win cooperation, and enhance
agricultural technology in China. We can strengthen government communication and interactions between farmers and
support, build a social embedded environment conducive to the heterogeneous groups through collective activities, as these can
application of low-carbon agricultural technology according to facilitate the establishment of trust among farmers, create positive
local conditions, improve the level of social capital, give full play expectations of the others, and increase the probability of farmers
to the guiding and exemplary role of social capital in the adopting low-carbon agricultural technology.
application of low-carbon agricultural technology, reinforce
the education and training, and improve the farmers’ 5.2.3 Broaden Social Networks
awareness and responsibility to lead them to actively adopt in Social networks suggest making use of relationship networks that
low-carbon agricultural technology. Furthermore, this conclusion involve a wider participation to build interactive platforms for
could also be applied to rural areas in other countries. participants in low-carbon agricultural technology promotions,
improve the mechanism of participation in agricultural
5.2 Policy Recommendations environmental governance, and promote benign interactions
5.2.1 Strengthen Government Support among participants, thereby heightening the development level
Further strengthening government support, improving policies and of low-carbon agriculture. To broaden social networks, it is
regulations, and optimizing incentive measures are ways to promote recommended to reinforce the construction of village
low-carbon agricultural technology. It is recommended to increase cooperative organizations, support the development of cross-
the government’s attention to low-carbon agricultural technologies village cooperative organizations, and enhance the degree of
for establishing and improving the supervision mechanism and the familiarity among farmers. It is also recommended to reinforce
reward and punishment mechanism. This will increase the the training of rural elites and enhance the exemplarity of their
promotion of low-carbon agricultural technologies and promote leading roles. Additionally, the establishment of multi-level
the construction of low-carbon agricultural technology communication avenues and agricultural environmental
demonstration zones. Through on-site demonstrations and the information channels using the internet, television, and radio to
introduction of typical experiences, “personal statement” of improve communication and interaction among farmers as well as
people around them can be collected to enhance the effect of heterogeneous groups through collective activities, such as training
technology demonstration, and farmers can be helped with the and mobilization, is also recommended. To expand farmers’
idea of “seeing is believing,” thereby encouraging them to actively relationship networks and encourage them to use relationship
adopt low-carbon agricultural technology, increase the publicity of network channels to acquire resources, it is also recommended
the ecological, social, and economic value of low-carbon agricultural to guide the farmers to participate in various types of cooperative
technology, further improve farmers’ awareness of the utility of low- organizations, including “cooperatives + farmers” and “enterprises
carbon agricultural technology, and create a good atmosphere for the + farmers.” This will further enhance the probability of farmers
adoption of low-carbon agricultural technology; and further improve adopting low-carbon agricultural technology.
the price of low-carbon agricultural products, improve the price
guarantee degree of low-carbon agricultural products, and build 5.2.4 Develop Social Norms
farmers’ good expectations for the benefits of adopting low-carbon By utilizing the reciprocity principle, binding norms, and informal
agricultural technologies; and further strengthen environmental systems, social norms can influence the behavior of participants in
supervision, strengthen the supervision of low-carbon agricultural low-carbon agricultural technology extension. Therefore, to
technology adoption, effectively restrict farmers’ agricultural develop social norms, it is recommended to reinforce the
technology adoption behavior, and then improve the probability cultivation of team spirit and social virtues among the
of farmers’ adoption of low-carbon agricultural technology. participants in low-carbon agricultural technology promotion.
This will make them fully aware of the relationship between
5.2.2 Enhance Social Trust their own interests and collective interests and will also enhance
Social trust helps to eliminate information asymmetry between their sense of collective belonging and identity. It is also
participants in low-carbon agricultural technology extension, recommended to allow farmers to establish correct values,
reduce transaction costs, and strengthen governance promote their awareness regarding mutually beneficial
performance. Therefore, to enhance social trust, it is cooperation, and reduce the difficulty associated with
recommended to promote the leading role of village cadres, agricultural environmental behavior. Based on customs, village
improve the deliberative democracy system of villages, and rules, and regulations, it is recommended to devise a reward and
implement social supervision over village affairs. Additionally, penalty system surrounding low-carbon agricultural technology
it is also recommended to enhance sufficient publicity in advance, adoption to reward and offer publicity to farmers with good
conduct strict deliberations over matters so as to arrive at fair participation. This will build up their trust in low-carbon
conclusions, and establish a system in which village cadres serve agriculture policies. Additionally, it is essential to prioritize the
farmers. This enhances farmers’ trust in the village cadres and in main role farmers play in low-carbon agricultural technology

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Zheng et al. Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology Adoption

adoption, perform a careful analysis of their psychological DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

characteristics in the agricultural environment, and encourage
them to take the initiative to cooperate. The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be
made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
5.2.5 Reinforce Education and Training
The effective implementation of education and training can increase
the probability of farmers adopting low-carbon agricultural AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
technology. Cultural education, science and technology training,
and inviting farmers to participate in learning activities can enhance HZ: Conceptualization, data analysis, data description,
their education level and decision-making abilities in production explanation of results, and writing. JM: Data analysis and
and management. This can facilitate their participation in low- writing. ZY: Conceptualization, methodology, explanation of
carbon agriculture. Conducting training and enhancing publicity results, reviewing, and editing. FH: Conceptualization,
with respect to policies on low-carbon agricultural technology will explanation of results, reviewing, and editing.
enable farmers to be fully aware of the importance of low-carbon
agricultural technology. Through education and training, the main
role of farmers in low-carbon agricultural technology adoption can FUNDING
be reinforced, their sense of agricultural environmental
responsibility can be enhanced, and their confidence in low- This research was funded by the Major Programs of National
carbon agricultural technology adoption extension can be Social Science Fund (No. 17ZDA113), and the open fund
developed and bolstered. This will reshape their ideas, raise their project of Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Exploitation and
awareness on participation, and guide them to adopt low-carbon Protection, Ministry of Natural Resources (No.
agricultural technologies. 2021CZEPK08).

Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of statistics, Jiangsu survey team of National Bureau of

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