Theoretical And Empirical Study Of Farmers'Sustainable Agricultural Production Behavior

Sustainable development is the common target of human beings. Taking the road of sustainable agricultural development to ensure food security, food safety and agro-ecological security is the fundamental strategy of China's present and future agricultural development.In China, farmer is the main body of sustainable agricultural production. In this paper, the farmers'sustainable agricultural production behavior was analyzed in depth for the purpose of providing theoretical and practical basis for the policy making to optimize farmers'agricultural production behavior and promote the sustainable development of agriculture in China. For this research objective, based on a review of the previous literatures and relevant theories, firstly, the current situation of the agro-ecological environmental problems resulting from the agricultural production were stated and the relationship between agricultural development and agro-ecological environmental pollution from agricultural production were empirically analyzed; secondly, the analysis of the economic reasons for agro-ecological environmental problems were made; thirdly, farmers'sustainable agricultural production behavior was analyzed, which constitutes the core of this research. In this part, at first, game theory was used to analyze farmers'choice of sustainable agricultural production; then, along the farmers'dynamic agricultural production behavior process of perception→intention→practice, a study framework for farmers'sustainable agricultural production behavior was constructed, under which four econometric models-farmers'awareness of environmental degradation, farmers'perception of the importance of sustainable agricultural production, farmers'willingness of sustainable agricultural production and farmers'practice of sustainable agricultural production, were established to empirically analyze the current situation of farmers'sustainable agricultural production and the factors influencing the farmers'sustainable agricultural production behavior based on the survey data of Shandong Province, China. Lastly, policy recommendations were provided according to these study results.The results showed that: (1) China faces serious agro-ecological environmental degradation problems. The relationship between agricultural development and agro-ecological environmental pollution was shown by an inverted U-curve. China's current agricultural growth was still at the left of inverted U-curve far from the turning point. The process of agricultural development would be accompanied by more agricultural environmental pollution without active measures. (2) Through game analysis for farmers'choice of sustainable agricultural production, technology innovation and establishment of consumer market for the eco-friendly agricultural products under sustainable production were needed to promote farmers'transition to sustainable agricultural production. The feasibility of establishing consumer market for eco-friendly agricultural products and the main factors influencing consumers'purchase willingness of eco-friendly agricultural products were studied based on the survey data of the consumers in Rizhao city, Shandong province, China by logit model. The results showed that the establishment of consumer market for eco-friendly agricultural products is feasible; in addition to price factors, education and awareness of ago-ecological environmental problems also affected consumers'purchase willingness of eco-friendly agricultural products. (3) Through the analysis of farmers'sustainable agricultural production behavior under the study framework of farmers'sustainable agricultural production behavior with four econometric models along the farmers'dynamic agricultural production behavior process of perception→intention→practice, it was concluded that farmers had not higher awareness of agro-ecological environmental degradation problems, and farmers had higher perception of the importance of sustainable agricultural production and higher willingness of sustainable agricultural production, but these did not lead to farmers'higher sustainable agricultural production practices; education and access to agricultural information positively and significantly influenced farmers'awareness of agro-ecological environmental degradation problems and farmers'perception of the importance of sustainable agricultural production and willingness of sustainable agricultural production; farmers'education and membership in an agricultural organization positively and significantly influenced farmers'practice of sustainable agricultural production.The results of the study suggested that following issues should be addressed to the policies making in China to promote the development of sustainable agriculture: (1) Sustainable agricultural development is in need of technical innovation as a support. (2) Establish and perfect the reasonable consumer market for environment-friendly agricultural products under sustainable production. (3) Improve the provision of information regarding sustainable agricultural production to farmers. (4) Promote farmers'education and training in sustainable agricultural production. (5) Promote farmers'agricultural organizational production. (6) Improve the legal systems of sustainable agricultural development. (7) Reward and fine measures could be taken as auxiliary measures to motivate or stun farmers'production behavior.The main innovation of this paper is that farmers'behavior was selected as the entry point of the paper so that the perspective of this research is novel; a creative study framework for farmers'sustainable agricultural production behavior was constructed and under this study framework four econometric models-farmers'awareness of environmental degradation, farmers'perception of the importance of sustainable agricultural production, farmers'willingness of sustainable agricultural production and farmers'practice of sustainable agricultural production was established to empirically analyze the current situation of farmers'sustainable agricultural production and the factors influencing the farmers'sustainable agricultural production behavior based on the survey data of Shandong Province, China, which revealed the dynamic process of farmers'sustainable agricultural production behavior; game theory was used to analyze farmers'choice of sustainable agricultural production, the feasibility of establishing the consumer market for eco-friendly agricultural products was studied through the game analysis between farmers and the government and the game analysis between farmers.