Study On The Influence Of Aging On The Production Of Labor-Intensive Crops From The Persprctive Of Topography

With the deepening of the aging of our country’s population and the outflow of young and middle-aged rural labor caused by the rapid development of urbanization,the aging of agricultural labor has become an irreversible trend and an important issue in the development of modern agriculture.The existing literature on aging generally focuses on food crops.The mainstream view is that the replacement of labor by machinery effectively alleviates the labor supply problem caused by aging.Does this mechanism of action apply to the production of labor-intensive cash crops? This is a focus of this article.Among the labor-intensive production of cash crops,apples have the characteristics of strong regionality and high economic value.They are the leading industry in agricultural production in some areas of China.The impact of aging on apple production is worthy of attention.As a typical labor-intensive product,apple production requires a large amount of labor input and a high degree of specialization,which results in particularly strong labor supply constraints for elderly farmers,affecting the input and substitution of production factors,and affecting farmers’ production decisions and operating methods.At the same time,in reality,the behavior of farmers will be different due to the feasibility of factor substitution in the region where they are located,which will have different impacts on agricultural production.The topography of the main apple producing areas is complex.In addition to the plain topography,there are also hilly and mountainous terrains such as slopes and Sichuan platforms.Different topography may bring factor substitution constraints,which will lead to the heterogeneous impact of aging on apple production.Therefore,from the perspective of topographical differences,this article explores whether the aging of agricultural labor has an impact on apple production,studies whether there is heterogeneity in the impact of aging on apple production under different terrain conditions,and clarifies the mechanism of heterogeneity.Based on the research questions,the research content of this paper is as follows:(1)Construct an analysis framework of the impact of agricultural labor aging on apple input and output,conduct theoretical analysis of the impact path,and refine research hypotheses;(2)According to the research group’s apple growers in Shaanxi Province Survey data,descriptive analysis of the status quo of aging in the sample areas and basic conditions of farmers’ inputs and outputs;(3)Empirically test the impact of aging agricultural labor on apple production in terms of apple output and technical efficiency,and Introduce topographical factors to study the impact of aging on production heterogeneity under different terrains;(4)Through the empirical analysis of aging on machinery,hired labor,and fertilizer inputs,explore the impact of aging heterogeneity under terrain constraints from the perspective of factor substitution Influence Mechanism.After the above research,it is concluded that:(1)Generally,aging has a negative effect on the output value of apples.After the topography is distinguished,the negative impact of aging on apple output is mainly manifested in mountain areas,and no significant impact in plain areas;(2)The production decision-making and operation methods of aging farmers and young farmers in the plains are convergent,while aging is in the plains.Regions do not affect technical efficiency.The replacement of old farm households in the mountainous areas fails.Aging in the mountainous areas will negatively affect Apple’s technical efficiency;(3)The level of mechanization of apple production is low.Whether in the plains or in the mountains,machinery cannot effectively replace labor.(4)Faced with the labor supply problem caused by aging,elderly farmers in the plains choose to increase employment input instead of their own labor input to maintain normal production decisionmaking and operation methods,while mountainous terrain will increase their own labor constraints and the difficulty of factor substitution.Aging has a negative impact on the input of hired workers in mountainous areas;(5)Aging has no effect on the input of fertilizer elements in plain areas,but has a negative impact on the input of fertilizers in mountainous areas.Based on the research conclusions,policy recommendations are put forward:(1)Improve agricultural machinery and equipment in the apple production process and improve agricultural machinery subsidy policies;(2)Encourage the development of social services related to apple production;(3)Improve infrastructure construction and level village roads,Improve the communication signal of the village;(4)Carry out targeted Apple technical training and on-site guidance;(5)Fifth,build an Apple industry security system.