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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agricultural and Food Economics
Volume 9 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1561633
This article is part of the Research Topic Enhancing Food Security and Trade Resilience in Sustainable Agricultural Systems View all 14 articles
Farmers' adoption of smart agricultural technologies for black soil conservation and utilization in China: The driving factors and its mechanism
Provisionally accepted- 1 College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- 2 Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Hebei Province, China
- 3 Hong Kong Baptist University, HongKong, China
- 4 School of Public Administration and Law, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China, Harbin, Jilin Province, China
Smart agriculture can mitigate the degradation of black soil organic matter to ensure global food security and promote sustainable agricultural development. However, the adoption of smart agricultural technology for black soil conservation and utilization is poorly understood. This study analyzes the influence mechanisms affecting farmers' adoption intentions of one such technology, variable fertilization. We develop a structural equation model by combining the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Perceived Value Theory (PVT), and external factors with data from 354 farmers in Youyi State farm in the Sanjiang Plain Area, China. The results revealed that social influence (SI) was the most significant determinant of farmers' adoption intentions (AI), emphasizing the critical role of social networks, particularly information from experienced demonstration households, in shaping decisions. Additionally, both the perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) of variable fertilization technology (VFT) significantly and positively influenced AI. Among these, PEOU demonstrated a greater overall impact than PU. We propose strategies for demand-driven, incentive-based, and technical support mechanisms to facilitate the adoption of VFT and conclude with recommendations to promote black soil conservation and utilization technologies among farmers.
Keywords: Black soil conservation and utilization, smart agriculture, Variable fertilization, Farmers' adoption, Technology acceptance model
Received: 16 Jan 2025; Accepted: 07 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu, Li, LO, Huang, Li and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
jing Li, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Hebei Province, China
shanlin Huang, School of Public Administration and Law, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China, Harbin, Jilin Province, China
yiqi Li, College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
zixin Zhao, College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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