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Article

The Impact of Farmers’ Digital Participation on Cultivated Land Ecological Protection

by
Qinghua Xin
1,*,
Baijun Wu
1 and
Yaru Shi
2
1
School of Business, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
2
School of Economics, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao 276827, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2025, 17(13), 6191; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17136191 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 26 May 2025 / Revised: 28 June 2025 / Accepted: 4 July 2025 / Published: 5 July 2025
(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Agriculture)

Abstract

The increasingly severe ecological and environmental problems in rural areas pose a serious threat to agricultural sustainability and human well-being. Protecting the ecological environment of cultivated land is fundamental to ensuring food security and achieving sustainable development goals. The effective integration of digital technology into farmers’ production and daily life is a key driver for transforming farming practices and advancing the ecological protection of cultivated land. This study draws on data from the 2020 China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS) to systematically examine the impact of farmers’ digital participation on the ecological protection of cultivated land. The main findings are as follows: (1) Digital participation significantly promotes ecological conservation of cultivated land, with each unit increase associated with a 7.8% reduction in fertilizer use intensity; (2) the results are robust across various empirical strategies, including instrumental variable estimation, the ERM approach, residual analysis, and alternative indicator specifications; (3) mechanism analysis indicates that digital participation reduces fertilizer use through three main channels: expansion of social networks (accounting for 7.10%), enhancement of subjective cognition (29.66%), and adoption of agricultural technologies (10.18%); and (4) heterogeneity analysis shows that the protective effects on cultivated land are more pronounced among households with off-farm employment experience, in villages where leaders have higher educational attainment, and in regions with more advanced digital environments. Based on these findings, the following policy recommendations are proposed: enhancing digital infrastructure in rural areas, strengthening the training of agricultural practitioners, and developing localized digital environments tailored to local conditions.
Keywords: digital participation; cultivated land ecological conservation; social networks; subjective cognition; agricultural technologies digital participation; cultivated land ecological conservation; social networks; subjective cognition; agricultural technologies

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Xin, Q.; Wu, B.; Shi, Y. The Impact of Farmers’ Digital Participation on Cultivated Land Ecological Protection. Sustainability 2025, 17, 6191. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17136191

AMA Style

Xin Q, Wu B, Shi Y. The Impact of Farmers’ Digital Participation on Cultivated Land Ecological Protection. Sustainability. 2025; 17(13):6191. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17136191

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xin, Qinghua, Baijun Wu, and Yaru Shi. 2025. "The Impact of Farmers’ Digital Participation on Cultivated Land Ecological Protection" Sustainability 17, no. 13: 6191. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17136191

APA Style

Xin, Q., Wu, B., & Shi, Y. (2025). The Impact of Farmers’ Digital Participation on Cultivated Land Ecological Protection. Sustainability, 17(13), 6191. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17136191

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