This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Open AccessArticle
The Impact of Farmers’ Digital Participation on Cultivated Land Ecological Protection
by
Qinghua Xin
Qinghua Xin
Name: Qinghua Xin
Position: Doctoral Researcher
Affiliation: School of Business, East China of and [...]
Name: Qinghua Xin
Position: Doctoral Researcher
Affiliation: School of Business, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), China
Research Interests: Sustainable rural resource management, agricultural economics, and land use policy
Education:
Ph.D. Candidate in Applied Economics, East China University of Science and Technology, 2020–present
Advisor: Prof. Baijun Wu
M.Sc. in Applied Economics, Shandong University of Technology, 2017–2020
1,*
,
Baijun Wu
Baijun Wu 1 and
Yaru Shi
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
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.
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
Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details
here.
Article Metrics
Article Access Statistics
For more information on the journal statistics, click
here.
Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view.