Can Agricultural Socialized Services Promote the Reduction in Chemical Fertilizer? Analysis Based on the Moderating Effect of Farm Size.

On the basis of the data of 855 farmer households in the 2020 China Land Economic Survey, this paper uses an extended regression model to empirically study the impact of agricultural socialized services on the reduction in chemical fertilizer and the moderating effect of farm size in the above impact path. The results show that adoption of agricultural socialized services by farmers can significantly promote reduction in chemical fertilizer. The moderating effect test shows that the farm size is instrumental in strengthening the effect of promoting agricultural socialized services on the reduction in chemical fertilizer. The effect of technology-intensive services on fertilizer reduction was more pronounced than that of labor-intensive services. Agricultural socialized services have a greater effect on the reduction in chemical fertilizer for farmers with a higher degree of part-time employment, but farm size can significantly enhance the fertilizer reduction effect generated by the adoption of agricultural socialized services by farmers with a lower degree of part-time employment. Therefore, we recommend further developing agricultural socialized services, strengthening the supply of agricultural green production services, and playing the role of agricultural socialized services in chemical fertilizer reduction. We also posit that encouraging large-scale farmers to adopt agricultural socialized services would further promote fertilizer reduction.

Does agricultural cooperative membership help reduce the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides? Evidence from rural China.

The overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides (CFPs) has negatively impacted the environment and human health. It is an urgent issue that should be addressed. In this study, we investigate whether agricultural cooperatives can serve as an institutional arrangement that helps reduce the consumption of CFPs, using the data of 2012 family farms from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China. Various approaches, including instrumental variable-based two-stage residual inclusion approach (2SRI), endogenous switching probit (ESP) model, and endogenous switching regression (ESR) model, are utilized to help address the endogeneity issues of the cooperative membership variable. The results show that agricultural cooperative membership significantly increases the probability of reducing fertilizers and pesticides of the family farms and improves net return per yuan CFPs. The further analysis shows that agricultural cooperative production services reduced the usage of fertilizers and pesticides, while cooperatives marketing services only significantly lowered the use of pesticides. Our findings highlight the importance of promoting the development of agricultural cooperatives to support green agricultural production in China.

Radical-Initiated Formation of Aromatic Organosulfates and Sulfonates in the Aqueous Phase.

Aromatic organosulfates and sulfonates have recently been observed in ambient aerosols collected in urban sites. Anthropogenic volatile organic compounds including aromatics are considered as their precursors in the atmosphere, but the mechanism for the formation of these compounds is still not adequately understood. In the present study, we investigated the aqueous phase reactions of benzoic acid with sulfite in the presence of Fe3+ under various conditions. Aromatic organosulfates and sulfonates [hereafter called aromatic organosulfur compounds (AOSCs)] can be formed during the reaction. The yield was measured as 7.3 ± 0.6%, suggesting that the formation of AOSCs may provide an additional pathway for the fate of benzoic acid in the atmosphere. The mechanism for AOSC formation is proposed to be through the combination of organic radical intermediates with sulfoxy radicals, that is, SO3- and SO4- radicals. In addition to benzoic acid, other monocyclic aromatics (i.e., benzene, toluene, salicylic acid, benzyl alcohol, and phenol) can also undergo analogous mechanisms to produce various AOSCs. Interestingly, AOSC formation through this pathway can retain the aromatic ring of parent aromatics, shedding light on the fact that monocyclic aromatics can also serve as the hitherto unrecognized precursors of AOSCs in the atmosphere. Our findings provide new insights into potential sources and pathways for AOSC formation in the atmosphere.