How to connect small farmers with modern agriculture : the impact of farmers’ organizational degree on the adoption of digital agricultural technology

How to connect small farmers with modern agriculture : the impact of farmers’ organizational degree on the adoption of digital agricultural technology | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article How to connect small farmers with modern agriculture : the impact of farmers’ organizational degree on the adoption of digital agricultural technology Zhaoguang Li, Qinying Shi, Kai Hu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9291687/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Context Digital Agricultural Technologies (DAT) can break through the limitation of agricultural resource endowment, maximize yields while protecting the environment. Nevertheless, DAT is rarely adopted by farmers in China. Objective This study develops a theoretical framework for technology diffusion that incorporates agricultural organizations, governments, and farmers. The aim was to examines the effect of farmers’ degree of organization on the adoption of DAT, its mechanism of action and the role of government. Methods Multivariate ordinal regression model, causal mediation model and moderating effect model were employed to analyze the relationship between farmers’ organization degree and DAT adoption. Results and conclusions The farmers’ organizational degree promotes farmers to adopt DAT through two paths, farmers’ livelihood specialization and production specialization. Government support significantly influences the adoption of DAT among organized farmers. In different support strategies, infrastructure construction can promote the adoption of DAT by organized farmers, while government subsidies can only promote the adoption of DAT by organized farmers with a certain level of production specialization. Significance The conclusions of this study offer theoretical support for developing countries in promoting DAT and implementing policy tools. JEL: O31;O38;O32 Agricultural Organization Digital agricultural technology Production specialization Livelihood specialization Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9291687","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":624354865,"identity":"4092ae3d-802e-4b4a-aed4-54c68f68dba1","order_by":0,"name":"Zhaoguang Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jiangxi Agricultural University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhaoguang","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":624354866,"identity":"700bc002-3e06-46bf-8aca-6b046bfdf6ae","order_by":1,"name":"Qinying Shi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jiangxi Agricultural University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qinying","middleName":"","lastName":"Shi","suffix":""},{"id":624354867,"identity":"924f27f0-be9d-410a-95bd-c20d074262ba","order_by":2,"name":"Kai Hu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAq0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACxgOMDQxybOztB4jXA9JizMdzJoE0LYnzJBwMiFPO3372wQHGHYfT2yQYEhh+VGwjrEXiTLrBAcYzh3PbpBsPMPacuU1YiwFDGsPhv21ALTIHEpgZ24jRwv8M6Je2w+lsEgkGRGqRSANrSSBei8QNsC3phm3AQD5IlF/4+9MYHzC2WcvLt7cffPCjgggtKOAAiepHwSgYBaNgFOACAMveO5x2ezXvAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Jiangxi Agricultural University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kai","middleName":"","lastName":"Hu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-01 12:09:38","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9291687/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9291687/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107490205,"identity":"6976a4c6-01e0-46b3-aba7-6b34909bc31b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-22 02:51:20","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":835648,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscriptwithoutauthordetails.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9291687/v1_covered_2bfb92b2-781f-44e3-b38b-f27c547a3436.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"How to connect small farmers with modern agriculture : the impact of farmers’ organizational degree on the adoption of digital agricultural technology","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Agricultural Organization, Digital agricultural technology, Production specialization, Livelihood specialization","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9291687/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9291687/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eContext\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDigital Agricultural Technologies (DAT) can break through the limitation of agricultural resource endowment, maximize yields while protecting the environment. 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