Research on the Influence of Education of Farmers’ Cooperatives on the Adoption of Green Prevention and Control Technologies by Members: Evidence from Rural China

The study explores the impact of education of farmers’ cooperatives on members’ green production behavior. The Probit, Oprobit model and the mediation effect model are used to analyze the influence mechanism of the cooperative’s education on the members’ adoption of four types of green prevention and control technologies and the overall adoption rate, and the instrumental variable method is used for endogeneity treatment and robustness test. The results show that: (1) The education of cooperatives have a significant positive impact on the members’ physical pest control technology, biological pesticide application technology, water and fertilizer integration technology, scientific pesticides reduction technology, and the overall adoption rate plays a critical role. As a result, there is a certain degree of heterogeneity in different intergenerational member groups. (2) The education of cooperatives can significantly enhance members’ cognition of green prevention and control. (3) Through on-the-spot demonstration and general meetings of the members to carry out education, members are more likely to adopt green prevention and control technologies. These findings shed light on the mechanisms by which cooperative’s education affect the green production behavior of cooperative members and provide important policy implications for green agricultural development.