Wang Ling et al.: Can order agriculture improve the business performance of family farms -- empirical evidence from 1968 family farms in the country.

Wang Ling, Shi Baofeng, Lu Qian

college of Economics and Management, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University

abstract

based on the survey data of 1968 family farms in rural fixed observation points, this paper analyzes the impact of participation in order agriculture on the business performance of family farms under the counterfactual framework by using the endogenous conversion regression model. The results show that participation in order farming can significantly improve the business performance of family farms, specifically for family farms that do not participate in order farming if they choose to participate, their business performance will improve, and this conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests. The mechanism analysis shows that family farms obtain pre-production, mid-production, post-production services and full-process loan services by participating in order agriculture, achieving cost control, efficiency improvement and risk management, and thus improving their business performance. The heterogeneity analysis found that family farms with low endowments and high management level of farmers and family farms located in the main grain producing areas benefited greatly from order agriculture, and under the contract model of "family farm cooperative leading enterprises", the operating performance of family farms improved more significantly. This paper provides a practical reference for exploring the path of improving the quality and efficiency of family farms and promoting their high-quality development.

Keywords

contract agriculture; family farm; business performance; endogenous transformation regression model

revenue: Journal of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, 2025, No. 2 (Total No. 269), pp. 148-160.