A benchmark model for exploring the differentiation of trust in information sources in heterogeneous farmers' green behavior

The literature reports that trust in information sources (ISs) is an important determinant of farmers' adoption of sustainable environmental practices. However, few in-depth studies have focused on the differences in trust among different ISs in heterogeneous farmers' green behavior. Therefore, it is challenging for heterogeneous farmers to design efficient and differentiated information strategies. This study proposes a benchmark model to explore differences in trust in different ISs in the application of organic fertilizers (OFs) to farmers at different scales. A total of 361 farmers of a geographically indicated agricultural product in China were evaluated to understand their trust in different ISs when adopting OFs. The results identify the differentiation of heterogeneous farmers' trust in different ISs when considering green practices. Specifically, large-scale farmers' green behavior is more likely to be influenced by trust in formal ISs (strength-weakness ratio of 1.15 for the effect of two ISs), whereas small-scale farmers' green behavior is strongly influenced by trust in informal ISs (strength-weakness ratio of 4.62 for the effect of two ISs). This difference was mainly caused by differences in farmers' information acquisition ability, level of social capital, and preference for social learning. The model and findings of this study can aid policy-makers in designing effective and differentiated information interventions for different types of farmers to maximize their adoption of sustainable environmental practices.