The impact of business relationships on safe production behavior by farmers: Evidence from China

This paper focuses on the impact of business relationships on safe production behavior by farmers in China. Data collected from 410 vegetable farmers were used with a propensity score matching model for estimating. We found that the co-operative membership without marketing transactions had no significant effect on whether farmers had vegetable certification, whereas the membership did positively affect farmers' attention to pesticide toxicity and the application of soil-testing results to fertilization compared with farmers who participated in market exchanges. These results show that farmers who participate in co-operative membership with marketing transactions are more likely to own certifications, attend to toxicity and apply soil-testing results. We also found that contract farming has a positive effect on whether farmers have certification, whereas no significant effect was observed on the attention paid to toxicity and the application of soil-testing results.