As one of the key links of agricultural green sustainable development, it is an effective path to popularize green production technology and promote farmers’ adoption of green production technology by using cooperatives as an organizational vehicle. Based on the survey of 314 apple farmers in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, the degree of adoption of green production technology was measured by the coefficient of variation method. At the same time, in view of the selection bias of farmers’ participation in cooperatives, the propensity score matching method was used to evaluate the influence of farmers’ participation in cooperatives on the adoption of green production techniques. The results showed that participation in cooperatives increases the probability of farmers adopting green production techniques from 25.29% to 30.29%, indicating that cooperatives increase the degree to which farmers adopt green production techniques. In addition, increased cognition of green production, which increases the price and net profit of products sold and reduces expectations of green production risks, is the primary channel through which cooperatives lead farmers to adopt green production technologies. Participation in cooperatives, though, increased input costs for apple production. In order to strengthen the active role of cooperatives in the popularization of green production technologies, more support should be given to cooperatives, and emphasis should be placed on strengthening their institutional development so that they can be standardized and developed at a high quality.

The aim of poverty alleviation relocation is to break the vicious cycle of poverty and ecological degradation. The improvement of human capital, specifically women’s human capital, is important to realize the poverty alleviation and sustainable development of relocated peasant households. Based on the survey data of 902 peasant households in southern Shaanxi in 2020, using the PSM model and the mediation effect test model, this paper explores the impact of participation in relocation on human capital from the perspective of gender differences, and the mediation effect of fuelwood consumption in the effect of participation in relocation on the human capital of peasants with different genders. The results show that firstly, in general, participation in relocation effectively improves the human capital of peasants. Secondly, there are gender differences in the improvement of the human capital of relocated peasants. Compared with male peasants, the health level of female peasants is significantly improved. Finally, fuelwood consumption plays an important mediation role in the impact of participation in relocation on human capital and the mediation role is more significant in improving the human capital of relocated female peasants.

With the completion of the relocation task, fully promoting the non-agricultural employment of relocated women is of great significance for improving the livelihood sustainability of relocated peasant households’ and consolidating the results of poverty alleviation. Based on the sample data of 1616 rural households in southern Shaanxi Province, China, using the IV-Probit model, IV-Tobit model, and mediation effect model, this study empirically analyzes the impact and mechanism of participation in relocation on women’s non-agricultural employment. The results show that by introducing an instrumental variable to solve endogeneity, participation in relocation has a significant positive impact on the behavior and intensity of women’s non-agricultural employment. A mechanism analysis shows that training, public services, and land abandonment play a mediation role in the relationship between participation in relocation and women’s non-agricultural employment. In terms of women’s non-agricultural employment behavior, the mediation effects are 56.9%, 15.0%, and 11.0%, respectively. In terms of women’s non-agricultural employment intensity, the mediation effects are 58.5%, 15.7%, and 11.6%, respectively. Based on the above findings, this study puts forward policy implications for follow-up relocation support, to further release the surplus women’s labor forces and promote women’s non-agricultural employment.

Farmland environmental pollution has put greater pressure on the sustainability of agricultural production systems. Exploring the relationship between farm size and environmental pollution in agriculture can help provide realistic guidance for stakeholders. In this study, the research data from apple farmers in China were used to measure the environmental pollutant emissions caused by apple production using the life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach. The mediating effect model was used to examine the mechanisms and pathways by which farm size affects the environmental effects of apple production and to identify the mediating effects of fertilizer, pesticide, and machinery input intensity. Finally, a heterogeneity analysis was conducted to illustrate the impact of participation in agricultural cooperatives on the environmental performance of apple production for smallholder farmers. The results showed that the apple production system’s negative environmental impacts from the agricultural material production phase were more significant compared to the farming phase, with a contribution potential of 56.50%. Farm size directly impacts the environmental effects of apple production, and there is a U-shaped trend between the two, implying that from the perspective of environmental effects, larger farm size is not better. There were some mediating effects in the paths of farm size on the environmental effects, and the largest effect was fertilizer input intensity with a full mediating effect; the second largest effect was machinery input intensity with a partial mediating effect, and the mediating effect accounted for 15.50–15.89% of the total effect; the mediating effect of pesticide input intensity was not significant. In addition, the study also found that joining agricultural cooperatives was beneficial in promoting the improvement of the negative environmental impact caused by apple production. These findings provide insights into optimizing farm inputs for apple production and identifying the appropriate farm size to alleviate multiple environmental impacts, intending to make a marginal contribution to promoting sustainable development of the apple industry in China also providing the research evidence for the comparative study of the environmental burdens of apple production in China and other countries in the world.