Purpose This paper aims to establish a systematic cognition to alleviate the supply–demand contradiction in rural financial markets from an integrated perspective of knowledge management and proposes the concept of rural financial knowledge ecosystem (RFKE) to encourage multifaceted solutions. Design/methodology/approach The authors qualitatively describe the process that the knowledge management dilemmas cause the supply–demand contradiction in the rural finance and further summarize a systematic methodology from three dimensions: the knowledge subject, the knowledge environment and the knowledge ecology. Findings The authors list four types of knowledge management dilemmas leading to the supply–demand contradiction in the rural finance, i.e. the weak knowledge sharing, the poor knowledge flow, the slow knowledge updating and the imperfect knowledge environment. Meanwhile, the RFKE model consisting of the ecological subject, the ecological environment and the ecological regulation is also presented. Research limitations/implications The role of knowledge management in improving the allocation of financial resources to various rural financial market participants (government, rural financial institutions, farmers, agricultural enterprises, etc.). Originality/value The authors creatively give the RFKE model, which complements and enriches the theory of knowledge management. Meanwhile, relevant management practices are urgently needed under the macro circumstance of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rural revitalization in China.

At present, China's rural water resources are in short supply and the water pollution situation is severe. Family farms are an important part of China's agricultural modernization, and their development level is an important indicator to measure the degree of modernization of a country and a region. The application of agricultural Internet of Things technology in the field of agriculture is helpful to solve the problem of water shortage in family farms in water shortage areas. Based on the questionnaire data, this paper used structural equation modeling (SEM) to study the relationship between family farm water financing willingness and behavior. The results showed that the standardization coefficients of Assumption 1, Assumption 2 and Assumption 3 were 0.332, 0.267 and 0.311, respectively. It can be seen that the water resource financing willingness of family farms was greatly affected by their water-saving technology ability, water management ability and government policy support. However, the standardization coefficient of Assumption 5 was 0.087. It can be seen that the water management capacity had no significant impact on the water resource financing behavior, and the water resource financing behavior of family farms was mainly affected by their water-saving technical capacity and government policy support.