Evolution trend and promotion potential of environmental efficiency of dairy farming in china from the perspective of “club convergence”

Abstract

There are differences in resource endowments, environmental regulations, and production functional areas among different regions in China, which makes dairy farming have certain heterogeneity and imbalance in pollution control, which is mainly reflected in the differences in the environmental efficiency of dairy farming among regions. By analyzing the convergence trend of the dairy farming environment in different regions and scales, it is helpful to predict the potential of improving environmental efficiency, and promote the high-quality development of dairy farming. Based on the dairy farming data of 27 provinces (cities and districts) in China from 2004 to 2019, the SBM model of unexpected output was used to measure the environmental efficiency of dairy farming on different scales. It was found that there were certain differences in the environmental efficiency of dairy farming in China. The overall environmental efficiency of dairy farming showed a “U" evolution trend, including small-scale, medium-scale, and large-scale. The average values of their environmental efficiency were 0.6859, 0.6930, and 0.6855 respectively, and the environmental efficiency of medium-scale dairy farming was the best. The convergence analysis of environmental efficiency showed that there was a conflict between the traditional σ convergence and β convergence results. However, the club convergence showed that the environmental efficiency of small-scale dairy farming converged in general, which could be further divided into two club convergence. The environmental efficiency of medium-scale and large-scale dairy farming did not converge in general but did converge in four different clubs, respectively. Taking the highest environmental efficiency value in the “club” as the reference, the potential to improve the environmental efficiency of dairy farming in different sizes was calculated. The prediction results showed that the gap between the actual value and the potential value was narrowing. It is expected that the potential to improve the environmental efficiency of dairy farming in China will remain above 10% in the next 10–20 years. Based on the above studies, this paper put forward some policy suggestions, such as changing the development direction of dairy farming, changing scale expansion to structural upgrading, implementing differentiated environmental efficiency improvement strategies, narrowing the efficiency gap between regions, paying attention to the input-output structure of factors, and improving the efficiency of breeding environment from the perspective of “eating” and " emission ".

Analysis of the Club Convergence and Driving Factors of China’s Green Agricultural Development Levels

“…Different from the β convergence test and σ convergence test, the advantage of the club convergence test is that when there is no convergence trend in the overall sample, there is no need to divide the convergence groups, but the convergence of all individuals can be clustered through trial and error. This method can identify all local convergence situations using statistical methods and form different convergence clubs [28]. PS convergence incorporates the heterogeneity assumption into the model and can better analyze the convergence and dynamic evolution characteristics between regions.…”

Digital Technology, Factor Allocation and Environmental Efficiency of Dairy Farms in China: Based on Carbon Emission Constraint Perspective

“…"The Implementation Plan for Carbon Emission Reduction and Sequestration in Agriculture and Rural Areas" explicitly emphasizes the need to enhance the per unit yield of livestock and poultry, while concurrently mitigating greenhouse gas pollution emissions, such as those arising from the intestinal tract and fecal methane emissions of ruminants. Given the "double carbon" objective and the escalating pollution caused by cattle and poultry, it has become imperative to enhance environmental efficiency as a means of aligning dairy farming with environmental preservation [10]. The concept of environmental efficiency involves maximizing production while minimizing both factor input and environmental degradation.…”