Adoption of manure resource utilization technologies and its economic effects on large-scale dairy farms

Abstract

[Objective] Livestock and poultry farming manure pollution, the high cost of manure resource use of input problems has become an important constraint on the sustainable development of large-scale dairy farms in China, through the exploration of farm manure resource use technology adoption behavioural mechanisms and their economic effects, for technology promotion, energy saving and emission reduction has an important role in promoting. [Methods] Based on the survey data of 218 large-scale dairy farms in 15 provinces in China and using net income and environmental efficiency to comprehensively reflect the economic effects of manure resource utilization technology adoption, this study used the Probit and propensity score matching (PSM) models to investigate the influencing factors of manure resource utilization technology adoption behavior of farms of different scales, and evaluate the economic effects of the adoption of manure resource utilization technologies in different scale farms. [Results] In terms of technology adoption decisions, the adoption of faecal resource utilisation technology on moderate farms was significantly associated with the age of the farm manager, farming density, proportion of technicians, type of milking machine, nature of the farm, and environmental regulations; the adoption of faecal resource utilisation technology on large-scale farms was mainly affected by environmental regulations such as environmental constraints and incentive policies, as well as by farming density. In terms of economic effects, the environmental efficiency and net returns of large-scale farms were higher than those of moderate-scale farms, and the adoption of manure resource utilisation technology could increase the net returns and environmental efficiency of moderate-scale farms by about 26% and 6%, respectively, and could improve the environmental efficiency of large-scale farms by about 4%, with little effect on their net returns. [Conclusion] The pressure of manure treatment can be effectively alleviated by improving the supervision and support system of livestock and poultry manure, strengthening the technical training of breeding personnel, and promoting moderate scale breeding. In the future, it is still necessary to provide basic support for the utilization of fecal waste resources through scientific and technological innovation and technology promotion, and promote the high-quality development of animal husbandry.

Keywords

• |manure resource utilization technologies|adoption decision|economic effects|sbm-undesirable model|psm model