Xue Qu

The purpose of this study is to quantify the rice harvest losses in China and to evaluate the impacts of machinery and harvest outsourcing services on these losses, given the background of high-speed mechanization and outsourcing services. Data were collected from a national survey conducted in 2016 by the research team in conjunction with the Research Center for the Rural Economy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China. A non-parametric method was used to test whether combine

We review existing studies on rice harvest loss from the aspects of estimation methods, magnitudes, causes, effects, and interventions. The harvest losses examined occurred from the field reaping to storage processes, including threshing, winnowing, and field transportation. We find that existing studies on rice harvest losses have focused on quantitative losses in Asia and Africa. Lack of knowledge, inadequate harvesting techniques, poor infrastructure, and inefficient harvest management practi

One-third of the world's food is lost and wasted each year, making reducing food loss and waste one of the promising ways to ensure global food security. This study conducts a comparative analysis of the differences among the factors affecting rice harvest loss of specialized and part-time farmers. Data collected from 1 106 farmers in China were analysed using Tobit regression. The results indicated the following: i) The average rice harvest loss rate of part-time farmers is higher than that of

Constrained by resources and environment, reducing food losses is receiving increasing attention in China. This study uses data from 1,106 farmers to calculate rice harvest losses and tests the impacts of mechanization and farming scale. The results are: 1) The harvest loss rate of rice averages 3.65%, and it decreases as farm scale increases. 2) The effects of mechanization on losses vary with farm scale. 3) Small- and middle-scale farmers are vulnerable to production and harvesting conditions

The purchase of agricultural machinery outsourcing services creates a principal–agent relationship between farmers and service providers, where farmers are principals, and service providers are agents. Inconsistent goals and information asymmetry between two parties may induce moral hazard on the part of the agent. Based on survey data from 1106 rice farmers in China, this study uses Logit models to estimate the effect of agricultural machinery outsourcing services on harvesting operators’ work

This study built mediation analysis models to test the hypothesis that a moral hazard-measured as whether harvest operators’ work attitudes are serious-mediates the effects of mechanical harvest outsourcing on rice harvest losses based on a 1106-household survey in China. The major findings are as follows. First, the average rice harvest loss rate in 2016 in China was approximately 3.65%, equalling eight million tons of rice or one million hectares of farmland. Second, after addressing the poten

This study uses survey data from 651 farmers in China to study the impacts of moral hazard on rice harvest losses and we further study the differences of the impacts across farm scales. The results show that large-scale farms have lower harvest losses and the service providers have more serious attitude when harvesting. After addressing the endogeneity of moral hazard using instrumental variable approach, moral hazard increases harvest losses. However, this impact diminishes as farm size increas

Abstract In this chapter, the detailed description of the data used in this study is presented.

People with PDC, YADC and BSC had more abnormal metabolic indexes than people with BC, and the metabolic indexes of people with YIDC constitution were different from those with BC. Individuals with these four TCM constitution types should pay attention to making appropriate changes in lifestyles and dietary habits and take required measures to prevent the incidence and development of metabolic diseases.

This study verified the differences in serum metabolites associated with shi and xu obesity, demonstrating potential therapeutic strategies for the two types.

Abstract In Chap. 5 , the mediation path that the negative effect of harvest outsourcing services on operators’ work attitudes will lead to increased rice harvest losses is examined through mediation analysis models. In the previous chapters, the effect of service providers’ moral hazards on rice harvest losses has not been studied directly. In this chapter, we focus only on farmers using harvest outsourcing services and directly explore the effect of service providers’ moral hazards on rice har

Abstract In Chap. 4 , we compare the work attitudes of service providers and farmers to study the moral hazards of service providers and find that service providers’ work attitude is less serious than that of farmers. In this chapter, we will study whether the negative effect of harvest outsourcing services on operators’ work attitudes will lead to increased rice harvest losses.