Machinery Service Research Articles

Self-Owned or Outsourced? The Impact of Farm Machinery Adoption Decisions on Chinese Farm Households’ Operating Income

Using farm machinery plays a significant role in easing the issue of slowing growth of operating income among farm households in China. Drawing data from CFPS2018, this study adopts a multinomial endogenous switching regression (MESR) to analyze the factors influencing farm households’ choices regarding self-owned farm machinery and outsourced machinery services, as well as their subsequent impact on operating income. The results of the study show that the characteristics of the head of household, family, village, and region have a significant impact on the farm households’ selection of whether to use self-owned machinery or outsourced services. Furthermore, the exclusive use of self-owned farm machinery and the combined use of both self-owned and outsourced machinery substantially enhance farm households’ operating income. An additional analysis indicates that these two types of machinery are complementary, and their combined use generates a superimposed effect that further boosts income. These findings suggest that the combined use of self-owned and outsourced machinery is optimal for farm households who wish to expand their operating income.

Village Organization and Sustainable Growth of Farmers’ Income: An Empirical Study Based on Dynamic Survey Data of the Labor Force in China

Common prosperity is the core goal of rural revitalization, and the sustainable growth of farmers’ income is an inevitable requirement. This study uses CLDS2014-2018 village- and family-level questionnaire data to reveal how the degree of village organization affects the sustainable growth of farmers’ income, thus providing a reference for local government decision-making to promote the increase in farmers’ income and narrow the income gap at the village level. The results show that the degree of village organization can significantly affect farmers’ income, and the analysis results of the degree of formal organization are consistent with this. Specifically, for every 1% increase in the degree of village organization, the per capita household income will increase by 0.324%, among which, the wage income will increase by 0.226%, the operational income will increase by 5%, the property income will increase by 0.008%, and the transfer income will increase by 0.042%. The estimation results obtained by using instrumental variables are consistent, and the results are robust. At the same time, improving the degree of village organization can also significantly increase the proportion of farmers’ non-agricultural income and narrow the income gap among farmers. On the impact of heterogeneity, it was found that the geographical distance between villages and county and township governments, as well as the political identity and education level of farmers, will affect the role of the degree of organization. The results of the mechanism analysis show that improving the degree of village organization is mainly achieved by promoting the circulation of agricultural land, socializing the service of agricultural machinery, and providing industrial and commercial capital to the countryside to increase farmers’ income. The research revealed that the modernization of rural governance should be accelerated and the degree of village organization should be improved, especially the degree of formal organization, so as to build benign trust and a cooperative relationship between village committees and villagers and implement policies and measures that improve the income of farmers according to local conditions. At the same time, this will strengthen the publicity and education of party members to improve the proportion of rural party members and the education level of farmers.

The impact of agricultural machinery services on farmland transfer: a analytical perspective based on the profitability of grain production

IntroductionIn the context of the deceleration of farmland scale management, a crucial question arises in agricultural development theory and practice: will service driven scale management in the production process become a viable alternative to farmland scale management, serving as the secondary pathway to achieve scale management in China?MethodsTo address this issue, an empirical analysis on the impact of agricultural machinery services on farmland transfer was conducted in this article using data from the China Rural Revitalization Survey database comprising 302 villages and 2,871 micro-farmers in 2020 by utilizing the ordinary least squares method and instrumental variable method.Results and discussionThe results show that the implementation of agricultural machinery services will increase the rate of farmland transfer in villages. The effect of agricultural machinery services on increasing the profitability of large-scale farmers surpasses its effect on smallholder farmers, thereby motivating smallholder farmers to transfer farmland to large-scale farmers, consequently fostering the consolidation of farmland. In addition, power-intensive service links are more effective in increasing the rate of farmland transfer and fostering the concentration of farmland transfer compared to control-intensive service links. The impact of agricultural machinery services on enhancing the rate of farmland transfer and fostering the consolidation of farmland transfer is more pronounced on the plain areas compared to the hillmountainous areas. Consequently, this article demonstrates that service-driven scale management and farmland scale management are not merely alternatives but rather complementary strategies that mutually reinforce each other.

How Farm Machinery Rental Services and Off-Farm Work Affect Household Income in China

(1) Background: Most nations struggle to close significant income gaps between high and low earners. While the adoption of farm machinery rental services and off-farm employment may be beneficial, it is unclear whether jointly applying both approaches can raise income levels in rural households or help narrow the income gap within the farm sector. This study investigated scenarios involving both participation in farm machinery rental markets and in off-farm work, analyzing their varied impacts on household incomes based on survey data from 1027 rice producers in rural China. (2) Methods: We employed a two-stage econometric procedure encompassing a bivariate ordered probit model with an endogeneity-corrected unconditional quantile regression model. (3) Results: Rice farmers often simultaneously rent farm machinery services and engage in off-farm work. Both activities positively affect their household incomes; however, these effects vary across different income levels. Renting farm machinery provides greater marginal benefits for lower-income households, while off-farm employment has a stronger impact on higher-income households. Farm machinery rental services appear to benefit disadvantaged households more than off-farm employment opportunities do. (4) Suggestions: To enhance the welfare of lower-income households, policymakers should focus on expanding access to farm machinery rental services.

Research on Agricultural Machinery Services for the Purpose of Promoting Conservation Agriculture: An Evolutionary Game Analysis Involving Farmers, Agricultural Machinery Service Organizations and Governments

Research on Agricultural Machinery Services for the Purpose of Promoting Conservation Agriculture: An Evolutionary Game Analysis Involving Farmers, Agricultural Machinery Service Organizations and Governments

The influence of particle size and velocity on the wear failure of TiC coated Fe under oil extraction conditions: A molecular dynamics study

The application of titanium carbide (TiC) coatings, renowned for their exceptional tribological properties, holds promise for the research on failure prevention in downhole petroleum machinery. In this study, molecular dynamics was employed to coat TiC layers onto Fe surfaces to enhance wear resistance. The effects of particle size and velocity on the wear and erosion resistance failure of the entire system were investigated through nanoindentation, scratch tests, and particle impact studies. The results indicate that the influence of particle size on the abrasion resistance and erosion resistance of materials is manifested in the load trend and surface atomic morphology. In the plastic damage of materials, an increase in velocity weakens the accumulation of slip faults and rearrangement phenomena among internal atoms, resulting in irregular fluctuations in the load curve. Meanwhile, the high-speed system will dominate the influence on temperature by accelerating atomic motion, leading to different orders of magnitude of wear and high-temperature atoms in impact simulations compared to particle size. This provides significant reference for the study of protective failure of TiC coatings in complex oil machinery service environments.

Performance Evaluation of Farm Machinery Utilization Under Custom Hiring Services Managements

Farm machinery hire service is a custom hiring business model managed by farmers’ groups at the farm level. The model is developed to facilitate access to farm machinery by small farmers and derive income (profit) from hiring out machinery services. This research attempts to evaluate the performance of farm machinery hire services in the Indragiri Hulu Region, Riau Province. The field surveys were conducted from September to October 2022 in 11 districts in the province. A total of 11 managers and 22 operators from 11 farm machinery hire service groups were selected purposively and interviewed to collect field data. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and quantitative approaches. The results showed that farm machinery hire service groups manage 3 to 6 types of machines, including hand tractors, mini tractors, water pumps, rice transplanters, combine harvesters, and power threshers. The available farm machines are not sufficient to cover the entire area owned by farm machinery hire service groups. Therefore, most machines must work beyond capacity to achieve the target of covering as wide an area as possible. The machinery hire service was profitable for businesses at the farm level in the region. The results suggest that the number and type of farm machines must be added to increase the working area and make more profit. Keywords: Economic performance, Farm machinery hire services, Performance evaluation, Technical performance, Working area.

Exploring the poverty-reduction benefits of agricultural machinery socialization services in China: Implications for the sustainable development of farmers

Sustainable development is crucial for alleviating poverty among farmers. In this study, we examined the impact, and the mechanism underlying this impact, of the adoption of agricultural machinery services by farmers on their relative poverty from a multidimensional poverty perspective by employing the logit and ordered logit models and the Karlson–Holm–Breen (KHB) method. These results indicate that adopting agricultural machinery services can significantly reduce the probability of relative poverty among farmers, thereby expediting the sustainability of rural development. However, this poverty-reduction effect varies based on age and sex. The adoption of agricultural machinery services mainly reduces poverty by increasing farmers' human capital. Training in employment skills and non-agricultural work experience are the main transmission mechanisms. Therefore, the socialization of agricultural machinery services can be used as an effective policy tool to reduce relative poverty in developing countries, promote sustained improvements in farmers’ incomes, and achieve sustainability in rural development.

What monetary incentives are rice farmers willing to accept to stop straw burning? Evidence from a choice experiment in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Producing rice generates straw, which is often conveniently burned, causing substantial atmospheric pollution. Increasing straw utilization efficiency and reducing straw burning will improve the agricultural ecological environment and promote sustainable development of agricultural production. Little is known about farmers’ perceived costs of alternative straw management practices and what it would take for them to stop straw burning. We conduct choice experiments with 543 Vietnamese farmers in the Mekong Delta to elicit their preferences for improved straw management practices under varying monetary incentives and enabling environments of mechanization and governance. The attributes and levels used in this study include sustainable practice (i.e., incorporation of rice straw, partial removal, and complete removal), availability of machinery (i.e., low, medium, and high), governance (i.e., individual farmer, farmer organization, and local government), and monetary incentives (US$43–87/ha). Results from a mixed logit model suggest that farmers are willing to stop straw burning and adopt sustainable straw management practices in return for monetary incentives. Farmers require lower monetary incentives when machinery services for chopping and collecting rice straw are available and when rice straw management is governed collectively by farmer organizations or the local government. Policy makers can use these results to prioritize investments and design optimal policies for mitigating air pollution by diverting farmers away from straw burning towards sustainable rice straw management practices.

Modernizing smallholder agriculture and achieving food security: An exploration in machinery services and labor reallocation in China

AbstractThis study discusses the modernization of smallholder agriculture in China, where most farms are small, and farms' parcels are fragmented. The study puts forward a framework of agricultural modernization by vertical division of labor and specialized production in agriculture. We posit that hiring machinery services could be a pathway to connect smallholders with modern agriculture and achieve food security in China. Using household‐level data from China, this study examines how hiring machinery services affects farm productivity and rural households' welfare. Findings show that mechanization services increased rural Chinese families' food security and agricultural productivity. Hiring machinery services improves smallholders' income by influencing the input efficiency of maize production and increasing participation in off‐farm work. Our findings highlight the importance of technology to improve smallholder agriculture and food security, not only in China but also in other South and Southeast Asian countries.

Technical and technological support for the involvement of fallow lands in agriculture

Sustainable development of agricultural production is a key factor in ensuring food security and growth of the country's export potential. One of the main reserves for the development of the agro-industrial complex is the involvement of fallow lands in agricultural industry, which is associated with the problem of technical and technological support for these works. The purpose of the work is to intensify the process of involving fallow lands in agriculture by developing a program of technical and technological support for this type of works, aimed at creating and accelerated implementation of a system of specialized machines. The authors systematized technologies and complexes of technical means, used in the involvement of fallow lands in crop production, depending on the stages of wild species overgrowth. For active involvement of fallow lands in agriculture, it is proposed to create a network of regional machine-technological stations equipped with modern domestic specialized equipment, providing services in removal of woody and shrubby vegetation and in initial tillage to agricultural producers in regions. The program assumes the development and organization of mass production of modern equipment for the involvement of fallow lands in agriculture, as well as implementation of a set of support measures aimed at accelerated technical equipment of machine-technological stations. Such an approach should make it possible for small and medium-sized agricultural producers to use financially affordable machinery services to involve fallow lands in agriculture, eliminating the need for its acquisition and maintenance, hiring and training of additional stuff. The implementation of the proposed program should allow agricultural producers to involve fallow lands in agricultural production with minimal costs, at the same time ensuring high growth rates of acreage and agricultural production volumes.

The effects of agricultural machinery services and land fragmentation on farmers' straw returning behavior

AbstractStraw returning is important for rural ecological management and sustainable agricultural development. Using farm survey data for Anhui Province, China, in 2020, we applied the double‐hurdle model to investigate the impact of agricultural machinery services and land fragmentation on farmers' straw‐returning behavior, and to explore the relationship between agricultural machinery self‐service and outsourced service. Self‐service had a significant positive effect on farmers' straw‐returning behavior, while outsourced service had a significant positive effect only on degree of adoption. Land fragmentation had a significant negative effect on farmers' straw‐returning behavior, and significantly inhibited the effect of self‐service on adoption decision. Complementarity existed between self‐service and outsourced service in farmers' straw‐returning adoption decision, and the effect was more pronounced among smaller‐scale farmers. There was significant substitutability between self‐service and outsourced service in degree of adoption among larger‐scale farmers. Transfer and integration of rural land, increasing agricultural machinery purchase subsidy, upgrading farmers' self‐service capability, and promoting development of socialized agricultural machinery services should be implemented to promote crop straw returning. EconLit Citations: Q01, Q16.

The Scaling-up of Agricultural Mechanization Services and the Re-shaping of Small-Scale Household Farming in China

Abstract Taking the case of the agricultural mechanization service industry as an example, this study discusses the dynamics of the transformation of China’s agricultural contracting service industry in the context of the scaling-up of agricultural production, and how the transformation is reshaping small-scale household farming in grain production. With the accelerated growth of farmland transfer, large-scale agricultural producers have been emerging rapidly in different parts of China in the past years. Since their demand for agricultural contracting services is different from that of small-scale household producers, the scaling-up of agricultural production has promoted the scaling-up of agricultural contracting services. Meanwhile, the capital surplus in the agricultural machinery manufacturing industry has created three consequences simultaneously: the excess supply of agricultural mechanization services, the acceleration of agricultural machinery renewal, and the rising cost of machinery purchases. The interactions of these three factors not only raised the threshold of the agricultural machinery service industry, which makes it difficult for part-time service providers to survive market competition, but also shortened the time window for machinery service provision, which makes it difficult for large-scale agricultural producers to balance land operation and machinery service provision. Consequently, large-scale agricultural machinery service organizations are continuously replacing those small-scale part-time service providers. During this process, small-scale household producers engaged in grain production are faced with increasing risks of being excluded from farming, both directly and indirectly, as it is difficult for small producers to deal with large service organizations, and the small-scale part-time service providers that used to serve them are continually being replaced.

Market-oriented farmland transfer and outsourced machinery services: Evidence from China

This study investigates the effect of market-oriented farmland transfer on farmers’ utilization of outsourced machinery services (OMS), using data from the China Land Economic Survey (CLES) comprising 1,286 renting-in rural households. We utilize the two-stage least square (2SLS) and seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model to address the endogeneity issue. The results show that market-oriented farmland transfer increases farmers’ OMS adoption, intensity, and cost, and the influence is channeled by reshaping the transaction characteristics related to uncertainty, asset specificity, and transaction frequency of OMS. Further analysis reveals that technology demonstration and machinery purchase subsidies negatively moderate the relationship between market-oriented farmland transfer and OMS. Among farmers with different farm sizes and production tasks, market-oriented farmland transfer significantly increases OMS for smallholder farmers and labor-intensive production tasks.

Repair and adjustment manual for mowers

The manual for repair and adjustment of mowers is intended for farmers, machine operators and specialists involved in technical service and operation of agricultural machinery on farms and at repair and maintenance enterprises. When developing the manual, documentation from manufacturers, materials from research centers, and best practices in mower repair were used. The manual contains the main malfunctions of mower components and assemblies, provides instructions for eliminating them, and provides recommendations for cleaning, adjustment, running-in, storage and technological adjustment of the main working parts.

Multiple roles of agricultural cooperatives in improving farm technical efficiency: A case study of rural Gansu, China

AbstractThe establishment of agricultural cooperatives is widely viewed as an institutional arrangement to remove constraints that prevent smallholders from accessing profitable business opportunities in agriculture. Agricultural cooperatives in China offer a wide range of services within the framework of contract farming and vertical integration. This study empirically examines the multiple roles of China's cooperatives in improving farm production efficiency and conserving the agricultural environment. Considering that agricultural cooperatives' services can be broadly divided into biological and machinery services, we specify a stochastic frontier production function in a special form, called the separated Cobb–Douglas. The empirical results present clear evidence that Chinese agricultural cooperatives play essential roles in increasing biochemical technical efficiency and protecting the agroecological environment. However, the involvement of cooperatives as vertical integrators is demonstrated to have a detrimental effect on biochemical technical efficiency. The pressing challenge for agricultural cooperative development in China is to accommodate the conflicting consequences that their entry into farming has on biochemical and machinery technical efficiencies. This has strong policy implications, although our study has certain limitations in terms of the narrow focus on a single specific region. [EconLit Citations: C26, Q12, Q13, Q15, Q18].

Modernizing Smallholder Agriculture and Achieving Food Security: An Exploration in Machinery Services and Labor Reallocation in China

Modernizing Smallholder Agriculture and Achieving Food Security: An Exploration in Machinery Services and Labor Reallocation in China

ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЕ ЭКСПЛУАТАЦИОННОЙ НАДЕЖНОСТИ СЕЛЬСКОХОЗЯЙСТВЕННОЙ ТЕХНИКИ С УЧЕТОМ РЕГИОНАЛЬНЫХ ОСОБЕННОСТЕЙ

The technical equipment of agricultural production in Russia is characterized by a low level of energy supply. In the regions of the country, where a sharp decrease in technical equipment has been stabilized, there is a decrease in the number of machines that have developed a standard service life. (Research purpose) The research purpose is assessing the operational reliability of agricultural machinery taking into account the regional features of the maintenance system, capital repairs and modernization of machinery. (Materials and methods) It was noted that in the Republic of Bashkortostan, a program is being implemented to subsidize the costs of agricultural producers for capital repairs and modernization of equipment, which has significantly increased the availability factor of tractors and combines while increasing their standard service life. (Results and discussion) It was established that the operational reliability of agricultural machinery is largely ensured taking into account the regional characteristics of the maintenance and repair system, which is determined by the leading and coordinating role of the regional Ministry of Agriculture in the field of state support for the technical service system of agricultural machinery, scientific, technical and personnel policy. The directions of activity of the engineering service of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Bashkortostan have been identified: subsidizing technical service enterprises; development of tools and technologies for maintenance and repair (import substitution); coordination of work for the serial production of new types of equipment; organization of interaction with industrial enterprises; search and development of constructive solutions to improve the design of components and assemblies; creation of zonal service centers by dealers in the territory of supervised regions; advanced training and retraining of engineering personnel; creation of a systematic catalog database data on tractor parts and mobile agricultural machinery; the development of the secondary market and the trade-in system of agricultural machinery. (Conclusions) Measures of influence on the system of maintenance and repair were determined, taking into account regional peculiarities in the field of state support for the system of technical service of agricultural machinery, scientific, technical and personnel policy of the region.

The impact of agricultural machinery services on farmers’ black soil protection behavior and mechanism: Evidence from farmers in typical black soil areas of Jilin Province

The impact of agricultural machinery services on farmers’ black soil protection behavior and mechanism: Evidence from farmers in typical black soil areas of Jilin Province

Tasks, ways and approaches to improve service maintenance of machinery (on the example of Rostselmash)

The article is devoted to the issues of improving the system of service maintenance of machinery manufactured by Rostselmash Combine Plant LLC. The strategic objective is to develop the corporate service network in terms of its quantitative expansion and qualitative growth. The introduction lists the main points of the company’s service network strategy. The main body of the publication contains the main advantages of transitioning to a new system of guarantee fulfilment, as well as approaches to achieve such a transition. Potential difficulties and unresolved problems hindering the improvement of the service delivery system are outlined. Also, in the ‘Materials and Methods’ section of the publication, approaches to the improvement of machinery service are formulated, touching upon such areas of this work as: payment for warranty services, termination of warranty obligations, training of mechanics and specialists of service centers, etc. The main business objectives covering the following aspects of service improvement work are presented as the results of the research study: franchise development, increasing customer satisfaction, information gathering, and cost reduction. Each of the outlined aspects is given its extended description in the third section of the article.