Does Organic Certification Enhance Market Resilience for Farmers?——Empirical Study Based on the Dominant Apple Producing Region in the Loess Plateau
Against the backdrop of increasing consumer demand for high-quality agricultural prod-ucts at the consumer end and external shocks faced by agricultural markets,evaluating the influence of organic certification on the market resilience of smallholder farmers holds significant practical signifi-cance.Drawing on the concept of"resilient smallholder farmers",we construct indicators representing market resilience based on two periods of apple sales price data.We systematically analyze the mecha-nisms through which organic certification affects market resilience and conduct an empirical test,using a sample of 681 apple farmers from the dominant apple-producing region in the Loess Plateau and a multi-dimensional fixed-effects linear regression model.The research finds that organic certification contributes to the enhancement of market resilience for smallholder farmers,and this conclusion still holds after ro-bustness checks and addressing potential endogeneity concerns.Based on cost-benefit theory,mecha-nism analysis reveals that organic certification enhances farmers'cost control capabilities and stability in agricultural returns:the former is manifested by an increase in the probability of using organic fertilizers and biopesticides,while per-acre expenditures on fertilizers and pesticides remains unchanged;the latter is demonstrated by the improvement of apple quality due to organic certification,leading to increased pre-mium capacity and expanded sales channels.Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the market resilience im-provement is more pronounced for farmers with better economic conditions,those who join coopera-tives,and those located in areas where regional public brands for agricultural products are being devel-oped.Therefore,it is suggested to continue advancing the development of organic agriculture to enhance farmers'resilience against external shocks and market risks,and to provide feasible solutions for"small-holder farmers"to better access the"big market".
organic certificationmarket resiliencefarmerssales priceapple-producing regions
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