Greening China's Farms: A Network Analysis of Agricultural Carbon Efficiency

With China aiming for a greener future, the spotlight is on making farming cleaner. This study looked at 268 cities in China, checking how well they cut carbon emissions in agriculture from 2001 to 2022. By using social network analysis and tweaking a gravity model, researchers found interesting patterns. For one, the efficiency of cities in cutting farm carbon emissions varied a lot by region and time. Central cities were better at it, while those around them lagged.The network of these efficiencies was complex and stable. Central and southeastern China led the way, while places like Beijing and Ningxia were on the outskirts. When it came to how these efficiencies spread, nearby cities didn't influence each other much, but distant ones did. Factors like how advanced farming was and how much machinery was used helped build these networks. But differences in how industries were set up and how much fertilizer was used hurt them.