Factors Influencing Farmers' Behavior of Adopting Conservation Tillage Technology in China: A Meta-Analysis

To explore the universal influencing factors and promote the development of conservation tillage technology in China, this study conducted a meta-analysis of 40 relevant studies and 42 effect sizes with a total sample size of 27071 to investigate the factors influencing farmers' conservation tillage technology adoption behavior, changes in the intensity of the influencing factors over time, the existence of heterogeneity in the influencing factors and the sources of that heterogeneity. This analysis yielded three main results. (1) The variables of gender, education, arable land area, cooperative membership, propaganda, training, economic benefit perception, eco-efficiency perception, and risk preference all have significantly positive effects on farmers' conservation tillage technology adoption behavior. (2) Most of the influencing factors are heterogeneous, but the sources of heterogeneity of the variables are not reflected in the information given in the studies. (3) Over time, the influence of gender (male) on farmers' technology adoption behavior has emerged as a negative influence, and the degrees of influence of economic benefit perception, eco-efficiency perception, and risk preference on farmers' technology adoption behavior are weakening. In the future, more attention should be paid to the influence of women on the adoption of conservation tillage technologies, and other important factors should also be incorporated to promote the adoption of conservation tillage technologies by multi-stakeholder coalitions.