How information channels influence farmers’ adoption of green production technologies: evidence from perspective of strong and weak ties

Agricultural green production plays a vital role in reducing environmental pollution and achieving sustainable development. However, in practice, the promotion of agricultural green production technologies often faces a persistent “last mile” challenge, with farmers adopting a few green practices and at low intensity. Based on survey data from 938 farmers in China, this study employs an ordered Probit model to examine the effect of information channels on farmers’ adoption of green production technologies. The findings are as follows: (1) Both strong-tie information channels (relatives, friends and neighbors) and weak-tie information channels (government agencies for agricultural technology dissemination) significantly promote adoption, with strong-tie information channels exerting a stronger effect. (2) The heterogeneity analysis reveals that strong-tie information channels are particularly effective for experience-based technologies and among older or small-scale farmers, whereas weak-tie information channels more strongly support specialist-based technologies and younger or large-scale farmers. (3) Social trust moderates these effects: interpersonal trust rises the influence of strong-tie information channels, while institutional trust reinforces the effect of weak-tie information channels. (4) Environmental benefit perception and economic benefit perception mediate the effects of both strong-tie and weak-tie information channels on farmers’ adoption of green production technologies. These findings have important policy implications for tailoring information channels to technology types and farmer characteristics, strengthening trust, and improving awareness of technology benefits to promote green technology adoption and sustainable agricultural development.