Impact Mechanism of Socio-Economic Factors on the Crop Choices of Households in Northeast China—A Case Study in Binxian County of Heilongjiang Province

Objective) The objective of this research is to explore the impact mechanisms of socio-economic factors on the crops choices of households, and to provide a basis for optimization of cropping structure and policy-making. (Method) Taking Binxian County in Heilongjiang province as the study area, this study randomly conducted face-to-face interviews on 384 households, and used statistical frequency method provided by SPSS software to investigate the impacts of socio-economic factors including production inputs, net income of crops, crop sale, agriculture technology popularization and agricultural policy on the farming initiative and crop choice. (Result) The results showed that to a greater extent, increase of crops net income, the promotion of new varieties and new technologies as well as agricultural subsidies and guidance policies, can greatly promote the farming initiative. Crop net income is the primary factor affecting farmer's crop choices, followed by agricultural subsidies and guide policy. (Conclusion)Several ways such as increasing infrastructure investment, raising crop prices, stabilizing purchasing channels, increasing investment in agricultural R & D and services, can be considered to improve farming initiative, optimize cropping structure and increase farmers income.