Sustainable agricultural technologies are of great significance in fully utilizing agricultural resources and promoting agricultural production. However, the adoption rates of these technologies are often characterized as low in rural areas in China. To figure out the potential salient determinants of rice farmers’ willingness to adopt sustainable agricultural technologies, this paper, by employing the multivariate probit model and ordered probit model, particularly and firstly explores the roles of observational learning and experience-based learning through communication from parents within the household on rice farmers’ willingness to adopt these technologies. Results show that there are strong complementarities and substitutabilities between sustainable agricultural technologies that rice farmers are willing to adopt, and that observational learning and experience-based learning through communication within the household do have pronounced effects on rice farmers’ willingness to adopt some sustainable agricultural technologies and on their intensive use intentions. Therefore, while formulating policies to improve the adoption rates and adoption intensity of these technologies, relevant government agencies should take the complementarities and substitutabilities between sustainable agricultural technologies as well as observational learning and experience-based learning through communication from parents into consideration.

As part of the Canadian Great Lakes Action Plan, the transport and effect of non-point source agricultural contaminants in wetlands were evaluated. Due to the broad scope of this study, the abilities of many individuals with different domains of expertise were employed. Stages of the study reported here include: 1) Survey of cropping and pesticide/fertilizer practices of farms in the selected watersheds; 2) Sampling and analysis of creek water and sediments for pesticides and other parameters; 3) Study of the reversible "loss" of pesticides by adsorptive and diffusive interaction with sediment particles; 4) Investigation of the effect of the agricultural contaminants on macrophytes and invertebrates. Among the findings of this work were the detection of some pesticides years after their last use as well as the presence of microorganisms, in all creek sediments tested, capable of rapidly and completely mineralizing atrazine.