About Me

Greetings! I am currently a fourth-year Economics Ph.D. candidate at China Center for Agricultural Policy (CCAP) at Peking University (PKU), supervised by Prof. Jinxia Wang. Now I’m a Joint Ph.D. visiting the Department of Economics at the University of Toronto, supervised by Prof. Loren Brandt.

I obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Agronomy and Biotechnology and a Dual Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from China Agricultural University (CAU) in 2020.

Research

Ph.D. Thesis

• The Development of Agricultural Machinery Service and Rural Transformation
  Sponsored by the “Scholarship for Doctoral Thesis on Rural Study” from Tsinghua University

Working Papers

• Empowering Smallholders with Digital Farming Technologies: Experimental Evidence on the Adoption of Agricultural Drones in China (Joint with Huang Chen, Jinxia Wang, and Kaixing Huang)
• Agricultural Machinery Services and Factor Reallocation in Rural China (Joint with Jinxia Wang)
  Presented at the 14th Annual Conference of China Agricultural Economic Review (CAER)
• Nudging Farmers to Adopt Irrigation Machinery Services: Experimental Evidence from China (Joint with Lijuan Zhang, Huang Chen, and Jinxia Wang)

Publications

• Yinuo Huang, Zhixian Lu, Kexin She, et al. Income-increasing effects of registered poor households in the context of targeted poverty alleviation[J]. Resources Science, 2022, 44(9): 1891-1904.
• Shanshuai Chen, Zhixian Lu, Qiqi Lu, et al. Research progress on the conversion of biomass to jet fuel ranged hydrocarbon[J]. Journal of China Agricultural University, 2019, 24(09): 1-9.
• Xiaona Yu, Ziqing Wei, Zhixian Lu, et al. Activation of lignin by selective oxidation: An emerging strategy for boosting lignin depolymerization to aromatics[J]. Bioresource technology, 2019, 291: 121885.
  

Projects

Groundwater Depletion Management in North China
 ▪️  Program of Ministry of Science and Technology
🕗 July 2022 – Present

Details

This project was jointly organized by CCAP at PKU and the School of Environment and Natural Resources at Renmin University of China. Its aim was to provide policy references for addressing the groundwater depletion problem in North China through empirical research. A large-scale survey was conducted with over 1,400 households in several counties in Hebei Province. I have been involved in the entire process, from questionnaire design, pre-survey, leading a team in the formal survey, and conducting data analysis. Currently, I am working on a study on the adoption of irrigation machinery services using the collected data.

Rural Revitalization and Sustainable Modern Agriculture
 ▪️  Collaborative project between PKU and China International Capital Corporation (CICC)
🕗 Apr. 2022 – Dec. 2023

Details

This project focused on China's strategy of Rural Revitalization, involving a variety of development topics such as rural talents, industries, governance, environment, finance, and digital tools. A large-scale survey was conducted across eight provinces in China, covering more than 1,100 rural households. I was fully involved throughout the project: designing and digitizing questionnaires, participating in four pre-surveys, recruiting and training interviewers, leading a team of 20 people to conduct formal surveys in Zhejiang Province, and conducting data cleaning and analysis. Utilizing this data, I have finalized a working paper on the adoption of digital farming technologies.

Land Institution, Technology Innovation and Rural Development
🕗 Aug. 2022 – Dec. 2023

Details

The project involved a survey of over 1,000 rural households in Weifang, Shandong Province, aiming to study the impacts of "Land Trusteeship" institution and technology innovation on agriculture and farmers. I organized the module of agricultural mechanization and machinery service entities, and participated in the entire process, from questionnaire design, leading a team of 24 in the survey, and conducting data analysis.

The Income-Increasing Effects of Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy in China
▪️  Major Program of National Social Science Fund
🕗 Apr. 2021 – July 2022

Details

This project was based on the Database of the Registered Poor Households in three counties of Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province. Through a combination of field study and data, we investigated the effects of the Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy on households' income, and published an empirical study on this topic.

The Economic and Environmental Impacts of Community Supported Agriculture
▪️  Bachelor’s Degree Thesis
🕗 Nov. 2019 – May 2020

The Supply and Demand of Green Finance in Supporting Rural Revitalization
▪️  Dual Bachelor’s Degree Thesis
🕗 Nov. 2019 – Mar. 2020

Conversion of Biomass to Jet Fuel Ranged Hydrocarbons
▪️  Research Training Project for National Undergraduate Students, Team leader
🕗 July 2017 – May 2018

Practices

Team Leader in Rural Household Surveys
🕗 Sept. 2020 – Sept. 2023

Details

So far, I have led teams to over 50 villages across China in several large-scale household surveys. I have undergone the entire survey process: questionnaire design, sampling, conducting surveys, data cleaning, and data analysis.

Team Leader in a Social Practice on Poverty Reduction for Rural Left-behind Women
▪️  "First Prize of Social Practice in Rural Areas" & "Outstanding Team Leader of Social Practice"
🕗 July 2018    🔗[Handicraft project] [Summer camp]

Details

I led a team to conduct surveys with rural left-behind women in a village of Shanxi Province, explored a handicraft project for women to increase their income, and organized a summer camp for rural children. This practice won the "First Prize of Social Practice in Rural Areas", and I was honored as the "Outstanding Team Leader of Social Practice" from CAU.

Visiting Program to Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan 🌏
▪️  Selected by CAU
🕗 Sept. 2019

Field Survey on the Eco-Cultural System of Dryland Terraces in Hebei Province
▪️  One of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)
🕗 July 2019

Internship in Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), China
🕗 Dec. 2019 – Jan. 2020