Identifying determinants of straw open field burning in northeast China: Toward greening agriculture base in newly industrializing countries

Soil depletion caused by SB and its negative repercussions on food safety and the sustainable development of agriculture are essential concerns in newly industrializing countries. Understanding and curtailing SB in specific regions is related to the analysis of its structural characteristics and justice transition. Due to the banning policy in China, the large-scale interview of farmers' motivations and behavior regarding SB is impracticable. As such, we attempted to improve the understanding of the influencing factors of SB in northeast China (a commodity grain base) by applying the up-scaling method, by using MODIS fire data on cropland, statistical socioeconomic data, and resource and environment data as well as factor analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. We found that bio-physical factors, agricultural input-output, economic development, and crop types are significant determinants of the intensity of SB. In the end, we asserted policy implications for addressing SB in northeast China. •Hypotheses of the reasons for straw burning were asserted.•Distribution of the intensity of straw burning in northeast China was analyzed.•Factor analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were conducted.•Relative influences of variables on the intensity of straw burning were pinpointed.•Policy implications for addressing straw burning in northeast China were proposed.