Assessment of farmers’ grain production resilience based on the social-ecological system framework: utilizing data from the Yellow River Basin in China

This paper utilizes micro-survey data from farmers in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin to assess the resilience level of farmers’ grain production through the objective-subjective entropy weight method. It identifies key constraints using the barrier degree model and analyzes the performance of farmers’ grain production resilience through the coupling coordination degree model. K-means clustering analysis is also employed to recognize adaptive behavior choices in farmers’ grain production. The study findings are as follows: (1) The resilience level of grain production among the sample farmers is relatively low, with the governance subsystem resilience level < the resource subsystem resilience level < the actor subsystem resilience level. (2) The transparency of village information, the convenience of communication with agricultural technology departments, the ways farmers obtain meteorological disaster information, and the application of agricultural planting protective tillage technology are key factors restricting the improvement of farmers’ grain production resilience levels. (3) The sample farmers’ grain production resilience has a high degree of coupling, but the coupling coordination values are generally low. (4) The adaptive behavior choices of sample farmers in grain production are primarily focused on buffering and recovery behaviors. The research concludes that assessing the resilience of farmers’ grain production based on the social-ecological system framework helps to enhance farmers’ disaster prevention capabilities in grain production, improve farmers’ grain production performance, and is of significant importance for ensuring food security.