Influential factors of farmers' demands for agricultural science and technology in China

•If types of AST vary, factors affecting the demands for AST can also vary.•Labor saving influences demands for Chinese planting industrial AST significantly.•Capital support influences demands for Chinese breeding industrial AST greatly.•Study of demands for AST should base on analyses of farmer families in China.

Agricultural science and technology (AST) is of great significance to the development of rural China. In order to boost farmers' demands for AST, possible influential factors affecting the demands are analyzed by this study. With regard to multiple types of AST for Chinese main agricultural industries-breeding and planting, the study discusses farmer families' demands instead of farmer individual demands. Using linear regression analysis, variables of the possible influential factors are categorized in four groups: family characteristics, farmers' operational status, farmers' attitudes toward AST and government service. Based on 3669 valid questionnaires collected from 15 towns of Anhui Province in China, the paper does the factor analysis and reliability test as well as examines the significance of possible influential factors, indicating that labor saving in farmers' attitudes group is the most important factor for planting industrial AST, and showing that capital support in government service group has the most crucial effect for breeding industrial AST. Hence, differences do exist among diverse factors, and the most significant factors affecting the demands for breeding and planting industrial AST are disparate. According to these results, suggestions concerning the most significant factors are specifically given to the Chinese government on how to expand the demands for AST and how to stimulate rural development.