Blockchain Adoption by Farmers in Agricultural Product Supply Chains from the Perspective of Government Subsidies: A Literature Review and Research Outlook

In response to the practical dilemma faced by farmers in agricultural supply chains—where high adoption costs and spillover benefits from adoption hinder their willingness to adopt new technologies—the government subsidy has emerged as a crucial policy instrument for alleviating their adoption pressures. This paper, through a systematic literature review, aims to explore the central question: “How do government subsidies dynamically and precisely influence the adoption decisions of heterogeneous farmers?” Our analysis reveals that while existing studies, grounded in tools such as game theory, have confirmed the positive role of subsidies in coordinating supply chains, incentivizing adoption, and overcoming the free-rider problem, their theoretical exploration suffers from significant paradigmatic limitations. Most models rely on static, homogeneous, and simplified assumptions, neglecting the dynamic nature of technology diffusion, the heterogeneity among farmer actors, and the potential for long-term policy dependency induced by sustained subsidies. These limitations render current theories inadequate for guiding the design of complex and ever-changing real-world policies. To address these gaps, this paper proposes that future research should achieve a paradigmatic breakthrough: methodologically, by developing a dual-agent dynamic evolutionary model that incorporates both “time” and “path”; scenically, by focusing on specific agricultural product categories and introducing parameters that reflect agent heterogeneity; and policy-wise, by exploring dynamic instruments such as tiered subsidies based on quality and scientifically designed phase-out mechanisms. The arguments presented in this paper seek to provide a clear theoretical critique and innovative research foundation for constructing a blockchain adoption policy analysis framework that can adapt to dynamic environments, deliver precise incentives, and promote sustainable adoption.