Evaluating the Impact of Green Environmental Practices on Business Performance Considering the Economic Crisis of Small and Medium Agricultural Businesses in Kerman Province

Introduction
Economic crises can be instigated by a variety of causes. Generally, economic crises relate to macroeconomic policies that are unsustainable in the long term, such as an overly large state sector, the development of an excessive budget deficit, difficulty in paying off short term debt, high inflation, misaligned exchange rates, domestic credit crunch or withdrawal of foreign capital. Economic crises generate consequences in various spheres of society, including the market environment in which firms operate. By implementing green environmental practices in companies, these effects can be reduced. Green environmental practices can include reducing waste, adopting environmentally friendly production methods, using green energy sources, and producing compatible products and services. Green environmental practices not only help to protect the environment, but also improve the reputation of companies. Absorption of standards related to the environment, increasing customer loyalty and reducing costs, which ultimately increase profits and increase company performance. Green environmental practices encourage agricultural businesses to improve their relationships with suppliers and customers and to work harder to achieve environmental performance. For this, agribusinesses must ensure their suppliers to provide them with environmentally friendly raw materials in order to minimize negative environmental impacts during production processes. In addition, agricultural businesses must somehow increase their performance and meet customers' demands for environmentally friendly products. Also, joint interactions between customers, suppliers, partners, as well as research and development, promote environmental performance. By implementing the best environmental practices, it is possible to maximize the profits of businesses in the economic crisis, especially in the agricultural sector, because the agricultural sector faces the highest demand compared to other sectors, and business activities in this sector put a lot of pressure on resources. enters The critical limit of this pressure is mainly attributed to the extensive use of chemical inputs (fertilizers and poisons) and the increase in water and energy consumption, which can provide a competitive advantage for agricultural businesses by implementing environmental practices. So far, research has been done on the challenges and opportunities in agricultural businesses, but there has been no research on the role of environmental practices on the performance of agricultural businesses during the economic crisis in the country. Therefore, the main research question is: Do green environmental practices have an effect on environmental performance and the performance of agricultural businesses? And does the adoption of green environmental practices have an effect on business performance and the environment during the economic crisis?
Materials and Methods
The statistical population was 544 owners of small and medium agricultural businesses in Kerman province, who were selected according to Cochran's sampling formula at the measurement error level of 0.05 and by simple random sampling with a volume of 225 people.The present study is applied in terms of purpose and is a descriptive-survey that describes the conditions and phenomena studied. The research literature was compiled by library method and data collection was done by questionnaire. Cranach’s alpha, composite reliability, convergent validity and divergent validity were used to determine the reliability and validity of the constructs.
Discussion and Results
On the other hand, the results showed that The adoption of environmental practices has an impact on environmental performance in both periods (before and during the economic crisis). Beta values of 0.48 and 0.36, respectively, which are significant with a probability smaller than 0.05, and also the adoption of environmental practices on business performance in both periods (before and during the economic crisis) and the beta values are 0.67 and 0.28, respectively, and the probability of this effect is less than 0.05.
The economic crisis multiplied by the environmental practices has a negative and significant effect on the environmental performance, that is, the adoption of environmental practices has an effect on the environmental performance during the economic crisis, the coefficient is -0.20 and the probability is less than 0.05. The consequences of the economic crisis in the country (such as layoffs, increased demand, budget cuts, and reduced innovation and investment) have significantly and unfortunately weakened the effect between environmental practices and environmental performance and turned the positive effect into a negative effect. . This means that in times of crisis, such practices may be stopped or reduced, and as a result, the performance of the environment is reduced. Therefore, the consequences of economic crises are a serious threat to environmental initiatives. The economic crisis had a positive and significant effect on the performance of the agricultural business, that is, the adoption of environmental practices has an effect on the performance of the business during the economic crisis. The coefficient is 0.17 and the probability is smaller than 0.05. This shows that even in bad economic periods, the adoption of environmental practices can increase the business performance of farmers to some extent, although this increase is less than before the economic crisis. It can be stated that some methods can remain as the most important environmental methods even in economic crises, such as the acquisition of environmental technologies and innovation related to environmental issues (due to the high operational burden). But methods such as reusing, recycling and reproducing products, etc., are reduced during the economic crisis due to the lower operational burden of their implementation. These practices can be considered strategic as well as useful for business performance because they are related to market advantage and cost.
Conclusion
The current research was conducted with the aim of the effect of adopting environmental practices on environmental performance and business performance in environments with and without economic crisis. When the environmental practices of agricultural companies such as reducing waste, adopting production methods compatible with Environment, use of green energy sources and production of environmentally friendly products and services will increase the environmental performance of companies. Companies should consider investing in environmentally friendly and cost-effective projects to gain profit and sustainability. Since the consumption of energy and materials by the companies is reduced, the communication with the stakeholders is improved, the costs are reduced and the product quality is increased. Therefore, the implementation of environmental practices changes the business performance of companies, sustains growth and market gains, and positively affects performance in the long run.