Digital agricultural technology innovation and agricultural green total factor productivity: county-level evidence from China

Abstract

Digital agricultural technology innovation (DATI) has become an important driver of agricultural modernization and green transformation. By integrating county-level socioeconomic statistics with agricultural patent records, this study develops a county-level measure of DATI and provides more fine-grained evidence on how digital agricultural technology innovation affects agricultural green total factor productivity in China. Using a balanced panel of Chinese counties data from 2014 to 2021, we examine the effect of DATI on agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP). The results reveal three main findings. First, DATI significantly improves AGTFP, although its effects differ across regions, digital infrastructure endowments, and agricultural development conditions. Second, the effect of DATI on AGTFP displays pronounced threshold characteristics, with digital infrastructure and fiscal support for agriculture acting as key threshold variables; once the relevant thresholds are crossed, the estimated effect turns from negative to positive. Third, DATI exhibits significant spatial dependence, but its spatial spillover effects are limited, indicating that the green productivity gains generated by digital agricultural technology innovation remain largely localized. These findings provide fine-grained county-level evidence on the role of DATI in promoting green agricultural development and underscore the need to strengthen rural digital infrastructure, deepen the application of digital technologies in agricultural production, and tailor the coordinated digital and green transformation of agriculture to local conditions.