How does the digital economy impact the high-quality development of agriculture? An empirical test based on the spatial Durbin model

Abstract The high-quality development of agriculture is an important driving force for accelerating the construction of a modern socialist country. The digital economy with digital technology as the core has provided new opportunities for advancing the high-quality development of agriculture. Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper uses the spatial Durbin model to empirically test the impact of digital economy on the high-quality development of agriculture. The results indicate that: Firstly, the level of the digital economy and the high-quality development of agriculture in various regions have significantly increased, and both exhibit obvious spatial auto-correlation and spatial agglomeration characteristics. Secondly, the digital economy significantly promotes the high-quality development of agriculture in the local region, and simultaneously fosters such development in the neighboring regions through spatial spillover effect. Thirdly, the spatial spillover effect of the digital economy is related to geographical location, there is a positive spatial spillover effect in the eastern and central regions, while the western regions have no spatial spillover effect on the neighboring regions due to the "digital divide" problem. Finally, the mediating effect analysis indicates that the digital economy can promote the high-quality development of agriculture by increasing the consumption of agricultural products by urban residents. The research conclusions of this paper offer valuable policy insights for fully releasing the digital dividend and advancing the high-quality development of agriculture.