The Effect of the Level of Digital Agriculture Development on Agricultural Carbon Emission Reduction in China: Mediating Evidence Based on Agricultural Labor Productivity and Production Technical Efficiency

With China’s dual carbon goals of “carbon neutrality” and “carbon peak”, the role of digital agriculture in agricultural carbon emissions has drawn increasing attention. In this study, we construct a model to explore how the level of digital agricultural development affects agricultural carbon emissions by improving efficiency (agricultural labor productivity and agricultural production technical efficiency). In this study, data of 31 provinces in China from 2010 to 2021 are used for model testing. The results show the following: (1) the level of digital agricultural development significantly reduces agricultural carbon emissions; (2) agricultural labor productivity acts as a full mediator, whereas agricultural production technical efficiency plays a partial mediating role in this relationship; (3) an analysis of regional differences shows that digital agriculture development is associated with a greater decrease in agricultural carbon emissions in East and North China. Conversely, compared with South, Northeast, and Northwest China, Central and Southwest China register greater emission reductions from digital agriculture. Therefore, it is necessary to fully explore the positive impact of digital agriculture on agricultural carbon emission reduction and promote the development of low-carbon agriculture in China.