Does choice of plant variety affect farmers’ technical efficiency? Evidence from wheat farming across China

Over the last five decades, high yield wheat varieties substantially contributed to increasing China’s wheat production. Thousands of improved wheat varieties have been developed in the last decades and only the minority of them are adopted by farmers. Improving the efficiency of agricultural inputs remains a key breeding and policy priority, as it directly affects farm-level productivity. This study investigates how farmers’ practices across wheat varieties and evaluates the extent to which varietal choice influences technical efficiency. The results show that technical efficiency is overestimated if varietal heterogeneity is ignored, with average efficiency levels around 0.85. Among the 105 varieties identified, a limited number of widely adopted “mega varieties” accounted for most of the production. These findings underscore the need to accelerate varietal replacement through targeted extension programs, prioritize the promotion of regionally adapted improved varieties, and strengthen seed system reforms to reduce the yield gap under sustainable input use. The study highlights that varietal choice substantially shapes wheat production outcomes in China, offering concrete guidance for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners in setting breeding and extension priorities. • Few of the thousands of improved wheat varieties are adopted by farmers. • Survey of 1,681 farmers identified 105 wheat varieties across four provinces. • Varietal heterogeneity biases the estimates of technical efficiency in wheat production. • Farmers achieved high technical efficiency with an average score of 0.85. • Adoption of new wheat varieties requires stronger facilitation mechanisms.