Double Agglomeration of the Agricultural Industry, Technological Innovation, and Farmers’ Agricultural Incomes: Evidenced by the Citrus Industry

Against the backdrop of the rapid development of digital technologies, such as mobile internet, big data, and cloud computing, the geographical agglomeration of industries is gradually shifting toward virtual agglomeration. In this paper, we examine the effect of both geographical and virtual agglomeration of the agricultural industry on farmers’ agricultural income, and we focus on the transmission mechanism of technological innovation in this process. In the empirical section, using the citrus industry as an example, we employed a moderated mediation effect model for verification and derived the following conclusions: (1) Both geographical and virtual agglomeration of the agricultural industry promote an increase in farmers’ agricultural income by enhancing technological innovation, respectively. (2) Virtual agglomeration of the agricultural industry has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between geographical agglomeration and farmers’ agricultural income, that is, virtual agglomeration alleviates the “crowding effect” and to some extent substitutes for geographical agglomeration. (3) In the mechanism where geographical agglomeration in the agricultural industry increases farmers’ agricultural income through technological innovation, virtual agglomeration has a positive moderating effect. This paper is important for enabling farmers to share the benefits of the digital economy and achieve continuous growth in agricultural income. It is also important for the sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations, such as eliminating poverty (SDG1), eliminating hunger (SDG2), promoting sustainable economic growth and full employment (SDG8), and promoting innovation (SDG9).