Can Rural Entrepreneurship Promote the Development of New-Quality Productive Forces in Agriculture?—Evidence from China

Accelerating the development of new-quality productive forces in agriculture represents an intrinsic requirement for achieving high-quality agricultural development and serves as a new driver and engine for advancing rural revitalization. This study utilized panel data from 30 Chinese provinces to construct and validate a mechanistic model examining the interactive relationship between rural entrepreneurship and new-quality productive forces in agriculture, exploring whether rural entrepreneurship can promote the development of new-quality productive forces in agriculture. The findings reveal the following: First, rural entrepreneurship can provide strong support for the development of new-quality productive forces in agriculture. Second, rural entrepreneurship facilitates the improvement of new-quality productive forces in agriculture by promoting agricultural technological innovation. However, this process requires surpassing a single threshold of agricultural technological innovation. Third, rural entrepreneurship contributes to the elevation of new-quality productive forces in agriculture by fostering rural industrial integration; nevertheless, this process encounters dual thresholds in rural industrial integration. Finally, rural entrepreneurial activities exhibit spatial spillover effects on the development of new-quality productive forces in agriculture in neighboring regions. This study explores novel approaches to fostering new-quality productive forces in agriculture and unlocks the “black box” linking rural entrepreneurship with these forces.