The Impact of Plant Protection UAV Technology Adoption on Farmers' Food Production Resilience: Evidence from Henan Province, China

• Examines how plant protection UAV technology adoption affects farmers' food production resilience. • Uses 2024 farmer survey data from Henan Province and an Endogenous Switching Regression model. • UAV technologyadoption improves resilience via risk management and social network cohesion. • Stronger effects are found for large-scale farmers and those using benefit-driven services. • Identifies spatial spillover effects on resilience dimensions in neighboring areas. The adoption of plant protection Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology is crucial for advancing mechanization in pest control, enhancing the resilience of the food production chain, and ensuring food security. This study empirically explores the impact of the adoption of plant protection UAV technology on farmers' food production resilience based on survey data from farmers in Henan Province in 2024, using the Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) model and Spatial Spillover Effect Model. The baseline regression results show that the adoption of plant protection UAV technology positively influences farmers' food production resilience. Mechanism analysis indicates that this effect is mediated through improved farm risk management capabilities and enhanced social network cohesion. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the adoption of plant protection UAV technology has a greater impact on the food production resilience of large-scale farmers, those purchasing benefit-driven technical services, and farmers in villages with lower levels of digital economy. Furthermore, spatial spillover effects are identified, with the adoption of plant protection UAV technology influencing food production resilience in neighboring areas. Specifically, there are positive spillover effects on recovery capacity, negative spillover effects on transformative capacity, and no spillover effects on buffering capacity.