Spatiotemporal Evolution and Spatial Disparities of High-Quality Development in Agriculture and Rural Areas: Evidence from Northeast China

Northeast China is one of China's major grain-producing and strategic agricultural regions, and the high-quality development of its agriculture and rural areas is vital to regional revitalization, national food security, and Chinese modernization. To address the limited attention paid to this region in existing studies, this study uses statistical data for 34 prefecture-level cities in Northeast China from 2001 to 2020, constructs an index system for evaluating high-quality agricultural and rural development, and applies the entropy weight method, kernel density estimation, and Moran's I to examine its development level, spatiotemporal evolution, and spatial disparities. The findings are fourfold. (1) The average level of high-quality agricultural and rural development in Northeast China is 0.298, with an overall spatial pattern of “high in the north and low in the south”. Medium- and high-value areas are mainly concentrated in the north, while low-value areas are mainly distributed in the southeastern part. (2) From 2001 to 2020, the composite index showed a sustained upward trend with an average annual growth rate of 5.95%. Except for agricultural resource consumption, which declined over time, all other dimensions improved to varying degrees. (3) In terms of spatial evolution, the medium- and high-value areas gradually clustered toward the north, whereas the southeastern part remained a persistently low-value area. At the local spatial level, both “high-high” and “low-low” clustering patterns were observed, and the spatial agglomeration effect became increasingly evident over the study period. (4) In terms of spatial structure, the pattern of high-quality agricultural and rural development in Northeast China gradually evolved from an early single-core structure into a dual-core structure characterized by “a primary core in the south and a secondary core in the north”. These findings provide a scientific reference for promoting high-quality agricultural and rural development and comprehensive revitalization in Northeast China, and they also offer useful insights for similar regions.