How does improving agricultural mechanization affect the green development of agriculture? Evidence from China

Over the past two decades, China has actively pursued a green, low-carbon economy in response to climate change. Amidst rapid economic development, China's green total factor productivity-a key metric reflecting the nation's green development-has notably risen. As a developing country with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, agriculture plays a key role in China. China has persistently strived to comprehensively promote the scale and scope of agricultural mechanization, recognizing it as a crucial gauge to enhance agricultural productivity, thereby facilitating agricultural modernization and ensuring food security. However, can elevating the agricultural mechanization level improve China's green development within the agricultural sector? Specifically, how does agricultural mechanization (AM) affect agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP)? To address these questions, we assess the effects of agricultural mechanization on agricultural green total factor productivity and examine its channels using panel data from 30 provinces in China spanning from 2000 to 2021. Additionally, we investigate the heterogeneous effects under different levels of economic development, agricultural economic development, environmental regulation intensity, and agricultural technology. The results indicate that: First, the development of agricultural mechanization promotes the agricultural green total factor productivity. Second, channel analysis indicates that agricultural mechanization can bolster agricultural green total factor productivity through three channels: enhancing agricultural management level, improving agricultural factor efficiency, and fostering diversification of agricultural industrial structure. Third, heterogeneous analysis suggests that agricultural mechanization exerts a more pronounced impact on agricultural green total factor productivity in provinces characterized by lower levels of economic development, more backward agricultural economic development, higher environmental regulation intensity, and more advanced agricultural technology. This article is anticipated to furnish empirical evidence from China for developing nations seeking to foster agricultural green sustainable development through the widespread adoption of agricultural mechanization, thereby contributing significantly to global efforts to mitigate climate change.