Bridging the divide: how agricultural technological innovation narrows the urban-rural income gap in China

Introduction Agricultural modernization and sustainable development face significant challenges from persistent urban-rural income disparities, which constrain agricultural transformation and rural revitalization. This study investigates the comprehensive impact mechanism of agricultural technological innovation on urban-rural income disparities through a multi-dimensional analytical framework integrating productivity enhancement, structural transformation, and spatial heterogeneity effects.Methods Using panel data from 280 Chinese cities during 2008 - 2021, we employ two-way fixed effects panel regression models to examine the relationship between agricultural technological innovation (measured by patent applications) and urban-rural income gaps (measured by the Theil index). The analysis includes robustness tests, heterogeneity analysis across regions and institutional contexts, mechanism testing through mediation analysis, and threshold effect analysis using Hansen's threshold regression technique.Results The integrated analysis reveals that agricultural technological innovation serves as a fundamental driver for narrowing urban-rural income gaps through interconnected pathways of employment structure optimization, factor allocation improvement, and production efficiency enhancement. Agricultural technological innovation effectively reduces the urban-rural income gap, with invention patents showing particularly significant effects. Heterogeneity analysis indicates stronger effects in eastern and western regions, and in cities with higher administrative levels, greater innovation vitality, stronger intellectual property protection, and better information accessibility. The empirical evidence reveals non-linear threshold effects, where innovation impact strengthens systematically as urbanization rates, education attention, and information accessibility increase.Discussion The findings form a cohesive framework for understanding innovation-driven rural development and validate agricultural technological innovation as a critical mechanism for achieving income convergence. Policy recommendations include strengthening agricultural technological innovation support, optimizing rural labor structure, promoting urbanization and information infrastructure development, and enhancing policy coordination to maximize the equalizing effects of agricultural innovation across diverse regional contexts.