Exploring the effects of farm mechanization, financial development, and renewable energy on China's food production

Despite having 22% of the world's population, China only has 7% of arable land, making it difficult for the country to be self-sufficient in food production and increasing food security. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the factors that can enhance food production in China, considering the country's significant population size juxtaposed with limited arable land. In light of this, the present study examines the impact of farm mechanization, financial development, and renewable energy on China's food production. Using the Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lag technique, which explores the nonlinear relationship between variables exhibiting heterogeneity across different quantiles of the dependent variable, we analyze the short and long-run effects of these factors on food production. The findings reveal significant long-term impacts of farm mechanization, renewable energy, and financial development on food production, while the short-run results exhibit some variation. Based on these results, the research suggests various strategies to promote the utilization of renewable energy, farm machinery and improve farmer access to financing, thereby fostering enhanced food production in China.