Abstract: To explore the impact of the digital economy on agricultural high-quality development, this study takes prefecture-level cities in nine provinces along the Yellow River as the research sample. Based on data from 2011 to 2020, the entropy method, modified gravity model, exploratory data analysis, and spatial econometric models are employed to systematically analyze the spatial association network, network spillover effects, and influencing mechanisms between the digital economy and agricultural high-quality development. The results show that: 1) Agricultural high-quality development in the study area demonstrates a trend of shifting from the middle and lower reaches to the middle and upper reaches. The agricultural high-quality development index of most cities has generally increased during the sample period, though significant inter-city disparities remain. 2) The index presents a complex and gradually stabilizing spatial association network, with significant network spillover effects. 3) Agricultural high-quality development exhibits significant spatial autocorrelation. Further model analysis reveals that the digital economy significantly promotes agricultural high-quality development in the study area, but also generates negative spillover effects on surrounding regions. To further enhance agricultural high-quality development, it is recommended to strengthen agricultural digitalization and promote its strategic coordination with rural development, while also emphasizing integrated regional development to mitigate the negative spatial externalities brought about by digital economic growth.