Impact of digital technology on agricultural sustainable development: Based on spatial spillover impact and threshold effect

Exploring the influence mechanism and spatial effect of digital technology on the sustainable development of agriculture can provide a scientific basis for optimizing the policy design of digital technology-enabled agriculture. Based on provincial panel data from 2013 to 2022 (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Xizang), the development index of digital technology and the index of agricultural sustainable development were measured, the benchmark regression model, the two-way fixed effect spatial Durbin model and the threshold effect model were adopted to conduct an empirical analysis of the impact of digital technology on agricultural sustainable development. The research findings are as follows: 1) Digital technology has a promoting effect on the sustainable development of agriculture. 2) While improving the level of agricultural sustainable development in the local area, digital technology has a significant negative spatial spillover effect in space, that is, the “siphon effect”. 3) Regional heterogeneity exists in the impact of digital technology on agricultural sustainable development. The development of digital technology in the eastern region has a significant effect on the level of agricultural sustainable development. 4) Digital inclusive finance and environmental regulation intensity have a single threshold effect in digital technology promoting agricultural sustainable development, and they have a synergistic effect. Based on the above results, it is recommended that the central and local governments adopt differentiated strategies for empowering with digital technology; avoid the siphon effect of digital technology; and optimize the policy coordination between digital inclusive finance and environmental regulation.