Abstract:Leveraging digital new quality productivity to accelerate the improvement of agricultural socialized service levels is vital for building a modern agricultural production system and achieving organic integration between small farmers and modern agriculture. This study conducts an empirical analysis based on provincial panel data from China from 2010 to 2022, examining the pathways and mechanisms by which digital new quality productivity enhances agricultural socialized services. The findings reveal that: 1) regional digital new quality productivity significantly promotes local agricultural socialized service levels; 2) heterogeneity analysis shows that the empowering effects of digital new quality productivity on agricultural socialized services are stronger in major grain-producing regions, with a higher impact in western regions compared to eastern ones. Among the three main productivity elements constituting digital new quality productivity, digital laborers exert the strongest empowering effect, and the effects vary across different types of agricultural social services. 3) The mediating mechanism analysis indicates that digital new quality productivity enhances agricultural socialized services by driving a leap in agricultural productivity elements. The interaction effects test shows mutual influence among the driving pathways, with the upgrading of traditional agricultural labor tools standing out as a critical pathway. Based on these findings, it is recommended that regions harness the transformation of technological advancements to empower agricultural social services, develop diversified services tailored to regional strengths, foster and attract high-quality talent, and prioritize the upgrading of traditional agricultural labor tools, among other recommendations.