1. Introduction
China is a country with very limited arable land area, but it needs to feed the largest population in the world. Under the natural constraints of high population density, China can only develop a sustainable agricultural model with intensive farming and sustainable resource maintenance. Today, agriculture provides employment for nearly 200 million people, and rural areas are home to nearly 500 million farmers. Agricultural and rural development play an important role in maintaining long-term social stability. Therefore, the Chinese government attaches great importance to agricultural development. Under the traditional agricultural development mode, pesticide, fertilizer, and animal husbandry waste emission pollution is serious. Amidst the pressures of high input costs, pollution, and consumption, agriculture confronts increasingly acute issues such as ecological degradation, resource mismanagement, and concerns over agricultural product quality and safety. These challenges have compelled a shift in the development trajectory of ecological agriculture construction in our country. Entering the new era, our country has given extremely high importance to the “three agriculture” (agriculture, countryside, and farmers) framework. However, due to the poor agricultural foundation and insufficient per capita resources, the “agriculture” and “countryside” components are still weak links. Compared with the new industrialization, information technology, and urbanization, agricultural modernization lags behind. In agricultural production, efficiency is relatively low, agricultural labor productivity is only 25.3% of non-agricultural production, agricultural efficiency is low, the international competitiveness of agricultural products is obviously insufficient, and the prices of domestic grain and other agricultural products generally exceed the international market. Rural infrastructure and public services lag behind urban areas, which is an important reason for China’s emphasis on accelerating its efforts to become an agricultural powerhouse.
The digital economy represents the third economic paradigm following the agricultural and industrial economies. It takes data as the core element, technological innovation as the key support, communication network as an important medium, and focuses on the deep integration of traditional economy and modern information technology. With the continuous penetration of the digital economy into agriculture and rural areas, digital economy and the “three rural” issues have also attracted the attention of academic circles. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has emphasized the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, implemented a series of important deployments such as digital China, digital agriculture, and rural revitalization, and promoted the integration of digital technology and agricultural and rural development. To this end, a series of policy documents to guide the development of digital agriculture have been promulgated, including “Outline of Digital Village Development Strategy” and “Digital Agriculture and Rural Development Plan (2019–2025)”. The “No. 1 Central Document” for 2023 stipulates the general requirements and specific arrangements for accelerating the construction of an agricultural power, and also provides strategic guidance for China’s agricultural modernization. The digital economy has become a new engine to alleviate the problem of imbalanced and insufficient agricultural and rural development. Moreover, accelerating the construction of an agricultural power and promoting the deep integration between the digital economy and agriculture have become important trends in agricultural and rural development. The United States and Germany, which have the world’s highest levels of agricultural digitization, had agricultural digitization rates of 48.9% and 38.7%, respectively, in 2020 [
1]. In contrast, the agricultural digitization rate in China is only 8.2%. In economically developed countries, the integration of the digital economy and agriculture has been prolific. For example, the United States has reduced the cost of agricultural production through precision agriculture and consolidated the international competitive advantage of its agricultural products. Likewise, France relies on digital technology to upgrade its agricultural information service system and increase the commercialization rate of agricultural products in the process of integrating farmers into digital agriculture. Also, smart agriculture in countries such as Japan, the Netherlands, and Israel uses digital technology to promote precision farming models and intensify agricultural production to alleviate shortages of arable land resources. Additionally, the agricultural industry chain network in the European Union and the information-based village in South Korea have not only improved agricultural efficiency, competitiveness, and resource utilization rates but also have improved labor productivity and management efficiency [
2,
3]. It can be seen that the digital economy is having an important impact on the field of agriculture and has become a new engine of agricultural modernization.
Enhancing the holistic progress of the digital economy and agricultural modernization is one of the important ways to realize Chinese-style agricultural modernization under the background of “small farmers in large countries”. Given the fundamental national and agricultural circumstances of “small farmers in a big country”, China’s agriculture–rural modernization path faces a large number of small farmers and long-term rigid constraints [
4]. The development of agricultural and rural modernization in China is still faced with problems such as prominent conflicting interests between humans and the health of arable land, scattered management patterns, increasing ecological pressure, and poor internal and external circulation. Existing studies have discussed the related influence of the digital economy and agricultural and rural modernization construction at different levels, but there is a lack of research on in-depth depth correlations and influence mechanisms of the digital economy and agricultural and rural modernization. Whether there is a spatial effect between the digital economy and the construction of agricultural and rural modernization is also rarely explained. In our empirical study, the goals are to: (1) measure the degree of coordinated development between the digital economy and agricultural modernization, (2) analyze the characteristics of the coupling coordination relationship, and (3) analyze the degree of influence of each factor on the two systems of the digital economy and agricultural modernization. Based on the above considerations, this paper expounds the internal mechanism of the coupling and coordinated development of the digital economy and agricultural modernization from the theory and practice of China’s digital economy and agricultural modernization, and conducts a space-time analysis and obstacle factor analysis of the coupling relationship between the digital economy and agricultural modernization in 31 provinces of China, striving to offer guidance for the advancement of the digital economy and the construction of agricultural modernization in China.
6. Practical Implications
In order to improve the level of regional digital economies and agricultural modernization, based on the above research conclusions and the actual situation of each province and city, this paper puts forward relevant suggestions on promoting the coupled and coordinated development of the digital economy and agricultural modernization from the perspectives of government and enterprises, respectively.
First of all, from the perspective of the government, the following aspects should be promoted. (1) Construct more digital infrastructure and data centers, 5G infrastructure, data element markets and similar projects. The limited infrastructure of the digital economy in rural areas in the western region hinders the development of agricultural and rural digitization. Therefore, in order for this region to play a leading role in the digital economy, it is necessary to accelerate the digital transformation of traditional rural infrastructure. A new network infrastructure is needed based on the original 4G network and fiber to the home. We should also use big data to analyze the demand for digital information in rural areas according to local conditions and digitally transform broadband and mobile networks to meet the basic digital needs of local areas. Moreover, it is necessary to integrate digital construction into rural governance, rural medical care, and rural education, and create an application demonstration area and industrial innovation base for the digital economy based on the 5G network. This will further promote agricultural modernization. The eastern region boasts a relatively comprehensive digital economy infrastructure, with farmers exhibiting a robust understanding of the digital economy and possessing a high level of innovative capability. The initial investment in digital infrastructure construction is high and the cost recovery is slow, and the government’s guiding role in it is indispensable. Consequently, the government ought to prioritize the advancement of digital economy products/services, while also focusing on achieving mastery and significant technological breakthroughs in the core capabilities and pivotal technologies that underpin the digital economy. Given the current status and emerging challenges in agricultural and rural economic development, it is imperative to stay abreast of contemporary trends and embrace innovative digital economy products and services, make every effort to break through data barriers in the field of “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers”, drive production flow, logistics, capital flow, and talent flow with data flow, stimulate the power and vitality of innovative elements, and better serve the high-quality development of agriculture. We also should improve the talent training mechanisms in China’s digital agriculture and improve the matching between talent training and social needs. In addition, the relevant departments ought to enhance safeguards for intellectual property rights within the digital economy, improve the system of data standards and norms, and promote the open sharing and transaction of data on the premise of ensuring data security and privacy protection. In this way, we can bridge the data gap between urban and rural areas to adapt to new trends in development. At the same time, we must strengthen the integrated application of modern information technologies such as blockchain, the Internet of Things, big data, and artificial intelligence in rural formats, forms, cultures, ecology, and governance. Moreover, we need suitable pilot demonstrations and must determine the priority of the construction of various scenarios and promote the adaptability of application scenarios.
(2) Enhance the agricultural production capacity, strengthen the construction of agricultural science and technology innovation, and promote the level of agricultural machinery and equipment. Firstly, we can increase investment in agricultural research and accelerate the establishment of an investment system for agricultural research led by the government with broad participation. Secondly, it is necessary to reinforce irrigation and water conservation as well as ecological construction to improve agriculture’s ability to withstand natural disasters while further stabilizing and increasing food supply. Finally, we can develop and train digital talents in agriculture, strengthening publicity, and guidance efforts.
(3) Strengthen regional cooperation and promote regional differentiated and coordinated development. Firstly, it is necessary to build a mechanism for complementary advantages and coordinated development between regions. Additionally, we need to promote comprehensive coordinated development of the digital economy and agricultural modernization. We should also establish regional coordination mechanisms for resource sharing, platform co-construction, talent sharing, and cross-border search. Through policy and capital allocation, we should fully promote the eastern region’s role as the leader in high coupling and coordination, strengthen exchanges and cooperation with provinces with low coupling and coordination, and promote the progression of the digital economy and agricultural modernization in the central and western regions. Secondly, it is necessary to formulate policies for the regulation and control of regional differences, especially for the western region, and strengthen policy support to mitigate imbalanced regional development through the construction of regional development centers [
59]. Third, China has a large population and insufficient arable land, and there are large development gaps between urban and rural areas and between regions. Thus, there are many barriers to integrating the digital economy and agriculture. Compared with the industrial and service industries, the overall contribution of the digital economy to China’s agricultural growth has been low, and the overall process of agricultural digital transformation has been slow. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on China’s national conditions and follow a development path with characteristics that are in line with China’s reality.
Secondly, from the perspective of industry and enterprise development, first, agricultural enterprises should develop a clear digital transformation strategy, combining its own characteristics and market demand, and clarify the goals, paths, and key tasks of digital transformation. It is possible to actively introduce and apply cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things to enhance the precision and intelligence of agricultural production operations. In addition, a sound data collection, storage, and analysis system has been established to realize real-time monitoring and analysis of data in agricultural production, sales, and other links. Through the use of e-commerce platforms, we need to expand the sales channels of agricultural products and realize the integrated development of online and offline. Second, digital enterprises can strengthen cooperation with the field of agriculture, develop and promote digital products and services applicable to agriculture, such as intelligent agricultural equipment, agricultural information platforms, etc., and apply digital technology to agricultural production, management, sales, and other links to promote the process of agricultural modernization. Secondly, it is necessary to integrate the upstream and downstream resources of the agricultural industry chain, build a digital agricultural ecosystem, realize the synergy and efficiency of agricultural production, and help agricultural enterprises realize digital transformation by providing digital solutions to agricultural enterprises so as to improve the digital level of the whole agricultural industry.