Rural Public Science and Technology Services, Land Productivity, and Agricultural Modernization: Case Study of Southwest China

Abstract

The realization of agricultural modernization inevitably requires the improvement of agricultural land productivity. Rural public science and technology services is an important driving force to improve agricultural land productivity. However, can rural public science and technology services accelerate the process of agricultural modernization by improving land productivity? This paper innovatively constructs an evaluation index system and an mediating mechanism model, measures the comprehensive index of agricultural modernization and rural public science and technology services through the global entropy method, and empirically tests the mediating effect of the mechanism of “land productivity” with the help of measurement methods such as the Sobel–Goodman test and Bootstrap test. The research results find that rural public science and technology services can positively promote agricultural modernization and pass the 1% significance level test. There is a significant mediating effect of “increasing production” in the impact of rural public science and technology services on agricultural modernization, that is, rural public science and technology services can significantly promote agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity”. Government intervention and economic growth are significantly positive, which can significantly promote agricultural modernization. These findings have clear policy implications: Chinese government should accelerate the filling of gaps in rural public technology services between urban and rural areas in the southwest region, empower land productivity through science and technology, and promote the transformation of agricultural scientific and technological achievements into real productive forces. This research is helpful to provide policy reference and case experience for similar areas to speed up agricultural modernization by giving full play to the mechanism of “improving land productivity” of agricultural science and technology services.

1. Introduction

As an indispensable and important component of the overall modernization process of the country, agricultural modernization is a necessary requirement for promoting common prosperity among farmers and rural areas and is the only way for most countries to solve the issue of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers [1,2,3]. It is related to the overall strategy, long-term development, and farmers’ well-being. Rural public science and technology services is an important strategic support for accelerating the realization of high-quality agricultural development. Therefore, upgrading the quality of rural public science and technology services is bound to become the logical and historical necessity for accelerating the realization of agricultural modernization.

Many countries have always been highly concerned about the needs of the people, the voice of the people, and the expectations of the people. For China, agricultural modernization and rural public science and technology services are important agenda items, and their related content has been continuously included in the reports of the National Congress of the CPC. For instance, in 2002, emphasis was placed on “building modern agriculture and developing rural economy”, as well as “improving the scientific and technological service system and accelerating the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into real productive forces”, etc. [4]. In 2007, emphasis was placed on “taking the path of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics”, “promoting agricultural scientific and technological progress and enhancing the comprehensive agricultural production capacity”, and so on [5]. In 2012, emphasis was placed on “adhering to the path of new industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics”, as well as “focusing on promoting integration in urban and rural planning, infrastructure, public services and other aspects”, etc. [6]. In 2017, emphasis was placed on “promoting the synchronous development of new-type industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization”, as well as “improving the public service system”, and so on [7]. In 2022, “basically realizing agricultural modernization” and “building a strong country of science and technology” will be included in the overall development goal of China in 2035, as well as “comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country, the most arduous and onerous task is still in the countryside”, “strengthening agricultural science and technology and equipment support”, and so on [8]. The top-level plan has made a scientific judgment and provided a fundamental follow-up for the government departments at all levels to improve the quality of rural public services and accelerate the realization of agricultural modernization.

The theory and practice of agricultural modernization provide an excellent opportunity for different countries or regions to optimize and perfect its agricultural modernization system, and to focus on promoting the process of agricultural modernization in various regions of the country. However, while we are grateful for empowering new development space for agricultural modernization in various regions with Chinese-style modernization, we also deeply feel the difficulties faced by different regions, especially the southwest region of China, in embarking on the path of agricultural modernization. There is significant heterogeneity in agricultural resource endowment, agricultural industry structure, agricultural industry resilience, and agricultural development potential among different regions in the eastern, central, and western parts of China. The resilience of the agricultural industry chain, supply chain, and value chain varies greatly, leading to uneven progress in agricultural modernization. The southwest region of China [1,9,10] is an important part of the overall modernization of the country, and the degree of realization of its agricultural modernization greatly affects the integrity, comprehensiveness, and coordination of modernization of the country.

Since the reform and opening up, rural public service level has been the critical criterion to measure the people’s enrichment, the nation’s prosperity, the country’s strength, and society’s affluence. High-quality development of rural public services determines the background and quality of common prosperity [11]. The quality of rural public services in China has significantly improved, and the logic of shared prosperity development of rural public services has provided strong impetus for the common prosperity of farmers and rural areas [12], thereby driving the integrated development of urban and rural areas. However, due to the influence of many historical and current factors, there is still an imbalance in the level of rural public services in various regions of our country. There are both bottlenecks of insufficient supply and problems of structural imbalance [13], especially in ethnic minority areas, where the supply of public goods and public services is generally lacking [14]. Moving towards a new era and a new journey, rural public services are endowed with new era implications and development requirements. In the stage of high-quality development, it is urgent for rural public services to move towards high-quality development.

The question that triggers thinking is can rural public science and technology services promote agricultural modernization in the face of the realistic challenges of unbalanced and uncoordinated development of agricultural modernization in different regions? What is the action mechanism of rural public science and technology services to promote agricultural modernization? To respond to these issues, it is urgent to focus on the core and key problems based on the characteristics and progress of different regions, and to follow up in a timely manner, formulate strategies based on local conditions, and implement measures as needed. As one of the important maps of the overall modernization of the country, the degree of realization of rural public science and technology services and agricultural modernization in the southwestern region of China greatly affects the integrity, comprehensiveness, and coordination of national modernization [10]. In light of this, this paper focuses on the southwest region of China in order to provide empirical basis and experience reference for regions with similar geographical structure characteristics to explore the mechanism and practice path of rural public science and technology services to promote agricultural modernization.

The rest of the paper is structured as follows: Section 2 provides the literature review. Section 3 describes the research design. Section 4 details the empirical results and discussions. Section 5 summarizes the conclusions and implications of this paper.

2. Literature Review

On the basis of the research purpose and content of this paper, throughout all of the existing theories and practices, there is an increasing amount of literature discussing rural public services and agricultural modernization. It is gratifying to note that these existing research results provide theoretical guidance and experience reference for this paper.

Agricultural modernization is a dynamic evolution process that promotes the transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture [15,16,17,18]. It requires continuous improvement of the agricultural industry system, agricultural production system, and agricultural management system [19], thereby enhancing agricultural labor productivity, land productivity, and agricultural total factor productivity [1,20]. As an important foundation of the Chinese path to modernization, agricultural modernization is an important part of the modernization of the whole country [21,22]. Without agricultural modernization, the modernization of a country is inevitably incomplete, uncoordinated, and unstable [23,24]. Therefore, the realization process of agricultural modernization is a major strategic task for building a socialist modernized country [25]. From the perspective of practice, promoting agricultural modernization is inseparable from the two new elements of science and technology and institutional innovation [23], and its fundamental role is to achieve agricultural science and technology innovation [26].

As a category of public services, public technology services both have the basic characteristics of public services and are distinct from other public services [27]. Since the rural reform in China, the level of public services in rural areas has significantly improved, especially in the field of public service of agricultural informatization, which has enhanced the overall level of rural informatization in the country [28]. Because of their non-exclusive and non-competitive nature, rural public goods are conducive to promoting agricultural production and rural economic development, ensuring rural social stability, and improving the quality of life for farmers [29]. In practice, it can also be found that rural public science and technology services are formed by the government taking the lead and guiding multiple social entities such as agriculture-related universities, research institutes, social organizations, industry associations, agricultural enterprises, and intermediary organizations to participate together, creating a “community” of rural public science and technology services. Various forms are adopted to provide rural areas in the field of science and technology with technical resources, information resources, human resources, project resources, popular science resources, training resources, facilities and equipment resources, etc. It has to be said that rural public science and technology services provide various scientific and technological services and products to improve land productivity, promote agricultural and rural scientific and technological innovation, promote agricultural and rural economic and social development, and meet the public needs of rural society, so as to ensure and promote the high-quality development of agricultural modernization.

Scholars have formed some relatively important research viewpoints on how rural public technology services can promote agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity”. Many scholars believe that rural public science and technology services is an important way, an important link, and an intermediate bridge to apply science and technology to agricultural production, accelerate the popularization and application of agricultural scientific and technological achievements, and transform agricultural scientific and technological achievements into real productive forces [30,31,32]. Rural public science and technology services are an important link between agricultural scientific research and agricultural production [32], an important organizational guarantee to promote agricultural scientific and technological progress, an important means to carry out agricultural technology promotion and farmer training, an important content to realize the equalization of basic public services for rural residents [33], and an important way to achieve the goal of agricultural and rural development in China [34]. Therefore, the layout of the rural public technology service system will directly affect the rationality of the allocation of rural public technology resources and the effectiveness of services in different regions [35]. Effective public agricultural technology extension services help to promote the adoption of advanced agricultural technologies, increase grain production, and improve the agricultural production environment [36], thereby increasing land productivity, ensuring food security, and promoting agricultural modernization [37]. Agricultural machinery operation service and agricultural science and technology training are introduced as moderating variables to investigate the moderating effect of agricultural machinery operation service and agricultural science and technology training on grain production. It is found that agricultural machinery operation service has a significant positive moderating effect on grain production [38]. At the same time, farmers’ acceptance of new knowledge and new technologies is conducive to increasing food production [39]. The digital economy can have a significant positive effect on the modernization of agriculture and rural areas [40]. Digitalization has not only changed the mode of agricultural production and production efficiency but also changed the circulation of agricultural products and the way agricultural producers trade [41].

From the perspective of comprehensive theory and practice, the role of the rural public science and technology services system has an inevitable internal relationship with the rational layout of its service system. The supply level and demand intensity of various agricultural science and technology resources in each link will directly affect the function of the rural public science and technology services system, which will indirectly affect the service, function, and effectiveness of promoting agricultural modernization. Effective rural public science and technology services will help drive the majority of agricultural enterprises and farmers to actively adopt and promote the application of modern agricultural technology. Reinforcement of the service of agricultural science and technology, transformation of agricultural production methods, and improvement of agricultural production environment can effectively promote grain production, ensure food security, and then promote the realization of agricultural modernization. For example, agricultural mechanization operation services, agricultural science and technology skills, and professional knowledge training are conducive to improving food production and promoting land productivity. The absorption and utilization of new agricultural knowledge, technologies, processes, methods, etc., by agricultural enterprises and farmers is conducive to increasing grain production and improving land productivity. Demonstration farms provide an important link between small-scale farmers and modern agriculture in mountainous area of western China, which is playing an important role in improving labor productivity [9], agricultural economic benefits [42,43,44], social benefits [45], and ecological benefit [46]. The agricultural digital economy promotes the flow of digital agricultural knowledge and agricultural information into the agricultural and rural areas, which is conducive to changing the mode of agricultural production, the circulation mode of agricultural products, and the trading mode of agricultural producers, thus accelerating the realization process of agricultural modernization.

In summary, the mechanism of “improving land productivity” of rural public science and technology services has increasingly become a key force supporting the development of modern agriculture, a key measure to accelerate the development of modern agriculture, a key way to promote the high-quality development of modern agriculture, and an important means to accelerate the realization of agricultural modernization. In general, improving the level of rural public science and technology services is conducive to the dissemination of modern agricultural science and technology; motivating farmers to enhance their scientific and technological quality, adopting and applying modern agricultural technology, and then enabling agricultural comprehensive production capacity and improving land productivity, which has important theoretical significance and practical value for accelerating the development of modern agriculture, can not only provide basic guarantee for the realization of agricultural modernization but also provide strategic support for the realization of agricultural modernization. Therefore, improving the quality of rural public science and technology services will inevitably become an important path in promoting the realization of agricultural modernization. However, there is a lack of empirical research on rural public science and technology services to promote agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity”, which means that it is urgent to supplement the relevant arguments and conduct in-depth discussions.

3. Research Design

3.1. Research Hypothesis

In this paper, based on the development demand orientation and scientific problem orientation, according to the research objectives and research ideas, under the backdrop of adding the mechanism of “land productivity”, the core topic of the impact mechanism of rural public science and technology services on agricultural modernization is focused on, and we attempt to answer the following research questions.

Question (1): What is the direction and intensity of the impact of rural public science and technology services on agricultural modernization?

Question (2): Can rural public technology services promote agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity”?

Taking the above analyses together, this paper constructs innovatively the action mechanism of “improving land productivity” of rural public science and technology services for promoting agricultural modernization as shown in Figure 1, and puts forward research hypotheses as follows:

Hypothesis 1 (H1). 

Rural public science and technology services can positively promote the improvement of agricultural modernization development level.

Hypothesis 2 (H2). 

Rural public science and technology services can promote agricultural modernization through the action mechanism of “improving land productivity”, and the mechanism of “improving land productivity” will affect the intensity of the role of rural public science and technology services in agricultural modernization.

3.2. Method Selection

3.2.1. Benchmark Regression Model

In order to verify the research Hypothesis H1, this paper constructs a benchmark regression analysis model as follows:

$${AMOD}_{i,t}=\chi +\delta \cdot RPT{S}_{i,t}+{\displaystyle \sum _{j=1}^n\gamma CONTRO{L}_{i.t}}+{\mu }_i+{\nu }_i+{\epsilon }_{i,t}$$

(1)

According to Equation (1), $AMO{D}_{i,t}$ indicates the development level of agricultural modernization in the i-th province in the t-th year; $RPT{S}_{i,t}$ indicates the quality of rural public science and technology services in the i-th province in the t-th year; $CONTRO{L}_{i,t}$ indicates a series of control variables that may have an impact on the level of agricultural modernization development; χ indicates the constant term; δ indicates the parameter to be estimated; μ_i indicates the fixed effects of provinces; ν_i indicates the fixed effect of the year; ${\epsilon }_{i,t}$ indicates the random perturbation term.

Combined with the actual variables selected in this paper, the benchmark regression model of Equation (1) can be transformed into an expression as follows:

$$\begin{array}{l}{AMOD}_{i,t}=\chi +\delta \cdot RPT{S}_{i,t}+\theta \cdot {GOVS}_{i,t}+\phi \cdot {URST}_{i,t}\\ +\sigma \cdot {INDS}_{i,t}+\mathsf{\partial }\cdot {OPEN}_{i,t}+\mathsf{\varsigma }\cdot {ECOD}_{i,t}+{\mu }_i+{\nu }_i+{\epsilon }_{i,t}\end{array}$$

(2)

In Equation (2), $GO{V}_{i,t}$ stands for “government intervention” as a control variable in the i-th province in the t-th year; $URS{T}_{i,t}$ stands for “urban–rural structure” as a control variable in the i-th province in the t-th year; $IND{S}_{i,t}$ stands for “industrial structure” as a control variable in the i-th province in the t-th year; $OPE{N}_{i,t}$ stands for “open to the outside world” as a control variable in the i-th province in the t-th year; $ECO{D}_{i,t}$ stands for “economic growth” as a control variable in the i-th province in the t-th year; θ, φ, σ, ∂, ς stand for the parameters to be estimated, respectively.

3.2.2. Mediating Effect Model

Based on the theoretical foundation of the traditional mediating effect model and by referring to the introduction of a new mediating effect model [47], this paper conducts a mediating effect test on the research hypotheses of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” of rural public science and technology services. According to the principle of the theoretical model of mediating effect, the accuracy of the estimation results of the empirical model is improved at the same time, so as to avoid the bias of the estimation results of the empirical model due to the omission of variables. In addition, considering that the sample data of this paper belong to panel data, this paper introduces control variables as well as individual fixed effects and time fixed effects in the empirical model. The corresponding regression equation expression is constructed as follows:

$${AMOD}_{i,t}={\alpha }_0+{\alpha }_1\cdot RPT{S}_{i,t}+{\displaystyle \sum _{j=1}^n\lambda \cdot CONTRO{L}_{i.t}}+{\mu }_i+{\nu }_i+{\epsilon }_{i,t}$$

(3)

$$AYI{E}_{i,t}={\beta }_0+{\beta }_1\cdot RPT{S}_{i,t}+{\displaystyle \sum _{j=1}^n\lambda \cdot CONTRO{L}_{i.t}}+{\mu }_i+{\nu }_i+{\epsilon }_{i,t}$$

(4)

$$AMO{D}_{i,t}=c_0+\gamma \cdot RPT{S}_{i,t}+\delta \cdot AYI{E}_{i,t}+{\displaystyle \sum _{j=1}^n\lambda \cdot CONTRO{L}_{i.t}}+{\mu }_i+{\nu }_i+{\epsilon }_{i,t}$$

(5)

According to Equation (3), the coefficient ${\alpha }_1$ represents the total impact effect of the independent variable $RPT{S}_{i,t}$ on the dependent variable $AMO{D}_{i,t}$. In Equation (4), the coefficient ${\beta }_1$ represents the impact effect of the independent variable $RPT{S}_{i,t}$ on the mediating variable $AYI{E}_{i,t}$. In Equation (5), the coefficient $\gamma$ represents the direct effect of the mediating variable $AYI{E}_{i,t}$ on the dependent variable $AMO{D}_{i,t}$ after controlling the influence of the independent variable $RPT{S}_{i,t}$, and the coefficient product ${\beta }_1\cdot \delta$ represents the indirect effect through the mediating variable $AYI{E}_{i,t}$, also known as the mediating effect. Therefore, the relationship expressions of total effect, direct effect, and indirect effect (mediating effect) are as follows:

$${\alpha }_1=\gamma +{\beta }_1\cdot \delta$$

(6)

3.2.3. Sobel–Goodman Test Method

The Sobel–Goodman test method is a test method formed by combining Sobel’s calculation method for standard error and Goodman’s two calculation methods for standard error [48]. If the test model is significant, it indicates that the mediating effect of the mediating variable is significant. If the test model is not significant, it indicates that the mediating effect of the mediating variable is not significant. The Sobel–Goodman test method has higher testing power for mediating effects than sequential tests [47,48,49,50,51] and has high credibility. Therefore, the Sobel–Goodman test is helpful to enhance the robustness of the mediating effect model and then improve the reliability and credibility of the test results of the mediating effect model. The expression of the method for calculating the standard error is as follows:

$$\widehat{Var\left(\widehat{a}\widehat{b}\right)}=s_a^2{\widehat{b}}^2+s_b^2{\widehat{a}}^2$$

(7)

$$\widehat{Var\left(\widehat{a}\widehat{b}\right)}=s_a^2{\widehat{b}}^2+s_b^2{\widehat{a}}^2+s_a^2{s}_b^2$$

(8)

$$\widehat{Var\left(\widehat{a}\widehat{b}\right)}=s_a^2{\widehat{b}}^2+s_b^2{\widehat{a}}^2-s_a^2{s}_b^2$$

(9)

According to Equations (7)–(9), $\widehat{a}$ and $\widehat{b}$ denote the estimates of a and b, respectively, while $s_a$ and $s_b$ denote the standard error for sums of $\widehat{a}$ and $\widehat{b}$, respectively. The Formula (7) represents a calculation method of Sobel for standard errors. The Formulas (8) and (9) represent two methods of Goodman for calculating standard errors, respectively.

3.2.4. Bootstrap Test Method

The Bootstrap test, also known as the bootstrap method, is a method of repeatedly sampling from a sample. There are multiple sampling schemes for Bootstrap testing methods, one of the common schemes of which is to repeat sampling from a given sample to produce many samples, that is, the original sample is regarded as a “Bootstrap population”, and repeated sampling from this “Bootstrap population” provides a Bootstrap sample similar to the original sample [47,48,52]. In comparison, the confidence interval obtained by the Bootstrap test method is more accurate and has higher test power [47,48,53,54]. In view of this, this paper makes statistical inference on the mediating effect with the help of Bootstrap test method.

In the test results of Bootstrap mediating effect, “_bs_1” means “r(ind_eff)”, “_bs_2” means “r(dir_eff)”, “N” means “Normal-based”, “P” means “Percentile”, “BC” means “Bias-corrected”, and “BCa” means “Bias-corrected and accelerated”. Normally, confidence intervals constructed using the calculation methods of “BC” and “BCa” yield similar results. Compared to the first two confidence intervals, the latter two have higher credibility. Among them, the confidence interval of “BCa” is the most reliable and credible confidence interval in theory, and the evidence is more accurate. If the confidence interval contains 0, it means that the mediating effect is not valid. If the confidence interval does not contain 0, it means that the mediating effect is effective.

3.3. Variable Settings

According to the above research hypothesis and model construction, based on the geographical reality of the study area, combined with the field investigation and research, this paper follows the principles of scientificity, representativeness, continuity, quantification, and sustainability of the evaluation index setting [10,55] and refers to the research experience of scholars [10,13,19,21,25,27,32], and then constructs the evaluation index system and setting of variables of this paper. The variable setting of this paper is described as follows.

3.3.1. Agricultural Modernization

The dependent variable of this paper is set as the comprehensive index of the development level of agricultural modernization in each province, and the code is recorded as AMOD.

Table 1. The evaluation index system for agricultural modernization.

ID	Index Decomposition of Agricultural Modernization
I01	The comprehensive production capacity of grain
I02	The proportion of aquaculture output value
I03	The proportion of output value of agricultural product processing industry
I04	The proportion of agricultural standardization demonstration area construction
I05	The proportion of high standard farmland construction
I06	The proportion of efficient water-saving irrigation
I07	The proportion of agricultural brand cultivation
I08	The level of effective irrigation in farmland
I09	Per capita grain production output
I10	Total power of agricultural machinery
I11	Contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress
I12	Reduction in agricultural fertilizers
I13	Reduction in pesticides
I14	Reduction in agricultural plastic film
I15	The effectiveness of family farm cultivation
I16	The effectiveness of the cultivation of farmers’ professional cooperatives
I17	The effectiveness of cultivating leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization
I18	The proportion of output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery service industry
I19	The rate of agricultural disaster prevention
I20	The level of agricultural soil and water conservation
I21	Per capita disposable income of rural residents
I22	Per capita consumption expenditure of rural residents

clearly constructs the comprehensive evaluation index system of agricultural modernization. In view of the fact that the comprehensive evaluation system of agricultural modernization constructed in this paper is a panel data involving multiple regions, multiple years and multiple indexes, this paper uses the global entropy method, which is more recognized by the academic community, to scientifically measure the comprehensive index of agricultural modernization, and its value range is between 0–1.

3.3.2. Rural Public Science and Technology Services

The core independent variable of this research is set as the comprehensive index of the quality of rural public science and technology services in each province, and the code is recorded as RPTS.

Table 2. The evaluation index system for rural public science and technology services.

ID	Index Decomposition of Rural Public Science and Technology Services
I01	The agricultural fixed capital investment
I02	The proportion of fiscal expenditure on agriculture, forestry and water affairs
I03	The input scale of R&D funds related to agriculture
I04	The input intensity of R&D funds related to agriculture
I05	The proportion of rural employed persons
I06	The proportion of R&D personnel related to agriculture
I07	The scale of science and technology commissioners
I08	The proportion of grassroots agricultural technology extension institutions
I09	The number of agricultural meteorological observation stations
I10	The rural power generation capacity
I11	The number of visitors to the science museum
I12	The number of mobile phones per 100 rural households
I13	The number of computers per 100 rural households
I14	The rural broadband access users
I15	The quantity of seed industry intellectual property rights
I16	The number of scientific and technological papers related to agriculture
I17	The number of scientific and technological books related to agriculture
I18	The number of scientific and technological invention patent related to agriculture
I19	The number of scientific and technological R&D project related to agriculture

clearly constructs the comprehensive evaluation index system of rural public science and technology services. Similarly, the comprehensive evaluation system of rural public science and technology services is also a panel data covering multiple regions, multiple years, and multiple indicators. Therefore, as mentioned above, with the help of the global entropy method, this paper scientifically measures the comprehensive index of rural public science and technology services, and its value range is still between 0–1.

3.3.3. Land Productivity

According to the previous theoretical analysis of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” of rural public science and technology services, this paper puts forward the research hypothesis of “improving the quality of rural public science and technology services → helping to improve the land productivity → conducive to promoting agricultural modernization”. This paper specifically sets the variable of the intermediary mechanism as “improving land productivity”, measured by the output of main crop products per unit area of land, and the code is recorded as AYIE. Among them, the output of main crop products includes grain yield, vegetable yield, fruit yield, oil yield, sugar yield, tobacco yield, tea yield, bast fiber yield, and cotton yield. Figure 2 outlines the components of the output of the main crop products.

3.3.4. Control Variable

In order to ensure the accuracy of the empirical estimation results and avoid errors in the regression results caused by missing variables, this paper sets control variables for the empirical model. The setting of variables is mainly based on the reality of the research area and focuses on the selection experience and classic practices of scholars in the field of related topic research, then constructs the control variables of this paper. The selection basis and settings are introduced as follows:

(1) Government intervention

From the perspective of reality, government intervention has multiple complex effects which will not only bring positive effects but also lead to negative effects. On the one hand, legitimate and reasonable government intervention is conducive to macroeconomic regulation and guidance in the field of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, stabilizing the market of agricultural products, promoting the increase in farmers’ income, and ensuring the development of the agricultural and rural economy and the stability of rural society. However, on the other hand, unreasonable and excessive government intervention may lead to the distortion of the agricultural product market, increase the pressure of local government debt, and inhibit the enthusiasm and creativity of agricultural workers or agricultural operators in production and operation. In view of this, the degree of government intervention is an important variable affecting the level of agricultural modernization development, and a control variable of “government intervention” is specially set up, measured by the proportion of local fiscal expenditure (unit: %), which is taken as values according to the logarithm of the actual value, and the code is recorded as GOVS.

(2) Urban and rural structure

With the continuous transfer of population to urban areas, the massive flow of population will promote the flow and transformation of diverse factors between urban and rural areas. On the one hand, while alleviating the tense man–land relationship in rural China, the empowerment of production factors such as modern technology, information, talents, and entrepreneurship is conducive to the improvement of agricultural total factor productivity and the promotion of agricultural modernization. However, on the other hand, the rapid development of urbanization or unbalanced, uncoordinated, and inadequate development may lead to encroachment on or abuse of rural land and other resources, which will not only inhibit the improvement of the comprehensive production capacity of important agricultural products such as grain but also affect the rural ecological environment [1]. In view of this, the relationship between urban and rural structure is an important variable affecting the development level of agricultural modernization, and the control variable of “urban and rural structure” is set up, characterized by the level of urbanization (unit: %), which is taken values according to the logarithm of the actual value, and the code is recorded as URST.

(3) Industrial structure

From the perspective of development trend, in general, the greater the proportion of the tertiary industry in the national economy, the more developed the tertiary industry, the higher the optimization level of the industrial structure, and the higher the degree of industrialization, which largely represents the development level and inevitable characteristics of the modern economy. However, the excessive imbalance of industrial structure is also likely to suppress the growth of agricultural economy and the development of rural society. In view of this, the adjustment of industrial structure is an important variable affecting the development level of agricultural modernization, and the control variable of “industrial structure” is set up, characterized by the proportion of the tertiary industry (unit: %), which is taken as values according to the logarithm of the actual value, and the code is recorded as INDS.

(4) Opening to the outside world

Looking at the domestic and international situation, in the context of globalization, there will be both positive and negative effects of opening up. On the one hand, increasing the opening to the outside world is conducive to broadening the agricultural trade market, increasing agricultural income, improving the market competitiveness of agricultural enterprises, and thus promoting the growth of agricultural economy. However, on the other hand, foreign markets may also have an impact on the industrial chain, supply chain, capital chain, value chain, ,and other chains of domestic agriculture, resulting in many uncertain challenges in agricultural economic management. In view of this, the degree of opening up to the outside world is an important variable that affects the level of agricultural modernization development. Therefore, “opening up to the outside world” is specially set as a control variable that is reflected by the proportion of the total import and export volume (unit: %), with values according to the logarithm of the actual value, and the code is recorded as OPEN.

(5) Economic growth

In general, a higher level of economic growth in a region will help the region more easily access richer agricultural production factors and more advanced agricultural technology support, which can improve agricultural production conditions, enhance the comprehensive agricultural production capacity, and promote agricultural modernization [1]. In view of this, the level of economic growth is an important variable affecting the development level of agricultural modernization, and the control variable of “economic growth” is specially set that is reflected by per capita regional GDP (unit: Yuan/person), with values taken according to the logarithm of the actual value, and the code is recorded as ECOD.

3.4. Data Source

The original data of this paper mainly includes the following: the data of rural public science and technology services system and agricultural modernization system in four provinces (municipalities directly under the central government) of Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan in southwest China from 2013 to 2022 (note: due to the serious lack of data in the Tibet Autonomous Region as a whole, it has not been included in the scope of data collection and analysis). The original data of this paper mainly comes from the following sources: (1) The category of statistical yearbook. Specifically, this includes “China Statistical Yearbook”, “China Rural Statistical Yearbook”, “China Science and Technology Statistical Yearbook”, “China Population and Employment Statistical Yearbook”, and statistical yearbooks of Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan provinces in China. (2) The category of platform data. Specifically, this includes the national data platform of the National Bureau of Statistics, the national standard information public service platform, the local standard information service platform, and the agricultural and rural standardization pilot demonstration service platform in China. (3) The category of statistical bulletin. Specifically, this includes the statistical bulletin of national economic and social development, the statistical bulletin of science and technology, or the statistical bulletin of research and experimental development (R&D) funds in Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan provinces in China. (4) The category of official website data. Specifically, this includes the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, the official website of the National Bureau of Statistics, the official website of the Agricultural Products Quality and Safety Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the official website of the People’s Government of Chongqing, Sichuan Province, Guizhou Province, and Yunnan Province, the official website of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Commission), the official website of the Bureau of Statistics in China, and so on. (5) The category of expert consultation. We consulted and applied to the relevant departments and relevant experts in Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan provinces in China. (6) The category of filed investigation. Part of the data was obtained through field investigation.

4. Empirical Results and Discussions

4.1. Descriptive Statistical Analysis

Table 3. The descriptive statistics on empirical variables.

Stats	p25	p50	p75	Mean	sd	Variance
AMOD	0.2691	0.3610	0.5690	0.4139	0.1631	0.0266
RPTS	0.3880	0.5036	0.6157	0.5266	0.1696	0.0288
GOVS	3.1116	3.1903	3.4517	3.2646	0.2198	0.0483
URST	3.8371	3.9435	4.0659	3.9560	0.1663	0.0277
INDS	3.8643	3.9266	3.9628	3.9104	0.0660	0.0044
OPEN	2.0355	2.4822	2.9956	2.4267	0.7247	0.5252
ECOD	10.4850	10.7648	10.9711	10.7433	0.3400	0.1156

lists the descriptive statistical results of each empirical variable in detail and comprehensively. From the overall characteristics of data distribution, compared with the same group of data, only the standard deviation and variance of the variable of the degree of opening to the outside world are relatively larger, and the standard deviation and variance of other variables are generally smaller, which indicates that the overall fluctuation range of the sample data is relatively small, the degree of dispersion is small, and the data distribution is more concentrated and stable. According to the characteristics of each variable, in the sample data, the average index of the variable for the development level of agricultural modernization (AMOD) is 0.4139 and the average index of the variable for the level of rural public science and technology services (RPTS) is 0.5266.

4.2. Mechanism Analysis

In order to further empirically test the intermediary transmission mechanism of rural public science and technology services affecting agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity”, according to the intermediary effect model, the mechanism of “improving land productivity” of rural public science and technology services was tested. The mediating effect test results of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” are shown in

Table 4. Summary of the test results of mediating effect of action mechanism for “improving land productivity”.

path c	AMOD	Coef.	Std. Err.	t	p > |t|	[95% Conf.	Interval]
	RPTS	0.5113 ***	0.1587	3.220	0.0030	0.1885	0.8341
	GOVS	0.7380 **	0.3254	2.270	0.0300	0.0760	1.4000
	URST	−0.1513	0.3312	−0.460	0.6510	−0.8252	0.5225
	INDS	−1.0838 **	0.4589	−2.360	0.0240	−2.0175	−0.1500
	OPEN	−0.0440	0.0492	−0.890	0.3780	−0.1441	0.0562
	ECOD	0.7924 ***	0.2117	3.740	0.0010	0.3617	1.2232
	cons	−5.8345 ***	1.8303	−3.190	0.0030	−9.5584	−2.1107
	F		15.22	p	0.0000	R-squared	0.7345
path a	AYIE	Coef.	Std. Err.	t	p > |t|	[95% Conf.	Interval]
	RPTS	0.5011 ***	0.1628	3.080	0.0040	0.1699	0.8323
	GOVS	−0.1483	0.3338	−0.440	0.6600	−0.8274	0.5307
	URST	0.2148	0.3398	0.630	0.5320	−0.4764	0.9061
	INDS	−0.5475	0.4708	−1.160	0.2530	−1.5054	0.4104
	OPEN	−0.0115	0.0505	−0.230	0.8210	−0.1143	0.09118
	ECOD	0.6011 ***	0.2172	2.770	0.0090	0.1591	1.0430
	cons	−2.3493	1.8777	−1.250	0.2200	−6.1695	1.4708
	F		60.40	p	0.0000	R-squared	0.9165
paths b and c’	AMOD	Coef.	Std. Err.	t	p > |t|	[95% Conf.	Interval]
	AYIE	0.6921 ***	0.1213	5.700	0.0000	0.4450	0.9393
	RPTS	0.1645	0.1287	1.280	0.2110	−0.0977	0.4267
	GOVS	0.8406 ***	0.2334	3.600	0.0010	0.3653	1.3160
	URST	−0.3000	0.2383	−1.260	0.2170	−0.7854	0.1853
	INDS	−0.7048 **	0.3348	−2.110	0.0430	−1.3869	−0.0228
	OPEN	−0.0360	0.0352	−1.020	0.3150	−0.1077	0.0358
	ECOD	0.3764 **	0.1681	2.240	0.0320	0.0341	0.7187
	cons	−4.2085 ***	1.3400	−3.140	0.0040	−6.9370	−1.4800
	F		30.16	p	0.0000	R-squared	0.8684

Note: ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.01.

. Among them, “path c” represents the benchmark model, which is the empirical test result of the regression equation expression (3); “path a” represents the empirical test result of the mediation model, that is, the regression equation expression (4); “paths b and c” represents the comprehensive model, that is, the empirical test results of the regression equation expression (5). From the test results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity”, observations can be found as follows:

First of all, in the benchmark model of “path c”: (1) The overall model is significant, the goodness of fit is relatively high, and the model has strong explanatory power. (2) The estimated coefficient of the rural public science and technology services variable (RPTS) is 0.5113, and it passes the 1% significance level test, indicating that the total effect of the rural public science and technology services variable (RPTS) on the agricultural modernization variable (AMOD) is 0.5113. This means that when other factors remain unchanged, when the rural public science and technology services variable (RPTS) increases by 1 unit, it will significantly promote the agricultural modernization variable (AMOD) to increase by 0.5113 units. (3) The control variables also have different degrees of influence on the agricultural modernization variable (AMOD). Among them, the estimated coefficients of the economic growth variable (ECOD) and the government intervention variable (GOVS) are 0.7924 and 0.7380, respectively, and passed the significance level test of 1% and 5%, respectively. Under the condition that other factors remain unchanged, it shows that when the economic growth variable (ECOD) and the government intervention variable (GOVS) each increase by 1 unit, it will significantly promote the development level of agricultural modernization by 0.7924 and 0.7380 units, respectively.

In summary, the test results of the overall effect show that rural public science and technology services can positively and significantly promote the improvement of the development level of agricultural modernization. Therefore, the “research Hypothesis H1” has been verified.

Secondly, in the mediation model of “path a”: (1) The overall model is significant, the goodness of fit is high, and the interpretation is strong. (2) The estimated coefficient of the rural public science and technology services variable (RPTS) is 0.5011, and it has passed the 1% significance level test. This shows that the rural public science and technology services variable (RPTS) plays a significant positive role in promoting the mediating variable of “land productivity” mechanism and the effect of the rural public science and technology services variable (RPTS) on the mediating variable of “land productivity” mechanism is 0.5011, which means that when other factors remain unchanged and the rural public science and technology services variable (RPTS) increases by 1 unit, it will significantly promote the mediating variable “land productivity” mechanism to increase by 0.5011 units. (3) Among the control variables, the estimated coefficients of the economic growth variable (ECOD) and the urban–rural structural variable (URST) are 0.6011 and 0.2148, respectively, indicating that the economic growth variable (ECOD) and the urban–rural structural variable (URST) can promote the improvement of the mediating variable of “land productivity” mechanism. Among them, the economic growth variable (ECOD) passed the 1% significance level test, indicating that when other factors remain unchanged, when the economic growth variable (ECOD) increases by 1 unit, it will significantly promote the mediating variable “land productivity” mechanism to increase by 0.6011 units.

Thirdly, in the comprehensive model of “paths b and c”: (1) The estimated coefficient of the rural public science and technology services variable (RPTS) is 0.1645, which has not passed the significance level test, indicating that after controlling the influence of the mediating variable of “improving land productivity” mechanism, the direct effect of the rural public science and technology services variable (RPTS) on the agricultural modernization variable (AMOD) is not highlighted. (2) The estimated coefficient of the mediating variable of “improving land productivity” mechanism is 0.6921, and it has passed the 1% significance level test, indicating that after controlling for the influence of the rural public science and technology services variable (RPTS), the mediating variable of “improving land productivity” mechanism can significantly promote the level of agricultural modernization development, and the effect of the mediating variable of “improving land productivity” mechanism on the agricultural modernization variable (AMOD) is 0.6921. Under the condition that other factors remain unchanged, when the mediating variable of “land productivity” mechanism increases by 1 unit, it will significantly promote the development level of agricultural modernization by 0.6921 units. (3) The estimated coefficients of government intervention variable (GOVS) and economic growth variable (ECOD) were 0.8406 and 0.3764, respectively, and passed the significance level test of 1% and 5%, respectively, indicating that government intervention and economic growth level can significantly promote the development level of agricultural modernization. Moreover, under the condition that other factors remain unchanged, when the government intervention variable (GOVS) and the economic growth variable (ECOD) each increase by 1 unit, the level of agricultural modernization development will be significantly promoted by 0.8406 and 0.3764 units, respectively. Therefore, the comprehensive model of “paths b and c” and shows that there is a mediating effect in the mechanism of “improving land productivity”.

Fourthly, from the perspective of the size and proportion of the mediating effect (indirect effect), the product of coefficient ${\beta }_1$ and coefficient $\delta$ is about 0.3468, which indicates that the indirect effect (mediating effect) obtained through the mediating variable of “improving land productivity” mechanism is 0.3468. This result means that when the quality of rural public science and technology services increases by 1 unit, the level of the “land productivity” mechanism will increase by 0.5011 units, which will indirectly promote the level of agricultural modernization by 0.3468 units. At the same time, the mediating effect (indirect effect) accounts for 67.8289% of the total effect, indicating the positive impact of rural public science and technology services on the development level of agricultural modernization, with 67.8289% of the proportion playing a role through the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity”.

On the whole, the test results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” show that rural public science and technology services can improve the development level of agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity”. Therefore, “research Hypothesis H2” has been verified.

4.3. Endogeneity Test

In order to avoid the endogeneity problem that may exist in the empirical estimation results, this paper uses the analysis method of the lag term of the independent variable to verify the influence between the variables, and excludes the influence of the current data of the independent variable on the estimation results to a certain extent so as to reduce the possible endogeneity problem and then improve the unbiasedness and consistency of the estimation results. From the endogenous test results of

Table 5. The results of the endogeneity test.

VARIABLES	AMOD
	Model (1)	Model (2)	Model (3)	Model (4)	Model (5)	Model (6)
L.RPTS	0.5487 ***	0.6217 ***	0.9667 ***	0.9869 ***	0.8208 ***	0.7315 ***
	(0.1355)	(0.1596)	(0.1351)	(0.1445)	(0.1894)	(0.1459)
GOVS		0.1087	0.9627 ***	0.9890 ***	0.5824	1.1403 ***
		(0.1245)	(0.1859)	(0.1978)	(0.3621)	(0.3007)
URST			1.1937 ***	1.2608 ***	1.0130 ***	0.1408
			(0.2256)	(0.2756)	(0.3295)	(0.3120)
INDS				−0.1801	−0.0595	−1.4903 ***
				(0.4139)	(0.4187)	(0.4401)
OPEN					−0.0741	−0.0090
					(0.0556)	(0.0446)
ECOD						0.8983 ***
						(0.1898)
_cons	0.1461 *	−0.2454	−7.9460 ***	−7.6019 ***	−5.5032 **	−8.0459 ***
	(0.0736)	(0.4542)	(1.4939)	(1.7073)	(2.3064)	(1.8421)
F	16.4098	8.5291	19.6685	14.4250	12.1859	21.1318
P	0.0003	0.0010	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000
R-squared	0.3255	0.3408	0.6484	0.6505	0.6701	0.8139
adj.R-squared	0.3057	0.3008	0.6154	0.6054	0.6151	0.7753

Note: Standard errors in parentheses; * p < 0.10, ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.01.

, it can be concluded that after the introduction of the lag variable, the overall regression model has passed the significance test. With the gradual addition of the control variables, the coefficient of determination of the regression model is relatively higher and higher, which indicates that the goodness of fit of the regression model is getting better and better and the explanatory power is increasing. At the same time, it is also worth noting that the estimated coefficients of the lagged variable of rural public science and technology services (L.RPTS) under Model (1)–Model (6) are 0.5487, 0.6217, 0.9667, 0.9869, 0.8208, and 0.7315, respectively, all of which significantly improve the development level of agricultural modernization at the significance level of 1%, and it means that regardless of whether or how many control variables are added, rural public technology services pass the 1% significance level test in different models, and the direction is significantly positive. In addition, under the condition of adding all control variables, different variables also have different degrees of influence on the development level of agricultural modernization. In summary, the test results of the lag term are consistent with the previous estimation results, which further reveals that after the introduction of the lag term variable, the rural public science and technology services still has a significant positive impact on agricultural modernization and excludes the current value of the rural public science and technology services. The endogeneity problem caused by the correlation with the random error term; therefore, the unbiasedness and consistency of the previous estimation results have been confirmed.

4.4. Test Results of the Sobel–Goodman Test

Table 6. Summary of the Sobel–Goodman test results of mediating effect of action mechanism for “improving land productivity”.

VARIABLES	Coef	Std. Err.	Z	p > |Z|
Sobel	0.346822 ***	0.128036	2.709	0.006753
Goodman-1(Aroian)	0.346822 ***	0.129551	2.677	0.007426
Goodman-2	0.346822 ***	0.126503	2.742	0.006114
a coefficient	0.501084 ***	0.162797	3.078	0.002084
b coefficient	0.692144 ***	0.121339	5.704	0.000000
Indirect effect	0.346822 ***	0.128036	2.709	0.006753
Direct effect	0.164497	0.128739	1.278	0.201334
Total effect	0.511319 ***	0.158692	3.222	0.001273
Proportion of total effect that is mediated			0.6782886
Ratio of indirect to direct effect			2.1083758
Ratio of total to direct effect			3.1083758

Note: *** p < 0.01.

provides a detailed report on the Sobel–Goodman test results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity”. The test results of the Sobel–Goodman test of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” clearly show that, in general, the p value of “the Sobel” test is 0.006753, and the standard error is 0.128036. The p value of the “Goodman-1(Aroian)” test is 0.007426, and the standard error is 0.129551. The p value of the “Goodman-2” test is 0.006114, and the standard error is 0.126503. The above three indicators have passed the 1% significance level test. In addition, the mediating effect (indirect effect) is 0.346822, the direct effect is 0.164497, and the total effect is 0.511319. Among them, the mediating effect (indirect effect) and the total effect have passed the 1% significance level test. At the same time, the proportion of intermediary effect (indirect effect) to the total effect is 67.82886%, indicating that the positive impact of rural public science and technology services on the development level of agricultural modernization means that 67.82886% of the proportion is through the intermediary effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity”.

In summary, the Sobel–Goodman test results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” show that the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” has passed the significance level test. This means that rural public science and technology services can improve the development level of agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity”. Therefore, the test results of Sobel–Goodman are consistent with the previous test results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity”, indicating that the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” has passed the robustness test, and the estimation results have high reliability and credibility.

4.5. Test Results of the Bootstrap

Table 7. The Bootstrap test results of mediating effect of action mechanism for “improving land productivity”.

Observation Index	Observed Coefficient	Bias	Bootstrap std. err.	[95% Conf.	Interval]	Key
_bs_1	0.34682194	0.01144030	0.14738034	0.05796180	0.63568210	(N)
				0.07557690	0.66894780	(P)
				0.06508600	0.63978640	(BC)
				0.06508600	0.64276780	(BCa)
_bs_2	0.16449721	0.00474760	0.14511150	−0.11991610	0.44891050	(N)
				−0.14099930	0.43937080	(P)
				−0.14758230	0.43446730	(BC)
				−0.15940600	0.41519990	(BCa)

summarizes the Bootstrap test results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” in detail. The Bootstrap test results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” can be further summarized and analyzed given that the confidence interval constructed based on the normal distribution is [0.05796180, 0.63568210], and the confidence interval does not contain 0. The confidence interval constructed by the “Percentile” calculation method is [0.07557690, 0.66894780], and its confidence interval does not contain 0. The confidence interval obtained by the “Bias-corrected” calculation method is [0.06508600, 0.63978640], and the confidence interval also does not contain 0. The confidence interval obtained by Bias-corrected and accelerated statistics is [0.06508600, 0.64276780], and its confidence interval still does not contain 0. In summary, the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” is established, and it is significant during at 95% confidence level.

To sum up, the Bootstrap test results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” show that the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” is established and passes the significance level test, which indicates that rural public science and technology services can improve the level of agricultural modernization by improving the mechanism of “improving land productivity”. The Bootstrap test results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” are consistent with the previous test results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity”, indicating that the estimation results of the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” have high reliability and credibility.

5. Conclusions and Implications

This paper takes the influence mechanism of rural public science and technology services on agricultural modernization as the core topic, introducing the mechanism of “improving land productivity”, and based on the above empirical research results, the research conclusions are as follows:

(1) Firstly, based on constructing a new empirical model of the overall effect of rural public science and technology services on agricultural modernization, the benchmark regression results show that rural public science and technology services (RPTS) can positively promote agricultural modernization (AMOD) and pass the 1% significance level test. Among them, without adding any control variables, when rural public science and technology services increase by 1 unit, it will significantly promote agricultural modernization by 0.5403 units. In the context of adding all control variables, when the rural public science and technology services increases by 1 unit, it will significantly promote the agricultural modernization by 0.5113 units.

(2) Secondly, this article innovatively constructs a measurement model for the influence mechanism of rural public science and technology services on agricultural modernization; the test results of its mediating mechanism reveal that there is a significant mediating mechanism effect of “increasing production” in the impact of rural public science and technology services on agricultural modernization. That is to say, rural public science and technology services can significantly promote the development of agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity”. At the same time, the positive impact of rural public science and technology services on the development level of agricultural modernization is shown, with 67.8289% of the proportion playing a role through the mediating effect of the mechanism of “improving land productivity”.

(3) Thirdly, among the control variables, government intervention (GOVS) and economic growth (ECOD) are significantly positive at the statistical level of 5% and 1%, respectively, meaning they can significantly promote the improvement of agricultural modernization development level. However, the overall impact of urban-rural structure (URST), industrial structure (INDS), and opening up (OPEN) on agricultural modernization has not yet played a significant positive role. The above situation may be because when the proportion of urban population and the tertiary industry is too large, it may affect the efficiency of agricultural production to a certain extent, resulting in a decline in agricultural land output rate and labor productivity. The higher the degree of opening to the outside world, the greater the likelihood that it will have an impact on the domestic agricultural product market, inhibit the market competitiveness and share of domestic agriculture, and then weaken the role of promoting regional agricultural modernization.

Based on the above findings, the policy implications of this research are significant. First of all, the above research results show that rural public science and technology services (RPTS) can positively promote agricultural modernization (AMOD). For that reason, this article suggests that more scientific demonstration and more feasible measures should be adopted to jointly deal with and enhance awareness of the current problems and practical challenges and further promote practical development from the comprehensive dimensions of economy, politics, society, culture, and ecological environment in the agricultural and rural fields, so as to achieve good agricultural and rural governance [56], accelerating the filling of gaps in rural public technology services between regions and between urban and rural areas. Scientifically set the service radius for rural public technology supply. Deepen cross domain collaboration and enhance the supply capacity of rural public science and technology services. Support the exploration of diversified and socialized rural public technology service models. Efforts will be made to strengthen the rural public science and technology service network with counties as the core carrier. Strengthen the service of rural public scientific and technological resources, rural public scientific and technological environments, and rural public scientific and technological achievements. Further enhance the effectiveness of rural public technology services in promoting the level of agricultural modernization development.

Secondly, the above research results show that rural public science and technology services can significantly promote the development of agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity”. Therefore, this paper proposes the suggestion to give full play to the intermediary role of the mechanism of “improving land productivity” of rural public science and technology services so as to help accelerate the development process of agricultural modernization. It is necessary to empower agricultural land through science and technology, including but not limited to breeding, planting, production, processing, management, research and development, service, and other links, stimulate science and technology, information, knowledge, talents, platforms, funds, and other factors into various fields of agricultural production, promote the transformation of agricultural scientific and technological achievements into real productive forces, promote agricultural production, increase agricultural land output rate, and then promote agricultural modernization. At the same time, we should pay attention to the development of agricultural new-quality productivity led by agricultural science and technology innovation [57], promote the acceleration of land productivity, and then empower the process of agricultural modernization with agricultural new-quality productivity [58].

Thirdly, the above research results show that the level of economic growth, government intervention, and other control variables can play a significant positive role in promoting the development level of agricultural modernization. Therefore, we should pay attention to the important role of government intervention, economic growth level, and other control variables in promoting the development level of agricultural modernization, cultivate and strengthen different types of new agricultural business entities according to local conditions, maximize their development strength, business vitality and driving ability, and give play to the moderate scale effect of land, then accelerate the formation of the entities force to promote the process of agricultural and rural modernization [59,60]. Highlight the “serviceability”, and increase the financial supply of rural public science and technology services. Focus on “co-movement” and continue to promote the optimization and coordination of urban-rural structural relations. Adhere to the “expansibility”, focus on improving the level of economic growth, and provide multi-party support for building a “development community” in the process of agricultural modernization.

Of course, this paper has some thoughts on future follow up studies, which are as follows: Firstly, this paper offers empirical research on rural public science and technology services to promote agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity” with sample data from the southwest region of China, which has typical representative significance and reference value. However, the core data will be updated dynamically. In the future, the research samples should require new data to be updated to provide analysis results that keep pace. Secondly, this paper focuses on the empirical analysis of rural public science and technology services to promote agricultural modernization through the mechanism of “improving land productivity”. However, this paper has some deficiencies in in-depth interview analysis. In the future, we will consider expanding research methods.