Abstract:
China’ s agricultural sector is transitioning from quantitative expansion to qualitative advancement. Promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of agricultural mechanization and enhancing the Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity(AGTFP)are important tasks for advancing the comprehensive rural revitalization and achieving agricultural modernization. Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2023 and a two-way fixed effects model, this study took an environmental regulation and human capital perspective to empirically analyze the impact mechanism and regional heterogeneity of agricultural mechanization on AGTFP. The study revealed that, the traditional growth model of agricultural mechanization over the past two decades had inhibited the growth of AGTFP, primarily due to its reliance on fossil fuels and it increases in greenhouse gas emissions. Further analysis indicated that, while environmental regulation could mitigate this negative impact of mechanization on AGTFP, human capital, although beneficial for AGTFP, paradoxically strengthened it. Regional heterogeneity analysis showed that, agricultural mechanization inhibited AGTFP in the eastern and major grain-producing regions, promoted it in the central region, and had no significant effect in the western and non-major grain-producing regions. Based on the study, we propose targeted policy recommendations, including promoting intelligent and green agricultural machinery, implementing region-specific policies, and strengthening farmer education and training, to accelerate the comprehensive green transition in agricultural development.