Abstract: Fostering and expanding the agricultural plant protection drone industry is an important measure to develop new quality productivity in agriculture and empower high-quality agricultural development. Based on panel data of 1 032 counties in China from 2014 to 2022, this paper empirically examined the impact and mechanism of the development of agricultural plant protection drones on agricultural total factor productivity. The results showed that the development of agricultural plant protection drones could significantly improve agricultural total factor productivity. Mechanism analysis revealed that the development of agricultural plant protection drones effectively drived the growth of agricultural total factor productivity mainly by improving agricultural technical efficiency, while its effect on agricultural technological progress was not significant. Heterogeneity analysis showed obvious regional differences in the empowerment effect: it was dominated by technical efficiency improvement in the eastern region, driven by both technical efficiency and technological progress in the western region, and had no significant improvement effect in the central region. Accordingly, policy recommendations were proposed, including strengthening region-adapted technology promotion, building a full-chain socialized service system, and optimizing policy and infrastructure support.