Research on the Impact of the Digital Economy on Green Total Factor Productivity in the Floral Industry: An Empirical Analysis Based on China’s Provincial Panel Data

The deep integration of the digital economy and the green development of agricultural has become an important direction for promoting agricultural modernization. However, research focusing on the floral industry—a high-value-added and characteristic agricultural sector—remains relative limited. This study utilized provincial panel data from China covering 2012 to 2022 and employed the SBM-GML model to systematically analyze the impact of the digital economy on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of the floral industry and its underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, it revealed the heterogeneous characteristics of this impact across different regions and productivity levels. The results indicated that: (1) The digital economy indirectly enhanced the GTFP of the floral industry through three main pathways: raising the technological level of the floral industry, expanding the area of facility-based cultivation, and reducing the intensity of chemical inputs. (2) The promoting effect of the digital economy on the GTFP of the floral industry was more significant in the central and western regions and low-productivity production areas, while its impact was relatively weaker in the eastern regions and high-productivity production areas. (3) The level of digital technology and the level of digital environment development had a significant positive effects on the GTFP of the floral industry, whereas the influence of the level of digital industry development is not yet significant. Based on the above conclusions, the coordinated development of digitalization and greening in the floral industry should be promoted through four measures: deepening industrial integration, optimizing the development environment, strengthening talent recruitment and cultivation, and implementing differentiated strategies.