Digital literacy, virtual social networks and new agricultural technologies adoption: evidence from Chinese crop-producing family farms

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Introduction The adoption of new agricultural technologies is essential for improving agricultural productivity, advancing sustainable agricultural transformation, and supporting modern food systems. In the context of accelerating agricultural digitalization, family farm operators' ability to effectively use digital agricultural information has become increasingly important. However, existing studies have focused mainly on technology adoption among ordinary farmers, while paying insufficient attention to larger-scale family farms with stronger technology demand. Less attention has also been paid to the mismatch between agricultural extension supply and technology demand in current agricultural technology promotion. Methods Based on field survey data from 421 crop-producing family farms across 14 prefecture-level cities in Liaoning Province, China, this study employs Poisson regression and Tobit models to examine the effects of digital literacy on the number of new agricultural technologies adopted and the degree of demand realization for new agricultural technologies. After addressing potential endogeneity concerns, it further investigates the mediating role of virtual social networks and the moderating effect of access to credit. Results The results show that digital literacy significantly increases the number of new agricultural technologies adopted and has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the degree of demand realization for new agricultural technologies. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the effects of digital literacy on both adoption number and demand realization are more pronounced among non-demonstration family farms and less-educated family farm operators. Mechanism analysis shows that digital literacy affects both the number of new agricultural technologies adopted and the degree of demand realization by expanding family farm operators' virtual social networks. Further analysis indicates that access to credit moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship between digital literacy and the degree of demand realization. Discussion These findings reveal the network-based transmission mechanism and credit-related boundary condition through which digital literacy shapes new agricultural technology adoption, providing empirical evidence for improving family farm operators' digital literacy, optimizing agricultural technology supply, and promoting sustainable agricultural transformation.

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