The Impact of Short-Video Agricultural Information Adoption on Agricultural Green Production Efficiency

With the rapid development of digital rural development and the platform economy, short-video platform is becoming an important channel through which farmers obtain agricultural information. Unlike traditional information channels that rely on acquaintance networks, offline extension, and active searching, short-video platforms embed agricultural knowledge into farmers’ daily information exposure through algorithmic recommendation, visual presentation, and continuous content delivery, thereby potentially affecting their farm production and management decisions.

From the perspective of productive use, this study examined the impact of short-video agricultural information adoption on agricultural green production efficiency (AGPE) and further explored the moderating role of digital literacy and the underlying mechanism.

Based on survey data collected in 2023 from maize farmers in the major spring maize-producing areas of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, and Hebei, this study obtained 1,286 valid samples. Farmers’ AGPE was measured using an SBM model with undesirable outputs. Short-video agricultural information adoption was defined as whether farmers actually applied agricultural information recommended by short-video platforms to farm production and management decisions, including pest control, fertilization and pesticide use, field management, input procurement, variety selection, and sales pricing. Regression models were used to estimate its effect on AGPE, while moderating-effect and mediating-effect models were employed to test the moderating role of digital literacy and the mediating role of green production behavior. Heterogeneity analysis, propensity score matching, and an instrumental variable approach were further used for robustness tests.

(1) Short-video agricultural information adoption significantly improved farmers’ AGPE, and this finding remained robust after controlling for household head characteristics, family endowments, production and operating conditions, external environmental factors, and provincial fixed effects. (2) Digital literacy exerted a significant positive moderating effect, indicating that the positive effect of short-video agricultural information adoption on AGPE was stronger among farmers with higher levels of digital literacy. (3) Green production behavior played a partial mediating role, with the mediating effect accounting for about 13.0% of the total effect, suggesting that short-video agricultural information adoption improved AGPE partly by promoting the application of green technologies. (4) The promoting effect was relatively stronger among farmers with higher digital literacy and lower levels of off-farm employment, while remaining significantly positive across different farm sizes, indicating a certain degree of inclusiveness. (5) The core findings remained valid after potential endogeneity was addressed using an instrumental variable approach.

Short-video platforms have gradually become an important information channel for farmers to acquire agricultural knowledge and optimize farm production and management decisions. What matters for AGPE is not merely whether farmers are exposed to short videos, but whether they translate platform-recommended agricultural information into actual farm production and management decisions. Short-video agricultural information adoption could significantly improve farmers’ AGPE. Green production behavior was an important pathway through which this effect was realized, while digital literacy was a key condition determining whether platform information could be transformed into efficiency gains.