Can large-scale farms lead smallholder agricultural digitalization? Evidence from intelligent machinery use in China

Zongyao Yang, Shuyu Wu, Yueqing Ji and Ling Tan

Applied Economics, 2026, vol. 58, issue 3, 397-412

Abstract: Intelligent agricultural machinery (IAM) has spread rapidly among large-scale farms (LSFs) but slowly among smallholders. Whether LSFs promote smallholder digitalization as leaders or crowd it out as competitors remains unclear. Using 2023 survey data from rice farmers in China, this study examines the spillover effects of LSFs on smallholders’ IAM adoption. Results show that the presence of LSFs increases nearby smallholders’ adoption likelihood by 6%, mainly through demonstration, service sharing, and quality assurance. Spillovers are stronger among smallholders with higher risk appetite, lower farming capacity, and larger plots, but weaken as LSFs expand. Notably, significant effects arise only when LSFs exceed a critical density threshold (56% of village farmland). These findings highlight the conditional leadership of LSFs in advancing smallholder digitalization and provide policy guidance for inclusive digital agriculture.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2025.2590625 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:applec:v:58:y:2026:i:3:p:397-412

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RAEC20

DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2025.2590625

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Economics is currently edited by Anita Phillips

More articles in Applied Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().