Can Mechanization Promote Green Agricultural Production? An Empirical Analysis of Maize Production in China

This study systematically analyzes the impact of China’s maize Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) and mechanization on GTFP, providing a reference for reasonably playing the role of mechanization and improving China’s agricultural GTFP. Based on the difference in crop types and regional applicability of agricultural mechanization, this study selects maize as the research crop to analyze the impact of agricultural mechanization level on GTFP. In this study, the SBM-ML model is used to measure China’s maize GTFP, reveal the temporal and regional change characteristics of maize GTFP, and clarify the optimization direction of maize GTFP from the perspective of regional differences and resource endowment differences. This study uses the threshold regression model to systematically analyze the impact of agricultural mechanization on GTFP and its mechanism. Results are given as follows: (1) The growth of China’s maize production GTFP fluctuates greatly in each year, and the growth of maize GTFP depends on the alternate promotion of technical efficiency and technical progress. Greenhouse gas emissions have a significant impact on GTFP. Excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers is the biggest obstacle to the improvement of maize GTFP. (2) There are also specific regional differences in the factors that affect the improvement of maize GTFP efficiency in different regions. The impact of mechanization on agricultural GTFP varies among regions. (3) The development level of agricultural mechanization at different stages has different promotion effects on maize GTFP. Agricultural mechanization has a two-way effect on maize GTFP. The factors of land type and land area will not limit the promotion of agricultural mechanization to maize GTFP. (4) Agricultural financial investment, environmental pollution control efforts, agricultural science and technology expenditure and other factors play a positive role in improving GTFP. (5) In future production, we should pay attention to the combination of agricultural mechanization and regional production characteristics, optimize the allocation of agricultural machinery, and strengthen the coordination between agricultural mechanization and moderate scale operation. The findings of our study provide useful policy implications for the promotion and development of agriculture in China.