Abstract: As digital economy accelerates its penetration into agriculture and rural areas, it has become a crucial engine for promoting high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture. How does the digital economy facilitate this agricultural advancement? Based on an in-depth interpretation of the connotation of high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture, this paper systematically analyzes the mechanism by which digital economy promotes agricultural development. Using data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2022 as research samples, we empirically examine the promoting effects of digital economy on high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture. The main conclusions are as follows: First, digital economy can directly promote high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture. This promoting effect is stronger in central regions, plain areas, and areas with higher levels of industrialization. Second, digital economy can indirectly promote high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture by fostering agricultural technological innovation and enhancing rural entrepreneurship levels. Third, the promoting effect of digital economy on high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture exhibits non-linear characteristics. Rural human capital positively moderates the relationship between digital economy and high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture. When rural human capital surpasses 6.635, the promoting effect of digital economy development on high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture undergoes a structural leap. This study helps reveal the mechanism by which digital economy affects high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture, providing valuable policy insights for leveraging digital economy to promote agricultural advancement. To promote high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture, efforts should be made to accelerate the construction of new digital rural infrastructure, stimulate the momentum of agricultural technological innovation, deepen support policies for rural entrepreneurship, and enhance the level of rural human capital.

Key words: digital economy, high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture, agricultural technology innovation, rural entrepreneurship, rural human capital