Digitalization to lower crop production carbon emissions -- a quasi-natural experiment in 745 counties

The agricultural sector is a major contributor to global carbon emissions, and reducing emissions from crop production is critical for mitigating greenhouse gases and combating climate change. Digitalization has emerged as a promising strategy for agricultural decarbonization, yet most existing studies focus on the whole agriculture, with limited attention to crop production separately. Moreover, analyses often rely on provincial-level data, overlooking higher-resolution datasets. Using panel data from 745 counties in China, this study employs the 'Broadband China' policy as a quasi-natural experiment and applies a staggered difference-in-differences approach to examine the impact of digital infrastructure development on crop production carbon emissions. The findings hold up under several robustness checks. Further analysis indicates that industrial structure, rural household income, and educational attainment are important channels associated with this effect. The decarbonization effects of digitalization vary across economic regions and grain-production zones. These findings suggest that digital infrastructure development can support greener crop production, although its effects differ across regional contexts. Accordingly, greater investment in digital infrastructure is recommended for less developed regions and major grain-producing areas, whereas more developed regions and grain-consuming areas may require complementary non-digital measures to achieve further emission reductions. Greater investment in digital infrastructure is recommended for less developed regions and major grain-producing areas, whereas more developed regions and grain-consuming areas may require complementary non-digital approaches to achieve emission reductions.