Purpose China's comprehensive straw utilization efforts represent a pivotal step toward developing a more flexible renewable energy industry system. This study aims to explore the impact of comprehensive straw utilization on agricultural green development efficiency. Design/methodology/approach With data sourced from network databases and processed via Python, this study employs a panel data model, a spatial regressive model, and Multi-scale Geographically Weighted Regression to analyze the panel data of 85 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2009–2021. Findings The empirical results show that comprehensive straw utilization significantly improves agricultural green development efficiency from the perspective of industrial agglomeration. This improvement is achieved through four key mechanisms: promoting technological innovation, enhancing labor efficiency, increasing output value-added, and realizing significant green emission reductions. Spatial effect analysis indicated that comprehensive straw utilization not only promotes local agricultural green development, but also exerts a positive spillover effect on adjacent regions through technological diffusion and industrial linkages. In diverse regions, government environmental regulations exert a non-linear inverted U-shaped influence therein. Originality/value Firstly, this study broadens our understanding of the environmental impact effects and mechanisms of comprehensive straw utilization from the perspective of industrial agglomeration, enriching the existing research on straw resource utilization and agricultural green development. Secondly, the findings empirically validate the effectiveness of comprehensive straw utilization in China, providing a novel reference for promoting agricultural green development in emerging economies.
Xiuchuan et al. (Mon,) studied this question.