Urbanization, land scale, and economic development as transmission channels between agricultural socialized services and production efficiency

Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces during 2014–2023, this study employs the entropy method to measure the level of agricultural socialized services and DEA to evaluate agricultural production efficiency. Panel fixed-effects, mediation, and threshold models are then applied to examine the impact of agricultural socialized services on production efficiency and its underlying mechanisms. The study found that agricultural socialization services can significantly improve agricultural production efficiency at the 5% level. This positive effect exhibits pronounced spatial heterogeneity, being stronger in the eastern region than in the central and western regions, and more prominent in major grain-producing areas than in non-grain-producing areas. Furthermore, agricultural socialized services improve agricultural production efficiency through multiple channels, including promoting economic development, advancing urbanization, and facilitating land scale expansion. Further research found that there is a threshold effect of urbanization level, land transfer rate, and land scale level on agricultural socialization services to improve agricultural production efficiency. This study can provide theoretical support and policy insights for provinces to carry out agricultural socialization services to promote agricultural production efficiency.